They now proceeded with the ebb tide, stopping with the beginning of the flood, constantly on the lookout for the Spanish settlements, and not till the 28th, when they saw before them such a commotion of waters that their small craft would be instantly engulfed, and wide sandy stretches, perfectly barren, all round, did they realise what a mistake they had made.
"The fierce billows," says Pattie, "shut us in from below, the river current from above, and murderous savages on either hand on the shore.
We had a rich cargo of furs, a little independence for each one of us could we have disposed of them among the Spanish people whom we expected to have found here.

There were no such settlements.

Every side on which we looked offered an array of danger, famine, or death.

In this predicament what were furs to us." In order to escape they worked their way back up the river as far as they could by rowing, poling, and towing, but on February 10th they met a great rise which put a stop to progress.

They now abandoned the canoes, buried the furs in deep pits, and headed for the coast settlements of California.