186 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



boat which strength and daring could accomplish. He 

 came. His figure and expression of face certainly 

 indicated extraordinary firmness and power. On Tues- 

 day, November 5, we started, each of us being clad in 

 oilcloth. The elder oarsman at once assumed a tone 

 of authority over his companion, and struck imme- 

 diately in amid the breakers below the American Fall. 

 He hugged the cross freshets instead of striking out 

 into the smoother water. I asked him why he did so, 

 and he replied that they were directed outwards, not 

 downwards. The struggle, however, to prevent the 

 bow of the boat from being turned by them, was often 

 very severe. 



The spray was in general blinding, but at times it 

 disappeared and yielded noble views of the fall. The 

 edge of the cataract is crimped by indentations which 

 exalt its beauty. Here and there, a little below the 

 highest ledge, a secondary one juts out; the water 

 strikes it and bursts from it in huge protuberant masses 

 of foam and spray. We passed Groat Island, came to the 

 Horseshoe, and worked for a time along its base, the 

 boulders over which Conroy and myself had scrambled 

 a few days previously lying between us and the 

 cataract. A rock was before us, concealed and revealed 

 at intervals, as the waves passed over it. Our leader 

 tried to get above this rock, first on the outside of it. 

 The water, however, was here in violent motion. The 

 men struggled fiercely, the older one ringing out an 

 incessant peal of command and exhortation to the 

 younger. As we were just clearing the rock, the bow 

 came obliquely to the surge ; the boat was turned sud- 

 denly round and shot with astonishing rapidity down 

 the river. The men returned to the charge, now 

 trying to get up between the half-concealed rock and 

 the boulders to the left. But the torrent set in strongl 



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