An Etchers Voyage of Discovery, 269 



lower down I had to expect sharp rocks also. But could 

 I not swim ? Yes, in water, but not amongst stones and 

 snags. Better the angry waves of the ocean, than these 

 treacherous, suffocating snares ! 



There was just so much of apprehension as sufficed 

 to give interest to the adventure. It amounted to a cer- 

 tainty that I should be upset (probably more than once), 

 and have to struggle for dear life, but it was not so 

 certain that I should struggle for it unsuccessfully. I 

 returned to the little inn, and had a long talk with a set 

 of peasants, and then went to bed in a room that looked 

 out upon the river, the moonlight falling on the counter- 

 pane. The night was exquisitely calm, the peasants left 

 the inn, and all the house was still. 



I have accustomed myself to do with what suffices for 

 the peasantry, and can therefore lodge in the poorest 

 country inn or cottage without any painful sense of pri- 

 vation. This is a valuable accomplishment for an ex- 

 plorer of unknown rivers, who may have to lodge very 

 simply from time to time. Thus, my first night I slept 

 in the same room with a farmer's boy, my second with a 

 wheelwright, and my third with the family of a poor 

 miller ; but I always had a bed to myself and clean 

 sheets (though coarse). A sleepy traveller needs no 

 more.* : 



We are afloat at last on the little river, which loses its 

 terrors in broad daylight. I am in the paper canoe, and 

 Tom is swimming behind. If that is the way he intends 



* I much prefer the independence of a tent, but in this voyage it did 

 not seem practicable to carry a tent and provisions. 



