UP THE S KEEN A RIVER. 



185 



deep basin, as if the river had felt depressed as it passed through 

 the quarter-mile narrow gorge and had here spread itself out to 

 breathe and rest before it started anew its downward journey to the 

 sea. It was late in the afternoon, and the western sun threw long 

 shadows of the lofty sky-crowned perpendicular walls of the left- 

 hand side of the canon over against the rocky islets and ragged, rock- 

 bound eastern shore. Once we have entered, there is no faltering; 

 " lining it out " is impossible here, and on and on the boat labors 



A Skeena River Salmon Cannery. 



and climbs, twisting and turning through the narrow, tortuous chan- 

 nel. A quick eye and a steady nerve must command the wheel now, 

 for a turn too much or too little would be fatal. One instinctively 

 feels that the " Water of Terrors " is the proper name for this river, 

 and with that feeling comes the -other — that it was never intended 

 for navigation. 



After four days' grinding over sand bars and pounding against 

 rocks we tie up for repairs. One of the boilers had sprung a leak 

 which could be neglected no longer. The delay of thirty-six hours 

 was not without compensation, for the country about was open, and 

 proved a relief after the long ride through the high-walled river from 

 the sea to the canon. The banks were low or moderately high and 

 of gravel or sand bluffs, and we could look off over a landscape 



