Montreal 73 



and force and precision are required in piloting, few but 

 Indians can be had willing to undertake the perilous task, 

 which, however, is to them a matter of every day occurrence ; 

 use is second nature, and so with them ; the hawk's-eye glance 

 of the pilot, when at his post, and the stern determination 

 on his features, are a picture that want the pen of a Cooper 

 to describe. . As soon as the vessel feels the influence of 

 the rapids, in an increased swiftness, steam is shut off, and 

 she is carried onwards by their force alone. Suddenly a 

 scene of wild grandeur bursts upon the eye; waves are 

 lashed into spray and into breakers of a thousand forms by 

 the submerged rocks which they are dashed against in the head- 

 long impetuosity of the river. Whirlpools, a storm lashed 

 sea, the chasm below Niagara, all mingle their sublimity in 

 a single rapid. In an instant you are in the midst of them. 

 Now passing with lightning speed within a few yards of rocks, 

 which, did your vessel but touch them, would reduce her to 

 an utter wreck before the crash could sound upon the ear ; 

 did she even diverge in the least from her course — if her 

 head were not kept straight with the course of the rapid, 

 she would be instantly submerged and rolled over and over. 

 And here is shown the necessity of enormous power over 

 her rudder. Before us is an absolute precipice of waters ; 

 on every side of it breakers, like dense avalanches, are 

 thrown high into the air. Ere we can take a glance at the 

 scene, the boat descends the wall of waves and foam like a 

 bird, and in a second afterwards you are floating on the calm 

 unruffled bosom of "below the rapids." Unlike the ordinary 

 pitching and tossing at sea, this going down hill by water 

 produces a peculiar sensation, which, as the vessel glides 

 from ledge to ledge of rock, feels like settling down. The 

 traveller who runs the rapids for the first time, is almost 

 sure to involuntarily hold his breath at this feeling. Occa- 

 sionally, too, the vessel seems to be directly running on a 

 ledge of rocks, and you feel certain she will strike ; but the 



