It was the first time he had seen the rush of these mighty waters.

There was before him a boat voyage of nearly fifteen hundred miles, through regions to him entirely unknown.

In his own account of this adventure he writes: "When I got into the Mississippi I found all my hands were bad scared.
In fact, I believe I was scared a little the worst of any; for I had never been down the river, and I soon discovered that my pilot was as ignorant of the business as myself.

I hadn't gone far before I determined to lash the two boats together.

We did so; but it made them so heavy and obstinate that it was next akin to impossible to do any thing at all with them, or to guide them right in the river.
"That evening we fell in company with some Ohio boats, and about night we tried to land, but we could not.