104: LAKE SUPERIOR. 



low water cannot be stronger than high, if I fail to 

 keep np with you I can lag behind or come home." 



" Really, you do not know what you are under- 

 taking ; but I will tell you what you can do. Go 

 with the two Indians, see how they manage in the 

 first rapid, and then take the place of one and 

 try it." 



To this, after much protest and complaint, Frank 

 and I persuaded him to agree ; more, however, as a 

 personal favor to ourselves than on any other ground, 

 and his grumblings of dissatisfiiction were loudly 

 audible till we had passed the first rapid ; Don nei- 

 ther ofiered to pole nor grumble afterwards. 



The water was very strong, collected in large 

 pools, and then rushing Avith tremendous force down 

 a confined channel, or else pouring in long exhaust- 

 ing stretches of foaming current over pebbly shal- 

 lows and amid protruding boulders. At one spot 

 Frank and myself were fifteen minutes, just able to 

 hold our own and not advancing a foot, with the 

 imminent risk of upsetting at any instant ; and when 

 I was out of the canoe fishing, he was utterly una- 

 ble, to the intense delight of the Indians, to stem 

 the rapids at all. 



The canoes were small, and the canoe-men had to 

 occupy a most uncomfortable position : kneeling and 

 sitting on their heels, not being able to stand erect 

 as I had often done in larger boats, so that Frank 

 complained of cramp in his legs for days afterwards. 

 Short setting poles were used, and our utmost 

 strength had to be exerted where the current was 



