ROWING 



5093 



ROYAL GORGE 



personality to offset the effect of Sir James 

 Whitney's efficient administration of the gov- 

 ernment. Under Rowell's vigorous direction 

 the Liberal party acquired new strength. In 

 the provincial elections of 1914 the Liberals 

 made a determined but unsuccessful effort to 

 abolish barrooms in Ontario. During the 

 progress of the War of the Nations Rowel 1 lent 

 valuable aid to the government by many pub- 

 lic addresses and by a patriotic policy in the 

 Ontario assembly. In 1917, on the resignation 

 of the Hearst ministry, Rowell was called to 

 the premiership of the province. 



ROWING, ro'ing, the act of driving a boat 

 forward along the surface of water by means of 

 oars. Boats so propelled, with a rudder for 

 steering, were used earlier than 3,000 years be- 

 fore Christ. The ancient Greeks and Romans 

 traveled in great galleys with rows of oars one 

 above the other, manned by slaves who were 

 chained to their places. In Britain the Sax- 

 ons were famous oarsmen, and so were the in- 

 vading Danes and Norwegians. It is recorded 

 that Edward the Peaceable, one of the kings 

 of England during the tenth century, "was 

 rowed in state on the River Dee by eight tribu- 

 tary kings, himself acting as coxswain." 



In 1715, modern boat racing had its begin- 

 ning. An English comedian, Thomas Doggett, 

 instituted a contest which is still an annual 

 affair, by offering a prize of a waterman's coat 

 with a great silver badge on the sleeve to the 

 winner of the race. Amateur rowing as it is 

 known to-day began on the Thames River, in 

 -hind, about the year 1800, with informal 

 races between six- and eight-oared boats, whose 

 owners constituted a club. Two of these clubs, 

 the Star and the Arrow, combined in 1818 to 

 form the Leander, which is still the most fa- 

 mous rowing club in the world. The first race 

 between Oxford and Cambridge universities 

 took place in 1829, and ever since 1856 this 

 race has been an annual event. England's most 

 important amateur regatta is held every year 

 I'-oley, on the Thames. 



Australia holds an annual regatta which is 

 called the Australian Henley, and all of the 

 >pean nations have amateur rowing asso- 

 ciations similar to those of England. Cana- 

 dian rowing has made great progress. In 1904, 

 a Canadian, rowing alone, won the Diamond 

 SculU at Henley. Harvard and Yale univer- 

 sities have ltd in this sport in the United 

 States since 1843-1844, when they first took it 

 up. but the first amateur club was founded ten 

 years earlier. Tht itta is held on dif- 



ferent courses in different years by the Na- 

 tional Association of Amateur Oarsmen, founded 

 in 1873. American rowing crews have com- 

 peted bravely with the English both in the 

 United States and abroad, but the English 

 have almost always won. 



The light boats used in racing are called 

 shells. They are built for two, four, six and 

 eight oarsmen and are known as pairs, fours, 

 sixes and eights. In England the single rower, 

 using two oars, is called a sculler, and the 

 oars are called sculls. Double scullers are com- 

 mon in the United States but not in England. 

 English shells and many of those constructed 

 in the United States are built with sliding 

 seats. The sliding seat is undoubtedly more 

 exhausting than the fixed seat, but it may 

 account for the Englishmen's supremacy in this 

 sport. See CANOE AND CANOEING. A.C. 



Consult Crowther and Ruhl's Rowing and 

 Track Athletics; Woodgate's Rowing. 



ROYAL GORGE, gawrj, one of the most fa- 

 mous canyons in North America, a portion 



A VIEW OP THE ROYAL GORGE 



of the valley of the Arkansas River. Like the 

 Grand Canyon of the Colorado, the Royal 

 Gorge is a magnificent example of river erosion 

 (see EROSION > It is between eight and nine 



