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Show 9 -- 6-- we encountered some difficulty in keeping the boats clear of running into the pilings of the bridge. Then the river swept us down below the bridges and threatened for a few minutes to pile us upon the willow- fringed sandbar in the middle of the river. We then floated on down the river, perhaps five to eight miles, and came to a point where there is a sharp bend in the river. The water piling up against the bank on the right shore was deflected and then swept almost directly across the channel, forming a moving amount of water, and the apex of the current, where the river is so swift, seemed to pile up, like a little ridge of water, three or four feet high sweeping across the river; and it called for rather skillful navigation to sweep our boats around and get them through this apex of the current, without being swept on to the opposite bank. " Outside of those three things, there was very little difficulty in going down the river, except for the fact than the water in the river is excessively muddy. It is so muddy that you can not see an inch below the surface. Ordinarily, in the places where there is less declivity, the water flows fairly smoothly, and then you bump into rocks, not knowing that they are there, because you can no see them. For instance, we decided to run to shore one da and one man stood up on the forward deck, and as we approached shore he stood there and was ready to help get to shore, when the boat struck a submerged pock and tilted enough to throw him into the water. But on account of the |