110 



Popular Science Monthly 



) Brown and Dawson 



The water is shallow and always warm. The rules of the 

 sport are "Hold on tight and don't mind a ducking" 



Rafting the Rapids on the Rio Grande 

 in Jamaica, British West Indies 



JAMAICA, although a tropical country, 

 has a form of sport equal if not superior 

 to tobogganing. The national pastime is 

 shooting the rapids in the Rio Grande 

 River on bamboo rafts. For about four 

 miles of its length the river is one succession 

 of rapids. The depth of these rapids is 

 never over ten or twelve inches, and many 

 of the rocks protrude above the surface, so 

 it is not possible to use a boat at all. 



The natives build rafts of light, tough 

 bamboo, which float where there is water 

 and will slide like a sled over the 

 wet, smooth stones where 

 there is no water. 



Each raft is about twen 

 ty-five feet long 

 and is composed 

 of twelve to fifteen 

 stalks of bamboo. 

 The bamboo is 

 about six inches in 

 diameter at the base 

 and tapers to one 

 inch at the point. 

 The tips of the bam- 

 boo form the bow of 

 the raft and the 

 base the stern. Near 

 the stern is a built- 

 up platform on 

 which two passen- 

 gers may sit and 

 keep their feet out 



of the water, which often 

 covers the raft. The helms- 

 man stands towards the 

 bow. With a long pole he 

 guides the raft down the 

 rapids and away from the 

 worst stones. 



Shooting the rapids is 

 exciting. Every cataract is 

 different from its prede- 

 cessor. One is short, another 

 long; a third straight, and 

 others are full of curves. 

 We slide over the small 

 stones that protrude slight- 

 ly above the surface, but we 

 must keep away from the 

 large ones, for they will 

 break up our frail raft, or, 

 worse yet, turn it over on 

 us. In some places jungle 

 trees overhang the river 

 so low as sometimes to 

 sweep the passengers off; in other spots the 

 channel between the high ledges is so 

 narrow as to require very fine steering on 

 the part of the negro helmsman. But it is 

 seldom that a raft goes through without its 

 passengers being thrown off, swept off or 

 having their craft turn over on them. 



A glass model of a housefly, magnified 

 to show its interesting construction 



Facts about Your Enemy, the 

 Common Housefly 



MORE than one-third of all the known 

 flies belong to one family, Musca 

 Domestica, or the common housefly. This 

 fly is perhaps the most cosmo- 

 politan in the whole order of 

 insects, being found in al- 

 most every part of the 

 world. The eggs are 

 laid in groups, and in 

 a few hours the larvae 

 make their appear- 

 ance. 



Each female lays 

 about seventy eggs. 

 Though the common 

 housefly has been 

 "swatted" all over 

 the world, the fly 

 family shows no 

 signs of decreasing. 

 The most approved 

 methods for its exter- 

 mination employ pre- 

 vention and sanitary 

 measures. 



