_5th._--There was much rain last night, with thunder and lightning; and the river rose a fathom, and is continuing to rise, concealing any signs of rapids in the long reach before us. The men are determined that this time the rafts shall be strong enough: ours is a model, twenty-two feet long by six in breadth, composed of a double layer of trees, the lower nine large ones, the upper a dozen smaller trees; on this is a raised platform, on which we have stowed our provisions and goods. We have all got on it to try its buoyancy, and find that it is not an inch out of water, but that is immaterial. I have just been round to look at the different rafts. Though not so good as ours, they are all tolerably strong; and the men having breakfasted, I have given the orders to put off; and now, at mid-day, we are starting. Our course was at first very pleasant. The river was broad, deep, and sufficiently rapid; but, after a few reaches, this changed, and bluff points began to invade the stream. Now we were hurled against a rock, or pressed against the bank; the next moment we were in a whirlpool, flying about, and with difficulty getting out of it. These whirlpools were so deep, that with our longest poles, and they were four fathoms, we could not reach the bottom. At one very large one, we continued going in a circle for above ten minutes, when we saw a companion raft coming down upon us. We shouted to the men to try and sheer off, but it was of no use, and it crashed into us; however, the damage was all for them. Our heavy raft merely sank a foot, and was driven near enough to the bank to enable us to get out of this whirlpool, leaving our friends to repair damages while taking the successive turns from which they had driven us. I soon began to find that our rafts were unmanageable, and that we must allow the stream to carry us whither it pleased. After moving on at a good pace for about a couple of hours, we heard a roaring in the distance, and I called to the men to stop the raft if possible, and send ahead to see what was the cause of this sound; but they thought they could pass the rapid which was before us, and concluded that it produced the roar we heard. I was of a very different opinion. This one was bad enough; but in turning the point, how shall I describe the scene that was presented to me? The almost perpendicular hills closed in on the river, their lofty trees meeting in an arch overhead, and the waters dashing through the narrow space, tumbling over huge rocks, raised waves like those of an angry sea on a rocky shore; but the worst spot was where the cliffs appeared to have fallen across the stream, damming it to half its width by a huge tree-crowned rock, and forming two foaming cascades.