NEWFOUNDLAND IN THE 'SEVENTIES 237 



became very evident. Our canoes were deeply 

 laden, and so heavy that it was impossible to 

 check them in the strength of the stream ; and we 

 flew down with such velocity that there was no time 

 to pick a channel, and one found oneself right on 

 top of some rock or boiling eddy almost at the 

 same instant that the eye caught sight of the 

 danger. Yet our progress was slow, for in many 

 places the river spreads out over broad shallows, 

 and there we had to go very cautiously, creeping 

 along, holding the canoe back v^dth the paddles, 

 grounding now and then, and having to back off 

 and seek some deeper place ; and it was long past 

 midnight when a distant welcome roar showed we 

 were approaching the fall. There we went ashore, 

 made a fire, brewed some strong green tea, rested 

 for half an hour, and then, having made the short 

 " portage," launched our canoes again below the 

 fall. As bad luck would have it, the tide was out, 

 and we had to pick our way over great flats of 

 sand miles in breadth, covered by only two or 

 three inches of water, through which a little narrow 

 shallow channel went meandering to the sea. It 

 was tedious work, and it was four o'clock in the 

 morning when we got into deep water, paddled 

 alongside the tug, roused up the crew, tumbled up 



