rapid, the men strain every muscle to urge the canoe
forward more quickly than the water, so that it may steer better. The
bowsman and steersman stand erect, guiding the frail bark through the
more unbroken places in the fierce current, which hisses and foams
around, as if eager to swallow us up. Now we rush with lightning force
towards a rock, against which the water dashes in fury; and to an
uninitiated traveller we appear to be on the point of destruction. But
one vigorous stroke from the bowsman and steersman (for they always act
in concert) sends the light craft at a sharp angle from the impending
danger; and away we plunge again over the surging waters--sometimes
floating for an instant in a small eddy, and hovering, as it were, to
choose our path; and then plunging swiftly forward again through the
windings of the stream, till, having passed the whole in safety, we
float in the smooth water below.

Accidents, as may be supposed, often happen; and to-day we found that
there is danger as well as pleasure in running the rapids. We had got
over a great part of the day in safety, and were in the act of running
the first part of the Rose Rapid, when our canoe struck upon a rock, and
wheeling round with its broadside to the stream, began to fill quickly.
I could hear the timbers cracking beneath me under the immense pressure.
Another minute, and we should have been gone; but our men, who were
active fellows, and well accustomed to such dangers, sprang
simultaneously over the side of the canoe, which, being thus lightened,
passed over the rock, and rushed down the remainder of the rapid stern
foremost ere the men could scramble in and resume their paddles. When
rapids were very dangerous, most of the cargo was generally disembarked;
and while one half of the crew carried it round to the still water
below, the other half ran down light.

Crossed two small portages and the Mountain Portage in the afternoon; on
the latter of which I went to see a waterfall, which I was told was in
its vicinity. I had great difficulty in finding it at first, but its
thundering roar soon guided me to a spot from which it was visible.
Truly, a grander waterfall I never saw. The whole river, which was
pretty broad, plunged in one broad white sheet over a precipice, higher
by a few feet than the famous Falls of Niagara; and the spray from the
foot sprang high into the air, bedewing the wild, precipitous crags with
which the fall is encom