136 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
l^VB, 13, 1897. 
The Seven Seas.* 
The latest of Mr. Kipling's volumes has broupbt up anew 
two qnestious tbHt have already been di.scu^^sed in conuec- 
tion with hi« farlier works; Is Mr. Kipling a poel? aud are 
Lis rhymes poetry? These are very importaut questions, to 
the author at least, and possibly to the whole world of let- 
ters; but for ourselves we are well content to leave their de- 
cision to posterity, to accept the talented writer for what he 
most certainly is — a keen, close observtr of the world at large 
and a master of word painting in the English language — and 
to cruise with him over "The Seven Seas": 
"Coastwise— cross-seas — ^loiind the world and back again. 
Whither the Haw shall fail us or the Trades drive down." 
The new book is a collection of some forty poems, many of 
them connected with the sea, while some belong to our old 
friends, the "Barrack Room Ballads." All are good, but the 
sea unquestionably has the precedence over the land, and the 
best in every sense are those relating to it. 
The first and the most pretentious of the collection, the 
"Song of the English," is apowerful piece of writing in vary- 
ing measure, made up of several songs, the "Coastwise 
Lights," "The Song of the Dead," and others. While from 
its nature it appeals directly to the subjects of the Queen, no 
one can read it without appreciating its spirit. 
The "La«t Chantey" is verily a song of the sea, with a 
swing and vigor that goes straight to the heart of the sailor- 
man, It is the prayer of all the millions who have followed 
the sea since the beginning of time, for its preservation 
through all eternity: 
"Loud sang- the souls of tbe jolly, jolly mariners, 
Crying: 'Under lieaven there is neither land nor lea! 
Must we sing forevermore 
On the windless, gla'sy floor? 
Take back your Rolden fiddles, and we'll beat to open sea,' " 
* ' « » * * • 
"Sun, wind and cloud shall fail not from the face of it, 
Stinging, ringin? spindrift, nor the fulmar flying free; 
And the ships shall go abroad 
To the glory of the Lord, 
Who heard the silly sailor foltr and gave tbem back their sea." 
There is nothing here of the smooth and flowing qualities 
of Byron and Barry Cornwall, nothing that lends itself more 
than readily to the declamation of the schoolboy; but the 
measure is strong, rough and vigorous, as befits the 
theme, and the result is a new song of the sea that is likely 
to find a permanent place beside others that have become 
classic. 
"The Merchantmen" is a fine poem in similar plain and 
salty strain, the song of humble merchant ships of all classes 
and ages through their long lives of peril, work and disas- 
ter: 
"By sport of bitter weather 
We're waUy, strained and scarred 
From the keoiledge on the keelson 
To the slings upon the yard. 
Sis oceans had their will of us, 
To carry all away — 
Our galley's in the Baltic, 
And our boom's m Mossel Bay. 
***** 
"Let go, let go the anchors ! 
Now shamed at htart are we 
To bring so poor a cargo home, 
That had for gift the sea? 
Let go the great bow-anchors — 
Ah ; fools were we, and blind— 
The worst we baled with utter toil, 
The rest we left behind. 
"Coastwise— cross-seas— round the world and back agaui. 
Whither the flaw shall faU us or the Tradus drive down: 
Plain sail— storm sail lay your board and tack again— 
And all to bring a cargo up to London Town." 
In "McAndrew's Hymn" Mr, Kipling ventures into a 
comparatively new field, and one in which, from the mature 
of things, he can have spent but a brief time in the cotirse 
of his busy life. That he should handle familiarly and ac- 
curately the bewildering technicalities of steam engineering, 
old and new, is wonderful enough, but that is a small part 
of it all; he has gone far deeper and imbibed the whole 
spirit, as though he had spent all his days in the shop or the 
engine room. The old Scotch engineer is indeed a wonder- 
Iti Icharacter creation: a mixture of technical skill, religious 
fanaticism, dry humor aud kindliness of heart, thinly 
veneered with a skin of misanthrophy; and his s6Iiloquy is 
perhaps one of the cleverest things that Mr, Kipling has 
yet produced. One must- not only read it, but sludy it 
through and through, to come at a full appreciation of its 
merits; stray quotations can in no way do it justice, but 
there are many odd parts that can well stand aloue: 
"Lord, thou hast made this world below the shadow of a dream, 
An', taught by time, I take it so— exceptin' always steam. 
From coupler-flange to spindle-gulde I see Thy hand, O Goi- 
Predesiinaii n in tbe stride of yon connectin' rod, 
John Calvin might ha' forged the same— enormous, certain, slow," 
* * « * » * * • » 
'My engines, after ninety days o' race and rack an' strain 
Through all the seas of all Tby world, sUm-bangm' home again. 
Slam bang too much— they knock a wee— tbe crosshead-gibs are 
loose. 
But thirty thousand mile o' sea has gied them fair excuse." 
* * * * * * 
"—the auld Fieat Engineer, 
That started as a boiler whelp— when steam and he were low. 
I mind the time we used to serve a broken pipe wi' tow. 
Ten pound was all the pressure then— eh ! eh I— a man wad drive; 
An' here our workin' gauges show one hundei' fifty five." 
"We'll tak' one stretch— three weeks an' odd by any road ye steer— 
Fra' Cape Town east to Wellington-ye need au eugitieer. 
Fail there -ye've time to weld your shaft-av, eat it, ere ye're 
spoke, 
Or makeKerguelen under sail-three jiggers burned wi' smoke; 
An' home again, the Kio run: it's no child's play to go 
Steamia' to bell for fourteen days o' snow and floe and blow— 
The bprgs, like kelpies over.^iile tbat grin an' turn an' shift, 
Whaur, grindin' like the mills o' God, goes by the big south drift. 
(Hail, Buow and ice that, praise the Lord, I've met them at their 
work, 
An' wished we had anither route, or they anither klrfc.) " 
,^ijt******* 
"An' nosv the main eccentrics start their quarrel on the sheaven. 
Her time, her own appointed ■ ime, the rocking iink-head bides, 
Till— hear that note?— the rod's return whings glimmerin' through 
the guides. 
• XDe B-'ven Seas." By Rudyard Kipling. t>. Appleton & Co., New 
York, Price $1.50. 
They're all awaT True heat, full power, the clangin' chorus goes] 
Clear to the tuner where they sit, my purrin' dynamos. 
Interdf pendence absolute, foreseen, ordained, decreed. 
To work, ye'll note, at any tilt an' every rate o' spued. 
Fra' skyliyht lift to furnace-bars, backed, bo ted, braced an' stayed. 
An' singin' like the Mornin' Stars for joy that they are made; 
While, out o' touch o' vanity, the swealin' thrust-block says; 
'Not unto us the praise, or man— not unto us the pr Ise!' 
Now, a' together, bear them lift their lesson— theirs an' mine: 
'Law, Order, Duty an' Bestraiut, Obedience, Discipline!' " 
********* 
"Oh, for a man to weld it then, in one trip hammer strain. 
Till even first-class passengers could tell tbe meanin' plain! 
But no one cares except mysel' that serve an' understand 
My seven thousand horse-power here. Eh, Lord! They're grand — 
they're grana !" 
It goes without saying that such a poem as this is entirely 
too technical for the average reader, whose enjoyment and 
appreciation of it are limited to odd parts, but to the eri- 
gineer who can appreciate it as a whole it is a wonderful ex- 
position of the intricacies of his science. Any industrious 
writer might learn from books to handle the terms with fair 
accuracy, but there is nothing in the books that teaches a 
man to understand and appreciate the wonderful music of a 
great ship, or to love his engines as sentient beings. 
We all know the Bolivar, of evil memory, 
"Just a heap o' broken plates 
Puttied up with tar." , 
* * -I' ***** * 
'•Over loaded, under-naanned, 
Built to founder." 
In "The Mary Gloster" Mr Kipling introduces ns to the 
"merchant prince" who built and owned the Bolivar and 
others of her kind; and who on his deathbed reviews his long 
career from 'prentice boy to the owner of shipyards, ships 
and titles. A pleasant retrospect it is: 
"Lord, what boats I've handled— rotten and leaky and old; 
Ran 'em or— opened the bilge-cock, precisely as I was told 
Grub that 'ud bind you crazy, and crews that 'udturn you gray, 
And a big, fat lump of insurance to cover the risk on the way. 
And the others, they duren'c do it; they said thfy valued their life 
(They've served me since as skippers), I went— and I took my wife." 
Tbe last dying vision of the man makes a fitting ending to 
stich a life: 
"Down by the head an' sinkin'. Her fires are drawn and cold, 
And the water's splashin' hollow on the skia of the empty hold — 
Churning and choking and chuckling, quiet and scummy and dark - 
Full to her lower hatches, and risin' steady. Hark I 
That was the after bulkhead -she's flooded from stem to stern 
Never seen death yet, Dickie? Well, now is your time to learn." 
Many of the poems have the truly musical quality for which 
others of the writer's works are already noted, a swing 
and a rhythm which suggests a good chorus. The military 
Eortion of the work is introduced by a quaint and comical 
it of verse, "When 'Omer smote 'is bloomin' lyre." and then 
we meet our old friend Thomas Atkins, "Back to the Army 
Again." This poem, the "Bird of Prey," "Sappers," "Chol- 
era in Camp," and others, are in a faniiliar strain, most of 
them with a chorus. There is, however, no lack of variety 
throughout the book; the tragic and comic, the grave and 
gay, the idle chorus and the tale with a moral are there to 
charm the reader by their contrasts. 
The 80ft. Special Class. 
Apropos of the statements made of late in several papers 
that Vaquero held the record In the 80ft. special class for last 
season, it is but fair to state that the first honors in the class 
go to Asahi, her record being fifty starts, twenty-four firsts, 
thirteen seconds and five thirds. Asahi is owned by Bayard 
Thayer, and was sailed in all of her races by Capt. Nat Wat- 
son, who had previously raced Pappoose, Sayonara and Con- 
stellation for Mr. Thayer. 
PADDLING CANOES. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I was very pleased to notice in your last numbfr that Mr. 
Scott had brought up tbe vexed question of racing canoe 
reg'ulations. This is a subject that should be thoroughly dis- 
cussed, because 1 believe there is to be a revision of the pres- 
ent unsatisfactory A. C. A. rults. 
Mr. Scott proposes to use one class of canoe for all the 
races, and he thinks that the number of entries and the in- 
terest in tbe paddling races will be increa^-ed thereby. In 
my opinion he has not prtsented his arguments quite fairly, 
nor drawn bis conclufions correctly. 
The four paddling events meniioned by Mr. Scott require 
at the most three canoes, because the only difference between 
the single open canoe and the tandem open canoe is a weight 
of 5lb3., so that the canoe can be built to the lower weight 
(50) and ballast carried for the tandem race. 
The idea tbat one man mutt bring a fleet of canoes is mis- 
leading. Suppose our one man wishes to enter all the races; 
he cannot enter the tandem with any hope of success wiih- 
out a partner, who, let us hor.e, will p-jy half the expense on 
the canoe. Neithti will he do well in The fours race without 
three companions, each of whom will pay one-quarter of the 
expense on the canoe. He will have to pay the whole ex- 
pense on the canoe for the trophy, but he can'use the tandem 
canoe for the singles. Then, to sum up, he would have to 
pay the expense on what would tqual one and three quarter 
canoes if he wished lo enter all the races under the present 
rules. 
Mr. Scott's plan wotild involve paddling the fours in a 
16ft. canoe, .and no one ought to know better than himself 
that this 18 quite unreasonable, Surely he has not forgotten 
the fours race at the meet of 1895, when the Northern 
Division canre filled and sank on tbe last half of the conrse, 
and he and I had to swim to shore for a canoe with which to 
pick up the remainder of our crew. A four crew should go 
faster than a tandem, that anyone will admit, yet it cannot 
do so in a 16ft canoe. Again, if a 16ft. canoe is to be used 
for a fours man crew the men in the crew must all be li.Jtt, 
,so light that a man of ]501bs is barred out if succe.ss is to be 
attained. In the vicinity of Montreal 16ft..cano' 8 are used 
for the lours The rule reads: ' Cinoes must njt be less 
than I2in, deep,' etc., the result being that canots are built 
14 or 15in. dtep, and speoial contrivances are used to keep 
out the water, so that in fact one canoe cannot be used with 
advantage for tandem and fours even there. Besides it is 
not unusual for several of the crews to sink in spite of all 
the precautions. A year ago the A. €!. A. rules were made 
to allow a 20ft. caf;oe for the fours. The Toronto C 0, had 
two built to that length They have given every satisfac- 
tion. Tbpy are very fast, staworthy, and little more ex-, 
penBive than a 16fc. canoe. 
Mr. Scott is strongly of the opinion that the trophy pad- 
dling race should be paddled in his "standard" canoe, and 
he_ considers that this would be a fair test of a paddler's 
ability However, before the present rules are changed a 
very thorough expression of opinion should be obtained 
from men who have paddled m the trophy race in former 
years. I for one do not believe that it is advisable to use a 
larger and heavier canoe for this event, because in so doing 
an immense advantage would be given to a man of great 
strength and little skill. At the same timi the speed would 
be very much reduced, and although some may not consider 
this an argument, yet it is universally seen that in all kinds 
of racing there is a tendency to make use of anything that 
will give greater speed, and this tendency does not entirely 
arise Irom a deairc to get the better of a competitor, but 
also from the love of going fast, which everyone possesses. 
There has certainly been a lack of entries for the trophy 
paddling in the last two years, especially in 1895, when 
there were only two, but in that year the race was paddled 
in canoes of the size advocated by Mr. Scott. 
Several years ago, when entries for the trophy paddling 
race were plentiful, racing canoes were used, and not longer 
ago than 1894 there were live of these canoes on Toronto 
Bay. I do not thiik, therefore, that the regulation tor the 
canoe used in the troi)hy paddling race has had anything to 
do with the lack of interest in that race. The interest in 
any kind of sport rises and falls from time to time, and I 
feel sure that the interest in th,e A. 0. A. trophy padlling 
race is now rising Last summer there were several entries, 
and next summer there will probably be more. 
After attending the Muskoka Lakes As'iociation and the 
A, C A meets last summer, and talking over the subject of 
canoe regulations with several paddlors, Mr. D. H Mac- 
Dougall and I drew up a set of rtdes, which appeared to meet 
the requirements very well, and which did not conflict 
greatly with the rules in force at present in several locali- 
ties 
The canoes are divided into three classes, and each race 
commonly in use is assigned to its proper class. 
The proposed regulations are as follows: 
Class 1. — The canoe must not be more than 16ft. long, less 
than 28in. beam, nor less than 9in deep. 
Race for the class: Trophy paddling 
Class IL — The canoe must not be more than 16ft long, less 
than 30in beam, less than 12in deep, and must weigh at 
least 50lbs. 
Races for the class; Single paddling, tandem paddling, 
hurry-scurry, ladies' paddimg, ladies' tandem, mixed tan- 
dem, novice paddling, tail-ena race, upset race, tilting, gun- 
wale race. 
Class III. — The canoe must not be more than 20ft. long, 
less than 12in. deep, less than 80in. wide, and must weigh 
not less than 751b3. 
Races for the class: Club fours, tug-of war. 
Prom a glance at these rnles it is seen that the Class II. 
canoe is the all-round canoe, such as any canoeist possesses, 
and this canoe is suitable for most of the races. 
We have been careful to classify the minor races which 
are left in doubt in the A. C. A. Year Book, and which 
caused some trouble last summer. The class III. canoe is 
good for cruising, as well as fast, and suitable for either 
three or four men. Three men with this canoe can easily 
distance a tandem. 
Tnere is one more thing I would suggest, that some official 
A. 0. A, hurry-scurry race be devised. This race is 
generally defined as a run, swim and paddle. At most 
places where canoe races are held it is very inconvenient, if ■ 
not impossible, to hold the race in this form. This has led ua 
at Toronto to adopt the following for the hurry-scurry : Com- 
petitors start kneeling in oroinary position ; on the firing of a 
gun they must stand up and paddle; on second gun they 
jump out and swim, towing their canoes; on third gun they 
climb in and finish paddling on the gunwale. This form of 
hurry-scurry has been found very satisfactory wherever it 
has been tried, and we think it should be officially adopted. 
I may mention that we sent copies of the above rules to 
the commodores of both the A. C. A. and the M. L. A. last 
October. R. O. Keng. 
Cambkidgk, MasS; 
Canoeing in New Zealand. 
The following letter recently found its way to the secre- 
tary-treasurer of the American Canoe Association from the 
other side of the world, as the result of a magazine article by 
JVlr. D'Arcy Scotfc, of Ottawa: 
Christchukch, New Zealand, Dec. 10, 18%.— Secretary, 
American, Gaiioe Association: In the August number of 
the Massey Magazine I notice an article ori the objects of 
your Association. Being an ardent canoeist, I shall take it 
as a favor if you can give me some information regarding 
your club, especially the camp rules and the dimen.sions of 
your cauoes. We have no canoe club here, but there are a 
great many canoes on the rivers about Christchurch, mostly 
of the Rob Roy pattern. A few have been built after the 
style of the birchbark, but the.se are noticeable chiefly for 
their scarcity. We have some rivers eminently fitted for 
canoes, but few seem to avail themselves of the opportunities 
afforded by nature. 
My brother and a friend are about to take a long trip, and 
I understand that they will be the first white men over the 
rotite. They will go up the Wanganui River to its source, 
then by portage to Lake Taupo, and then down the Waikato 
iiive.r to a point near the sea, where they will pick up the 
railway and proceed to Auckland. For the greater part of 
the distance they will be traveling through the Maori King 
country. The canoe they are taking is a canvas one, built 
after the birchbark pattern. These canvas canoes seem to 
be the best for most of our rivers, as rapids and snags 
abound. Wooden canoes seem to break up too rapidly, and 
they will not stand the knocking about that they are neces- 
sarily subjected to in these rivers. 
Mr. Scott's article has inspired me with a hope of forming 
a canoe club here, and any information will be most accept- 
able. E. H, T. 
American Canoe Association. 
The annual meeting of the executive committee of the 
Atlantic Divi.sion, A'. C. A., will be held at the Astor House, 
New York city, on Friday evening next, Feb. 13, at 8 o'clock 
sharp. 
The important question of holding the annual division 
camp as a four days' cruise upon the Delaware River from 
Easton to Delanco, and a camp upon the beautiful site at 
the latter place for the remaining three days of the week, 
will be taken up and disposed of. All the Division members 
are most cordially invited to be present. 
Joseph E. Mtteeat, Vice-Corn. Altantic Division. 
