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Show RUNNING OU'f OF THE GL{ANlTE. 91 of a mile below camp tho river turns abruptly to tho loft, and botwoon camp and that point is very swift, running down in a long, broken clmto, and piling up against the foot of tho cliff, whore it tnrns to tho left. We try to pull across, so as to go down on the other side, but tho waters arc swift, and it seems impossible for us to escape the rock below; but, in pulling across, the bow of the boat is turned to the fart her shore, so tliat wo are swept broadside down, and arc prevented, by tho rebounding waters, from striking against the wall. There we toss about for a fow seconds in these billows, and are carried past tho danger. Below, the river turns again to the right, the canon is very narrow, aid we see in ad vance but a short distance. The water, too, is very swift, and there is no landing place. From around this curve there comes a mad roar, and down we arc carried, with a dizzying velocity, to the heau of another rapid. On either side, high over our heads, there are overhanging granite walls, and the sharp bends cut off our view, so that a few minutes will carry us into unknown waters. Away we go, on one long, winding chute. I stand on deck, supporting myself with a strap, fastened on either side to the gunwale, and tho boat glide rapidly, where the water is smooth, or, striking a wave, she leaps and bounds like a thing of life, and we have a wild, exhilarating ride for ten miles, which we make in less than an hour. Tho excitement is so great that wo forgot the danger, until we hear the roar of a great fall below; then we back on our oars, and are carried slowly toward its head, and succeed in landing just above, and find that we have to make another portage. At this wo arc engaged until some time after dinner. Just here we 111n out of the granite! Ten miles in less than •half a day, and limestone walls below. Good cheer returns; we forget the storms, and the gloom, and cloud covered canons, and the bla~k gTanite, and tho raging river, and push our boats from shore in great glee. Though we are out of the granite, the river is still swift, and we wheel about a point again to the right, and turn, so as to bead back in the direction from which we come, and see the granite again, with its narrow gorge and black craO'S · but we meet with no more. aTcat falls, or rapids. .Still, we 0 ' v run cautiously, aud stop, from time to time, to examine some places which • |
