140 THE SNAGS. 



dangerous giants of a bygone generation already fallen 

 in was pink and grey at first, and then beautifully 

 blue. The heavens as well as the woods looked down 

 on the rippling stream in strong contrast to the bare, 

 brown, and sandy shoals, and gaunt limbs of trees which 

 rose above the waters, bleached and fixed, as if their 

 outstretched arms, once raised for rescue, had been 

 immovably petrified in the action of a dying prayer. 



The safe manner in which we had been steered in the 

 hours of darkness, and the innumerable snags and shoals 

 above and beneath the water that intersected the course 

 of the river, made me look up from the higher deck to 

 which I had ascended in admiration to the still more lofty 

 pilot-box or place of steerage whence the captain directed 

 the way. He was not there, however, being for a time 

 off duty, but I saw him seated on the deck close to me. 

 The salutation of the morning having been made, I took 

 the opportunity of expressing to Capt. Sousley my admir 

 ation of the river steerage, as well as my thanks to him 

 for all the comforts I found, and that had been provided 

 for myself and my dogs on board his ship. His conversa 

 tion showed me that he was an intelligent gentleman, 

 and one well versed in his difficult duty, and resolved 

 with all his energy to attend to it. In addition to this, 

 he was a sportsman and a keen observer of the habits of 

 wild animals ; and for the remainder of the voyage at 

 times, by night as well as day, I was with him in the 

 pilot-box, which, being surrounded on all sides with 

 glass, was not only the best place for seeing everything, 

 but it was there that I could form some estimation of the 

 extraordinary knowledge of the river possessed by the 

 captain, and the way in which the one sole man governed 

 progression and cared for the safety of us all. The pad- 



