54: PLEASURES OF ANGLING. 



weeks we were on the river, a hundred rapids, in 

 which an Adirondack boat could not have lived a 

 moment, were passed in perfect safety. The de- 

 scent is especially exhilarating. The skill with 

 which rocks and breakers and foam are avoided or 

 surmounted, is a source of constant wonder and 

 admiration. To pass through the pleasurable ex- 

 citement of these dashing nights is alone worth a 

 journey to any one of the rushing rivers where this 

 experience can be had. The sensation of " running 

 the rapids " is unlike anything otherwise attainable. 

 It somewhat resembles that which one experiences 

 from the return movement of a swing in full ac- 

 tion ; but the feeling is multiplied an hundred fold. 

 As the rapid is approached, the water is generally 

 as smooth as glass, and the light vessel seems drawn 

 through it with lightning speed, as if moving upon 

 the surface of transparent oil. From this it glides 

 and no other word so literally expresses the 

 movement into, and dashes through the foaming 

 waters with the swiftness of a locomotive the 

 skilled boatmen guiding their craft past the ex- 

 posed and hidden rocks by an easy and quiet motion 

 of their paddles, as securely and as gracefully as 

 the skilled " whip " guides his horses past any dan- 

 gerous obstacle which presents itself in his pathway. 

 This running the rapids is the very " poetry of 

 motion," and those who have never enjoyed the 



