304 TRAVELS IN THE EIGHTIES. 



denly we understood that this was a tide-rip on to 

 which we were being carried. In a moment, with a 

 fearful crash, away blew sprit and sail, splashing and 

 dragging through the churned froth alongside till we 

 hauled the dripping mass aboard. What a fate to 

 have rushed blindly with such velocity into the centre 

 of this lesser Charybdis ! Our speed was considerably 

 reduced, but we continued to drive steadily ahead at 

 a rapid pace into the struggling currents. The band 

 of white foam had to be crossed at some point, and 

 beyond it a similar band was visible, like an advancing 

 column. Great trunks of trees seemed to be moving 

 like vessels through the surge, with independent 

 motions of their own against the gale. Long, yellow, 

 water-worn logs, whose touch meant death, almost 

 scraped the sides of the canoe as George and I rowed 

 hard to avoid them. Many dangers were concealed 

 under the boiling surface, and occasionally some mass 

 of wood, whose specific gravity caused it to float deep, 

 was heaved up, and thus stretched out its senseless 

 branches as if to grasp us or beckon us below. How 

 hard we must have rowed was felt afterwards by its 

 effects. At the same time I noticed, amidst the loud 

 roaring caused by the waves, the peculiar choking or 

 gulping sound of the smaller whirlpools. We were 

 in the midst of what, on a larger scale, is observed in 

 the centre of a typhoon which has raised heavy 

 opposing seas running in different directions. We 

 were tossed about wildly, with abrupt irregular move- 

 ments, but, owing to the excellent qualities of these 



