THE RED EIVER EXPEDITION. 307 



that nature is capable of. For the first fifty miles 

 there are numerous islands so much so, that the 

 river is a succession of lakes, or as if there were four 

 or five rivers running side by side, uniting here and 

 there only to separate a few miles lower down. At 

 some points it is, however, contracted into one or two 

 comparatively narrow channels, where the great rush 

 of water resembles a magnified mill-race. The pas- 

 sage of such places is always more or less dangerous, 

 particularly if small islands or large rocks divide the 

 rapids into several channels, crossing one another 

 before they meet in the boiling caldron of foaming 

 water below. Numerous were the hair -breadth 

 escapes : in many instances the lives of boats' crews 

 seemed held in the balance for some moments more 

 awful for those who watched the scene from the bank 

 than for the soldiers actually in the boat. Providence 

 a noble term which this war in France has taught 

 newspaper writers to sneer at watched over us in a 

 remarkable manner ; for although we had one or two 

 boats wrecked on this mighty river, and many men 

 were for minutes in imminent danger, the whole 

 force reached Lake Winnipeg without any loss of life. 

 There is no more deliciously exciting pleasure in 

 the world than that of running a really large and 

 dangerous rapid in a canoe, or in a small boat. As 

 your frail skiff bounds over the waves, ever and anon 

 jumping as it were from a higher to a lower level, 

 whilst the paddlers or oarsmen tug away with might 



