232 
How to Climb A Cataract. 
there as the captain steers it out of the real rush on to the crag, where 
the brave swimmers are stationed: these jdinp into it as quick as 
lightning, put all their strength into their paddles and try to cut 
through the stream that is rushing down with the speed of an arrow : this 
also is accomplished and the vessel, with whatever it contains, is saved. 
But woe, if on hauling the vessel up, the captain does not keep it in the 
right direction or if, on ploughing through the stream, the strength of the 
paddlers and his own ready skill are unable to withstand the strength 
of the current! — without any chance of escape the vessel shoots broad- 
side down the fall and a few fragments emerging on the farther side 
of the foam indicate its destruction. Though the novice is already 
timorous when the corial is being hauled and his fear is ever and always 
increased afresh lest the knot should give, or the warp refuse to stand 
the strain, his anxiety is nevertheless lirst raised to its highest pitch 
when the boat reaches the top, the paddlers jump in, and their struggle 
against the strength of the current begins. In this struggle between life 
and death the vessel often stays still for minutes as if rooted to the spot, 
a cry of agony rings from out the anxious breast, every muscle of the 
contestants stands out prominent with its superhuman effort, the eye is 
steadfastly fixed on the threatening rock — for if the rushing torrent 
seizes the corial or drags it but an inch out of its course towards the 
destructive abyss, no power can then save it from being smashed to 
pieces. But. the feeling of oppression is over, the paddlers have won, 
and the canoe is cradled safely in the fairway. I was only too often 
menaced to-dav with many a similar anxious moment that makes all the 
difference between life and death, and yet this exciting method of pro- 
ceeding, this furious combat with the element also had its interesting 
and extremely fascinating side. One lot of men can be seen here 
trying with truly admirable skill to swim to an exposed crag: the brown 
faces with their mouths just out of water on which their spread-out 
long black hair is floating, change their direction all of a twinkling, 
momentarily disappear in a foaming wave and finally burst into bright 
laughter when the slippery crust of the rock threatens to make its 
climbing impossible. But no one gives up the attempt until the very 
last man has secured a foothold: in the meantime, those that were the 
first to reach have already again ploughed their way through the water to 
a crag farther on, where the rope is now thrown to them with equal skill. 
Another party, cheerful and gay the while, bends under the heavy weight 
of the baggage and laughs at every false step on the awful road over 
innumerable rocks and rubble. The terrible uproar of the uncurbed 
current keeps our strenuous efforts company with its deafening din, the 
glowing tropical sun sheds its warmth over this wildly sublime scenery 
and forms thousands of rainbows upon the spluttering and bubbling 
waters, while the swarms of quizzing swallows in their zig-zag flight, the 
variously coloured processions of noisy macaws and parrots screeching 
through the air, and the humming-birds that, sporting like lightning 
sparks in the flower-calyces of Tillandsiac or Clusiae growing out from 
between the crevices of the rocks, constitute a scene as enchanting as it is 
attractive. This rich wealth of the most wanton natural conditions 
