SHOOTING DOWN THE LINN. 177 



their nets. They thought, they said, that we " might 

 possibly descend in safety, if we managed our boats 

 well." Charlie looked, and sighed, and looked again: 

 the thing was evidently not in harmony with his ideas ; 

 for he could not swim himself, and he doubted whether 

 his boat would either, when it arrived at the bottom of 

 the fall. However, I decided that I would try the thing 

 alone ; and if it should prove a failure, the example was 

 not, of course, to be followed. So I brought my little 

 boat some way above the cataract, with her head up the 

 stream, and by rowing against it let her fall by degrees 

 stern foremost, by which means I had a clear view 

 before me, and could therefore steer to a nicety. She 

 went down most agreeably, though in nearly a vertical 

 position, but pitched upon a rock below the fall ; but 

 before any harm happened, I swung her off by inclin- 

 ing my body to and fro. My fisherman followed suc- 

 cessfully ; and having passed the wide-spreading Linn, 

 the channel of the Tay became more contracted, and 

 we resumed our former pace, shooting down the rapids 

 like an arrow, and by occasional swift snatches of 

 the oars avoiding the breakers around us. So we 

 passed amongst the hanging woods and impending- 

 rocks of this romantic river, till we arrived at Stanley, 

 where groups of people were assembled on the hill-top, 

 who shouted to us with all their might, and made signs 

 and gestures, the meaning of which I could not com- 

 prehend, but they seemed to be warning us of some 

 impending danger : I could not catch the import of 

 their words, as the sound was but faintly heard amidst 

 the din of the waves. So I did not perplex myself 



