PASSING THE RAPIDS. 149 
for bold river scenery, and poled and paddled against a 
strong current. Judging from the water-mark observ- 
able on rocks and trees, the Navua, which flows almost 
due south, must be navigable for large boats during the 
rainy season; but when we ascended there was little 
water, and it required no ordinary skill to get the canoes 
over all the rapids that presented themselves. I have 
never appreciated the fun of passing over rapids, where 
a single false stroke or inattention of the steersman 
may upset you, and one may congratulate himself by 
simply escaping with bruises.* On one or two occa- 
sions we had to drag our little flotilla over them by 
means of ropes. At length we arrived at one worse 
than any we had previously encountered. We all landed, 
and told our crew to put our luggage on shore; this 
order, however, was only partially obeyed. Colonel 
Smythe’s people, wishing to save themselves the trouble, 
headed the rapid. In an instant the torrent, breaking 
* T well remember the anxious faces on board a steamer going over the 
rapids of La Chine, on the St. Lawrence; the band playing all the time, 
“ The Rapids are near, and the daylight is past.” There were on board 
then nearly all the members that had assembled to attend the meeting of 
the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at Montreal, 
Canada, I, as official representative of the Linnean Society of London, 
amongst the number; and judging from the serious tone that pre- 
vailed, and the sudden silence when we drew near the rapids, I don’t 
think there were many present who thanked the managing committee for 
having provided tbis passage for our special amusement. Everybody 
was glad when it was over, except perhaps those Canadians who, by fre- 
quent repetition, had become used to this sensation passage. The tem- 
porary gloom was, however, soon dispelled by an animated discussion as to 
whether the honour of taking the first steamer over La Chine—the Indians 
had always taken their canoes over—was due to an Englishman or Ame- 
rican. I did not wait for the end of the discussion; but whatever country- 
man, he must have been a most daring and cool-headed fellow. 
