ce is often very low, and I never saw but one
handsome man among the half-breeds, though the women, especially the
Hydahs, are passable in looks. This man was a pilot, and a good one, on
the lakes; but he was perpetually being discharged for drunkenness.

The lake and river steamboats are not always safe to be in, and some of
the pilotage and engineering is reckless in the extreme. The captains
are too often given to drink overmuch, and when an intoxicated man is at
the wheel in a river full of the natural dangers of bars and snags, and
those incident on a tremendous current, the situation often becomes
exciting. I was once on the Fraser River in a steamer whose boiler was
certified to bear 80 lb. of steam and no more. We were coming to a
"riffle," or rapid, where the stream ran very fiercely, with great
swirls and waves in it, and the captain sang out to the engineer, "How
much steam have you, Jack?" "Eighty," answered Jack.

"Fire up, fire up!" said the captain, as he jammed the tiller over; "we
shall never make the riffle on that."

The firemen went to work, and threw in more wood, and presently we
approached the rapid. The captain leant out of the pilot house.

"Give it her, Jack," he yelled excitedly.

The answer given by Jack scared me, for I knew quite well what she ought
to bear.

"There's a hundred and twenty on her now!"

"Well, maybe it will do;" and the captain's head retreated.

On we went, slowly crawling and fighting against the swift stream which
tore by us. We got about half-way up, and we gradually stayed in one
position, and even went back a trifle. The captain yelled and shouted
for more steam yet, and then I retreated as far as I could, and sat on
the taffrail, to be as far as possible from the boiler, which I believed
would explode every moment. But Jack obeyed orders, and rammed and raked
at the fires until the gauge showed 160 lb., and we got over at last.
But I confess I did feel nervous.

This happened about ten miles below Yale, and at that very spot the
tiller-ropes of the same boat once parted, and they had to let her
drift. Fortunately, she hung for a few moments in an eddy behind a big
rock until they spliced them again; but it was a close call with
everyone on board. A steamer once blew up there, and most of the crew
and passengers were killed outright or drowned.

Above Yale the river is not navigable until Savona's Ferry is reached.
That is on the Kamloops Lake, and thence ea