is poured into the canoe and every point of exit marked for gumming.
Loading must be done with unusual care, as the slightest crankness of
such frail craft in such wild waters is likely to prove fatal. Crews
always were their own stevedores, and it was a poor crew that could not
load to perfection in a short five minutes, once the cargo had been
settled. The actual paddling is not difficult to learn, that is, the
paddling required from an ordinary member of the crew. But the man in
the bow and, still more, the man in the stern need the highest kind of
skilful daring to take them safely through. Paddling by oneself also
requires a special touch, only to be learnt by long practice. Even in
dead water it takes some time before a novice can send the canoe
straight ahead when paddling on one side only. As the paddle goes aft
the bow naturally tends to turn towards the other side. The trick of
it consists in counteracting this tendency by a twist of the blade
which brings the inner edge round, aftwise beside the canoe, till the
blade becomes a rectifying rudder as well as a thrusting propeller at
the end of every stroke. When a fall or impassable rapid is reached,
{35} the 'bowman' jumps out before the canoe touches bottom and draws
her safely ashore. He and the 'steersman' then carry her over the
portage, while the rest carry the cargo on their backs. A man's own
weight is a fair load; but with a sling across their foreheads, and
clasped hands behind their heads, strong men have carried twice as much
and more. When a rapid has to be ascended the canoe is lightened as
much as need be, the steel-shod poles are got out, and the bow and
stern paddlers stand up to their work, balancing themselves as easily
as other men would on dry land.

But it is when a rapid is to be 'run' that the finest skill is shown.
If there is any doubt the steersman walks down to take a good look
first. Then, if necessary, some or all of the cargo is taken out and
portaged to the next 'steady' in the river. Rapids are so common in
some journeys that canoemen think less of them than foxhunters think of
five-barred gates. In most cases a mistake means death; so every nerve
and muscle is kept tensely ready the whole run through. The current
should be 'humoured'; for it does a surprising amount of the work
itself. If rightly headed with the main throw of it the canoe will
{36} naturally tend to seek the deepest and safest channel just as th