RIVER LIFE. 



157 



stamping restores the circulation and natural power of motion. 

 This efiected, they jump in and at it again. 



When the water is too shallow on any part of a stream to float 

 the logs, dams are constructed to flow the water back, with gates 

 which can be opened and shut at pleasure, and either through 

 the apertures of the gates or sluice-ways made for the purpose, 

 the logs are run. This dam answers the same purpose in rais- 

 ing the water to float the logs below as above, on the brook. 

 Shutting the gates, a large pond of water is soon accumulated ; 

 then hoisting them, out leaps the hissing element, foaming and 

 dashing onward like a tiger leaping upon his prey. Away the 

 logs scamper, reminding one of a flock of frightened sheep flee- 

 ing before the wolf. Some logs are so cumbersome that they re- 

 main unmoved, even with tliis artificial accumulation of water. 

 In such cases, embracing the moment when the water is at its 

 highest pitch, in we leap, and, thrusting our hand-spikes beneath 

 them, bow our shoulders to the instrument, often stooping so low 

 as to kiss the curling ripples as they dance by. In this way, some- 

 times by a few inches at a time, and sometimes by the rod, we 

 urge them over difficult places ; while, in connection with the 

 annoyance of very cold water, broken fragments of ice mingle in 

 the melee, imposing sundry thumps and bruises upon the be- 

 numbed limbs of the enduring river-driver. 



In some places, on low, swampy land, a body of water accu- 

 mulates several rods wide, and from three to ten feet deep. Here 

 the logs, as if to play " hide and seek," run in among the bushes, 

 giving infinitely more trouble than amusement. Under such cir- 

 cumstances, it becomes necessaiy for the men to keep on the logs 

 most of the time ; and as logs roll very easily in the water, and 

 are often extremely slippery, it requires the balancing skill of a 

 wire-dancer to keep on them ; and often some luckless wight, 

 whether he will or no, plunges over head and ears into the flood 

 as he is whirled from the back of some ticklish log ; and, how- 



