RUNNING WATEKS 



155 



and held firmly by the roots of flags and grasses, 

 their edges are ragged and under-cut by water, 

 and upon them occasionally grow small elms or 

 clumps of briars and alders. The bed of the 

 river is muddy, the water cloudy, the color of 

 it beautiful only in sky reflection. 



As we ascend the river, following what is 

 called its Plain Track, the banks continue to rise, 

 the bed becomes sandy or pebble-strewn, the 

 stream clearer, the character of the ground more 

 substantial. There are lifts or rises in the land, 

 that seem to indicate little hills that have 

 been worn down by many centuries of water- 

 wear ; and these are, in fact, the forerunners of 

 the hills which we soon find rising on either 

 side of the river. A hundred miles or more up 

 the stream, the hills begin to jut out stronger. 

 They may be near at hand, but more often they 

 are several miles back from the banks, and the 

 river-bed is a flat plain lying in between them. 

 The land may be cut up into farms, with fields 

 of grain, orchards, and white houses ; there 

 may be forests here and there that grow down 

 to the water's edge, and meadows where cattle 

 roam and daisies grow, with fords, bridges, and 

 occasionally a lonely mill. The water does not 

 run swiftly as yet, but it winds and cuts in the ; 



