BOATING ADVENTURES. 37 



'The character of the river-banks to-day was not pic- 

 turesque. The country was low, and covered with forests 

 of birch and fir that seemed endless. There were rocks 

 occasionally, and grey moss seemed the covering of the 

 ground. The river bed between the rapids was generally 

 sandy, with large boulders here and there. In the rapids 

 the ground is a pile of enormous stones all rounded ; they 

 are ten or twelve feet in diameter, and at times much 

 more. They are about the size of hay-ricks and hay-cocks 

 in a hay-field ; and they are like those which are scattered 

 about on the fjeld. These rise high, or barely reach the 

 surface, betraying their position in the stream by a curl in 

 the water ; or they may be out of sight, and barely raise 

 a wave. 



' The steersman has to avoid them all, while the boat is 

 going " hard all " down a rapid stream, so as to keep 

 steerage way. 



' I calculated that we had gone fifty miles in the twelve 

 hours. 



' Sept. 9. Rose at six, and found a white world ; snow 

 a foot deep, and more falling ; wind blowing hard, and a 

 very uninviting temperature. . . . 



'After breakfast our host smoked his pipe, and read his 

 Finsk Bible ; and his wife having put the house in order, 

 and having washed the dishes, sat down beside her hus- 

 band. There was an air of Sunday quiet about them all 

 that put me strongly in mind of the Highlands ; and 

 their marked features, brown faces, and bony hands, their 

 coarse woollen garments, and long hair, called up visions 

 of Covenanters, as painters love to depict them. 



1 At 11 it got finer, so we started, wrapped in all the 

 clothes we could muster. 



' It was soon evident why our men would not go on in 

 the dark. Rapids were bad and numerous. The first 

 came at 11.38, and was succeeded by a magnificent pool. 

 The second came at 1 2, with a still finer pool below it ; a 

 third was reached at 12.15, which we got down in ten 

 minutes. I should think it was two English miles long, 



