BOATING ADVENTURES. & 



young idea how to shoot the rapids. At first our progress 

 was much the same as before, the men pulled hard, and 

 the boat went fast; our steerer chewed his quid, and 

 guided the boat with the skill of a London cabman in a 

 crowd. I should have thought twice about steering even 

 there, but it was evident that we were only at the begin- 

 ning. The banks grew wilder, and rocks here and there 

 replaced the rounded boulders which had hitherto been 

 the principal feature of the river-bed. Presently our 

 friend began to roll his eyes, and grip the spade-handle of 

 his steering-paddle, and the roar of the water a-head told 

 of something coming 



' I raised my head to look, and was ordered to lie down 

 and not hide the view ; so down I went, but I could still 

 see that we were rushing, end on, at a ridge of black 

 stones that reached half over the river, and that the whole 

 of the stream was dancing and tossing, like a mill-race, 

 past the end of the bank. There was broken water, like 

 a heavy surf, right up to a steep broken rock on the 

 Swedish side. We seemed to be rushing to certain 

 destruction; but just as we seemed to be rushing into 

 the race, a turn of the wrist cleared the outermost boulder 

 by a few inches, and we shot round a corner into a splen- 

 did pool. It was done with the most perfect neatness and 

 composure, but a few inches the one way or the other 

 would have given us a hard swim. 



' The steerer now seemed to explain to his pupil all about 

 this point, and how to pass it; and then he condescended 

 to take off his mittens. 



' The next shoot we had to go further into the stream. 

 We were drenched, the boat was half-filled with water, 

 and then, as there was worse to come, we rowed to the 

 Russian bank, and baled, and shook our feathers. 



' We had not much time to look about us. The river 

 had gathered force and speed for the last six miles, and 

 here it made a final leap. The river-bed made a bend 

 below us, and the whole body of water dashed with a roar 

 like thunder, against a perpendicular rock, some 20 or 30 



