SB EflE 7SD 
 
 
 to 
 
 >- 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
 T. 
 
K . 
 

ob 
 
A 
 
 THOUSAND MILES 
 
 IN THE 
 
 ROB BOY CANOE 
 
 ON RIVERS AND LAKES OF EUROPE. 
 
THOUSAND MILES 
 
 IN THE 
 
 ROB EOT CANOE 
 
 ON RIYERS AND LAKES OF 
 EUROPE. 
 
 BY J. MACGREGOR, M.A., 
 
 TEINITT COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 LONDON : 
 SAMPSON LOW, SON, AND MAESTON, 
 
 MILTON HOUSE, LUDGATE-HILL. 
 
 1866. 
 (The Right of Translation reserved.) 
 
Z>9/9 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE voyage about to be described was made 
 last Autumn in a small Canoe, with a double 
 paddle and sails, which the writer managed 
 alone. 
 
 The route traversed by the Canoe led some- 
 times over mountains and through forests and 
 plains, where the boat had to be carried or 
 dragged. 
 
 The rivers, lakes, and canals navigated were 
 as follows : 
 
 The Rivers Thames, Sambre, Meuse, Rhine, 
 Main, Danube, Keuss, Aar, 111, Moselle, Meurthe, 
 Marne, and Seine. 
 
 M31.1762 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 The Lakes Titisee, Constance, Unter See, 
 Zurich, Zug, and Lucerne, together with six 
 canals in Belgium and France, and two expe- 
 ditions in the open sea of the British Channel. 
 
 TEMPLE, LONDON, 
 
 January, 1866. 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Page 
 
 RAPIDS OF THE RETJSS (Frontispiece). 
 
 SEA ROLLERS IN THE CHANNEL ... ... 19 
 
 SWIMMING HEED ON THE MEUSE ... ... ... 30 
 
 SINGEES' WAGGON ON THE DANUBE ... ... ... 51 
 
 A CROWD IN THE MOENING ... ... ... ... 67 
 
 HATMAKEES AMAZED ... ... ... ... 84- 
 
 NIGHT SUEPEISE AT GEGGLINGEN ... ... ... 97 
 
 THE ROB ROT IN A CEOWD ... ... ... 114 
 
 SAILING UPON LAZE ZUG ... ... ... ... 138 
 
 SHIBKING A WATEEFALL ... ... ... ... 155 
 
 A CEITICAL MOMENT ... ... ... ... 171 
 
 ASTEIDE THE STEEN ... ... ... ... 189 
 
 THE ROB ROT AND THE Cow ... ... ... 215 
 
 POLITE TO THB LADIES ... ... ... ... 231 
 
 G-BOUP OP FRENCH FISHEBS ... ... ... ... 247 
 
 PASSING A DANGEEOUS BAEEIEE ... .. ... 264 
 
 A CHOKED CANAL ... ... ... ... ... 282 
 
 RIGGING ASHOEE ... ... ... ... ... 291 
 
 CHAET OF CUEEENTS AND ROCKS .. 304 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GETTING HEADY. 
 
 Page 
 
 Canoe Travelling Other Modes The Eob Eoy Hints- 
 Tourists The Eivers The Dress I and We The 
 Election ... ... ... ... ... 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE STAET. 
 
 The Thames The Channel Ostend Canal The Meuse 
 HoUand The Rhine The Main The Prince of 
 Wales ... ... ... ... ... 12 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Hollenthal Pass Black Forest Beds Lake Titisee 
 
 Storm Source of the Dan ube ... ... ... 40 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Danube Singers Shady nooks Geislingen Morn- 
 ing Crowd Islands Monks Concert Fish A race 57 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Sigmaringen Treacherous trees Congress of herons 
 Flying Dutchman Tub and shovel Bottle race 
 Snags Ya Vol Benighted ... ... ... 79 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ^ay-dream River lUer Ulm A stiff king Lake Con- 
 stance Seeing in the dark Coloured Canvas Sign 
 talk Synagogue Amelia ... ... ... 100 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Fog Fancy pictures Boy soldiers Boat's billet Eating 
 Lake Zurich Lake Zug Swiss shots Fishing 
 Britons Talk-book ,. 122 
 
V1U CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 CHAPTEE Till. 
 
 Sailing on Lucerne Seeburg Kiver scenes Night and 
 snow The Eeuss A dear dinner Seeing a rope 
 Passing a fall Bremgarten rapids ... ... 145 
 
 CHAPTEE IX, 
 
 Music at the mill Sentiment and chops Eiver Limmat 
 Fixed on a fall On the river Aar Falls of Lauffen- 
 burg The cow cart ... ... ... ... 162 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 Field of Foam Precipice Puzzled Eheinfelden Eapids 
 Dazzled Astride Very Salt The Ladies Whirlpool 
 Funny English A baby The bride ... ... 180 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 Private concert Thunderer LaHardt Forest Eiver 111 
 
 Madame Nico Yosges Admirers New wine ... 199 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 Bonfire My wife Matthews Tunnel picture Imposture 
 Moselle Cocher Gymnastics The paddle A 
 spell Overhead Feminine forum ... ... 217 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 Epinal The Tramp Halcyon Painted woman Beating 
 to quarters Boat in a hedge The Meurthe Moving 
 House Tears of a mother Five francs ... ...235 
 
 CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 Ladies in muslin Officers shouting Volunteers' umbrella 
 Eeims Leaks Wet Madame Clicquot Heavy 
 blow Dinner talk The Elephant Cloud ... ... 256 
 
 CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 Hammering Popish forms Wise dogs Blocked up No 
 water Odd fellows Dream on the Seine Charing- 
 cross ... ... ... ... ... ... 277 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Hints for Canoists, with a Chart of hard rocks and difficult 
 currents. 
 
THE AUTHOR'S PROFITS WILL BE GIVEN TO THE 
 ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION 
 
 AND TO THE SHIPWRECKED MARINERS* 
 SOCIETY. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 GETTING EEADY. 
 
 THE object of this book is to describe a new mode 
 of travelling on the Continent, by which new 
 people and things are met with, while healthy 
 exercise is enjoyed, and an interest ever varied 
 with excitement keeps fully alert the energies of 
 the mind. 
 
 Some years ago the Water Lily was rowed by 
 four men on the Rhine and on the Danube, and 
 its "log" delighted all readers. Afterwards, the 
 ,boat Water Witch laboured up French rivers, and 
 through a hundred tedious locks on the Bale 
 canal. But these and other voyages of three or 
 five men in an open boat were necessarily very 
 limited. In the wildest parts of the best rivers 
 the channel is too narrow for oars, or, if wide, it 
 is too shallow for a row-boat ; and the tortuous 
 passages, the rocks and banks, the weeds and 
 snags, the milldams, barriers, fallen trees, rapids, 
 
x5 GETTING READY. 
 
 whirlpools, and waterfalls which constantly occur 
 on a river winding among hills, make those very 
 parts where the scenery is wildest and best to be 
 quite unapproachable in an open boat, for it 
 would be swamped by the sharp waves, or upset 
 over the sunken rocks which are utterly impossible 
 for a steersman to see. 
 
 But these very things, which are obstacles or 
 dangers to the "pair oar," become interesting 
 features to the voyager in a covered canoe. For 
 now he looks forward, and not backward, as he 
 sits in his little bark. He sees all his course, and 
 the scenery besides. With one powerful sweep of 
 his paddle he can instantly turn the canoe, when 
 only a foot distant from fatal destruction. He 
 can steer within an inch in a narrow place, or 
 press through reeds and weeds, branches and 
 grass; can hoist and lower his sail without 
 changing his seat ; can shove with his paddle 
 when aground, or jump out in good time to 
 prevent a decided smash. He can wade and haul 
 the light craft over shallows, or on dry ground, 
 through fields and hedges, over dykes, barriers, 
 and walls ; can carry it by hand up ladders and 
 stairs, and can transport his boat over high 
 mountains and broad plains in a cart drawn 
 by a horse, a bullock, or a cow. 
 
 Nay, more than this, the covered canoe is 
 
CANOE TRAVELLING. 3 
 
 far stronger than an open boat, and may be 
 fearlessly dropped headforemost into a deep pool, 
 or a lock, or a millrace, and yet, when the 
 breakers are high, in the open sea or fresh water 
 rapids, they can only wash over the covered 
 deck, while it is always dry within. 
 
 Again, the canoe is safer than a rowing-boat, 
 because you sit so low in it, and never require to 
 shift your place or lose hold of the paddle ; while 
 for comfort during long hours, for days and weeks 
 of hard work, it is evidently the best, because you 
 lean all the time against a backboard, and the 
 moment you rest the paddle on your lap you are 
 as much at ease as in an arm-chair; so that, 
 while drifting along with the current or the wind, 
 you can gaze around, and eat or read or chat with 
 the starers on the bank, and yet, in a moment of 
 sudden danger, the hands are at once on the faith- 
 ful paddle ready for action. 
 
 Finally, you can lie at full length in the canoe, 
 with the sail as an awning for the sun, or a shelter 
 for rain, and you can sleep in it thus at night, 
 under cover, with an opening for air to leeward, 
 and at least as much room for turning in 
 your bed as sufficed for the great Duke of 
 Wellington; or, if you are tired of the water 
 for a time, you can leave your boat at an inn it 
 will not be " eating its head off," like a horse ; or 
 B 2 
 
4 OTHER MODES. 
 
 you can send it home or sell it, and take to the 
 road yourself, or sink into the dull old cushions 
 of the "Premiere Classe," and dream you are 
 seeing the world. 
 
 With such advantages, then, and with good 
 weather and good health, the canoe voyage about 
 to be described was truly delightful, and I never 
 enjoyed so much continuous pleasure in any other 
 tour. 
 
 But, before this deliberate assertion has weight 
 with intending "canoeists," it may well be asked, 
 from one who thus praises the paddle, " Has he 
 travelled in other ways, so as to know their 
 several pleasures ? Has he climbed glaciers and 
 volcanoes, dived into caves and catacombs, trotted 
 in the Norway carriole, and galloped on the 
 Russian steppes ? Does he know the charms of a 
 Mle boat, or a sail in the JEgean, or a mule in 
 Spain ; or has he ever swung on a camel, or glided 
 on a sleigh, or trundled along in a Rantoone ? " 
 
 Yes, he has most thoroughly enjoyed these and 
 other modes of locomotion in the four quarters of 
 the world ; but the pleasure in the canoe was far 
 better than all. 
 
 The weather this summer was, indeed, ex- 
 ceptionally good ; but then rain would have 
 diminished some of the difficulties, though it 
 might have been a bore to paddle ten hours in a 
 
THE ROB ROY. 5 
 
 downpour. Two inches more of water in the 
 rivers would have saved many a grounding, and 
 the wading in consequence, and, at worst, the rain 
 could have wetted only the upper man, which a 
 cape can cover ; so, even in bad weather, give me 
 the canoe. 
 
 Messrs. Searle and Sons, of Lambeth, soon built 
 for me the very boat I wanted. 
 
 The Rob Roy is built of oak, and covered fore 
 and aft with cedar. She is made just short 
 enough to go into the German railway waggons ; 
 that is to say, fifteen feet in length, twenty-eight 
 inches broad, nine inches deep, weighs eighty 
 pounds, and draws three inches of water, with 
 an inch keel. A paddle seven feet long, with a 
 blade at each end, and a lug sail and jib, are the 
 means of propulsion ; and a pretty blue silk 
 Union Jack is the only ornament. 
 
 The elliptic hole in which I sit is fifty-four inches 
 long and twenty broad, and has a mackintosh cover 
 fastened round the combing and to a button on 
 my breast; while between my knees is my 
 baggage for three months, in a black bag one 
 foot square and five inches deep. 
 
 But, having got this little boat, the difficulty 
 was to find where she could go to, or what rivers 
 were at once feasible to paddle on, and pretty to 
 see. 
 
6 HINTS. 
 
 Inquiries in London as to this had no result. 
 Even the Paris Boat Club knew nothing of 
 French rivers. The best German and Austrian 
 maps were frequently wrong. They made villages 
 on the banks which I found were a mile away in 
 a wood, and so were useless to one who had made 
 up his mind (a good resolve) never to leave his 
 boat. 
 
 It was soon, therefore, evident that, after 
 quitting the Ehine, this was to be a voyage of 
 discovery. And as I would most gladly have 
 accepted any hints on the matter myself, so I 
 venture to hope that this narrative will lessen 
 the trouble, while it stimulates the desire of the 
 numerous travellers who will spend their vacation 
 in a canoe.* 
 
 Not that I shall attempt to make a " handbook " 
 to any of the streams. The man who has a spark 
 of enterprize would turn from a river of which 
 every reach was mapped and its channels all 
 lettered. Fancy the free traveller, equipped for 
 a delicious summer of savage life, quietly sub- 
 mitting to be cramped and tutored by a " Chart 
 of the Upper Mosel," in the style of the following 
 extracts copied literally from two guide-books : 
 
 * See Appendix. Special hints for those who intend 
 to "canoe it" will usually be given in the footnotes, or 
 in the Appendix. 
 
TOURISTS. 7 
 
 (1) " Turn to the r. (right), cross the brook, and 
 ascend by a broad and steep forest track (in 40 
 rm-n.) to the hamlet of Albersbach, situate in the 
 midst of verdant meadows. In five min. more a 
 cross is reached, where the path to the 1. must be 
 taken ; in 10 min. to the r., in the hollow, to the saw 
 mill ; in 10 min. more through the gate to the r. ; 
 in 3 min. the least trodden path to the 1. leading 
 to the Gaschpels Hof ; after hr. the stony track 
 into the wood must be ascended," &c., &c. From 
 B 's Rhine,p. 94. 
 
 (2) " To the ridge of the Riffelberg 8,000 ft. 
 Hotel on top very good. 2 hrs. up. Guide 4 fr. 
 Horse and man 10 fr. Path past the Church: 
 then 1. over fields : then up through a wood 1 hr. 
 
 Past chalets : then r. across a stream." 's 
 
 Handbook. 
 
 This sort of guide-book is not to be ridiculed. 
 It is useful for some travellers as a ruled copy- 
 book is of use to some writers. For first tours it 
 may be needful and pleasant to have all made 
 easy, to be carried in steamers or railways like a 
 parcel, to stop at hotels Anglified by the crowd of 
 English guests, and to ride, walk, or drive among 
 people who know already just what you will want 
 to eat, and see, and do. 
 
 Year after year it is enough of excitement to 
 some tourists to be shifted in squads from town 
 
8 THE RIVERS. 
 
 to town, according to the routine of an excursion 
 ticket. Those who are a little more advanced 
 will venture to devise a tour from the mazy 
 pages of Bradshaw, and with portmanteau and 
 bag, and hat-box and sticks, they find more than 
 enough of judgment and tact is needed when they 
 arrive in a night train, and must fix on an omni- 
 bus in a strange town. Safe at last in the bed- 
 room of the hotel, they cannot but exclaim with 
 relief and satisfaction " Well, here we are all right 
 at last." 
 
 But after mountains and caves, churches and 
 galleries, ruins and battle-fields have been pretty 
 well seen, and after tact and fortitude have been 
 educated by experience, the tourist is ready for 
 new lines of travel which might have given him 
 at first more anxiety than pleasure, and these he 
 will find in deeper searches among the natural 
 scenery and national character of the very countries 
 he has only skimmed before. 
 
 The rivers and streams on the Continent are 
 scarcely known to the English tourist, and the 
 beauty and life upon them no one has well 
 seen. 
 
 In his guide-book route, indeed, from town to 
 town, the tourist has crossed this and that stream 
 has admired a few yards of the water, and has 
 then left it for ever. He is carried again on a noble 
 
THE DRESS. 9 
 
 river by night in a steamboat, or is whisked along 
 its banks in a railway, and, between two tunnels, 
 gets a moment's glimpse at the lovely water, and 
 lo ! it is gone. 
 
 But a mine of rich beauty remains there to be 
 explored, and fresh gems of life and character are 
 waiting to be gathered. These are not mapped 
 and labelled and ticketed in any handbook yet; 
 and far better so, for the enjoyment of such 
 treasures is enhanced to the best traveller by the 
 energy and pluck required to get at them. 
 
 On this new world of waters we are to launch 
 the boat, the man, and his baggage, for we must 
 describe all three, 
 
 " Arma virumque canoe." 
 
 So what sort of dress did he wear ? 
 
 The clothes I took for this tour consisted of a 
 complete suit of grey flannel for use in the boat, 
 and another suit of light but ordinary dress for 
 shore work and Sundays. 
 
 The " Norfolk jacket " is a loose frock-coat, like 
 a blouse, with shoulder-straps, and belted at the 
 waist, and garnished by six pockets. With this 
 excellent new-fashioned coat, a something in each 
 of its pockets, and a Cambridge straw hat, canvas 
 wading shoes, blue spectacles, a waterproof over- 
 coat, and my spare jib for a sun shawl, there was 
 
10 
 
 sure to be a full day's enjoyment in defiance of 
 rain or sun, deeps or shallows, hunger or ennui. 
 
 Four hours' work to begin, and then three of 
 rest or floating, reading or sailing, and again, a 
 three hours' heavy pull, and then with a swim in 
 the river or a bath at the inn, a change of gar- 
 ments and a pleasant walk, all was made quite 
 fresh again for a lively evening, a hearty dinner, 
 talk, books, pictures, letters, and bed. 
 
 Now I foresee that in the description of this 
 tour I shall have to write "I," and the word 
 "me" must be used by me very often indeed; 
 but having the misfortune to be neither an 
 Emperor, an editor, nor a married man, who 
 can speak in the plural, I cannot help it if I am 
 put down as a bachelor egotist, reserving the 
 " we " for myself and my boat. 
 
 The manner of working the double-bladed 
 paddle was easily learned by a few days' practice 
 on the Thames, and so excellent is the exercise 
 for the muscles of the limbs and body that I have 
 continued it at intervals, even during the winter, 
 when a pretty sharp " look out " must be kept to 
 pilot safely among the red and yellow lights of 
 steamers, barges, embankments, and bridges in an 
 evening's voyage from Putney to Westminster. 
 
 All being ready and the weather very hot at 
 the end of July, when the country had caught the 
 
THE ELECTION. 11 
 
 election fever, and M.P/s had run off to scramble 
 for seats, and the lawyers had run after them to 
 thicken the bustle, and the last bullet at Wimble- 
 don had come "thud" on the target, it was time 
 for the Eob Eoy to start. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE STAET. 
 
 The Thames The Channel Ostend Canal The Meuse 
 Holland The Ehine The Main The Prince of 
 Wales. 
 
 THE Rob Boy bounded away joyously on the top 
 of the tide through Westminster Bridge, and 
 swiftly shooting the narrow piles at Blackfriars, 
 danced along the waves of the Pool, which looked 
 all golden in the morning sun, but were in fact of 
 veritable pea-soup hue. 
 
 A fine breeze at Greenwich enabled me to set 
 the new white sail, and we skimmed along 
 with a cheery hissing sound. At such times the 
 river is a lively scene with steamers and sea-bound 
 ships, bluif little tugs, and big looming barges. I 
 had many a chat with the passing sailors, for it 
 was well to begin this at once, seeing that every 
 day afterwards I was to have talk with the river 
 folk in English, French, Dutch, German, or else 
 some hotchpot patois. 
 
BARGEES. 13 
 
 The bargee is not a bad fellow if you begin 
 with good humour, but he will not stand banter. 
 Often they began the colloquy with, " Any room 
 for another ? " or, " Got your life insured, 
 governor ? " but I smiled and nodded to every 
 one, and every one on every river and lake was 
 friendly to me. 
 
 Gravesend was to be the port for the night, 
 but Pur fleet looked so pretty that I took a tack 
 or two to reconnoitre, and resolved to stop at 
 the very nice hotel on the river, which I beg 
 to recommend. 
 
 While lolling about in my boat at anchor in 
 the hot sun a fly stung my hand ; and although 
 I did not remark it at once, the arm speedily 
 swelled, and I had to poultice the hand at night 
 and to go to church next day with a sling, which 
 appendage excited a great deal of comment in 
 the village Sunday-school. This little incident 
 is mentioned because it was the only occasion on 
 which any insect troubled me on the voyage, 
 though several croakers had predicted that in 
 rivers and marshes there would be hundreds of 
 wasps, venomous flies, and gnats, not to mention 
 other residents within doors. 
 
 Just as I entered the door of the quiet little 
 church, an old gentleman about to go in fell 
 down dead on the path. It was impossible not 
 
14 H.M.S. CORNWALL. 
 
 to be much impressed with this sudden death as 
 a solemn warning, especially to one in vigorous 
 health. 
 
 The " Cornwall " Reformatory School-ship is 
 moored at Purfleet. Some of the boys came 
 ashore for a walk, neatly clad and very well 
 behaved. Captain Burton, who commands this 
 interesting vessel, received me on board very 
 kindly, and the evening service between decks 
 was a sight to remember for ever. 
 
 About 100 boys sat in rows along the old 
 frigate's main-deck, with the open ports looking 
 on the river, now reddened by a setting sun, and 
 the cool air pleasantly fanning us. The lads 
 chanted the Psalms to the music of a harmonium, 
 played with excellent feeling and good taste, and 
 the Captain read a suitable portion from some 
 selected book, and then prayer was offered; and 
 all this was by and for poor vagrant boys, whose 
 claim on society is great indeed if measured by 
 the wrong it has done them in neglect if not in 
 precept, nay, even in example. 
 
 Next morning the canoe was lowered down a 
 ladder from the hay-loft, where it had been kept 
 (it had to go up into many far more strange 
 places in subsequent days), and the Cornwall 
 boys bid me a pleasant voyage a wish most 
 fully realized indeed. 
 
THE NORE. 15 
 
 After taking in supplies at Gravesend, I shoved 
 off into the tide, and lit a cigar, and now I felt 
 I had fairly started. Then there began a strange 
 feeling of freedom and novelty which lasted to the 
 end of the tour. 
 
 Something like it is felt when you first 
 march off with a knapsack ready to walk any- 
 where, or start alone in a sailing-boat for a 
 long cruise. 
 
 But then in walking you are bounded by every 
 sea and river, and in a common sailing-boat you 
 are bounded by every shallow and shore ; whereas, 
 I was in a canoe, which could be paddled or sailed, 
 hauled, or carried over land or water to. Rome, if 
 I liked, or to Hong-Kong. 
 
 The wind was fair again, and up went my sail. 
 The reaches got wider and the water more salt, 
 but I knew every part of the course, for I had 
 once spent a fortnight about the mouth of the 
 Thames in my pretty little sailing-boat, the Kent, 
 alone, with only a dog, a chart, a compass, and a 
 bachelor's kettle. 
 
 The new steamer Alexandra, which plies from 
 London daily, passed me here, with its high- 
 terraced American decks covered with people, 
 and the crowd gave a fine loud cheer to the 
 Hob Roy, for the newspapers had mentioned its 
 departure. Presently the land seemed to fade 
 
16 PORPOISES. 
 
 away at each side in pale distance, the water 
 got salt, and it was more sea than river, till 
 near the Nore we entered a great shoal of 
 porpoises. Often as I have seen these harmless 
 and agile playfellows I had never been so 
 close before, and in a boat so small as to be 
 almost disregarded by them, wily though they 
 be. I allowed the canoe to rock on the 
 waves, and the porpoises frequently came near 
 enough to be struck by my paddle, but I did 
 not wage war, for a flap of a tail would have 
 soon turned me upside down. 
 
 After a pleasant sail to Southend and along the 
 beach, the wind changed, and a storm of heavy 
 rain had to be met in its teeth by taking to the 
 paddle, until I reached Shoeburyness, where I 
 meant to stop a day or two in the camp of 
 the National Artillery Association, which was 
 assembled here for its first prize shooting. 
 
 The Royal Artillery received us volunteers on 
 this occasion with the greatest kindness, and as 
 they had appropriated quarters of officers absent 
 on leave for the use of members of the Council of 
 the Association, I was soon comfortably ensconced. 
 The camp, however, in a wet field was moist 
 enough ; but the fine tall fellows who had come 
 from Yorkshire, Somerset, or Aberdeen to handle 
 the 68-pounders, trudged about in the mud with 
 
A NOREASTER. 17 
 
 good humour and thick boots, and sang round 
 the camp-fire in a drizzle of rain, and then 
 pounded away at the targets next day, for these 
 were volunteers of the right sort. 
 
 As the wind had then risen to a gale it seemed 
 a good opportunity for a thorough trial of the 
 canoe in rough water, and I paddled her to a 
 corner where she would be least injured by being 
 thrown ashore after an upset, and where I could 
 leave her safe while I might run to change clothes 
 after a swim. 
 
 The buoyancy of the boat astonished me, and 
 her stability was in every way satisfactory. In 
 the midst of the waves I even managed to rig up 
 the mast and sail, and as I had no baggage on 
 board and so did not mind being perfectly wet 
 through in the experiments, there was nothing 
 left untried, and the confidence then gained for 
 after times was invaluable. 
 
 Early next morning I started directly in the 
 teeth of the wind, and paddled against a very 
 heavy sea to Southend, where I got a nice warm 
 bath while my clothes were getting dried, and 
 then the Rob Hoy had its first railway journey 
 in one of the little cars on the Southend pier. 
 
 It was amusing to see how much interest and 
 curiosity the canoe excited even on the Thames, 
 where all kinds of new and old and wonderful 
 
18 ON A TENDER. 
 
 boats may be seen. The reasons for this I never 
 exactly made out. Some wondered to see so 
 small a boat at sea, others had never seen a canoe 
 before, the manner of rowing was new to most, 
 and the sail made many smile. The graceful 
 shape of the boat pleased others, the cedar cover- 
 ing and the jaunty flag, and a good many stared 
 at the captain's uniform, and they stared more 
 after they had asked, "Where are you going 
 to ? " and were told, " I really do not know." 
 
 From Sheerness to Dover was the route, and 
 to begin with, on the branch line train the Rob 
 Roy had to be carried on the coals in the engine- 
 tender, with torrents of rain and plenty of hot 
 sparks driven into her by the gale ; but after 
 some delay at a junction the canoe was formally 
 introduced to a baggage- waggon and ticketed like 
 a portmanteau, the first of a series of transits in 
 this way. 
 
 The London Chatham and Dover Railway Com- 
 pany took this new kind of " box " as passengers' 
 luggage, so I had nothing to pay, and the steamer 
 to Ostend was equally large-hearted, so I say, 
 " Canoemen, choose this channel." 
 
 But before crossing to Belgium I had a day 
 at Dover, where I bought some stuff and 
 had a jib made for the boat by deft and fair 
 fingers, and paddled the Rob Roy on the green 
 
SAILING ON THE SEA. 
 
 19 
 
 Rollers off the Digue. 
 
 waves which toss about off the pier-head most 
 delectably. The same performance was repeated on 
 the top of the swell, tumbling and breaking on 
 the "digue " * at Ostend, where, even with little 
 
 * At Ostend I found an English gentleman preparing 
 for a voyage on the Danube, for which he was to build a 
 "centre board" boat. Although no doubt a sailing boat 
 could reach the Danube by the Bamberg canal, yet, after 
 four tours on that river from its source as far as Pest, 
 I am convinced that to trust to sailing upon it would 
 entail much tedious delay, useless trouble, and constant 
 anxiety. If the wind is ahead you have all the labour of 
 c 2 
 
20 ON THE METJSE. 
 
 wind, the rollers ran high on a strong ebb tide. 
 Fat bathers wallowed in the shallows, and fair 
 ones, dressed most bizarre, were swimming like 
 ducks. All of these, and the babies squalling 
 hysterically at each dip, were duly admired ; and 
 then I had a quieter run under sail on their wide 
 and straight canal. 
 
 With just a little persuasion the railway people 
 consented to put the canoe in the baggage-van, 
 and to charge a franc or two for "extra luggage" 
 to Brussels. Here she was carried on a cart 
 through the town to another station, and in the 
 evening we were at Namur, where the Hob Roy 
 was housed for the night in the landlord's private 
 parlour, resting gracefully upon two chairs. 
 
 Two porters carried her through the streets 
 next morning, and I took a paddle on the Sambre, 
 but very soon turned down stream and smoothly 
 glided to the Meuse. 
 
 Glancing water, brilliant sun, a light boat, and 
 a light heart, all your baggage on board, and on a 
 
 tacking, and are frequently in slack water near the banks, 
 and often in channels where the only course would be 
 dead to windward. If the wind is aft the danger of 
 "running" is extreme where you have to " broach to" and 
 stop suddenly near a shallow or a barrier. With a strong 
 side wind, indeed, you can sail safely, but this must come 
 from north or south, and the high banks vastly reduce its 
 effect. 
 
BARRIERS AND SHALLOWS. 21 
 
 fast current, who would exchange this for any 
 diligence or railway, or steamboat, or horse ? 
 A pleasant stream was enough to satisfy at this 
 early period of the voyage, for the excitement of 
 rocks and rapids had not yet become a charm, 
 nay, as it was afterwards, almost a necessity. 
 
 It is good policy, too, that a quiet, easy, re- 
 spectable sort of river like the Meuse should 
 be taken in the earlier stage of a' water tour. 
 The river-banks one would call tame if seen from 
 shore are altogether new when you open up the 
 vista from the middle of the stream. The picture 
 that is rolled sideways to the common traveller 
 now pours out from before you, ever enlarging 
 from a centre, and in the gentle sway of the 
 stream the landscape seems to swell on this side 
 and that with new things ever advancing to meet 
 you in succession. 
 
 How careful I was at the first shallow ! getting 
 out and wading as I lowered the boat. A month 
 afterwards I would dash over them with a shove 
 here and a stroke there in answer to a hoarse 
 croak of the stones at the bottom grinding against 
 my keel. 
 
 And the first barrier how anxious it made 
 me, to think by what means shall I get over. 
 A man appeared just in time (N.B. They always 
 do), and twopence made him happy for his share 
 
22 HUY. 
 
 of carrying the boat round by land, and I jumped 
 in again as before. 
 
 Sailing was easy, too, in a fine wide river, 
 strong and deep, and with a favouring breeze, 
 and when the little steamer passed I drew along- 
 side and got my penny roll and penny glass of 
 beer, while the wondering passengers (the first 
 of many amazed foreigners) smiled, chattered, 
 and then looked grave for was it not indecorous 
 to laugh at an Englishman evidently mad, poor 
 fellow ? 
 
 The voyage was chequered by innumerable 
 little events, all perfectly different from those 
 one meets on shore, and when I came to the 
 forts at Huy and knew the first day's work 
 was closing, the persuasion was complete that 
 quite a new order of sensations had been set 
 going. 
 
 Next morning I found the boat safe in the 
 coach-house and the sails still drying on the 
 harness-pegs, where I had left them, but the 
 ostler and all his folks were nowhere to be seen. 
 Everybody had gone to join the long funeral 
 procession of a great musician, who was celebrated 
 at Huy and lived there fifty years. 
 
 The pleasure of meandering with a new river 
 is very peculiar and fascinating. Each few yards 
 brings a novelty, or starts an excitement. A 
 
AWAKE. 23 
 
 crane jumps up here, a duck flutters there, splash 
 leaps a gleaming trout by your side, the rushing 
 sound of rocks warns you round that corner, or 
 anon you come suddenly upon a millrace. All 
 these, in addition to the scenery and the people 
 and the weather, and the determination that you 
 must get on, over, through, or under every diffi- 
 culty, and cannot leave your boat in a desolate 
 wold, and ought to arrive at a house before dark, 
 and that your luncheon bag is long since empty; 
 all these, I say, keep the mind awake, which 
 would perchance dose away for 100 miles in a first- 
 class carriage. 
 
 It is, as in the voyage of life, that our cares 
 and hardships are our very Mentors of living. 
 Our minds would only vegetate if all life were 
 like a straight canal, and we in a boat being towed 
 along it. The afflictions that agitate the soul 
 are as its shallows, rocks, and whirlpools, and the 
 bark that has not been tossed on billows knows 
 not half the sweetness of the harbour of rest. 
 
 The river soon got fast and lively, and hour 
 after hour of vigorous work prepared one well 
 for breakfast. Trees seemed to spring up in 
 front and grow tall, but it was only because I 
 came rapidly towards them. Pleasant villages 
 floated as it were to meet me, gently moving. 
 All life got to be a smooth and gliding thing, 
 
24 GUN-BARRELS. 
 
 without fuss and without dust or anything sudden 
 or loud, till at length the bustle and hammers 
 of Liege neared the Rob Roy for it was always 
 the objects and not myself that seemed to move. 
 Here I saw a fast steamer, the Seraing, propelled 
 by water forced from its sides, and as my boat 
 hopped and bobbed in the steamer's waves we 
 entered a dock together, and I hoisted the canoe 
 into a garden for the night. 
 
 Gun-barrels are the rage in Liege. Everybody 
 there makes or carries or sells gun-barrels. Even 
 women walk about with twenty stocked rifles 
 on their backs, and each rifle, remember, weighs 
 10 Ibs. They sell plenty of fruit in the market, 
 and there are churches well worth a visit here, 
 but gun-barrels, after all, are the prevailing idea 
 of the place. 
 
 However, it is not my purpose to describe the 
 towns seen on this tour. I had seen Liege well, 
 years before, and indeed almost every town men- 
 tioned in these pages. The charm then of the 
 voyage was not in going to strange lands, but 
 in seeing old places in a new way. 
 
 Here at length the Earl of Aberdeen met me. 
 He had got a canoe built for the trip, but a foot 
 longer and two inches narrower than the Rob 
 Roy, and, moreover, made of fir instead of strong 
 oak. It was sent from London to Liege, and 
 
EARL OF ABERDEEN. 25 
 
 the "combing" round the edge of the deck was 
 broken in the journey, so we spent some hours at 
 a cabinet-maker's, where it was neatly mended. 
 
 Launching our boats unobserved on the river, 
 we soon left Liege in the distance and braved the 
 hot sun. 
 
 The pleasant companionship of two travellers, 
 each quite free in his own boat, was very enjoy- 
 able. Sometimes we sailed, then paddled a mile 
 or two, or joined to help the boats over a weir, 
 or towed them along while we walked on the 
 bank for a change.* 
 
 Each of us took whichever side of the river 
 pleased him best, and we talked across long acres 
 of water between, to the evident surprise of sedate 
 people on the banks, who often could see only 
 one of the strange elocutionists, the other being 
 hidden by bushes or tall sedge. When talking 
 thus aloud had amplified into somewhat uproarious 
 
 * Frequent trials afterwards convinced me that towing 
 is only useful if you feel very cramped from sitting. And 
 this constraint is felt less and less as you get accustomed 
 to sit ten or twelve hours at a time. Experience enables 
 you to make the seat perfectly comfortable, and on the 
 better rivers you have so frequently to get out that any 
 additional change is quite needless. Towing is slower 
 progress than paddling, even when your arms are tired, 
 though I found the boat so light to tow that for miles 
 I have drawn it by my little finger on a canal. 
 
26 A DROWNING BOY. 
 
 singing, the chorus was far more energetic than 
 harmonious, but then the Briton is at once the 
 most timid and shy of mortal travellers, and the 
 most outre and singular when he chooses to be 
 free. 
 
 The midday beams on a river in August are 
 sure to conquer your fresh energies at last, and 
 so we had to pull up at a village for bread and 
 wine. 
 
 The moment I got into my boat again a shrill 
 whining cry in the river attracted attention, and 
 I saw it came from a poor little boy, who had 
 somehow fallen into the water, and was now 
 making his last faint efforts to cling to a great 
 barge in the stream. Naturally I rushed over 
 to save him, and my boat went so fast and so 
 straight that its sharp prow caught the hapless 
 urchin in the rear, and with such a pointed re- 
 minder that he screamed and struggled and thus 
 got safely on the barge, which was beyond his 
 reach, until thus roughly but fortunately aided. 
 
 On most of the Belgian, German, and French 
 rivers there are excellent floating baths, an ob- 
 vious convenience which I do not recollect ob- 
 serving on a single river in Britain, though in 
 summer we have quite as many bathers as there 
 are abroad. 
 
 The floating bath consists of a wooden frame- 
 
SWIMMERS, 27 
 
 work, say 100 feet long, moored in the stream, 
 and through which the water runs freely, while 
 a set of strong bars and chains and iron network 
 forms a false bottom, shallow at one end and 
 deeper at the other, so that the bather cannot 
 be carried away by the current. 
 
 Round the sides there are bathing boxes and 
 steps, ladders, and spring boards for the various 
 degrees of aquatic proficiency. 
 
 The youths and even the little boys on the 
 Rhine are very good swimmers, and many of them 
 dive well. Sometimes there is a ladies' bath of 
 similar construction, from which a good deal of 
 very lively noise may be heard when the fair 
 bathers are in a talkative mood. 
 
 The soldiers at military stations near the rivers 
 are marched down regularly to bathe, and one 
 day we found a large number of young recruits 
 assembled for their general dip. 
 
 While some were in the water others were 
 firing at the target for ball practice. There were 
 three targets, each made of cardboard sheets, 
 fastened upon wooden uprights. A marker safely 
 protected in a ball-proof mantelet was placed so 
 close to these targets that he could see all three 
 at once. One man of the firing party opposite 
 each party having fired, his bullet passed through 
 the pasteboard and left a clear round hole in it, 
 
28 BALL PRACTICE. 
 
 while the ball itself was buried in the earth be- 
 hind, and so could be recovered again, instead of 
 being dashed into fragments as on our iron 
 targets, and then spattered about on all sides, 
 to the great danger of the marker and everybody 
 else. 
 
 When three men had thus fired, signals were 
 made by drum, flag, and bugle, and the firing 
 ceased. The marker then came out and pointed 
 to the bullet-mark on each target, and having 
 patched up the holes he returned within his 
 mantelet, and the firing was resumed. This very 
 safe and simple method of ball practice is much 
 better than that used in our military shooting. 
 
 Once as we rounded a point there was a large 
 herd of cattle swimming across the stream in 
 close column. I went right into the middle of 
 them to observe how they would welcome a 
 stranger. In the Mle you see the black oxen 
 swim over the stream night and morning, re- 
 minding you of Pharaoh's dream about the 
 "kine" coming out of the river, a notion that 
 used to puzzle in boyhood days, but which is 
 by no means an incongruous association of ideas 
 when thus explained. The Bible is a book that 
 bears full light to be cast upon it, for truth looks 
 . more true under more light. 
 
 We had been delayed this morning in our start, 
 
A NIGHT CLIMB. 31 
 
 and so the evening fell sombre ere we came near 
 the resting-place. This was the town of Maas- 
 tricht, in Holland, and it is stated to be one of 
 the most strongly fortified places in Europe; 
 that is, of course, of the old fashion, with straight 
 high walls quite impervious to the Armstrong 
 and Whitworth guns of a century gone by. 
 
 But all we knew as we came near it at night 
 was, that the stream was good and strong, and 
 that no lights appeared. Emerging from trees 
 we were right in the middle of the town, but 
 where were the houses? had they no windows, 
 no lamps, not even a candle ? 
 
 Two great high walls- bounded the river, but 
 not a gate or port could we find, though one 
 of us carefully scanned the right and the other 
 cautiously scraped along the left of this very 
 strange place. 
 
 It appears that the commerce and boats all turn 
 into a canal above the old tumble-down fortress, 
 and so the miserable blank brick sides bounded 
 us thus inhospitably. Soon we came to a bridge, 
 looming overhead in the blackness, and our arrival 
 was greeted by a shower of stones from some 
 Dutch lads upon it, pattering pitilessly upon the 
 delicate cedar-covered canoes. 
 
 Turning up stream, and after a closer scrutiny, 
 we found a place where we could cling to the 
 
32 
 
 wall, which here sloped a little with debris, and 
 now there was nothing for it but to haul the 
 boats up bodily over the impregnable fortification, 
 and thus carry them into the sleepy town. 
 No wonder the octroi guard stared as his lamp- 
 light fell on two gaunt men in grey, carrying 
 what seemed to him a pair of long coffins, but 
 he was a sensible though surprised individual, 
 and he guided us well, stamping through the 
 dark deserted streets to an hotel. 
 
 Though the canoes in a cart made a decided 
 impression at the railway-station next day, and 
 arguments logically proved that the boats must 
 go as baggage, the porters were dense to con- 
 viction, and obdurate to persuasion, until all at 
 once they caught up the two neglected " batteaux," 
 ran with them to the luggage- van, pushed them 
 in, and banged the door, piped the whistle, and 
 as the train went off " Do you know why they 
 have yielded so suddenly ? " said a Dutchman, 
 who could speak English. " Not at all," said we. 
 " Because I told them one of you was the son of the 
 Prime Minister, and the other Lord Russell's son." 
 
 But a change of railway had to be made at 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, and after a hard struggle we 
 had nearly surrendered the boats to the "mer- 
 chandise train," to limp along the line at night 
 and to arrive "perhaps to-morrow." Indeed the 
 
NOTHING TO PAY. 33 
 
 superintendent of that department seemed to 
 clutch, the boats as his prize, but as he gloried 
 a little too loudly, the chief of the passengers' 
 baggage came, listened, and with calm mien 
 ordered for us a special covered truck, and on 
 arriving at Cologne there was " nothing to pay." * 
 To be quiet we went to the Belle Vue, at Deutz, 
 which is opposite Cologne, but a great singing 
 society had its gala there, and sang and drank 
 prodigiously. Next day (Sunday too) this same 
 quiet Deutz had a " Schutzen Fest," where the 
 
 * This is an exceptional case, and I wrote from England 
 to thank the officer. It would be unreasonable again to 
 expect any baggage to be thus favoured. A canoe is at best 
 a clumsy inconvenience in the luggage- van, and no one can 
 wonder that it is objected to. In France the railway 
 fourgons are shorter than in other countries, and the officials 
 there insisted on treating my canoe as merchandise. The in- 
 stances given above show what occurred in Belgium and 
 Holland. In Germany little difficulty was made about 
 the boat as luggage. In Switzerland there was no objec- 
 tion raised, for was I not an English traveller ? As for 
 the English railway guards, they have the good sense to 
 see that a long light article like a canoe can be readily 
 carried on the top of a passenger carriage. Probably 
 some distinct rules will be instituted by the railways in 
 each country, when they are found to be liable to a 
 nautical incursion, but after all one can very well arrange 
 to walk or see sights now and then, while the boat travels 
 slower by a goods-train. 
 
 D 
 
34 FIRE AND SONG. 
 
 man who had hit the target best was dragged 
 about in an open carriage with his wife, both 
 wearing brass crowns, and bowing royally to 
 a screaming crowd, while blue lights glared and 
 rockets shot up in the serene darkness. 
 
 At Cologne, while Lord A. went to take our 
 tickets at the steamer, the boats were put in 
 a handcart, which I shoved from behind as a 
 man pulled it in front. In our way to the river 
 I was assailed by a poor vagrant sort of fellow, 
 who insisted on being employed as a porter, and 
 being enraged at a refusal he actually took up 
 a large stone and ran after the cart in a -threaten- 
 ing passion. I could not take my hands from 
 the boats, though I feared his missile would smash 
 them if he threw it, but I kicked up my legs 
 behind as we trotted along. One of the sentries 
 saw the man's conduct, and soon a policeman 
 brought him to me as a prisoner, but as he 
 trembled now with fear more than before with 
 anger, I declined to make any charge, though the 
 police pressed this course, saying, "Travellers 
 are sacred here." This incident is mentioned be- 
 cause it was the sole occasion when any discourtesy 
 happened to me during this tour. 
 
 We took the canoes by steamer to a wide part 
 of the Rhine at Bingen. Here the scenery is 
 good, and we spent an active day on the river, 
 
35 
 
 sailing in a splendid breeze, landing on islands, 
 scudding about in steamers' waves, and, in fact, 
 enjoying a combination of yacht voyage, pic-nic, 
 and boat race. 
 
 This was a fine long day of pleasure, though 
 in one of the sudden squalls my canoe happened 
 to ground on a bank just at the most critical 
 time, and the bamboo mast broke short. The 
 uncouth and ridiculous appearance of a sail falling 
 overboard is like that of an umbrella turned inside 
 out in a gust of wind. But I got another 
 stronger mast, and made the broken one into a boom. 
 
 Lord Aberdeen went by train to inspect the 
 river Nahe, but reported unfavourably; and I 
 paddled up from its mouth, but the water was 
 very low. 
 
 Few arguments were needed to stop me from 
 going against stream ; for I have a profound 
 respect for the universal principle of gravitation, 
 and quite allow that in rowing it is well to have 
 it with you by always going down stream, and 
 so the good rule was to make steam, horse, or 
 man take the canoe against the current, and to 
 make gravity help the boat to carry me down. 
 
 Time pressed for my fellow-paddler to return 
 
 quickly home, so we went on to Mayence, and 
 
 thence by rail to Asschaffenburg. The canoes 
 
 again travelled in grand state, having a truck to 
 
 D 2 
 
36 CANOES AND CANNONS. 
 
 themselves ; but instead of the stately philosopher 
 superintendent of Aix-la-Chapelle, who managed 
 this gratuitously, we had a fussy little person to 
 deal with, and to pay accordingly, the only case 
 of decided cheating I can recollect during the 
 voyage. 
 
 A fellow-passenger in the railway was deeply 
 interested about our tour ; and we had spoken of 
 its various details for some time to him before we 
 found that he supposed we were travelling with 
 " two small cannons," mistaking the word 
 " canots" for "canons." He had even asked about 
 their length and weight, and had heard with 
 perfect placidity that our " canons " were fif- 
 teen feet long, and weighed eighty pounds, and 
 that we took them only for " plaisir," not to sell. 
 Had we carried two pet camelopards, he probably 
 would not have been astonished. 
 
 The guests at the German inn of this long- 
 named town amused us much by their respectful 
 curiosity. Our dress in perfect unison, both alike 
 in grey flannel, puzzled them exceedingly; but 
 this sort of perplexity about costume and things 
 in general was an everyday occurrence for weeks 
 and months afterwards with me. 
 
 A fine breeze enabled us to start on the river 
 Main under sail, though we lost much time in 
 forcing the boats to do yachts' work; I am 
 
HERON STALKING. 37 
 
 nclined to believe that sailing on rivers is 
 rather a mistake unless with a favourable wind. 
 The Main is an easy stream to follow, and the 
 scenery only so-so. A storm of rain at length 
 made it lunch-time, so we sheltered ourselves in 
 a bleak sort of arbour attached to an inn, where 
 they could give us only sour black bread and raw 
 bacon. Eating this poor cheer in a wet, rustling 
 breeze and pattering rain, half chilled in our 
 mackintoshes, was the only bad fare I had, so 
 little of " roughing it " was there in the after 
 days of my luxurious tour. 
 
 With the afternoon came fine weather and 
 pleasure again, nay, positive sporting ; for there 
 were wild ducks quite impudent in their fami- 
 liarity, and herons wading about with that look of 
 injured innocence they put on when you dare to 
 disturb them. So my friend capped his revolver- 
 pistol, and I acted as a pointer dog, stealing along 
 the other side of the river, and indicating the 
 position of the game with my paddle. 
 
 Yast trouble was taken. Lord A. went ashore, 
 and crawled on the bank a long way on his 
 stomach to a wily bird, but, though the sportsman 
 had shown himself at Wimbledon to be one of the 
 best shots in the world, it was evidently not easy 
 to shoot a heron with a pocket revolver. 
 
 As the darker shades fell, even this rather 
 
38 ON THE MAIN. 
 
 stupid river became beautiful; and our evening 
 bath was in a quiet pool, with, pure yellow sand to 
 rest on if you tired in swimming. At Hanau we 
 stopped for the night. 
 
 The wanderings and turnings of the Main next 
 day have really left no impression on my memory, 
 except that we had a pleasant time, and at last 
 came to a large Schloss, where we observed on 
 the river a boat evidently English. While we 
 examined this craft, a man told us it belonged 
 to the Prince of Wales, "and he is looking at 
 you now from the balcony." 
 
 For this was the Duchess of Cambridge's 
 Schloss at Rumpenheim, and presently a four- 
 in-hand crossed the ferry, and the Prince and 
 Princess of Wales drove in it by the river-side, 
 while we plied a vigorous paddle against the 
 powerful west wind until we reached Frankfort, 
 where our wet jackets were soon dried at the 
 Russie, one of the best hotels in Europe. 
 
 The Frankfort boatmen were much interested 
 next day to see the two English canoes flitting 
 about so lightly on their river; sometimes 
 slamming the surface with the wind, and despising 
 the contrary stream; then wheeling about, and 
 paddling hither and thither in shallows where it 
 seemed as if the banks were only moist. 
 
 On one occasion we both got into my canoe, 
 
THE PRINCE OF WALES. 39 
 
 and it supported the additional weight perfectly 
 well, which seemed to prove that the dimensions 
 of it were unnecessarily large for the displace- 
 ment required. However, there was not room for 
 both of us to use our paddles comfortably in the 
 same canoe. 
 
 On the Sunday, the Koyal personages came to 
 the English church at Frankfort, and, with that 
 quiet behaviour of good taste which wins more 
 admiration than any pageantry, they walked from 
 the place of worship like the rest of the hearers. 
 
 There is a true grandeur in simplicity when the 
 occasion is one of solemn things. 
 
 Next day my active and pleasant companion 
 had to leave me on his return to England. Not 
 satisfied with a fortnight's rifle practice at Wim- 
 bledon, where the best prize of the year was won 
 by his skill, he must return to the moors and 
 covers for more deadly sport; and the calls of 
 more important business, besides, required his 
 presence in England. He paddled down the 
 Rhine to Cologne, and on the way several times 
 performed the difficult feat of hooking on his 
 canoe to a steamer going at full speed. 
 
 Meantime, I had taken my boat up the Rhine 
 by railway to Freyburg, from whence my real 
 voyage was to begin, for as yet I had not 
 paddled in parts unknown. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Hollenthal Pass Black Forest Beds Lake Titisee 
 Storm Source of the Danube. 
 
 PLANNING your summer tour is one of the most 
 agreeable of occupations. It is in June or July that 
 the Foreign Bradshaw becomes suddenly of intense 
 interest, and the well-known pages of " Steamers 
 and Railways " why, it is worth while being 
 a bachelor to be able to read each of these as 
 part of your sketched-out plan, and (oh, selfish 
 thought !) to have only one mind to consult as to 
 whither away. 
 
 All this pleasure is a good deal influenced, how- 
 ever, by true answers to these questions, Have 
 you worked hard in working time, so as to be 
 entitled to play in these playhours ? Is this to 
 be a vacation of refreshment, or an idle lounge 
 and killing of time ? Are you going off to rest, 
 and to recruit delicate health, or with vigour to 
 enjoy a summer of active exertion ? 
 
 Bradshaw could not help me with the canoe one 
 iota, and Baedeker was not written for a boat ; so 
 
LADY FRIENDS. 41 
 
 at Freyburg my plans resolved themselves into 
 the simple direction, " Go at once to the source of 
 the Danube." 
 
 Next morning, therefore, found the Rob Roy 
 in a cart, and the grey-clothed traveller walking 
 beside it on the dusty Hollenthal road. The gay, 
 light-hearted exultation of being strong and well, 
 and on a right errand, and with unknown things 
 to do and places to see and people to meet, who 
 can describe this ? 
 
 But how easy it is at such times to be glad, and 
 to think this is being "thankful." After moral- 
 izing for a few miles, a carriage full of English 
 people overtook me, and soon we became com- 
 panions. " The English are so distant, so silent, 
 such hauteur, and gloomy distrust," forsooth ! 
 A false verdict, say I. The ladies carried me 
 off through the very pretty glen, and the canoe 
 on its cart trundled slowly after us behind, 
 through the Hollenthal Pass, which is too seldom 
 visited by travellers, who so often admire the spire 
 of Freyburg (from the railway perhaps), passing 
 it on their route to Switzerland. 
 
 This entrance to the Schwartzwald, or Black 
 Forest, is a woody, rocky, and grim defile, with 
 an excellent road, and good inns. 
 
 The villages are of wood, and there is a saw- 
 mill in every other house, giving a busy, whole- 
 
42 HQLLENTHAL PASS. 
 
 some sound, mellowed by the patter of the water- 
 wheel. Further on, where tourists' scenery 
 stops, it is a grand, dark-covered ocean of hills. 
 The houses get larger and larger, and fewer and 
 fewer, and nearly every one has a little chapel 
 built alongside, with a wooden saint's image of 
 life-size nailed on the gable end. One night I 
 was in one of these huge domiciles, when all the 
 servants and ploughboys came in, and half said, 
 half sung, their prayers, in a whining but yet 
 musical tone, and then retired for a hearty 
 supper. 
 
 Our carriage mounted still among crags, bow- 
 ing nearer to meet across the narrow gorge, and 
 crested by the grand trees that will be felled and 
 floated down the Khine on one of those huge rafts 
 you meet at Strasbourg. But everybody must 
 have seen a Rhine raft, so I need not describe it, 
 with its acres of wood and its street of cabin 
 dwellings, and its gay coloured flags. A large 
 raft needs 500 men to navigate it, and the timber 
 of it sells for 30,000^. 
 
 At the top of this pass was the watershed of 
 this first chain of hills, so my English friends 
 took leave of me and returned. The Rob Roy 
 was safely housed in the Baar Inn, and I set off 
 for a long walk to find if the stream there would 
 possibly be navigable. 
 
NIGHT MUSIC. 43 
 
 Alone on a hillside in a foreign land, and with 
 an evening sun on the wild mountains, there is a 
 certain sense of independent delight that possesses 
 the mind and being with a buoyant gladness; 
 but how can I explain it in words, if you have 
 not felt this sort of pleasure ? 
 
 However, the rivulet was eminently unsuited 
 for a canoe ; so now let me go to bed in 
 my wooden room, where the washingbasin is 
 oval, and the partitions are so thin that one 
 hears all the noises of the place at midnight. 
 Now, the long-drawn snore of the landlord ; then, 
 the tittle-tattle of the servants not asleep yet, a 
 pussy's plaintive mew, and the scraping of a 
 mouse ; the cows breathing in soft slumber ; and, 
 again, the sharp rattle of a horse's chain. 
 
 The elaborate construction of that edifice of 
 housewifery called a " bett " here, and which we 
 are expected to. sleep upon, can only be understood 
 when you have to undermine and dismantle it 
 night after night to arrive at a reasonable flat 
 surface on which to recline. 
 
 First you take off a great fluff bag, at least two 
 feet thick, then a counterpane, and then a brilliant 
 scarlet blanket; next you extract one enormous 
 pillow, another enormous pillow, and a huge 
 wedge-shaped bolster, all, it appears, requisite 
 for the Teutonic race, who yet could surely put 
 
44 ON LAKE TITISEE. 
 
 themselves to sleep at an angle of forty-five 
 degrees, without all this trouble, by merely tilting 
 up the end of a flat bedstead. 
 
 Simple but real courtesy have I found through- 
 out. Every one says " Gut tag ; " and, even in 
 a hotel, on getting up from breakfast a guest who 
 has not spoken a word will wish " Gut morgen " 
 as he departs, and perhaps " Bon appetit " to 
 those not satisfied like himself. About eight 
 o'clock the light repast of tea or coffee, bread, 
 butter, and honey begins the day; at noon is 
 the dinner, or " mittagessen," mid-day meal, 
 giving all proper excuse for another dining 
 operation in the shape of a supper at seven. 
 
 No fine manners here ! My driver sat down 
 to dinner with me, and the waiter along with 
 him, smoking a cigar between whiles, as he 
 waited on us both. But all this is just as one 
 sees in Canada and in Norway, and wherever 
 there are mountains, woods, and torrent streams, 
 with a sparse population ; and, as in Norway 
 too, you see at once that all can read, and they do 
 read. There is more reading in one day in a 
 common house in Germany than in a month in 
 the same sort of place in France. 
 
 I had hired the cart and driver by the day, but 
 he by no means admired my first directions nex 
 morning namely, to take the boat off the main 
 
PONTIUS PILATE. 45 
 
 road, so as to get to the Titisee, a pretty 
 mountain lake about four miles long, and sur- 
 rounded by wooded knolls. His arguments and 
 objections were evidently superficial, and some- 
 thing deeper than he said was in his mind. In 
 fact, it appears that, by a superstition long 
 cherished there, Pontius Pilate is supposed to be 
 in that deep, still lake, and dark rumours were 
 told that he would surely drag me down if I 
 ventured upon it. 
 
 The legend about Pilate extends over Germany 
 and Italy. Even on the flanks of Stromboli there 
 is a talus of the volcano which the people dare not 
 approach, " because of Pontius Pilate." 
 
 Of course, this decided the matter, and when I 
 launched the Rob Hoy from the pebbly shore in a 
 fine foggy morning, and in full view of the inhabi- 
 tants of the region (eight in number at last census), 
 I had a most pleasant paddle for several miles. 
 
 At a distance the boat was invisible (being 
 so low in the water), and they said that only a 
 man was seen, whirling a paddle about his head. 
 
 There is nothing interesting about this lake, 
 except that it is 3,000 feet above the sea and very 
 lonely, in the middle of the Black Forest. Cer- 
 tainly no English boat has been there before, and 
 probably no other will visit the deserted water. 
 
 After this, the Eob Roy is carted again still 
 
46 A SCHWARTZWALD STORM. 
 
 further into the forests. Lumbering vehicles 
 meet us, all carrying wood. Some have joined 
 three carts together, and have eight horses. 
 Others have a bullock or two besides, and all the 
 men are intelligent enough, for they stop and 
 stare, and my driver deigns to tell them, in a 
 patois wholly beyond me, as to what a strange 
 fare he has got with a boat and no other luggage. 
 However, they invariably conclude that the canoe 
 is being carried about for sale, and it could have 
 been well sold frequently already. 
 
 About mid-day my sage driver began to mutter 
 something at intervals, but I could only make out 
 from his gestures and glances that it had to do 
 with a storm overhead. The mixture of English, 
 French, and German on the borders of the Rhine 
 accustoms one to hear odd words. " Shall have 
 you potty to ? " says a waiter, and he is asking 
 if you will have potatoes. Another hands you 
 a dish, saying, it is " sweetbone," and you must 
 know it is " sweetbread." 
 
 Yes, the storm came, and as it seldom does 
 come except in such places. I once heard a 
 thunder peal while standing on the crater of 
 Mount Vesuvius, and I have seen the grand 
 beauty of bright lightning playing on the 
 Falls of Niagara in a black dark night, but the 
 vividness of the lightning to-day in the Black 
 
STARERS. 47 
 
 Forest, and the crashing, rolling, and booming of 
 the terrible and majestic battery of heaven was 
 astounding. Once a bolt fell so near and with 
 such a blaze that the horse (albeit tired enough) 
 started off down a hill and made me quite nervous 
 lest he should overturn the cart and injure my 
 precious boat, which naturally was more and more 
 dear to me as it was longer my sole companion. 
 
 As we toiled up the Bothenhaus Pass, down 
 came the rain, whistling and rushing through the 
 cold, dark forests of larch, and blackening the top 
 of great Feldberg, the highest mountain here, and 
 then pouring heavy and fast on the cart and horse, 
 the man, the canoe, and myself. This was the 
 last rain my boat got in the tour. All other days 
 I spent in her were perfectly dry. 
 
 People stared out of their windows to see 
 a cart and a boat in this heavy shower what ! 
 a boat, up here in the hills ? Where can it be 
 going, and whose is it ? Then they ran out to 
 us, and forced the driver to harangue, and he 
 tried to satisfy their curiosity, but his explanation 
 never seemed to be quite exhaustive, for they 
 turned homeward shaking their heads and looking 
 grave, even though I nodded and laughed at them 
 through the bars of the cart, lifting up my head 
 among the wet straw. 
 
 The weather dried up its tears at last, and the 
 
48 KIRCHWASSER. 
 
 sun glittered on the road, still sparkling with, its 
 rivulets of rain water. The boat was soon cleared 
 from wet by a sponge, while a smart walk warmed 
 its well-soaked captain. 
 
 The horse too had got into a cheerful vein and 
 actually trotted with excitement, for now it was 
 down hill, and bright sun a welcome change in 
 ten minutes from our labouring up a steep forest 
 road in a thunder-storm. 
 
 I suppose that the most rigid teetotaller (I am 
 only a temperance man) would allow that just a 
 very small glass of kirchwasser might be pre- 
 scribed at this moment with advantage, and as there 
 was no "faculty" there but myself, I adminis- 
 tered the dose medicinally to the driver and to his 
 employer, and gave a bran-mash and a rub down 
 to the horse, which made all three of us better 
 satisfied with ourselves and each other, and so we 
 jogged on again. 
 
 By dusk I marched into Donaueschingen, and 
 on crossing the little bridge, saw at once I could 
 begin the Danube from its very source, for there 
 were at least three inches of water in the middle 
 of the stream. 
 
 In five minutes a crowd assembled round the 
 boat, even before it could be loosened from the cart.* 
 
 * After trying various modes of securing the canoe in 
 a springless cart for long journeys on rough and hilly 
 
THE SINGERS. 49 
 
 The ordinary idlers came first, then the more 
 shy townspeople, and then a number of strange 
 folks, whose exact position I could not make out, 
 until it was explained that the great singing 
 meeting for that part of Germany was to be held 
 next day in the town, and so there were 600 
 visitors, all men of some means and intelligence, 
 who were collected from a wide country round 
 about. 
 
 The town was in gala for this meeting of song. 
 The inns were full, but still the good landlord of 
 the "Poste" by the bridge gave me an excellent 
 room, and the canoe was duly borne in procession 
 to the coachhouse. 
 
 What a din these tenors and basses did make 
 at the table d'hote ! Everything about the boat 
 had to be told a dozen times over to them, while 
 my driver had a separate lecture-room on the 
 subject below. 
 
 The town was well worth inspection next 
 day, for it was in a violent fit of decoration. 
 
 roads, I am convinced that the best way is to fasten two 
 ropes across the top of a long cart and let the boat lie on 
 these, which will bear it like springs and so modify the 
 jolts. The painter is then made fast fore and aft, so as to 
 keep the boat from moving back and forward. All plans 
 for using trusses of straw, &c., fail after a few miles of 
 rolling gravel and coarse ruts. 
 E 
 
50 DONAUESCHINGEN. 
 
 Every house was tidied up, and all the streets 
 were swept clean. From the humbler windows 
 hung green boughs and garlands, rugs, quilts, 
 and blankets ; while banners, Venetian streamers, 
 arches, mottoes, and wreaths of flowers announced 
 the wealthier houses. Crowds of gaping peasants 
 paraded the streets and jostled against bands 
 drumming and tromboning (if there be such a 
 word), and marching in a somewhat ricketty 
 manner over the undoubtedly rough pavement. 
 Every now and then the bustle had a fresh 
 paroxysm when four horses rattled along, bring- 
 ing in new visitors from some distant choir. They 
 are coming you see in a long four-wheeled cart, 
 covered with evergreens and bearing four pine 
 trees in it erect among sacks which are used as 
 seats only the inmates do not sit but stand up in 
 the cart and shout, and sing, and wave banners 
 aloft, while the hundreds of on-lookers roar out 
 the " Hoch," the German Hurrah ! with only one 
 note. 
 
 As every window had its ornament or device, I 
 made one for mine also, and my sails were fes- 
 tooned (rather tastefully, I natter myself) to 
 support the little blue silk English jack of the 
 canoe. This complimentary display was speedily 
 recognized by the Germans, who greeted it with 
 cheers, and sung glees below, and improvised 
 
ALLEGRO. 
 
 51 
 
 Singers' Waggon. 
 
 verses about England, and then sang round the 
 boat itself, laughing, shouting, and hurraing 
 boisterously with the vigour of youthful lungs. 
 Never tell me. again that the Germans are a 
 phlegmatic people ! 
 
 They had a "banket" in the evening at the 
 Museum. It was " free for all," and so 400 came 
 E 2 
 
52 A BANKET. 
 
 on these inexpensive terms, and all drank beer 
 from long glass cylinders at a penny a glass, all 
 smoked cigars at a farthing a piece, and all talked 
 and sung, though a splendid brass band was 
 playing beside them, and whenever it stopped a 
 glee or chorus commenced. 
 
 The whole affair was a scene of bewildering 
 excitement, very curious to contemplate for one 
 sitting in the midst. Next me I found a young 
 bookseller who had sold me a French book in the 
 morning. He said I must take a ticket for the 
 Sunday concert ; but I told him I was an Eng- 
 lishman, and had learned in my country that it 
 was God's will and for men's good to keep Sun- 
 day for far better things, which are too much 
 forgotten when one day in seven is not saved 
 from the business, excitement, and giddiness of 
 e very-day life. 
 
 There is a feeling of dull sameness about life iu 
 those countries and places where the week is not 
 steadied and centered round a solid day on which 
 lofty and deep things, pure and lasting things 
 may have at least some hours of our attention. 
 
 So I left the merry singers to bang their drums 
 and hoch ! at each other in the great hall provided 
 for their use by the Prince of Furstemburg. He 
 had reared this near his stables, in which are 
 many good horses, some of the best being Eng- 
 
53 
 
 lish, and named on their stalls "Miss," "Pet," 
 " Lady," or " Tom," &c. 
 
 An English gentleman "vhom I met afterwards 
 had been travelling through Germany with a four- 
 in-hand drag, and he came to Donaueschingen, 
 where the Prince soon heard of his arrival. Next 
 day His Serene Highness was at his stables, and 
 seeing an English visitor there, he politely con- 
 ducted the stranger over the whole establishment, 
 explaining every item with minute care. He 
 found out afterwards that this visitor was not the 
 English gentleman, but only his groom ! 
 
 The intelligence, activity, and good temper of 
 most of the German waiters in hotels will surely 
 be observed by travellers whose daily enjoyment 
 depends so much on that class. Here, for instance, 
 is a little waiter at the Poste Inn. He is the size 
 of a boy, but looks twenty years older. His face 
 is flat, and broad, and brown, and so is his jacket. 
 His shoulders are high, and he reminds you of 
 those four everlasting German juveniles, with 
 thick comforters about their necks, who stand in 
 London streets blowing brass music, with their 
 cheeks puffed out, and their cold grey eyes 
 turning on all the passing objects while the music, 
 or at any rate a noise, blurts out as if mechanically 
 from the big, unpolished instruments held by red 
 benumbed fingers. 
 
54 A WAITER. 
 
 This waiter lad then is all day at the beck 
 of all, and never gets a night undisturbed, yet 
 he is as obliging at ten o'clock in the dark as 
 for the early coffee at sunrise, and he quite 
 agrees with each guest, in the belief that his 
 particular cutlet or cognac is the most import- 
 ant feature of the hour. 
 
 I honour this sort of man. He fills a hard 
 place well, and Bismarck or Mussurus cannot do 
 more. 
 
 Then again, there is Ulric, the other waiter, 
 hired only for to-day as an " extra," to meet the 
 crush of hungry vocalists who will soon fill the 
 saal. He is timid yet, being young, and only used 
 to a village inn where " The Poste at Donaues- 
 chingen " is looked up to with solemn admiration 
 as the pink of fashion. He was learning French 
 too, and was sentimental, so I gave him a very 
 matter-of-fact book, and then he asked me to let 
 him sit in the canoe while I was to paddle it down 
 the river to his home ! The naive simplicity of 
 this request was truly refreshing, and if I had 
 been sure of shallow water all the way, and 
 yet not too shallow, it would perhaps have been 
 amusing to admit such a passenger. 
 
 The actual source of the Danube is by no means 
 agreed upon any more than the source of the Nile. 
 I had a day's exploration of the country, after 
 
SOURCE OF THE DANUBE. 55 
 
 seeking exact information on this point from the 
 townspeople in vain. The land round Donaues- 
 chingen is a spongy soil, with numerous rivulets 
 and a few large streams. I went along one of 
 these, the Brege, which rises twenty miles away, 
 near St. Martin, and investigated about ten 
 miles of another, the Brigach, a brook rising near 
 St. Georgen, about a mile from the source of the 
 Neckar, which river runs to the Rhine. These 
 streams join near Donaueschingen, but in the 
 town there bubbles up a clear spring of water in 
 the gardens of the Prince near the church, and 
 this, the infant Danube, runs into the other water 
 already wide enough for a boat, but which then for 
 the first time has the name of Donau. 
 
 The name, it is said, is never given to either of 
 the two larger rivulets, because sometimes both 
 have been known to fail in dry summers, while 
 the bubbling spring has been perennial for 
 ages. 
 
 The Brege and another confluent are caused to 
 fill an artificial pond close by the Brigach. This 
 lake is wooded round, and has a pretty island, and 
 swans, and gold fish. A waterwheel (in vain 
 covered for concealment) pumps up water to flow 
 from an inverted horn amid a group of statuary 
 in this romantic pond, and the stream flowing 
 from it also joins the others. 
 
56 HOCH ! HOCH ! 
 
 That there might be no mistake however in 
 this matter, I went on each stream from the first 
 point where it would float a canoe, and while the 
 singers sol-faed excessively at the boat, and 
 shouted hochs and farewells to the English 
 " flagge," and the landlord bowed (his bill of 
 thirteen francs for three full days being duly 
 paid), and the populace stared, the Rob Hoy shot 
 off like an arrow on a river delightfully new. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Danube Singers Shady nooks Geislingen Morn- 
 ing Crowd Islands Monks Concert Fish A 
 race. 
 
 AT first the river is a few feet broad, but it 
 soon enlarges, and the streams of a great plain 
 quickly bring its volume to that of the Thames 
 at Kingston. The Donau (old Roman Ister) winds 
 about then in serpentine slowness and smoothness 
 for hours in a level mead, with waving sedge on 
 the banks and silken sleepy weeds in the water. 
 Here the long-necked, long-winged, long-legged 
 heron, that seems to have forgotten to get a body, 
 flocks by scores with ducks of the various wild 
 breeds, while pretty painted butterflies and fierce- 
 looking dragon-flies float, as it were, on the 
 summer sunbeams, and simmer in the air. The 
 haymakers are at work ; and half their work is 
 hammering the soft edges of their very miserable 
 scythes, which they then dip in the water ; 
 now they have a chat ; and as I whiz by round 
 a corner, there is a row of open mouths and 
 
58 
 
 wondering eyes, but an immediate return to 
 courtesy with a touch of the hat, and "Gut 
 tag" when presence of mind is restored. Then 
 they call to their mates, and laugh with rustic 
 satisfaction a laugh that is real and true, not 
 cynical, but the recognition of a strange incon- 
 gruity, that of a reasonable being pent up in a 
 boat and hundreds of miles from home, yet 
 whistling most cheerfully all the time ! 
 
 Soon the hills on either side have houses and 
 old castles, and then wood, and, lastly, rock; and 
 with these, mingling the bold, the wild, and the 
 sylvan, there begins a grand panorama of river 
 beauties to be unrolled for days and days. No 
 river I have seen equals this Upper Danube, and 
 I have visited many pretty streams. The wood 
 is so thick, the rocks so quaint and high and so 
 much varied, the water is so clear, and the grass 
 so green. Winding here and turning there, and 
 rushing fast down this reach and paddling slow 
 along that, with each minute a fresh view, and of 
 new things, the mind is ever on the qui vive, or the 
 boat will go bump on a bank, crash on a rock, or 
 plunge into a tree full of gnats and spiders. This 
 is veritable travelling, where skill and tact are 
 needed to bear you along, and where each exer- 
 tion of either is rewarded at once. I think, also, 
 it promotes decision of character, for you must 
 
CANOE PLEASURES. 59 
 
 choose, and that promptly, too, between, say, five 
 channels opened suddenly before you. Three are 
 probably safe, but which of these three is the 
 shortest, deepest, and most practicable? In an 
 instant, if you hesitate, the boat is on a bank; 
 and it is remarkable how speedily the exercise of 
 this resolution becomes experienced into habit, 
 but of course only after some severe lessons. 
 
 It is exciting to direct a camel over the sandy 
 desert when you have lost your fellow-travellers, 
 and to guide a horse in trackless wilds alone ; 
 but the pleasure of paddling a canoe down a 
 rapid, high-banked, and unknown river, is far 
 more than these. 
 
 Part of this pleasure flows from the mere sense 
 of rapid motion. In going down a swift reach of 
 the river there is the same sensation about one's 
 diaphragm which is felt when one goes forward 
 smoothly on a lofty rope swing. Now the first 
 few days of the Danube are upon very fast 
 waters. Between its source and Him the descent 
 of the river is about 1,500 feet.* This would 
 give 300 feet of fall for each of a five days' 
 journey; and it will be seen from this that the 
 prospect for the day's voyage is most cheering 
 
 * The best geographical books give different estimates 
 of this, some above and others below the amount here 
 stated. 
 
60 ALL R-R-R-R-IGHT. 
 
 when you launch, in the morning and know you 
 will have to descend about the height of St. 
 Paul's Cathedral before halting for the night. 
 
 Another part of the pleasure it is not to be 
 denied consists in satisfaction at overcoming 
 difficulties. When you have followed a channel 
 chosen from several, and, after half-a-mile of it, 
 you see one and another of the rejected channels 
 emerging from its islands to join that you are in, 
 there is a natural pride in observing that any 
 other streamlet but the one you had chosen 
 would certainly have been a mistake. 
 
 These reflections are by the way ; and we have 
 been winding the while through a rich grassy 
 plain till a bridge over the river made it seem 
 quite a civilized spot, and, just as I passed under, 
 there drove along one of the green-boughed 
 waggons of jovial singers returning from Donau- 
 eschingen. Of course they recognised the canoe, 
 and stopped to give her a hearty cheer, ending 
 with a general chorus made up of the few English 
 words of their vocabulary, " All r-r-r-r-ight, 
 Englishmann ! " " All r-r-r-r-ight, English- 
 mann ! " * 
 
 The coincidence of these noisy but good- 
 humoured people having been assembled in the 
 morning, when the canoe had started from the 
 * See sketch, ante, page 51. 
 
FUEL WANTED. 61 
 
 source of the Danube, caused the news of its 
 adventure to be rapidly carried to all the neigh- 
 bouring towns, so that the Hob Hoy was wel- 
 comed at once, and the newspapers recorded its 
 proceedings not only in Germany and France, 
 but in England, and even in Sweden and in 
 America. 
 
 At the village of Geislingen I discovered that 
 the boiler of my engine needed some fuel, or, in 
 plain terms, I must breakfast. The houses of 
 the town were not close to the river, but some 
 workmen were near at hand, and I had to leave 
 the canoe in the centre of the stream moored to 
 a plank, with very strict injunctions (in most 
 distinct English !) to an intelligent boy to take 
 charge of her until my return ; and then I walked 
 to the principal street, and to the best-looking 
 house, and knocked, entered, asked for breakfast, 
 and sat down, and was speedily supplied with an 
 excellent meal. One after another the people 
 came in to look at the queer stranger who was 
 clad so oddly, and had come aye, how had he 
 come ? that was what they argued about in 
 whispers till he paid his bill, and then they fol- 
 lowed to see where he would go, and thus was 
 there always a congregation of inquisitive but 
 respectful observers as we started anew. 
 
 Off again, though the August sun is hot. 
 
62 SHADY TIMES. 
 
 Shade will be better enjoyed when resting in the 
 boat under a high rock, or in a cool water cave, 
 or beneath a wooden bridge, or within the longer 
 shadow of a pine-clad cliff. 
 
 Often I tried to rest those midday hours (for 
 one cannot always work) on shore, in a house, or 
 on a grassy bank ; but it was never so pleasant as 
 at full length in the canoe, under a thick grown 
 oak-tree, with a book to read dreamily, and a 
 mild cigar at six for a penny, grown in the 
 fields I passed, and made up at yesterday's 
 
 * Two stimulants well known in England are much 
 used in Germany, tea and tobacco. 
 
 (1) The tobacco plant (sometimes styled a weed, 
 because it also grows wild) produces leaves, which are 
 dried and rolled, and then treated with fire, using an 
 appropriate instrument, by which the fumes are inhaled. 
 The effect upon many persons is to soothe ; but it impairs 
 the appetite of others. The use is carried to excess in 
 Turkey. The leaves contain a deadly poison. 
 
 (2) The tea weed (sometimes styled a plant, because it 
 also grows under cultivation) produces leaves, which are 
 dried and rolled, and then treated with fire, using an 
 appropriate instrument, by which the infusion is imbibed. 
 The effect upon many persons is to cheer ; but it impairs 
 the sleep of others. The use is carried to excess in 
 Russia. The leaves contain a deadly poison. 
 
 Both these luxuries are cheap and portable, especially 
 tobacco, and are daily enjoyed by millions of persons in all 
 
MILL WEIRS. 63 
 
 Let it be well understood that this picture only 
 describes the resting time, and not the active 
 hours of progress in the cooler part of the day 
 before and after the bright meridian sun. 
 
 In working hours there was no lazy lolling, 
 the enjoyment was that of delightful exertion, 
 varied at every reach of the river, and never two 
 hours alike all the way through. 
 
 You start, indeed, quietly enough, but are sure 
 soon to hear the well-known rushing sound of a 
 milldam, and this almost every day, five or six 
 times. On coming to it I usually went straight 
 along the top edge of the weir, looking over for 
 a good place to descend by, and surveying the 
 innumerable little streams below to see my best 
 course afterwards. By this time the miller and 
 his family and his men, and all the neighbours, 
 would run down to see the new sight, but I 
 always lifted out my little black knapsack and 
 put my paddle on shore, and then stepped out 
 and pulled my boat over or round the obstruc- 
 tion, sometimes through a hayfield or two, or by 
 a lane, or along a wall, and then launched her 
 again in deep water. Dams less than four feet 
 
 climates. Both also require care and moderation in their 
 use. Both have advocates and enemies ; and it cannot be 
 settled by argument whether the plant or the weed is the 
 most useful to mankind. 
 
64 RAPIDS. 
 
 high one can " shoot " with a headlong plunge 
 into the little billows at the foot, but this 
 wrenches the boat if it strikes against a stone, 
 and it is better to get out and ease her through, 
 lift her over, or drag her round. 
 
 In other places I had to sit astride on the 
 stern of the canoe, with both legs in the water, 
 fending her off from big stones on either side, 
 and cautiously steering.^ 
 
 But with these amusements, and a little 
 wading, you sit quite dry, and, leaning against 
 the backboard, smoothly glide past every danger, 
 lolling at ease where the current is excessive, and 
 where it would not be safe to add impetus, for the 
 shock of a collision there would break the 
 strongest boat. 
 
 If incidents like these, and the scenery and the 
 people ashore, were not enough to satisfy the ever 
 greedy mind, some louder plashing, with a deeper 
 roar, would announce the rapids. This sound 
 was sure to waken up any sleepiness, and once 
 in the middle of rough water all had to be 
 energy and life. 
 
 I never had a positive upset, but of course I 
 
 * The invention of this method was made here, but its 
 invaluable advantages were more apparent in passing the 
 second rapid of Eheinfelden. See post, page 189, where 
 it is described, with a sketch. 
 
THE BOYS. 65 
 
 had to jump out frequently to save the boat, for 
 the first care was the canoe, and the second was 
 my luggage, to keep it all dry, the sketch-book 
 in particular, while the third object was to get on 
 comfortably and fast. 
 
 After hours of these pleasures of work and rest, 
 and a vast deal seen and heard and felt that would 
 take too long to tell, the waning sun, and the 
 cravings within for dinner, warned me truly that 
 I had come near the stopping-place for the night. 
 
 The town of Tuttlingen is built on both sides 
 of the river, and almost every house is a dyer's 
 shop or a tannery, with men beating, scraping, 
 and washing hides in the water. As I allowed 
 the boat to drift among these the boys soon found 
 her out a new object and therefore to boys 
 (and may it always be so) well worth a shout 
 and a run ; so a whole posse of little Germans 
 scampered along beside me, but I could not see 
 any feasible-looking inn. 
 
 It is one of the privileges of this water tour 
 that you can survey calmly all the whereabouts ; 
 and being out of reach of the touters and porters 
 who tyrannically oppress the wretched traveller 
 delivered to their grasp from an omnibus or a 
 steamboat, you can philosophize on the whole 
 morale of a town, and if so inclined can pass it, 
 and simply go on. In fact, on several occasions 
 
66 WHERE SHALL WE STOP. 
 
 I did not fancy a town, and so went on to another. 
 However, I was fairly nonplussed now. It would 
 not do to go further, for it was not a thickly- 
 peopled country ; but I went nearly to the end 
 of the place in search of a good landing, till I 
 turned into a millrace and stepped ashore. 
 
 The crowd pressed so closely that I had to fix 
 on a boy who had a toy barrow with four little 
 wheels, and amid much laughter I persuaded him 
 to lend it (of course as a great honour to him), 
 and so I pulled the boat on this to the hotel. 
 The boy's sixpence of reward was a fact that 
 brought all the juvenile population together, and 
 though I hoisted the canoe into a hayloft and 
 gave very positive injunction to the ostler to keep 
 her safe, there was soon a string of older sight- 
 seers admitted one by one ; and even at night they 
 were mounting the ladder with lanterns, women as 
 well as men, to examine the " schiff." 
 
 A total change of garments usually enabled me 
 to stroll through the villages in the evening 
 without being recognised, but here I was instantly 
 known as I emerged for a walk, and it was evident 
 that an unusual attendance must be expected in 
 the morning. 
 
 Tuttlingen is a very curious old town, with a 
 good inn and bad pavement, tall houses, all 
 leaning here and there, and big, clumsy, honest- 
 

TUTTLINGEN. 69 
 
 looking men lounging after their work, and 
 wonderfully satisfied to chat in groups amid the 
 signal darkness of unlighted streets ; very fat 
 horses and pleasant-looking women, a bridge, 
 and numerous schoolboys ; these are my impres- 
 sions of Tuttlingen. 
 
 Even at six o'clock next morning these boys 
 had begun to assemble for the sight they ex- 
 pected, and those of them who had satchels on 
 their backs seemed grievously disappointed to 
 find the start would not come off before their 
 hour for early school. 
 
 However, the grown-up people came instead, 
 and flocked to the bridge and its approaches. 
 While I was endeavouring to answer all the 
 usual questions as to the boat, a man respectfully 
 asked me to delay the start five minutes, as his 
 aged father, who was bedridden, wished exceed- 
 ingly just to see the canoe. In all such cases it 
 is a pleasure to give pleasure, and to sympathize 
 with the boundless delight of the boys, remem- 
 bering how as a boy a boat delighted me; and 
 then, again, these worthy, mother-like, whole- 
 some-faced dames, how could one object to their 
 prying gaze, mingled as it was with friendly 
 smiles and genuine interest ? 
 
 The stream on which I started here was not the 
 main channel of the Danube, but a narrow arm 
 
70 THE MORNING CROWD. 
 
 of the river conducted through the town, while 
 the other part fell over the mill-weir. The wood- 
 cut shows the scene at starting, but there were 
 crowds as large as this at other towns; and a 
 picture never can repeat the shouts and bustle, 
 or the sound of guns firing and bells ringing, 
 which on more than one occasion celebrated the 
 Rob Roy's morning paddle. 
 
 The lovely scenery of this day's voyage often 
 reminded me of that upon the Wye,* in its best 
 parts between Ross and Chepstow. There were 
 the white rocks and dark trees, and caverns, 
 crags, and jutting peaks you meet near Tintern ; 
 but then the Wye has no islands, and its muddy 
 water at full tide has a worse substitute in muddier 
 banks when the sea has ebbed. 
 
 The islands on beauteous Donau were of all 
 sizes and shapes. Some low and flat, and 
 thickly covered with shrubs ; others of stal- 
 wart rock, stretching up at a sharp angle, under 
 which the glassy water bubbled all fresh and 
 clear. 
 
 Almost each minute there was a new scene, 
 
 * Murray says : " The Meuse has been compared to the 
 Wye ; but is even more romantic than the English river." 
 I would rank the Wye as much above the Meuse as below 
 the Danube for romance in scenery. 
 
71 
 
 and often I backed against the current to hold my 
 post in the best view of some grand picture. 
 Magnificent crags reached high up on both sides, 
 and impenetrable forests rung with echoes when I 
 shouted in the glee of health, freedom, and exqui- 
 site enjoyment. 
 
 But scenes and sentiments will not feed the 
 hungry paddler, so I decided to stop at Freid- 
 ingen, a village on the bank. There was a diffi- 
 culty now as to where I could leave the canoe, for 
 no inn seemed near enough to let me guard her 
 while I breakfasted. At length a mason helped 
 me to carry the Bob Roy into a donkey's stable, 
 and a boy volunteered to guide the stranger to the 
 best inn. The first, and the second, and the third 
 he led me to were all beerhouses, where only 
 drink could be had ; and, as the crowd augmented 
 at every stage, I dismissed the ragged cicerone, 
 and trusted (as I ought to have done at first) to 
 that unnamed instinct which guides a hungry 
 man to food. Even the place I found at last, was 
 soon filled with wondering spectators. A piece of 
 a German and English dictionary from my bag- 
 gage excited universal attention, and was several 
 times carried outside to those who had not secured 
 reserved seats within. 
 
 The magnificent scenery culminated at Beuron, 
 where a great convent on a rich mound of grass 
 
72 WITH THE MONKS. 
 
 is nearly surrounded by the Danube, amid a 
 spacious amphitheatre of cliffs perfectly upright, 
 and clad with the heaviest wood. 
 
 The place looked so lonely, though fair, that I 
 could scarcely believe I was to stop there for 
 the night, and so I had nearly swept by it again 
 into perfect solitude when at last I pulled up 
 under a tree, and walked through well ploughed 
 fields to the little hamlet in this sequestered 
 spot. 
 
 The field labourers were of course surprised at 
 the apparition of a man in flannel, who must have 
 come out of the river ; but, the people at the 
 Kloster had already heard of the "schiff," and 
 the Rob Roy was soon mounted on two Inen's 
 shoulders, and borne in triumph to the excellent 
 hotel. The Prince who founded the monastery is, 
 I believe, himself a monk. 
 
 Now tolls the bell for " even song," while my 
 dinner is spread in an arbour looking out on this 
 grand scene, made grander still by dark clouds 
 gathering on the mountains, and a loud and long 
 thunder peal, with torrents of rain. 
 
 This deluge of wet came opportunely when I 
 had such good shelter, as it cooled the air,, and 
 would strengthen the stream of the river; so I 
 admired the venerable monks with complacent 
 satisfaction, a feeling never so complete as when 
 
CONCERT AT BETJRON. 73 
 
 you are inside, and you look at people who are 
 out in the rain. 
 
 A young girl on a visit to her friends here 
 could talk bad French rapidly, so she was sent to 
 gossip with me as I dined; and then the whole 
 family inspected my sketch-book, a proceeding 
 which happened at least twice every day for many 
 weeks of the voyage. This emboldened me to ask 
 for some music, and the whole party adjourned to 
 a great hall, where a concert was soon in progress 
 with a guitar, a piano, and a violin, all well 
 played ; and the Germans are never at a loss for 
 a song. 
 
 My young visitor, Melanie, then became the 
 interpreter in a curious conversation with the 
 others, who could speak only German; and I 
 ventured to turn our thoughts on some of the 
 nobler things which ought not to be long absent 
 from the mind I mean, what is loved and feared, 
 enjoyed and derided, as " religion." 
 
 In my very limited baggage I had brought 
 some selected pieces and Scripture anecdotes 
 and other papers in French and German, and 
 these were used on appropriate occasions, and 
 were always well received, often with exceed- 
 ingly great interest and sincere gratitude. 
 
 Some people are shy about giving tracts, or are 
 even afraid of them. But then some people are shy 
 
74 GIVING TRACTS. 
 
 of speaking at all, or even dislike to ride, or 
 skate, or row. One need not laugh at another 
 for this. 
 
 The practice of carrying a few printed pages to 
 convey in clear language what one cannot accu- 
 rately speak in a foreign tongue is surely allow- 
 able, to say the least. But I invariably find it 
 to be very useful and interesting to myself and 
 to others ; and, as it hurts nobody, and has 
 nothing in it of which to be proud or ashamed, 
 and as hundreds of men do it, and as I have done 
 it for years, and will do it again, I am far too 
 old a traveller to be laughed out of it now. 
 
 The Kloster at Beuron is a favourite place for 
 excursionists from the towns in the neighbour- 
 hood, and no doubt some day soon it will be a 
 regular " place to see " for English travellers 
 rowing down the Danube ; for it is thus, and 
 only thus, you can approach it with full eifect. 
 The moon had come out as I looked from my 
 bedroom window, and it whitened the ample circus 
 of beetling crags, and darkened the trees, while a 
 fainter and redder light glimmered from the 
 monks' chapel, as the low tones of midnight 
 chanting now and then reached the ear. Perhaps 
 it is better to wear a monk's cowl than to wear 
 consistently a layman's common coat in the work- 
 day throng of life ; and it may be better to fast 
 
REVERIE AMONG SPIDERS. 75 
 
 and chant and kneel at shrines than to be tempe- 
 rate and thankful and prayerful in the busy 
 world. But I doubt. 
 
 After leaving Beuron, with the usual pleasant 
 good wishes from the shore, the Danube carried 
 us between two lofty rocks, and down calm 
 reaches for hours. The water was unspeakably 
 clear; you could see right into deep caverns 
 far below. I used to gaze downwards for so long 
 a time at the fish moving about, and to strike at 
 them with my long paddle (never once hitting 
 any), that I forgot that the boat was swinging 
 along all the time, till bump she went on a bank, 
 or crash against a rocky isle, or rumbling into 
 some thick trees, when a shower of leaves, 
 spiders, and rubbish would waken up my reverie. 
 Then, warned by the shock, I return to the plain 
 duty of looking ahead, until, perhaps, after an 
 hour's active rushing through narrow " guts," 
 and over little falls, and getting out and hauling 
 the boat down larger ones, my eyes are wander- 
 ing again, gazing at the peaks overhead, and 
 at the eagles soaring above them, and at the 
 clear blue sky above all; till again the Rob 
 Roy heels over on a sunken stone, and I have 
 to jump out nimbly to save her from utter de- 
 struction. For days together I had my feet bare, 
 and my trousers tucked up, ready to wade at any 
 
76 MILES PADDLED. 
 
 moment, and perfectly comfortable all the time, for 
 a fiery sun dried every thing in a few minutes. 
 
 The physical enjoyment of such a life to one in 
 good health and good spirits, with a good boat 
 and good scenery, is only to be appreciated after 
 experience ; for these little reminders, that one 
 must not positively sleep on a rushing river, 
 never resulted in any disaster, and I came home 
 without a cold or a scratch, or a hole in the boat, 
 or one single day regretted. May this be so for 
 many a John Bull let loose on the Continent to 
 "paddle his own canoe." 
 
 On the rivers, where there is no navigation and 
 no towing-paths, it was impossible to estimate the 
 distances traversed each day, except by the num- 
 ber of hours I was at work, the average speed, 
 the strength of the wind and current, and the 
 number of stoppages for food or rest, or mill- weirs, 
 waterfalls, or barriers. I reckoned thirty miles to 
 be a good day's work, and I have sometimes gone 
 forty miles in a day; but I was content with 
 twenty when the scenery and incidents on the 
 way filled up every moment of time with varied 
 sensations of new pleasures. 
 
 It will generally be found, I think, that for 
 walking in a pleasant country twenty miles a day 
 is enough for mind and body, to be active and 
 observant all the time. But the events that 
 
BOAT versus RIVER. 77 
 
 occur in river work are far more frequent and 
 interesting than those on the road, for you have 
 all the circumstances of your boat in addition to 
 what fills the pedestrian's journal, and after a little 
 time your canoe becomes so much a companion 
 (friend, shall I say?) that every turn it takes and 
 every knock and grate on its side is felt as if it 
 were your own. The boat gets to be individualized, 
 and so does the river, till at last there is a pleasant 
 rivalry set up, for it is "man and "boat" versus 
 the river and all it can place in your way. 
 
 After a few tours on the Continent your first 
 hour in a railway or diligence may be new and en- 
 joyable, but you soon begin to wish for the end of 
 the road, and after a short time in the town you have 
 come to you begin to talk (or think) of when you 
 are to leave. Now a feature of the boating tour 
 is that quiet progress can be enjoyed all the time, 
 because you have personal exertion or engagement 
 for every moment, and your observation of the 
 scenery around is far more minute and interesting, 
 because every bend and slope of it tells at once 
 on what you have to do. 
 
 Certainly the pleasure of a day is not to be 
 measured by the number of miles you have gone 
 over. The voyage yesterday, for instance, was 
 one of the very best for enjoyment of scenery, 
 incident, and exercise, yet it was the shortest 
 
78 BOAT versus RIVER. 
 
 day I had. The guide-book says, " Tuttlingen is 
 twelve miles " by river, say eighteen " from 
 Kloster Beuron, where the fine scenery begins. 
 This part of the Danube is not navigable." 
 
 I will not say that on some occasions I did not 
 wish for the end of the day's work, when arms 
 were weary, and the sun was low, and yearnings 
 of the inner man grumbled for dinner, especially 
 when no one could tell how far it was to any 
 house, or whether you could stop there all night if 
 you reached it. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Sigmaringen Treacherous trees Congress of herons 
 Flying Dutchman Tub and shovel Bottle race 
 Snags Ya Vol Benighted. 
 
 THE sides of the river were now less precipitous, 
 and the road came within a field or two of the 
 water, and made it seem quite homely for a time. 
 
 I had heard a loud jingling sound on this road 
 for at least half-an-hour, and observed a long cart 
 with two horses trotting fast, and evidently, as I 
 thought, daring to race with the Rob Roy. But 
 at length such earnest signals were made from it 
 that I stopped, and the cart at once pulled up, and 
 there ran across the field a man breathless and hot, 
 without his hat, and followed by two young ladies, 
 equally hurried. He was a German, resident for 
 a short time in London, and now at home for a 
 month's holiday, and he was prodigal of thanks 
 for my "great courtesy" in having stopped that 
 the ladies might see the canoe which they had 
 followed thus for some miles, having heard of its 
 fame at their village. On another occasion three 
 
80 RUNNING TO SEE. 
 
 youths voluntarily ran alongside the boat and 
 panted in the sun, and tumbled over stoqks and 
 stones at such a rate, that after a mile of the 
 supererogatory exercise, I asked what it was all 
 about. Excellent villagers! they had taken all 
 this trouble to arrive at a point farther down the 
 stream where they knew there was a hard place, 
 and they thought they might help me in passing it. 
 
 Such exertions on behalf of a stranger were 
 really most kind, and when I allowed them to 
 give a nominal help, where in reality it was easy 
 enough to get on unaided, they were much de- 
 lighted and more than rewarded, and went back 
 prattling their purest Suabian in a highly satisfied 
 frame of mind. 
 
 Many are the bends and currents, but at last 
 we arrive at the town of Sigmaringen. It has 
 certainly an aristocratic air, though there are only 
 3,000 inhabitants ; but then it has a Principality, 
 though the whole population of this is only 
 52,000. Fancy a parish in London having a 
 Prince all to themselves, and with such a fine 
 grand name too "His Royal Serene Highness 
 the Hereditary Prince of Hohenzollern Sigmarin- 
 gen." But though I have often laughed at this 
 petty kingdom in the Geography books, I shall 
 never do so again, for it contains some of the 
 most beautiful river scenery in the world, and I 
 
IN THE WOOD. 81 
 
 never had more unalloyed pleasure in passing 
 through a foreign dominion. 
 
 There are pretty gardens here, and a handsome 
 Protestant church, and a few good shops, schlosses 
 on the hills, and older castles perched on high rocks 
 in the usual picturesque and uncomfortable places 
 where our ancestors built their nests. 
 
 The Deutscher Hof is the hotel just opened 
 three weeks ago, and all its inmates are in a nutter 
 when their first English guest marches up to the 
 door with a boat and a great company of gazers. 
 The waiter too, all fresh from a year in London, 
 at the Palace Hotel, Buckingham Gate, how glad 
 he is that his English is now in requisition, sitting 
 by me at dinner and talking most sensibly all the 
 time. 
 
 The weather still continued superb; there was 
 not a drop of rain yet, though I had not brought 
 an umbrella. Deep green woods dipped their 
 lower branches in the water, but I found that the 
 stream had sometimes a fashion of carrying the 
 boat under these, and it is especially needful to 
 guard against this when a sharp bend with a 
 fast current hurries you into a wooded corner. 
 Indeed, strange as it may seem, there was more 
 danger to the boat from these trees than from 
 rocks or banks, and far more trouble. For 
 when the boat gets under their low branches your 
 
 G 
 
82 CONGRESS OF HERONS. 
 
 paddle is quite powerless, because you cannot 
 lower one end to hold the water without raising 
 the other and so catching it in the trees. Then 
 if you put your head down forward you cannot 
 see, and the boughs are generally as hard as an 
 ordinary skull when the two are in collision. 
 Finally, if you lean backwards the twigs scrape 
 your face and catch upon a nose even of ordinary 
 length, and if you take your hand from the paddle 
 to protect the face away goes the paddle into the 
 river. Therefore, although my hat was never 
 knocked off, and my skull was always the hardest, 
 and my paddle was never lost, and my nose was 
 never de-Romanized by the branches, I set it 
 down as a maxim, to keep clear of trees in a 
 stream. 
 
 Still it was tempting to go under shady groves 
 when I tried to surprise a flock of herons or a 
 family of wild ducks. Once I came upon twenty- 
 four herons all together. As my boat advanced 
 silently, steadily, it was curious to watch these 
 birds, who had certainly never been disturbed 
 before by any boat in such a place. 
 
 They stared eagerly at me and then looked at 
 each other, and evidently took a vote of the 
 assembly as to what all this could mean. If birds' 
 faces can have an expression of opinion, I am 
 sure I saw one of these saying then to the others 
 
FLYING DUTCHMAN. 83 
 
 " Did you ever ? " and an indignant sneer was on 
 another's beak that plainly answered, "Such 
 impudence indeed ! " while a third added, with 
 a sarcastic chirp, " And a foreigner too ! " But, 
 after consultation, they always got up and 
 circled round, flew down stream, and then settled 
 all again together in an adjourned meeting. A 
 few minutes brought me to their new retreat, 
 and so we went on for miles, they always flying 
 down stream, and always assembling, though over 
 and over again disturbed, until an amendment on 
 the plan was moved and they bent their way aside. 
 
 A pleasant and favourable breeze springing up, 
 which soon freshened into a gale, I now set my 
 two sails, and the boat went with very great 
 speed ; dashing over rocks and bounding past the 
 hayfields so fast that when one who caught sight 
 of her had shouted to the rest of his "mates," 
 the sight was departed for ever before they came, 
 and I heard them behind me arguing, probably 
 about the ghost. 
 
 But it was a shame to be a phantom ship too 
 often, and it was far more amusing to go right 
 into the middle of these people, who knew nothing 
 about the canoe, who had never seen a boat, and 
 never met a foreigner in their lives. Thus, when 
 I found a waterfall too high to " shoot," or a wide 
 barrier made it advisable to take the boat by land, 
 G 2 
 
84 
 
 MOWERS AMAZED. 
 
 "Inthellayfields." 
 
 I used to walk straight into the hayfields, pushing 
 the boat point foremost through a hedge, or 
 dragging her steadily over the wet newly-mown 
 grass in literal imitation of the American craft 
 which could go "wherever there was a heavy 
 dew." On such occasions the amazement of the 
 untaught clowns, beholding suddenly such an 
 apparition, was beyond all description. Some 
 even ran away, very often children cried outright, 
 and when I looked gravely on the ground as I 
 marched and dragged the boat, and then suddenly 
 stopped in their midst with a hearty laugh and an 
 
TUB AND SHOVEL. 85 
 
 address in English, the whole proceeding may have 
 appeared to them at least as strange as it did to me. 
 
 The water of the river all at once became here 
 of a pale white colour, and I was mourning that 
 my pretty scenes below were clouded ; but in about 
 thirty miles the pebbly deeps appeared again, and 
 the stream resumed its charming limpid clearness. 
 This matter of dark or bright water is of some 
 importance, because, when it is clear, by a little 
 experience you can easily estimate the general 
 depth, even at some distance, by the shades and 
 hues of the water, while the sunk rocks, big stones, 
 and other particular obstacles are of course more 
 visible then. 
 
 Usually I got well enough fed at some village, 
 or at least at a house, but in this lonely part of 
 the river it seemed wise to take provender with 
 me in the boat, and to picnic in some quiet pool, 
 with a shady tree above. One of the very few 
 boats I saw on the river appeared as I was thus 
 engaged, and a little boy was in it. His specimen 
 of naval architecture (no doubt the only one he 
 had ever seen) was an odd contrast to the beauti- 
 fully finished canoe made by Searle. He had a 
 pole and a shovel ; the latter article he used as a 
 paddle, and his boat was of enormous thickness 
 and clumsiness, made of three planks, abundantly 
 clamped with iron. I gave him some bread, and 
 We had a chat ; then some butter, and then some 
 
00 KINGFISHER. 
 
 cheese. He would not take wine, but he produced 
 a cigar from his wet jacket, and also two matches, 
 which he lighted with great skill. We soon got to 
 be friends, as people do who are together alone, and 
 in the same mode of travelling, riding, or sailing, 
 or on camels' backs. So we smiled in sympathy, 
 and I asked him if he could read, and gave him a 
 neat little page prettily printed in German, with 
 a red border. This he read very nicely and was 
 glad to put in his ragged pocket; but he could 
 scarcely part from me, and struggled vainly to 
 urge his tub along with the shovel till we came to 
 a run of dashing waves, and then of course I had 
 to leave him behind, looking and yearning, with a 
 low, murmuring sound, and a sorrowful, earnest 
 gaze I shall never forget. 
 
 Shoals of large and small fish are in this river, 
 and very few fishermen. I did not see ten men 
 fishing in ten days. But the pretty little King- 
 fisher does not neglect his proper duties, and 
 ever and anon his round blue back shines in the 
 sun as he hurries away with a note of protest 
 against the stranger who has invaded his pre- 
 serves. Bees are buzzing while the sun is hot, 
 and when it sinks, out gush the endless mazes of 
 gnats to hop and flit their tangled dances, the 
 creatures of a day born since the morning, and 
 to die at night. 
 
 Before the Danube parted with the rocks that 
 
ROCKS AND FALLS. 87 
 
 had been on each side for days together, it played 
 some strange pranks among them, and they 
 with it. 
 
 Often they rose at each side a hundred feet 
 without a bend, and then behind these were 
 broken cliffs heaved this way and that, or tossed 
 upside down, or as bridges hanging over chasms. 
 
 Here and there a huge splinted tooth-like spire 
 of stone stuck out of the water, leaning at an 
 angle. Sometimes in front there was a veritable 
 upright wall, as smooth as if it were chiselled, 
 and entirely cutting off the middle of the stream. 
 In advancing steadily to such a place it was really 
 impossible to decide on which side the stream 
 could by any means find an exit, and once indeed 
 I was persuaded that it must descend below. 
 
 In other cases the river, which had splayed out 
 its width to that of the Thames at Hungerford, 
 narrowed its size to a six-foot passage, and rushed 
 down that with a " whishhh ! " A more difficult 
 vagary to cope with was when in a dozen petty 
 streams the water tumbled over as many little 
 cascades, and only one was passable sometimes 
 not one. The interest of finding these, examining, 
 trying, failing, and succeeding, was a continuous 
 delight, and filled up every mile with a series of 
 exciting incidents, till at length the rocks were 
 done. 
 
88 BOTTLE RACE. 
 
 And now we enter a vast plain, with the stream 
 bending round on itself, and hurrying swiftly 
 on through the innumerable islands, eddies, and 
 " snags," or trees uprooted, sticking in the water. 
 At the most critical part of this labyrinth I was 
 going a tremendous pace, when I suddenly came 
 to a fork in the river, with the volumes of water 
 going down both channels nearly equal. "We 
 could not descend by one of these because a tree 
 would catch the mast, so I instantly turned 
 into the other, when up started a man and 
 shouted impetuously that no boat could pass by 
 that course. It was a moment of danger, but 
 I lowered the sails in that moment, took down 
 my mast, and, despite stream and gale, I managed 
 to paddle back to the proper channel. As I had 
 not seen a man for hours before, the arrival 
 of this warning note was opportune. 
 
 A new amusement was invented to-day it was 
 to pitch out my empty wine-bottle and to watch 
 its curious bobbings and whirlings as the current 
 carried it along, while I floated near and com- 
 pared the natural course taken by the bottle with 
 the selected route which intelligence gave to the 
 Rob Eoy. Soon the bottle became impersonated, 
 and we were racing together, and yet a friend- 
 ship began for its well-known cork as it plumped 
 down when its bottom struck a stone for the 
 
INVISIBLE SONG. 89 
 
 bottle drew more water than my canoe and 
 every time it grounded there came a loud and 
 melancholy clink of the glass, and down it went. 
 
 The thick bushes near the river skirted it now 
 for miles, and at one place I could see above 
 me, through the upper branches, about 20 hay- 
 makers, men and women, who were honestly 
 working away, and therefore had not observed 
 my approach. 
 
 I resolved to have a bit of fun here, so I closed 
 in to the bank, but still so as to see the indus- 
 trious group. Then suddenly I began in a very 
 loud voice with 
 
 " Eule, Britannia, 
 Britannia rules the waves." 
 
 Long before I got to the word "slaves" the 
 whole party were like statues, silent and fixed 
 in amazement. Then they looked right, left, 
 before, behind, and upwards in all directions, 
 except, of course, into the river, for why should 
 they look there ? nothing had ever come up from 
 the river to disturb their quiet mead. I next 
 whistled a lively air, and then dashing out of 
 my hiding-place stood up in my boat, and made 
 a brief (but, I trust, brilliant) speech to them 
 in the best English I could muster, and in a 
 moment afterwards I had vanished from their 
 sight. 
 
90 BRIDGE PERILS. 
 
 A little farther on there was some road-making 
 in progress, and I pulled up my boat under a 
 tree and walked up to the " barraque," or work- 
 man's canteen, and entered among 30 or 40 
 German " navvies," who were sitting at their 
 midday beer. I ordered a glass and drank their 
 health standing, paid, bowed, and departed, but 
 a general rush ensued to see where on earth this 
 flannel-clad being had come from, and they stood 
 on the bank in a row as I waded, shoved, hauled, 
 paddled, and carried my boat through a trouble- 
 some labyrinth of channels and embankments, 
 with which their engineering had begun to spoil 
 the river. 
 
 But the bridges one had now more frequently 
 to meet were far worse encroachments of civiliza- 
 tion, for most of them were so low that my mast 
 would not pass under without heeling the boat 
 over to one side, so as to make the mast lean over 
 obliquely. In one case of this kind she was very 
 nearly shipwrecked. The wind was so good that 
 I would not lower the sail, and this and a swift 
 current took us (me and my boat she is now, 
 you see, installed as a " person ") rapidly to the 
 centre arch, when just as we entered I noticed a 
 fierce-looking snag with a sharp point exactly in 
 my course. To swerve to the side would be to strike 
 the wooden pier, but even this would be better 
 
FERRY ROPE. 91 
 
 (for I might ward off the violence of a blow near 
 my hands) than to run on the snag, which would 
 be certain to cut a hole. 
 
 "With a heavy thump on the pier the canoe 
 began to capsize, and only by the nearest escape 
 was she saved from foundering. What I thought 
 was a snag turned out to be the point of an iron 
 stake or railing, carelessly thrown into the water 
 from the bridge above. 
 
 It may be remarked here that many hidden 
 dangers occur near bridges, for there are wooden 
 or iron bars fixed under water, or rough sharp 
 stones lying about, which, being left there when 
 the bridge was building, are not removed from a 
 river not navigable or used by boats. 
 
 Another kind of obstruction is the thin wire 
 rope suspended across the rivers, where a ferry 
 is established by running a flat boat over the 
 stream with cords attached to the wire rope. 
 This rope is black in colour, and therefore not 
 noticed till you approach it too near to lower the 
 mast, but this sort of danger is easily avoided by 
 the somewhat sharp "look-out" which a week 
 or two on the water makes quite instinctive and 
 habitual. Perhaps one of the many advantages 
 of a river tour is the increased acuteness of ob- 
 servation which it requires and fosters. 
 
 I stopped next at a clumsy sort of town called 
 
92 A STORM. 
 
 Reidlingen, where an Englishman is a very rare 
 visitor. The excitement here about the boat 
 became almost ridiculous, and one German, who 
 had been in America and could jabber a little 
 in my language, was deputed to ask questions, 
 while the rest heard the answers interpreted. 
 
 Next morning at eight o'clock at least a thou- 
 sand people gathered on the bridge and its ap- 
 proaches to see the boat start, and shoals of 
 schoolboys ran in, each with his little knapsack 
 of books.* 
 
 The scenery after this became of only ordinary 
 interest compared with what I had passed through, 
 but there would have been little spare time to look 
 at it had it been ever so picturesque, for the wind 
 was quite a gale,f and right in my favour, and 
 the stream was fast and tortuous with banks, 
 eddies, and innumerable islands and cross channels, 
 so that the navigation occupied all one's energy, 
 
 * Knapsack, from '* schnap," " sach," provision bag, 
 for " bits and bats," as we should say ; havresack is from 
 '* hafer," " forage bag." Query. Does this youthful car- 
 riage of the knapsack adapt boys for military service, 
 and does it account for the high shoulders of many 
 Germans ? 
 
 f In the newspaper accounts of the weather it was 
 stated that at this time a storm swept over Central 
 Europe. 
 
NO FOOD. 93 
 
 especially as it was a point of honour not to haul 
 down the sail in a fair wind. 
 
 Midday came, and yet I could find no place 
 to breakfast, though the excitement and exertion 
 of thus sailing was really hard work. But still 
 I hurried on, for dark clouds were gathering 
 behind, and thunder and rain seemed very near. 
 
 "Ah," said I inwardly, "had I only listened 
 to that worthy dame's entreaties this morning 
 that I should take good provision for the day ! " 
 She had smiled like the best of mothers all the 
 time I took coffee, and timidly asked to be allowed 
 to touch my watch-chain, "it was so sc/ion," so 
 beautiful to see. But, oddly enough, I had taken 
 no solid food on board to-day, being so impatient 
 to get oif when the wind was strong and fair. 
 The rapid pace then brought us to Ehingen, the 
 village I had marked on the map for this night's 
 rest. But now I got there I found out it was 
 too soon I could not stop for the day with such 
 a splendid breeze inviting progress ; nor would it 
 do to leave the boat on the bank and go to the 
 village to eat, for it was too far, and so I just let 
 the current and sails hurry us on as before. 
 
 Now and then I asked some gazing agriculturist 
 on the bank where the nearest houses were, but 
 he never could understand that I meant nearest, 
 and also close to the river ; so the end of every 
 
94 CHASING A CHURCH. 
 
 discussion was that lie said, " Ya vol," which 
 means in Yankee tongue, " That's so " ; in 
 Scottish, "Hoot, aye"; in Irish, "Troth, an' 
 it is"; and in French, "C'est vrai"; but 
 then none of this helps one a bit. 
 
 I therefore got first ravenous and then faint, 
 and after mounting the bank to see the turns of 
 the river in advance, I actually fell asleep under 
 a tree. The wind had quite subsided when I 
 awoke, and I quaffed deep draughts of water and 
 paddled on. The banks were now of mud, and 
 about eight or ten feet high, quite straight up 
 from the water, just like those on the Nile, and 
 several affluent streams ran from the plain to join 
 the river. Often, indeed, I saw a church tower 
 right ahead, and laboured along to get there, but 
 after half-a-mile the stream would turn sharp 
 round to one side, and still more and more round, 
 and at last the tower once in front was directly 
 behind us. The explanation of this tormenting 
 peculiarity was simply this, that the villages were 
 carefully built away from the river bank because 
 it is a bad foundation, and is washed away as new 
 channels are formed by the flood. 
 
 "When the light began to fail I took a good 
 look at the map, and serpentine bends were given 
 there plain enough indeed, but only in one-half 
 of their actual number ; and, moreover, I saw that 
 
SNAGS. 95 
 
 in the forest we had now entered I must expect no 
 suitable villages at all. The overhanging trees 
 made a short twilight soon deepen into night; 
 and to add to the interest the snags suddenly 
 became numerous, and some of them waved 
 about in the current, as they do on the Upper 
 Mississippi, when the tenacious mud holds 
 down the roots merely by its weight. All this 
 made it necessary to paddle slowly and with great 
 caution, and to cross always to the slack side of 
 the stream instead of by one's usual course, which, 
 in descending, is to keep with the rapid current. 
 
 Sometimes I had to back out of shallows which 
 were invisible in the dark, and often I stopped a 
 long time before a glance of some ripple obscurely 
 told me the probable course. The necessity for 
 this caution will be evident when it is remembered 
 that in case of an upset here both sets of clothes 
 would have been wet together, and without any 
 house at hand to dry them. 
 
 All at once I heard a bell toll quite near me in 
 the thick wood, and I came to the bank, but it 
 was impossible to get ashore on it, so I passed 
 that place, too, and finally made up my mind to 
 sleep in the boat, and had all sorts of plans in 
 course of devising. 
 
 Just then two drops of rain came on my face, 
 and I resolved at once to stop, for if my clothes 
 
96 GROPING TO BED. 
 
 got wet before I was snug in the canoe there 
 would be little comfort all night, without any- 
 thing solid to eat since morning, and all my cigars 
 already puffed away. 
 
 As I was cautiously searching for a root pro- 
 jecting from the bank to make fast to, a light 
 appeared straight in front, and I dashed forward 
 with the boat to reach it, and speedily ran her 
 into a strange sort of lake or pond, where the 
 stream ceased, and a noise on the boat's side told 
 of weeds, which proved to be large rotind leaves 
 on the surface, like those of the Victoria Kegia 
 lily. 
 
 I drew up the boat on shore, and mounted the 
 high bank through a thicket, carrying my long 
 paddle as a protection against the large dogs 
 which farmhouses sport here, and which might 
 be troublesome to quarrel with in the dark. The 
 house I came to on the top of the precipice had 
 its window lighted, and several people were talk- 
 ing inside, so I knocked loudly, and all was 
 silence. Then I knocked again, and whined out 
 that I was a poor benighted " Englander," and 
 hoped they would let me in, at which melancholy 
 tale they burst out laughing, and so did I ! After 
 an argument between us, which was equally in- 
 telligible on both sides, a fat farmer cautiously 
 took the light upstairs, and, opening a window, 
 
BRITISH BEGGAR. 
 
 97 
 
 thrust the candle forward, 
 and gazed out upon me stand- 
 ing erect as a true Briton, 
 and with my paddle, too, but 
 in reality a humiliated vag- 
 rant begging for a night's 
 lodging. 
 
 After due scrutiny he 
 
 pulled in his head and his 
 candle, shut the window, 
 and fell to laughing im- 
 moderately. At this I was 
 glad, for I never found it 
 difficult to get on with a 
 man who begins in good 
 humour. 
 
 Presently the others went 
 up, and I stood their gaze 
 unflinchingly, and, besides, 
 
 H 
 
98 ROUGHING IT EASY. 
 
 made an eloquent appeal in the vernacular (mine, 
 not theirs, be it clearly understood). They were 
 satisfied that I was alone, and, though probably 
 mad, yet not quite a match for all of them, so 
 they came down gallantly; but then there was 
 the difficulty of persuading the man to come to 
 the river on this dark night to carry up a boat. 
 
 With some exertion we got it up by a better 
 way, and safely locked it in the cowhouse of 
 another establishment, and then I was made 
 thoroughly comfortable. They said they had 
 nothing to eat but kirchwasser, bread, and eggs, 
 and how many eggs would I like ? so I said, 
 " To begin with^ ten," and I ate them every one. 
 By this time the priest had come. They often 
 used to send for the prester to do the talk ; and 
 the large room soon got full, and the sketch-book 
 w T as passed round, and an India-rubber band made 
 endless merriment for the smaller fry, all in the 
 old routine, the very mention of which it may be 
 tedious to hear of so often, as indeed it was to me 
 to perform. 
 
 But then in each case it was their first time of 
 going through the performance, and they were so 
 kind and courteous one could not refuse to please 
 such people. The priest was very communicative, 
 and we tried to converse in Latin, for my German 
 was not good enough for him nor his French for 
 
BILLS. 99 
 
 me. But we soon agreed that it was a long time 
 since our schoolboy Latin days, though I recollect 
 having had long conversations in Latin with a 
 monk at Nazareth, but there we had ten days 
 together, and so had time to practise. 
 
 Thus ended the 1st of September, the only 
 occasion on which I had to " rough it " at all 
 during the voyage; and even then, it may be 
 seen, the very small discomforts were all the 
 results of gross want of prudence on my own 
 part, and ended merely by a hard day's work with 
 breakfast and dinner merged into a late supper. 
 My bill here was 3s. 6d., the day before, 4s. 6d., 
 including always wine and luxuries. 
 
 B 2 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Day-dream River Iller Ulm A stiff king Lake Con- 
 stanceSeeing in the dark Coloured Canvas Sign 
 talk Synagogue Amelia. 
 
 THE threatening rain had not come during the 
 night, and it was a lovely morning next day, like 
 all the rest before and after it ; and as I was 
 leaving this place I found it was called Gegglin- 
 gen, and was only nine miles from Ulm. 
 
 The lofty tower of the Cathedral of this town 
 soon came in view, but I noticed it without any 
 pleasure, for this was to end my week on the 
 Danube ; and in my ship's log I see it is entered 
 as " one of the most pleasant weeks of my life 
 for scenery, health, weather, exercise, and varied 
 adventure." 
 
 In a pensive mood, therefore, I landed at a 
 garden, and reclined to have a rest and a day- 
 dream, but very soon the loud booming of artillery 
 aroused the hill echoes, and then sharp rattling 
 of infantry firing. The heights around were 
 crested with fringes of blue-coated soldiers and 
 glistening bayonets, amid the soft, round, cotton- 
 
DAY-DREAM. 101 
 
 like volumes of smoke from the great guns 
 spurting out fire long before the sound comes. 
 It was a review of troops and a sham attack on 
 a fort surmounting the hill, near the battlefield 
 of long years ago at Ulm. If they fought in heat 
 and fury, let them now rest in peace. 
 
 Come back, my thoughts, to the river at my 
 feet. 
 
 I had been with this river from its infancy, 
 nay, even from its birth in the Schwartzwald. I 
 had followed it right and left, as it seemed to 
 toddle in zigzag turnings like a child ; and I had 
 wound with it hither and thither as it roamed 
 away farther like free boyhood. Then it grew in 
 size by feeding on the oozy plain, and was still 
 my companion when it got the strength of youth, 
 dashing over the rocks, and bounding among the 
 trees ; and I had come at last to feel its powerful 
 stream stronger than my strength, and compelling 
 my respect. And now, at Ulm, I found it a noble 
 river, steady and swift, as if in the flower of age ; 
 but its romance was gone. It had boats on it, 
 and navigation, and bridges, and railways, like 
 other great waters ; and so I would let it go on 
 alone, tumbling, rushing, swelling, till its broad 
 bosom bears whole fleets at Ofen, and at length 
 as a great water giant it leaps down headlong into 
 the Black Sea. 
 
102 RIVER ILLER. 
 
 Having seen Ulm in a former tour, I was in no 
 mood to " go over " the sights again, nor need 
 they be related here, for it is only river travel 
 and lake sailing that we are concerned with; 
 while reference may be made to the Guide-books 
 if you wish to hear this sort of thing : " Ulm, 
 lat. 97, an old Cathedral (a) town, on two () 
 hills (see Appx.). Pop. 20,001 ; situated ft on the 
 Danube." At that I stop, ancl look into the 
 water once more. 
 
 The river is discoloured here, what is called 
 in Scotland "drumly;" and this seems partly 
 owing to the tributary Iller, which rises in the 
 Tyrol, and falls into the Danube, a little way 
 above the town. The Iller has a peculiar air of 
 wild, forlorn bleakness, with its wide channel 
 half occupied by cold white gravel, and its banks 
 scored and torn, with weird, broken roots, gnarled 
 trees, barkless and fallen, all lying dishevelled ; 
 surely in flood times, and of dark wintry nights, a 
 very deluge boils and seethes along there. 
 
 Then, at last, there are the barges on the 
 Danube, and very rudimental they are. Huge in 
 size, with flat bottoms, and bows and stems 
 cocked up, and a roofed house in the middle of 
 their sprawling length. The German boys must 
 have these models before them when they make 
 the Noah's Arks for English nurseries ; and 
 
STEAMERS AND RAFTS. 103 
 
 Murray well says of these barges, they are 
 " nothing better than wooden sheds floating in 
 flat trays." 
 
 In 1839 a steamer was tried here, but it got on 
 a bank, and the effort was abandoned ; so you 
 have to go on to Donauwerth before this mode of 
 travelling is reached, but from thence you can 
 steam down to the Black Sea, and the passage- 
 boats below Vienna are very fast and well 
 appointed. 
 
 Rafts there are at Ulm, but I suppose the 
 timber for them comes by the Iller, for I did not 
 notice any logs descending the upper part of the 
 Danube. 
 
 Again, there are the public washhouses in the 
 river, each of them a large floating establishment, 
 with overhanging eaves, under which there are, 
 say, fifty women all in a row, half kneeling or 
 leaning over the low bulwarks, and all slapping 
 your best shirts mercilessly. 
 
 I made straight over to these ladies, and asked 
 how the Rob Roy could get up so steep a bank, 
 and how far it was to the railway ; and so their 
 senior matron kindly got a man and a hand-cart 
 for the boat, and, as the company of women 
 heard it was from England, they all talked 
 louder and more together, and pounded and 
 
104 A STIFF KING. 
 
 smacked the unfortunate linen with additional 
 emphasis. 
 
 The bustle at the railway-station was only half 
 about the canoe ; the other half was for the King 
 of Wurtemburg, who was getting into his special 
 train to go to his palace at Fredrickshafen. 
 
 Behold me, then, fresh from Gegglingen and 
 snags, in the immediate presence of Royalty ! 
 But this King was not at all kingly, though 
 decidedly stiff. He is, however, rather amusing 
 sometimes ; as when by his order, issued lately, 
 he compels sentries to salute even empty Royal 
 carriages. 
 
 I got a newspaper here, and had twelve days to 
 overtake of the world's doings while I had been 
 in hill, forest, and waves. Yet I had been always 
 asked there to " give the news," and chiefly on 
 two points, the Great Eastern, with its electric 
 cable, and the catastrophe on the Matterhorn 
 glacier, the two being at times vaguely associated, 
 as if the breaking of the cable in the one had 
 something to do with the loss of mountaineers in 
 the other. 
 
 So, while I read, the train bore us southwards to 
 Fredrickshafen, the canoe being charged as baggage 
 three shillings, and patiently submitting to have a 
 numbered label pasted on its pretty brown face. 
 
A REST. 105 
 
 Fredrickshafen, .on the north side of the Lake 
 of Constance, has a charming view in front of it 
 well worth stopping to enjoy. It is not fair to 
 treat it only as a half-hour's town, to be seen 
 while you are waiting for the lake steamer to take 
 you across to Switzerland. 
 
 But now I come to it for a Sunday's rest (if 
 you wish to travel fast and far, rest every 
 Sunday), and, as the hotel faced the station, 
 and the lake faced the hotel, this is the very 
 place to stop in with a canoe. 
 
 So I took the boat upstairs into a loft, where 
 the washerwoman of the hotel not only gave 
 room for the well worked timbers of the Hob 
 Roy to be safe and still, but kindly mended my 
 sails, and sundry other odds and ends of a 
 bachelor's wardrobe, somewhat disorganized by 
 rough times. 
 
 Next day there was service in the Protestant 
 church, a fine building, well filled, and duly 
 guarded by a beadle in bright array. 
 
 The service began by a woman singing " Com- 
 fort ye " from Handel, in exquisite and simple 
 style, with a voice that made one forget how 
 this solemn melody is usually sung by a man. 
 Then a large number of school children were 
 ranged in the chancel, round a crucifix, and sang a 
 very beautiful hymn, and next the whole congre- 
 
106 GERMAN SERVICE. 
 
 gation joined in., chanting the psalms in unison, 
 with tasteful feeling and devoutness. A young 
 German preacher gave us an eloquent sermon, 
 and then the people were dismissed. 
 
 The afternoon was drummed away by two noisy 
 bands, evidently rivals, and each determined to 
 excel the other in loudness, while both combined 
 to persecute the poor visitors who do wish for 
 quietness, at any rate once a week. I could 
 scarcely escape from this din in a long walk by 
 the lake, and on coming back found a man bathing 
 by moonlight, while rockets, squibs, and Catherine 
 wheels were let off in his boat. Better by far was it 
 to look with entranced eyes on the far off snowy 
 range, now lit up by the full harvest moon, and on 
 the sheen of "each particular star," bright above, 
 and bright again below, in the mirror of the 
 lake. 
 
 The Lake of Constance is forty-four miles long, 
 and about nine miles wide. I could not see a rip- 
 ple there when the Rob Roy was launched at early 
 morn, with my mind, and body, and soul refreshed, 
 and an eager longing to begin the tour of Switzer- 
 land over again, but now in so new a fashion. 
 Soon I was far from the shore, and in that middle 
 distance . of the lake where all sides seem equally 
 near, and where the " other side " appears never 
 to get any nearer as you go on. Here, in the 
 
ON LAKE CONSTANCE. 107 
 
 middle, I rested for a while, and the sensation 
 then was certainly new. Beauty was everywhere 
 around, and there was full freedom to see it. 
 There was no cut-and-dry route to be followed, no 
 road, not even a track on the water, no hours, or 
 times to constrain. I could go right or left 
 by a stroke of the paddle, and I was utterly 
 my own master of whither to steer, and where 
 to stop. 
 
 The " pat-a-pat " of a steamer's wheels was the 
 only sound, and that was very distant, and when 
 the boat came near, the passengers cheered the 
 canoe, and smiles of (was it not ?) envy told of how 
 pleasant and pretty she looked. After a little 
 wavering in my plans, I settled it was best to go 
 to the Swiss side, and, after coasting by the villages, 
 I selected a little inn in a retired bay, and moored 
 my boat, and ordered breakfast. Here was an old 
 man of eighty-six, landlord and waiter in one, a 
 venerable man, and I respect age more as I grow 
 older. He talked with me for five hours while I ate, 
 read, and sketched, and feasted my eyes on moun- 
 tain views, and answered vaguely to his remarks, 
 said in a sleepy way, and in a hot, quiet, basking 
 sun. There are peaceful and almost dreamy hours of 
 rest in this water tour, and they are sweet too after 
 hard toil. It is not all rapids and struggles when 
 you journey with a canoe. 
 
108 CARPENTERING. 
 
 Close to the inn was the idiot asylum, an old 
 castle with poor demented women in it. The little 
 flag of my boat attracted their attention, and all 
 the inmates were allowed to come out and see it, 
 with many smiles of pleasure, and many odd 
 remarks and gestures. 
 
 Disentangling myself from this strange group, 
 I landed again further, down, and, under a splendid 
 tree, spent an hour or two in carpenter's work 
 (for I had a few tools on board), to repair the boat's 
 damages and to brighten her up a bit for the Eng- 
 lish eyes I must expect in the next part of the 
 voyage. 
 
 Not a wave had energy to rise on the lake in 
 the hot sun. A sheep-bell tingled now and then, 
 but in a tired, listless, and irregular way. A 
 gossamer spider had spun his web from my mast 
 to the tree above, and wagtails hopped near me 
 on the stones, and turned an inquiring little 
 eye to the boat and its master reclining on the 
 grass. It was an easy paddle from this to the 
 town of Constance, which is at the end of the 
 lake. 
 
 Here a douanier made a descent upon me and was 
 inexorable. " You must have the boat examined." 
 " Yery well, pray examine it." The officer was 
 absent, and I must put the canoe in the Custom- 
 house till to-morrow morning. An hour was 
 
SEEING IN THE DARK. 109 
 
 wasted in palaver about this, and at first I pro- 
 tested vigorously against such absurdity in " free 
 Switzerland." But Constance is not in Switzer- 
 land, it is in the Grand Duchy of Baden, and so 
 to keep it "grand," they must do very little 
 things, and at any rate can trouble travellers. At 
 length an obliging native, ashamed of the pro- 
 ceeding, remonstrated with the douanier, and 
 persuaded him at least to search, the boat and let 
 it pass. 
 
 He took as much time to do this as if it were a 
 bark of 300 tons, and, when he came to look at 
 the stern, I gravely pointed to a round hole cut in 
 the partition for this very purpose ! Into this 
 hole he peered, while the crowd was hushed in 
 silence, and as he saw nothing but darkness, ex- 
 tremely dark (for nothing else was there), he 
 solemnly pronounced the canoe "free," and she 
 was duly borne to the hotel. 
 
 But Constance once had a man in it who was 
 really "grand," John Huss, the noble martyr 
 for the truth. In the Council Hall you see the 
 veritable cell in which he was imprisoned some 
 hundreds of years ago, and on a former visit I had 
 seen, from the tower, through a telescope, the field 
 where the faggots burned him, and from whence 
 his great soul leaped up to heaven out of the 
 blazing pile. 
 
110 THE RHINE AGAIN. 
 
 Does not a thought or two on such great things 
 make other common things look small ? 
 
 True and good but we may not stop always in 
 the lake to ponder thus, for the current is moving 
 again, so let us launch the Rob Roy on our old 
 friend, the Rhine. 
 
 It is a change to cross a quiet lake after being 
 hurried on a rapid stream like the Danube, and 
 now it is another change to paddle from the lake 
 into a wide river like the Rhine, which speeds fast 
 and steady among lively scenes. The water is 
 deep, and of a faint blue, but clear enough to show 
 what is below. The pebbly bottom seems to roll 
 towards you from underneath, and village churches 
 appear to spin quietly round on the banks, for the 
 land and its things seem to move, not the water, 
 so glassy its surface steadily flowing. 
 
 Here are the fishers again, slowly paying out 
 their fine-spun nets, and there is a target-hut 
 built on four piles in the river. 
 
 The target itself is a great cube of wood, say 
 six feet on each side. It is fired at from another 
 hut perched also on posts in the water, and a 
 marker safely placed behind the great block of 
 wood turns it round on a vertical pivot, and so 
 patches up the bullet-hole, and indicates its posi- 
 tion to those who have fired. 
 
 The Rhine suddenly narrows soon after leaving 
 
COLOURED CANVAS. Ill 
 
 the Boden See, or Lake Constance as we call it, 
 but the banks again open out till it is a mile or 
 two in breadth. Here and there are grassy islands, 
 and you may notice, by long stakes stuck on the 
 shallows, which tremble as the water presses them, 
 that the channel for steamers is very roundabout, 
 though the canoe may skim over any part of it 
 comfortably. Behind each islet of tall reeds there 
 is a fishing-boat held fast by two poles stuck in the 
 bottom of the river ; or it is noiselessly moving to a 
 more lucky pool, sculled by the boatman, with his 
 oar at only one side, rather a novel plan, while 
 he pays out the net with his other hand. Rudely- 
 made barges are afloat, and seem to turn round 
 helplessly in the current of the deeper parts, or 
 hoist their great square sails in the dead calm 
 perhaps for the appearance of the thing a very 
 picturesque appearance, as the sail has two broad 
 bands of dark blue cloth for its centre stripes. 
 But the pointed lateen sail of Geneva is certainly 
 a more graceful rig than the lug, especially when 
 there are two masts, and the white sails swell 
 towards you, goosewinged, before a flowing 
 breeze. 
 
 The river has probably a very uneven bottom 
 in this part, for the water sometimes rushes 
 round in great whirlpools, and strange overturn- 
 ings of itself, as if it were boiling from below 
 
112 SIGN TALK. 
 
 in exuberant volume with a gushing upwards; 
 and then again, it wheels about in a circle with a 
 sweep far round, before it settles to go onward.* 
 
 On the borders of Switzerland the German and 
 French tongues are both generally known at the 
 hotels, and by the people accustomed to do busi- 
 ness with foreigners travelling among them. 
 
 But in your course along a river these con- 
 venient waiters and polyglot commissionaires are 
 not found exactly in attendance at every village, 
 and it is, therefore, to the bystanders or casual 
 loungers your observations must be addressed. 
 
 Frequent intercourse with natives of strange 
 countries, where there is no common language 
 between them and the tourist, will gradually 
 teach him a " sign language " which suits all 
 people alike. 
 
 Thus, in any place, no matter what was their 
 
 * These maelstroms seem at first to demand extra caution 
 as you approach, but they are harmless enough, for the 
 water is deep, and it only twists the boat round ; and you 
 need not mind this except when the sail is up, but have a 
 care then that you are not taken aback. In crossing one 
 of these whirlpools at full speed it will be found needless 
 to try to counteract the sudden action on your bow by 
 paddling against it, for it is better to hold on as if there 
 were no interference, and presently the action in the 
 reverse direction puts all quite straight. 
 
LANDING. 113 
 
 dialect, it was always easy to induce one or two 
 men to aid in carrying the canoe. The formula 
 for this was something in the following style. 
 
 I first got the boat on shore, and a crowd 
 of course soon collected, while I arranged its 
 interior, and sponged out the splashed water, 
 and fastened the cover down. Then, tightening 
 my belt for a walk, I looked round with a kind 
 smile, and selecting a likely man, I would address 
 him in English deliberately as follows suiting 
 each action to the word, for I have always found 
 that sign language is made more natural when 
 you speak your own tongue all the time you 
 are acting : " Well now, I think as you have 
 looked on enough and have seen all you want, 
 it's about time to go to an hotel, a gasthaus. 
 Here ! you yes, you ! just take that end of the 
 boat up, so, gently, 'langsam!' 'langsam!" 
 all right, yes, under your arm, like this, now 
 march off to the best hotel, gasthaus." 
 
 Then the procession naturally formed itself. 
 The most humorous boys of course took pre- 
 cedence, because of services willing to be per- 
 formed ; and, meanwhile, they gratuitously 
 danced about and under the canoe like the 
 Fauns around Silenus. Women only came near 
 and waited modestly till the throng had passed. 
 The seniors of the place kept on the safer confines 
 i 
 
114 PROCESSION. 
 
 Usual Procession.' 
 
 of the movement, where dignity of gait might 
 comport with close observation. 
 
 In every case of sign talking like the foregoing 
 we have been helped by one substantive and one 
 adverb ; and if you pronounce these clearly, and 
 use them correctly, while all the other expressions 
 are evidently your language and not theirs, they 
 will understand it much better than if you say the 
 whole in bad German, and so give rise to all 
 possible mistakes of your meaning. 
 
 But it is quite another matter when you have 
 forgotten (or have never acquired) the foreign 
 
ARABS AND SIGNS. 115 
 
 word for the noun you wish to name, though, even 
 then, by well chosen signs, and among an intelli- 
 gent people, a good deal can he conveyed, as may 
 be shown in the following cases. 
 
 Once I was riding among the Arabs along 
 the Algerian coast, on my way from Carthage, and 
 my guide, a dense Kabyle, was evidently taking 
 me past a place I wished to visit, and which had 
 been duly entered in his list when I engaged 
 him. 
 
 I could not make him understand this, for my 
 limited Arabic had been acquired under a different 
 pronunciation in Syria ; but one night, it hap- 
 pened that a clever chief had me in a tent, or 
 rather a hut, just like the top of a gipsy cart. I 
 explained to him by signs (and talking English) 
 that I was being led past what I wished to see. 
 Then I tried to pronounce the name of that place, 
 but was always wrong, or he could not make it 
 out ; it was Maskutayn, or " bewitched waters," 
 a wonderful volcanic valley, full of boiling streams 
 and little volcanoes of salt. 
 
 At length, sitting in the moonlight, I tried 
 signs even for this difficult occasion. I put my 
 chibouque (pipe) under the sand and took water 
 in my hand, and as he looked on intently (for 
 the Arabs love this speaking action) I put water 
 on the fire in the pipe-bowl, and blew it up 
 i 2 
 
116 TALKING TO CHINESE. 
 
 through, the sand, talking English all the time. 
 This I did again, and suddenly the black lustrous 
 eyes of the Ishmaelite glistened brighter. He 
 slapped his forehead. He jumped up. I could 
 almost be sure he said " I know it now ; " and 
 then he roused the unfortunate muleteer from 
 his snorings to give him an energetic lecture, 
 by means of which I was directed next day straight 
 (but in another direction) to the very place I 
 desired to find. 
 
 In a few cases of this international talking 
 it becomes necessary to sketch figures, which are 
 even better than signs, but not among Arabs. 
 During a visit to the fair of JNFijni Novgorod, in the 
 middle of Russia, I passed many hours in the 
 "Chinese street" there, and found it was very 
 difficult to communicate what I wished to say, and 
 even signs were useless. But they had some red 
 chalk or wax about the tea-chests, and there was a 
 white wall beside us, and on it I put the whole 
 story in large pictures, with an explanatory lecture 
 in English all the time, which proceeding attracted 
 an audience of several scores of Chinamen and 
 Kalmuks and other outlandish people, and the 
 particular group I meant to enlighten seemed 
 perfectly to understand all that was desired. 
 
 And so I suppose that if you can work your 
 paddle well, and learn the general sign language, 
 
EMPEROR OF THE FRENCH. 117 
 
 and a little of the pencil tongue, you can go very 
 far in a canoe without being starved or homeless ; 
 while you are sure to have a wide field in which 
 to study the various degrees of intelligence among 
 those you deal with. 
 
 To come back, however, from the Yolga to the 
 Rhine. 
 
 The current flows more and more gently as we 
 enter the Zeller See, or Unter See, a lake which 
 would be called pretty if one had not been spoiled 
 for a while by having a snowy range for the back- 
 ground to the views on Constance. 
 
 But the Lake of Constance sadly wants islands, 
 and here in the Zeller See are several, one of them 
 being of great size. The Emperor of the French 
 had passed two days at his chateau on this lake, 
 just before I arrived. No doubt he would have 
 waited a week had he known the Rob Roy was 
 coming. 
 
 However, as we were too late to breakfast with 
 his Majesty, I pulled in at the village of Steck- 
 born, where an inn is built on the actual edge of 
 the water, a state of things most convenient for 
 the aquatic tourist, and which you find often 
 along this part of the Rhine. For in a case of 
 this sort you can tap at the door with the paddle, 
 and order a repast before you debark, so that it 
 is boiling and fizzing, and the table is all ready, 
 
118 A STRANGE SAIL. 
 
 while you put things to rights on board, and come 
 leisurely ashore, and then tie the boat to the 
 window balcony, or, at any rate, in some place 
 where it can be seen all the time you breakfast 
 or dine, and rest, and read, and draw. 
 
 Experience proved that very few boys, even of 
 the most mischievous species, will meddle with a 
 boat which is floating, but that very few men, 
 even of the most amiable order, will refrain from 
 pulling it about when the little craft is left on 
 shore. 
 
 To have your boat not only moored afloat but in 
 your sight too, that is perfection, and it is worth 
 additional trouble to arrange this, because then, 
 and for hours of the midday stoppage, you will be 
 wholly at ease, or, to say the least, you will 
 have one care the less. The weary resting tra- 
 veller will not then be anxious about his absent 
 boat, as if it were a valuable horse in a strange 
 stable. 
 
 The landlord was much interested in the story 
 of my voyage as depicted in the sketch-book, so 
 he brought a friend to see me who could speak 
 French, and who had himself constructed a boat 
 of two tin tubes, on which a stage or frame is 
 supported, with a seat and rowlocks, the oddest 
 looking thing in nautical existence. I persuaded 
 him to put this institution into the water, and we 
 
GRAND DUCHY AGAIN. 119 
 
 started for a cruise ; the double-tube metal boat, 
 with, its spider-like gear aloft, and the oak canoe, 
 so low and rakish, with its varnished cedar deck, 
 and jaunty flag, now racing side by side, each of 
 them a rare sight, but the two together quite 
 unprecedented. 
 
 The river here is like parts of the Clyde and 
 the Kyles of Bute, with French villages let in, 
 and an Italian sky stretched overhead. We rowed 
 across to a village where a number of Jews live, 
 for I wished to visit their Synagogue ; but, lo ! 
 this was the Grand Duchy of Baden land, so a 
 heavily-armed sentry found us invading the 
 dominion, and he would force us to land some- 
 where else. The man was civil, but his orders 
 were unreasonable, so we merely embarked again 
 and went over to Switzerland, and ran our little 
 fleet into a bramble bush, to hide it while we 
 mounted to an auberge on the hill and had a 
 sixpenny bottle of wine. 
 
 The pretty Swiss lass in charge said she once 
 knew an Englishman " it was a pity they were 
 all so proud." He had sent her a letter in Eng- 
 lish, which I asked her to let me read for her. It 
 began, "My dear little, girl, I love you;" and 
 this did not sound so very proud for a beginning. 
 My boating friend promised to make her a tin 
 cafetiere, and I thus divined that he was the 
 
120 PARTING WITH AMELIA. 
 
 tinman of the village, and a most agreeable 
 tinman too. 
 
 She came to see us on board, and her father 
 arrived just in time to witness a triangular 
 parting, which must have puzzled him a good 
 deal, Amelia waving farewell to a "proud" Eng- 
 lishman and a nautical whitesmith, who both took 
 leave also of each other, the last sailing away 
 with huge square yards and coloured canvas, and 
 the Rob Roy drifting with the stream in the 
 opposite direction. 
 
 Every day for weeks past had been as a pic- 
 nic to me, but I prolonged this one into night, 
 the air was so balmy and the red sun setting was 
 so soon replaced by the white moon rising, and 
 besides, the navigation here had no dangers, and 
 there were villages every few miles. 
 
 When I had enough of it, cruising here and 
 there by moonlight, I drew up to the town of Stein, 
 but all was now lonely by the water-side. This 
 is to be expected when you arrive late; however, 
 a slap or two on the water with the paddle, and 
 a loud verse of a song, Italian, Dutch, a pibroch, 
 any noise in fact, soon draws the idlers to you, 
 and it is precisely the idlers you want. 
 
 One of them readily helped me with the boat 
 to an inn, where an excellent landlady greeted 
 the strange guest. From this moment all was 
 
GIBBERISH. 121 
 
 bustle there, and very much it was increased by 
 a German guest, who insisted on talking to me 
 in English, which I am sure I did not understand 
 a bit better than the Germans who came to listen 
 and look on. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Fog Fancy pictures Boy soldiers Boat's billet 
 Eating Lake Zurich Lake Zug Swiss shots 
 Fishing Britons Talk-book. 
 
 IN the morning there was a most curious change 
 of air ; all around was in a dense white fog. Truly 
 it was now to be " sensation rowing ; " so I hastened 
 to get off into this milky atmosphere. I have 
 an idea that we passed under a bridge ; at least 
 the usual cheers sounded this time as if they 
 were above me, but the mist was as thick as our 
 best November Cheshire cheese fogs, and quite 
 as interesting. On several occasions I positively 
 could not see the bow of my boat, only a few 
 feet from my nose. The whole arrangement was 
 so unexpected and entirely novel, fast paddling 
 on an invisible stream, that I had the liveliest 
 emotions of pleasure without seeing anything 
 at all. 
 
 But then fancy had free play all the time, and 
 the pictures it drew were full of colour, and, 
 after all, our impressions of external objects are 
 
FANCY PICTURES. 123 
 
 only pictures, so say the philosophers ; and why 
 not then enjoy a tour in a fog, with a good album 
 of pictures making the while in the brain ? 
 
 Sounds too there were, but like those of witches 
 and fairies though I believe it was only the 
 cackling of some antique washerwomen on the 
 banks. However, I addressed the unseen com- 
 pany in both prose and poetry, and was full of 
 emphasis, which now and again was increased by 
 my boat running straight into the shore. The 
 clearing away of the fog was one of the most 
 interesting evolutions of nature to be seen. In 
 one sort or other every traveller has enjoyed the 
 quick or gradual tearing up of a fog curtain on 
 mountain or moor, but here it was on a beauteous 
 river. 
 
 I wish to describe this process, but I cannot. 
 It was a series of " Turner pictures," with glimpses 
 right and left, and far overhead, of trees, sky, 
 castles, each lightened and shown for a moment, 
 and then gauzed over again and completely hidden ; 
 while the mind had to imagine all the context 
 of the scenery, and it was sure to be quite wrong 
 when another gleam of sun disclosed what was 
 there in reality. For it cleared away at last, 
 and Father Sol avenged himself by an extra 
 hot ray, for thus trifling with his beams. 
 
 The Rhine banks here were sloping but steep, 
 
124 A NEW CLAN. 
 
 with pleasant meadows, vineyards, and woods, 
 mingled with tolerable fairness to all three. In 
 short, though I appreciate scenery with an eager 
 admiration, any scenery did well when the genial 
 exercise of the canoe was the medium for enjoy- 
 ing it. 
 
 Soon afterwards the woods thickened, the moun- 
 tains rose behind them, the current got faster and 
 faster, the houses, at first dotted on the knolls, 
 got closer and more suburb like, and at last a 
 grand sweep of the stream opened up Schaffhausen 
 to the eye, while a sullen sound on the water 
 warned of " rapids ahead." As I intended to 
 keep them always in front, some caution was 
 needed in steering, though there is no difficulty 
 here, for steamboats navigate thus far, and of 
 course it is easy for a canoe. 
 
 But when I glided down to the bridge there 
 was the " Groldenen Schiff " hotel, and I resolved 
 to patronise it on account of its name, and because 
 there was a gigantic picture of a Briton on the 
 adjoining wall. He was in full Highland costume, 
 though the peculiar tartan of his kilt showed that 
 there is a new clan we have not yet recognised. 
 
 Here began a novel kind of astonishment among 
 the people ; for when, on my arrival, they asked, 
 " Where have you come from ? " and were told, 
 " From England," they could not understand 
 
BOY SOLDIERS. 125 
 
 how my course seemed as if in reality from 
 Germany. 
 
 We had started early, -and the short morning's 
 work was soon over; and thus arriving early at 
 Schaffhausen, there was all the day before me to 
 wander about. 
 
 Drums and a band presently led me to a corps 
 of little boys in full uniform, about 200 of them, 
 all with real guns and with boy officers, most 
 martial to behold, albeit they were munching 
 apples between the words of command, and pulling 
 wry faces at urchins of eight years old, who strove 
 in vain to take long steps with short legs. 
 
 They had some skirmishing drill, and used 
 small goats' horns to give the orders instead 
 of bugles. These horns are used on the railways 
 too, and the note is very clear, and may be heard 
 well a long way off. Indeed I think much might 
 be done in our own drill by something of this 
 sort. 
 
 It is a short three miles to the Belle Yue, built 
 above the falls of Schaffhausen, and in full view 
 of this noble sight. These great falls of the 
 Hhine looked much finer than I had recollected 
 them some twelve years before ; it is pleasant, 
 but unusual, for one's second visit to such sights 
 to be more striking than the first. At night they 
 were splendidly illuminated by Bengal lights of 
 
126 
 
 different colours, and the effect of this on the 
 tossing foam and rich full body of ever pouring 
 water or fire as it then seemed to be was 
 to present a spectacle of magical beauty and 
 grandeur. To look at this I sat on the balcony 
 of the hotel, and with many travellers from 
 various lands around. On one side of me was 
 a Russian, and a Brazilian on the other. 
 
 Next day, at the railway-station, I put the 
 sharp bow of the Rob Roy in at the window of 
 the " baggages " office, and asked for the " boat's 
 ticket." The clerk did not seem at all surprised, 
 for he knew I was an Englishman, and nothing 
 is too odd, queer, mad in short, for Englishmen 
 to do. 
 
 But the porters, guards, and engine-drivers 
 made a good deal of talk before the canoe was 
 safely stowed among the trunks in the van ; and 
 I now and then visited her there, just for com- 
 pany's sake, and to see that the sharp-cornered, 
 iron-bound boxes of the American tourists had 
 not broken holes in the oaken skin. I could not 
 but survey, with some anxiety, the lumbering 
 casks on the platform, waiting to be rolled in 
 beside the canoe ; and the fish baskets, iron bars, 
 crates, and clumsy gear of all sorts, which at 
 every stoppage is tumbled in or roughly shovelled 
 out of the luggage- van of a train. 
 
EATING. 127 
 
 This care and sympathy for a mere boat may 
 be called enthusiasm by those who have not felt 
 the like towards inanimate objects linked to our 
 pleasures or pains by hourly ties of interest ; but 
 others will understand how a friendship for the 
 boat was felt more every day I journeyed with 
 her : her strong points were better known as I 
 tried them more, but the weak points, too, of the 
 frail traveller became now more apparent, and 
 the desire to bring her safely to England was 
 rapidly increased when we had made the home- 
 ward turn. The mere cost of the railway ticket 
 for the boat's carriage to Zurich was very trifling, 
 about two or three shillings, and not so much as 
 the expense of taking it between the stations and 
 the hotels. 
 
 Submitting, then, to be borne again on wheels 
 and through tunnels in the good old railway style, 
 we soon arrive among the regular Swiss moun- 
 tains, and where gather the Swiss tourists, for 
 whom arise the Swiss hotels, those huge estab- 
 lishments founded and managed so as best to 
 fatten on the wandering Englishman, and to give 
 him homoaopathic feeding while his purse is bled. 
 
 For suffer me again to have a little gossip 
 about eating. Yes, it is a mundane subject, and 
 undoubtedly physical ; but when the traveller has 
 to move his body and baggage along a route by 
 
128 BACHELOR'S FARE. 
 
 his own muscles, by climbing or by rowing, or 
 by whipping a mule, it is a matter of high 
 moment, to him at least, that fibrine should be 
 easily procurable. 
 
 If you wish, then, to live well in Switzerland 
 and Germany go to German hotels, and avoid the 
 grand barracks reared on every view-point for 
 the English tourist. See how the omnibus, from 
 the train or the steamer, pours down its victims 
 into the landlords' arms. Papa and Mamma, and 
 three daughters and a maid : well, of course they 
 will be attended to. Here is another timid lady 
 with an alpenstock, a long white cane people 
 get when they arrive in Switzerland, and which 
 they never know what on earth to do with. 
 Next there will issue from the same vehicle a 
 dozen newly-fledged Londoners ; and the whole 
 party, men and women, are so demure, so afraid 
 of themselves, that the hotel-keeper does just 
 what he likes with them, every one. 
 
 As a hapless bachelor, and without a courier, 
 or heavy baggage, or young ladies, I enter too, 
 and venture to order a cutlet and potatoes. After 
 half-an-hour two chops come and spinach, each 
 just one bite, and cold. I ask for fruit, and some 
 pears are presented that grate on the knife, with 
 a minute bunch of grapes, good ones I will 
 acknowledge. For this I pay 2s. 
 
LAKE OF ZURICH. 129 
 
 Next day I row three miles down the lake, and 
 order, just as before, a cutlet, potatoes, and fruit, 
 but this time at a second-rate German inn. Pre- 
 sently appear two luscious veal cutlets, with 
 splendid potatoes, and famous hot plates ; and 
 a fruit-basket teeming gracefully with large 
 clusters of magnificent grapes, peaches, pears all 
 gushing with juice, and mellow apples, and rosy 
 plums. For this I pay Is. 6d. The secret is 
 that the Germans won't pay the prices which the 
 English fear to grumble at, and won't put up 
 with the articles the English fear to refuse. 
 
 . Nor do 1 blame the hotel-keepers for their part 
 in this business. They try to make as much 
 money as they can, and everybody who is making 
 money tries to do the same. 
 
 In the twilight the Bob Roy launched on the 
 Lake of Zurich, so lovely by evening, cool and 
 calm, with its pretty villages painted again on the 
 water below, and soft voices singing, and slow 
 music floating in the air, as the moon looked 
 down, and the crests were silvered on far-off 
 hills of snow. 
 
 I put up the little craft in a boathouse at a 
 village where all seemed to be secure. It was the 
 only time I had found a boathouse for my boat, 
 and the only time when she was badly treated ; 
 for, next morning, though the man in charge 
 K 
 
130 FREE. 
 
 appeared to be a solid, honest fellow, I saw at 
 once that the canoe had been sadly tumbled 
 about and filled with water, the seat cast off 
 and floating outside, and the covering deranged 
 and the sails untied, and the sacred paddle defiled 
 by clumsy hands. 
 
 The man who suffered this to be perpetrated 
 will not, I hope, forget the Anglo-German- 
 French set-down he received (with a half- franc), 
 and I shall not forget in future to observe the 
 time-honoured practice of carrying the canoe in- 
 variably into the hotel. 
 
 Another piece of experience gained here was 
 this, that to send your luggage on by a steamer, 
 intending to regain it on your arrival, is far 
 less of convenience than it is of anxiety and 
 trouble, when you can readily take the baggage 
 with you always and everywhere in your own 
 boat. 
 
 For much of the charm of the next day's 
 paddle on the lake consisted in its perfect inde- 
 pendence of all previous arrangements, and in the 
 absence of such thraldom as, " You must be here 
 by ten o'clock ; " or, " You have to sleep there at 
 night." So now, let the wind- blow as it likes. 
 I could run before it, and breakfast at this 
 village ; or cross to that point to bathe ; or row 
 round that bay, and lunch on the other side of 
 
HAPPY FACES. 131 
 
 the lake, or anywhere else on the shore, or in the 
 boat itself, as I pleased. 
 
 When quite sated with the water, I fixed on 
 Horgen to stop at for a rest, to the intense 
 delight of all the Horgen boys. How they did 
 jump and caper about the canoe, and scream with 
 the glee of young hearts stirred by a new sen- 
 sation ! 
 
 It was one of the great treats of this voyage to 
 find it gave such hours of pleasure to the juve- 
 nile population in each place. Along the vista of 
 my recollection as I think over the past days 
 of this excursion, many thousand childish faces 
 brimming with happiness range their chubby or 
 not chubby cheeks. 
 
 These young friends were still more joyous 
 when the boat was put into a cart, and the driver 
 got up beside it, and the captain of the canoe 
 began his hot walk behind. 
 
 A number of their mammas came out to smile 
 on the performance, and some asked to have a 
 passage to England in the boat, to which I had 
 the stock reply, given day by day, "Not much 
 room for the crinoline." Only once was there 
 the rejoinder, that the lady would willingly leave 
 her expansion at home ; though on another occa- 
 sion (and that in France, too) they answered, 
 " We poor folks don't wear crinoline." 
 K 2 
 
132 HOT WALK. 
 
 In every group there were various forms of 
 inquisitiveness about the canoe. First, those who 
 examined it without putting questions ; and then 
 those who questioned about it without examining. 
 Some lifted it to feel the weight; others passed 
 their hands along its smooth deck to feel the 
 polished cedar; others looked underneath to see 
 if there was a keel, or bent the rope to feel how 
 flexible it was, or poised the paddle (when I let 
 them), and said, " How light ! " and then more 
 critical inquirers measured its dimensions, tapped 
 its sides with their knuckles, and looked wise; 
 sketched its form, scrutinized its copper nails, or 
 gently touched the silken flag, with its frayed 
 hem and colour fading now ; in all places this 
 last item, as an object of interest, was always the 
 first exclaimed about by the lady portion of the 
 crowd. 
 
 It is with such little but pleasant trivialities 
 that a traveller's day may be filled in this en- 
 chanting atmosphere where simply to exist, to 
 breathe, to gaze, and to listen, are enough to pass 
 the sunny hours, if not to engage the nobler 
 powers of the mind. 
 
 The Lakes of Zurich and Zug are not far sepa- 
 rate. About three hours of steady road walking 
 takes you from one to the other, over a high neck 
 of forest land, and a hot walk this was from 
 
STARING. 133 
 
 twelve to three o'clock, in the brightest hours of 
 the day. The heat and the dust made me eager 
 again to be afloat. By the map, indeed, it seemed 
 as if one could row part of this way on a river 
 which runs into Zug, but maps are no guidance as 
 to the fitness of streams for a boat. They make a 
 black line wriggling about do for all rivers alike, 
 and this tells you nothing as to the depth or force 
 of the current, nor can the drivers or innkeepers 
 tell much more, since they have no particular 
 reason for observing how a river comports itself; 
 their business is on the road. 
 
 The driver was proud of his unusual fare, a 
 boat with an English flag, and he gave a short 
 account of it to every friend he met, an account 
 no doubt frightfully exaggerated, but always 
 accepted as sufficient by the gratified listener. The 
 worthy carter, however, was quite annoyed that 
 I stopped him outside the town of Zug (paying 
 thirteen francs for the cart), for I wished to 
 get the canoe into the water unobserved, as the 
 morning's work had left me yet no rest, and most 
 sweet repose could best be had by floating in my 
 boat. However, there was no evading the towns- 
 peoples' desire to see "the schiif in a cart from 
 England." I took her behind a clump of stones, 
 but they climbed upon the stones and stood. I 
 sat down in a Tnoody silence, but they sat down 
 
134 LAKE OF ZUG. 
 
 too in respectful patience. I tried then another 
 plan, turned the canoe bottom upward, and began 
 lining a seam of the planks with red putty. They 
 looked on till it was done, and I began the same 
 seam again, and told them all the others must be 
 lined. This, at last, was too much for some of the 
 wiser ones, who turned away and murmured about 
 my slowness, but others at once took their 
 places in the front row. It seemed unfriendly to 
 go on thus any longer, and as it was cooler now, I 
 pushed the boat into the lake, shipped my luggage 
 on board, and after the usual English speech to 
 them all, bid every one " adieu. "* 
 
 New vigour came when once the paddle was 
 grasped again, and the soft yielding water, and 
 gentle heaving on its bosom had fresh pleasure now 
 after the dusty road. It seems as if one must 
 be spoiled for land travel by this smooth liquid 
 journeying. 
 
 Zug is a little lake, and the mountains are over 
 it only at one end, but then these are glorious 
 hills., the Higi and a hundred more, each behind 
 another, or raising a peak in the gaps between. 
 I must resolutely abstain from describing these 
 here. The sight of them is well known to the 
 traveller. The painted pictures of them in every 
 
 * This word, like ' other expressive French words, is 
 commonly used in Germany and Switzerland. 
 
SWISS SHOTS. 135 
 
 shop window are faithful enough for those who 
 have not been nearer, and words can tell very little 
 of what is seen and felt when you fill the delighted 
 eye by looking on the snowy range. 
 
 Near one end of the lake I visited the line of 
 targets where the Switzers were popping away 
 their little bullets at their short ranges, with 
 all sorts of gimcrack instruments to aid them, 
 lenses, crooks, and straps for the arms, hair-trig- 
 gers, and everything done under cover too. Yery 
 skilful indeed are they in the use of these con- 
 trivances ; but the weapons look like toy-guns 
 after all, and are only one step removed from the 
 crossbows you see in Belgium and France, where 
 men meet to shoot at stuffed cockrobins fixed on a 
 pole, and do not hit them, and then adjourn for 
 beer. 
 
 The Swiss are good shots and brave men, and 
 woe be to their invaders. Still, in this matter of 
 rifle shooting their dilettanti practice through a 
 window, at the short range of 200 yards, seems 
 really childish when compared with that of the 
 manly groups at "Wimbledon, where, on the open 
 heath, in sun or drifting hail, the burly York- 
 shireman meets with the hardy Scot, and sends 
 his heavier deadly bullet on a swift errand right 
 away for a thousand yards in the storm. 
 
 Leaving the shooters to their bulls' eyes, I 
 
136 ADVANCE OF THE SQUADRON. 
 
 paddled in front of the town to scan the hotels, 
 and to judge of the best by appearances. Out 
 came the boats of Zug to examine the floating 
 stranger. They went round and round, in a 
 criticising mood, just as local dogs strut slowly 
 in circles about a new-come cur who is not known 
 to their street, and besides is of ambiguous breed. 
 These boats were all larger than mine, and most 
 of them were brighter with plenty of paint, and 
 universally they were encumbered with most 
 awkward oars. 
 
 A courteous Frenchman in one of the boats 
 told me all the Zug news in a breath, besides 
 asking numerous questions, and giving a hasty 
 commentary on the fishing in the lake. Finally, 
 he pointed out the best hotel, and so the naval 
 squadron advanced to the pier, led by the canoe. 
 A gracious landlady here put my boat safe in the 
 hotel coachhouse, and offered to give me the key 
 of the padlock, to make sure. In the mile a 
 manger were some English friends from London, 
 so now I felt that here was an end of lone wan* 
 derings among foreigners, for the summer stream 
 of tourists from England was encountered at this 
 point. 
 
 An early start next morning found the mists 
 on the mountains, but they were quickly furled up 
 out of the way in festoons like muslin curtains. 
 
SAILING ON ZUG. 137 
 
 "We skirted the pretty villas on the verge of the 
 lake, and hauled in by some apple-trees to rig up 
 the sails. This could be done more easily when 
 the boat was drawn ashore than when it was 
 afloat; though, after practice, I found I could 
 not only set the mast and hoist the sails "at 
 sea," but could even stand up and change my 
 coat, or tie the flag on the masthead, or survey 
 a difficult channel, while the boat was rocking on 
 the waves of a rapid.* 
 
 Sailing on a lake in Switzerland is a full reward 
 for carrying your mast and sails unused for many 
 a long mile. Sometimes, indeed, I wished I had 
 not provided sails at all, but this was when they 
 were not available. Every time they came into 
 use again the satisfaction of having brought them 
 was reassured. 
 
 In sailing while the wind is light you need not 
 always sit, as must be done for paddling. Wafted 
 by the breeze you can now recline, lie down, 
 put your legs anyhow and anywhere, in the water 
 if you like, and the peak of the sail is a shade 
 between the sun and your eyes, while the ripples 
 seem to tinkle cheerfully against the bow, and the 
 
 * This is so very useful in extending the horizon of 
 view, and in enabling you to examine a whole ledge of 
 sunken rocks at once, that it is well worth the trouble of 
 a week or two's practice. 
 
138 
 
 IMYN. 
 
 "Sailing on Lake Zug." 
 
 wavelets seethe by smoothly near the stern. When 
 you are under sail the hill tops look higher than 
 before, for now you see how far they are above 
 your "lofty" masthead, and the black rocks on 
 the shore look blacker when seen in contrast with 
 a sail like cream- 
 After a cruise that left nothing more to see of 
 
THREE TROUT. 139 
 
 Zug, we put into port at Imyn, and though it is a 
 little place, only a few houses, the boys there 
 were as troublesome as gnats buzzing about ; so 
 the canoe had to be locked in the stable out of 
 sight. 
 
 Three Britons were waiting here for the steamer. 
 They had come to fish in Switzerland. Now fish- 
 ing and travelling loll each other, so far as my 
 experience goes, unless one of them is used as a 
 passetemps because you cannot go on with the 
 other. Thus I recollect once at the town of 
 Yossevangen, in Norway, when we had to wait 
 some hours for horses, it was capital fun to catch 
 three trout with a pin for a hook fastened on the 
 lash of a gig- whip. 
 
 The true fisherman fishes for the fishing, not 
 for the fishes. He himself is pleased even if he 
 catches nothing, though he is more pleased to 
 bring back a full basket, for that will justify him 
 to his friends. 
 
 Now when you stop your travelling that you 
 may angle, if you catch nothing you grudge the 
 day spent, and keep thinking how much you 
 might have seen in it on the road. On the other 
 hand, if you do happen to catch one or two fish, 
 you don't like to leave the place where more 
 might be taken, and your first ten miles after 
 departure from it is a stage of reflection about 
 
140 FISHING BRITONS. 
 
 pools, stones, bites, and rises, instead of what 
 is going on all around. Worst of all, if you 
 have hooked a fish and lost him, it is a sad 
 confe'ssion of defeat to give up the sport then and 
 resume the tour. 
 
 As for the three visitors at Imyn, they had just 
 twenty minutes sure, so they breakfasted in five 
 minutes, and in the next three minutes had got 
 their rods ready, and were out in the garden 
 casting as fast as possible, and flogging the water 
 as if the fish also ought to be in a hurry to get 
 taken. The hot sun blazed upon the bald head 
 of one of these excited anglers, for he had not 
 time to put on his hat. The other had got his 
 line entangled in a bush, and of course was hors 
 de combat. The third was a sort of light skir- 
 misher, rushing about with advice, and pointing 
 out shoals of minnows everywhere else but where 
 his companions were engaged. However, they 
 managed to capture a few monsters of the deep, 
 that is to say, a couple of misguided gudgeons, 
 probably dissipated members of their tribe, and 
 late risers, who had missed their proper break- 
 fasts. Ardent as I am with the rod I could not 
 enjoy fishing after this sort. 
 
 To be in this tide of wandering Britons, and 
 yet to look at them and listen to them as if you 
 were distinct this is a post full of interest and 
 
ODD QUESTIONS. 141 
 
 amusement ; and if you can, even for one day, 
 try to be (at least in thought) a Swiss resident or 
 a Parisian, and so to regard the English around 
 you from the point they are seen from by the 
 foreigners whom they visit, the examination 
 becomes far more curious. But this has been 
 done by many clever tourists, who have written 
 their notes with more or less humour, and 
 with more rather than less severity; so I shall 
 not attempt to analyse the strange atoms of 
 the flood from our islands which overflows the 
 Continent every year. 
 
 It is the fashion to decry three-fourths of this 
 motley company as " snobs," " spendthrifts," or 
 " greenhorns." "With humble but firm voice I 
 protest against this unfairness; nor can I help 
 thinking that much of the hard criticism pub- 
 lished by travellers against their fellows is a 
 crooked way of saying, what it does not do to 
 assert directly, that the writer has at any rate 
 met some travellers inferior to himself. 
 
 Of course, among the Englishmen whom I met 
 here and there in the course of this voyage there 
 were some strange specimens, and their remarks 
 were odd enough, when alluding to the canoe. 
 One said, for example, " Don't you think it would 
 have been more commodious to have had an 
 attendant with you to look after your luggage 
 
142 TALK-BOOKS. 
 
 and things ? " The most obvious answer to this 
 was probably that which I gave, " ISTot for me, if 
 he was to be in the boat ; and not for him, if he 
 had to run on the bank." 
 
 And, again. Another Englishman asked in all 
 seriousness about the canoe voyage, " Was it not 
 a great waste of time ? " And when I inquired 
 how lie had spent his vacation, he said, "Oh, I 
 was all the time at Brighton ! " 
 
 In returning once more to English conversa- 
 tion, one is reminded how very useless and un- 
 practical are all the " Talk-books " published to 
 facilitate the traveller's conversation in foreign 
 languages. Whether they are meant to help you 
 in French, German, Italian, or Spanish, these 
 little books, with their well-known double columns 
 of words and phrases, and their " Polite Letter- 
 writer " at the end, all seem to be equally deter- 
 mined to force words upon you which you never 
 will need to use ; while the things you are always 
 wanting to say in the new tongue are either care- 
 fully buried among colloquies on botany or pre- 
 cious stones, or among philosophical discussions 
 about metaphysics, or else the desirable phrases 
 are not in the book at all. 
 
 This need of a brief and good " Talk-book " 
 struck me particularly when I had carefully 
 marked in my German one all the pages which 
 
TALK-BOOKS. 143 
 
 could never be required in the tour, so that I 
 might cut them out as an unnecessary addition to 
 the weight of my ship's library. Why, the little 
 book, when thus expurgated, got so lamentably 
 thin that the few pages left of it, as just possible 
 to be useful, formed only a wretched skeleton of 
 the original volume. 
 
 Another fault of these books is that half the 
 matter in them is made up of what the imaginary 
 chatting foreigner says to you, the unhappy 
 Englishman, and this often in long phrases, or 
 even in set speeches. 
 
 But when, in actual life, the real foreigner 
 speaks to you, he somehow says quite a different 
 set of words from any particular phrases you see 
 in the book, and you cannot make out his mean- 
 ing, because it does not correspond with anything 
 you have learned. 
 
 It is evident that a dictionary is required to get 
 at the English meaning of what is said to you 
 by another ; while a talk-book will suffice for 
 what you wish to say to him; because you can 
 select in it and compose from it before you utter 
 any particular phrase. 
 
 The Danish phrase-book for Norway and Sweden 
 is a tolerably good one, and it holds in a short 
 compass all the traveller wants; but I think a 
 book of this kind for each of the other principal 
 
144 MODEL PHRASE BOOK. 
 
 languages might well be constructed on the follow- 
 ing basis. 
 
 First, let us have the expression "I want/' and 
 then the English substantives most used in travel 
 talk, arranged in alphabetical order, and with 
 their foreign equivalents. Next, put the request 
 "Will you," and after it place each of the verbs 
 of action generally required by travellers. Then 
 set forth the question, "Does the," with a 
 column of events formed by a noun, verb, and 
 preposition in each, such as "coach stop at," 
 " road lead to," " steamer start from," &c. ; 
 and, lastly, give us the comprehensive " Is 
 it," with a long alphabetical list of adjectives 
 likely to be employed. Under these four heads, 
 with two pages of adverbs and numerals, I think 
 that the primary communications with a foreigner 
 can be comprised ; and as for conversations with 
 him on special subjects, such as politics, or art, 
 or scenery, these are practically not likely to be 
 attempted unless you learn his language, and not 
 merely some of its most necessary words ; but this 
 study of language is not the purpose for which 
 you get a talk-book. 
 
 Having now delivered a homily on international 
 talking, it is time to be on the move again. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Sailing on Lucerne Seeburg Eiver scenes Night and 
 snow The Eeuss A dear dinner Seeing a rope 
 Passing a fall Bremgarten rapids. 
 
 WHEN the steamer at Imyn had embarked the 
 three sportsmen, and the little pier was quiet, we 
 got a cart out for the Rob Roy, and bargained to 
 have it rumbled over the hill to the Lake of Lucerne 
 for the sum of five francs it is only half-an- 
 hour's walk. The landlord himself came as driver, 
 for he was fully interested about the canoe, and 
 he did not omit to let people know his sentiments 
 on the subject all along the way, even calling out 
 to the men in the apple-trees, who had perhaps 
 failed to notice the phenomenon which was pass- 
 ing on the road beneath them. There was a 
 permanent joke on such occasions, and, oddly 
 enough, it was used by the drivers in Germany 
 as well as in Switzerland, and was of course 
 original and spontaneous with each of them as 
 they called out, " Going to America ! " and then 
 chuckled at the brilliant remark. 
 
 The village we came to on Lucerne was the 
 
 L 
 
146 ON LAKE LUCERNE. 
 
 well-known Kussnacht, that is, one of the well- 
 known Kussnachts, for there are plenty of these 
 honeymoon towns in Central Europe ; and with 
 the customary assembly of quidnuncs, eloquently 
 addressed this time by the landlord-driver, the 
 canoe was launched on another lake, perhaps the 
 prettiest lake in the world. 
 
 Like other people, and at other times, I had 
 traversed this beautiful water of the Four Cantons, 
 but those only who have seen it well by steamer 
 and by walking, so as to know how it juts in and 
 winds round in intricate geography, can imagine 
 how much better you may follow and grasp its 
 beauties by searching them out alone and in a canoe. 
 
 For thus I could penetrate all the wooded 
 nooks, and dwell on each view-point, and visit the 
 rocky islets, and wait long, longer as long as I 
 pleased before some lofty berg, while the ground- 
 swell gently undulated, and the passing cloud 
 shaded the hill with grey, and the red flag of a 
 steamer fluttered in a distant sunbeam, and the 
 plash of a barge's oar broke on the boatman's 
 song; everything around changing just a little, 
 and the stream of inward thought and admiration 
 changing too as it flowed, but, all the time, and 
 when the eye came back to it again, there was the 
 grand mountain still the same, 
 
 " Like Teneriffe or Atlas unremoved." 
 
147 
 
 How cool the snow looked up there aloft even in 
 the heat of summer ! and, to come down again to 
 one's level on the water, how lively the steamer 
 was with the music of its band and the quick 
 beat of its wheels curling up white foam. Let us 
 speed to meet it and to get a tossing in the swell, 
 while Jones and Smith, under the awning, cry 
 out, "Why, to be sure, that's the Rob Roy 
 canoe/' and Mrs. Jones and the three Miss 
 Smiths all lift up their heads from their " Mur- 
 ray s," where they have been diligently reading 
 the description in words of all the scenery around, 
 although they have suffered its realities in moun- 
 tain, wood, and lake to pass unnoticed. 
 
 As I was quite fresh (having worked chiefly the 
 sails on Zug) and now in good "training," so as 
 to get on very comfortably with ten or twelve 
 hours' rowing in the day, I spent it all in seeing 
 this inexhaustible Lake of Lucerne, and yet felt 
 that at least a dozen new pictures had been left 
 unseen in this rich volume of the book of nature. 
 
 But as this book had no page in it about quarters 
 for the night it was time to think about these 
 homely affairs, and to look out for an hotel; 
 not one of the big barracks for Englishmen 
 spoken of before, but some quiet place where 
 one could stop for Sunday. Coming suddenly 
 then round a shady point, behold the very 
 L 2 
 
148 BATH AND MUSIC. 
 
 place ! But can it be an hotel ? Yes, there is the 
 name, " Seeburg." Is it quiet ? Observe the 
 shady walks. Bathing? Why, there is a bath 
 in the lake at the end of the garden. Fishing ? 
 At least four rods are stretched over the reeds by 
 hopeful hands, and with earnest heads behind, 
 watching for the faintest nibble. Let us run 
 boldly in. Ten minutes, and the boat is safely in 
 a shed, and its captain well housed in an excellent 
 room ; and, having ordered dinner, it was delicious 
 to jump into the lake for a swim, all hot with the 
 long day's work, and to stretch away out to the 
 deep, and circle round and round in these limpid 
 waters, with a nice little bath-room to come back 
 to, and fresh dry clothes to put on. In the even- 
 ing we had very pretty English music, a family 
 party improvised in an hour, and broken up for a 
 moonlight walk, while, all this time (one fancied), 
 in the big hotel of the town the guests were in 
 stiff coteries, or each set retired to its sitting-room, 
 and lamenting how unsociable everybody else had 
 become. 
 
 I never was more comfortable than here, with 
 a few English families " en pension," luxuriating 
 for the sum of six francs per day, and an old 
 Russian General, most warlike and courteous, 
 who would chat with you by the hour, on the seat 
 under the shady chestnut, and smiled at the four 
 
RIVER REUSS. 149 
 
 persevering fishermen whose bag consisted, I 
 believe, of three bites, one of them allowed on all 
 hands to have been bond fide. 
 
 Then on Sunday we went to Lucerne, to church, 
 where a large congregation listened to a very 
 good sermon from the well-known Secretary of the 
 Society for Colonial and Continental Churches. 
 At least every traveller, if not every home-stayed 
 Englishman, ought to support this Association, 
 because it many times supplies just that food and 
 rest which the soul needs so much on a Sunday 
 abroad, when the pleasures of foreign travel are 
 apt to make only the mind and body constitute the 
 man. 
 
 I determined to paddle from Lucerne by the 
 river Reuss, which flows out of the lake and 
 through the town. This river is one of four the 
 Rhine, Rhone, Reuss, and Ticino, which all rise 
 near together in the neighbourhood of the St. 
 Gothard; and yet, while one flows into the German 
 ocean, another falls into the Mediterranean, both 
 between them having first made nearly the compass 
 of Switzerland. 
 
 The walking tourist comes often upon the rapid 
 Reuss as it staggers and tumbles among the Swiss 
 mountains. To me it had a special interest, for I 
 once ascended the Galenhorn over the glaciers it 
 starts from, and with only a useless guide, who lost 
 
150 NIGHT AND SNOW. 
 
 his head and then lost his way, and then lost his 
 temper and began to cry. "We groped about 
 in a fog until snow began to fall, and the 
 snowstorm lasted for six hours a weary time 
 spent by us wandering in the dark and without 
 food. At length we were discovered by some 
 people sent out with lights to search for the 
 benighted pleasure-seeker. 
 
 The Eeuss has many cascades and torrent gorges 
 as it runs among the rough crags, and it falls 
 nearly 6,000 feet before it reaches the Lake of 
 Lucerne, this lake itself being still 1,400 feet 
 above the sea. 
 
 A gradual current towards the end of the lake 
 entices you under the bridge where the river starts 
 again on its course, at first gently enough, and 
 as if it never could get fierce and hoarse- voiced 
 when it has taken you miles away into the woods 
 and can deal with you all alone. 
 
 The map showed the Keuss flowing into the 
 Aar, but I could learn nothing more about either 
 of these rivers except that an intelligent man 
 said, "The Eeuss is a mere torrent," while 
 another recounted how a man some years ago 
 went on the Aar in a boat, and was taken up 
 by the police and punished for thus perilling 
 his life. 
 
 Deducting from these statements the usual 50 
 
SINGING WATER. 151 
 
 per cent, for exaggeration, everything appeared 
 satisfactory, so I yielded my boat to the current, 
 and, at parting, waved my yellow paddle to certain 
 fair friends who had honoured me with their 
 countenance, and who were now assembled on 
 the bridge. After this a few judicious strokes 
 took the Bob Roy through the town and past the 
 pleasant environs, and we were now again upon 
 running water. 
 
 The current, after a quiet beginning, soon took 
 a sort of "business air," as if it did not mean to 
 dally, and rapidly got into quick time, threading 
 a devious course among the woods, hayfields, and 
 vineyards, and it seemed not to murmur (as 
 streams always do), but to sing with buoyant 
 exhilaration in the fresh brightness of the morn. 
 
 It certainly was a change, from the sluggish 
 feeling of dead water in the lakes to the lively 
 tremulous thrilling of a rapid river like the Reuss, 
 which, in many places, is as wide as the Rhine 
 at Schaifhausen. It is a wild stream, too fast 
 for navigation, and therefore the villages are not 
 built close to the water, and there are no boats, 
 and the lonely, pathless, forest-covered -banks are 
 sometimes bleak enough when seen from the 
 water. 
 
 For some miles it was easy travelling, the 
 water being seldom less than two feet deep, and 
 
152 AM I RIGHT ? 
 
 with rocks readily visible by the eddy bubbling 
 about them, because they were sharp and jagged. 
 It is the long smooth and round-topped rock 
 which is most treacherous in a fast river, for the 
 spray which the current throws round such a rock 
 is often not different from an ordinary wave. 
 
 ISTow and then the stream was so swift that 
 I was afraid of losing my straw hat, simply from 
 the breeze created by great speed for it was 
 a day without wind. 
 
 It cannot be concealed that continuous physical 
 enjoyment such as this tour presented is a danger- 
 ous luxury if it be not properly used. When 
 I thought of the hospitals of London, of the herds 
 of squalid poor in foetid alleys, of the pale-faced 
 ragged boys, and the vice, sadness, pain, and 
 poverty we are sent to do battle with if we be 
 Christian soldiers, I could not help asking, "Am 
 I right in thus enjoying such comfort, such 
 scenery, such health ? " Certainly not right, 
 unless to get vigour of thought and hand, and 
 freshened energy of mind, and larger thankfulness 
 and wider love, and so, with all the powers re- 
 cruited, to enter the field again more eager and 
 able to be useful. 
 
 In the more lonely parts of the Reuss the trees 
 were in dense thickets to the water's edge, and 
 the wild ducks fluttered out from them with a 
 
A DEAR DINNER. 153 
 
 splash, and some larger birds like bustards often 
 hovered over the canoe. I think among the flying 
 companions I noticed also the bunting, or "ammer " 
 ffrom which German word comes our English 
 " yellow hammer "), wood-pigeons, and very beau- 
 tiful hawks. The herons and kingfishers were 
 here as well, but not so many of them as on the 
 Danube. 
 
 Nothing particular occurred, although it was 
 a pleasant morning's work, until I got through 
 the bridge at Imyl, where an inn was high up 
 on the bank. The ostler helped me to carry the 
 boat into the stable, and the landlady audaciously 
 charged me 4s. 6d. for my first dinner (I always 
 had two dinners on full working days), being 
 pretty sure, I dare say, that she need not expect 
 her customer to stop there again. 
 
 The navigation after this began to be more 
 interesting, with gravel banks and big stones to 
 avoid, and a channel to be chosen from among 
 several, and the wire ropes of the ferries stretched 
 tightly across the river requiring to be noticed 
 with proper respect. 
 
 It may be observed how difficult it is, sometimes, 
 to see a rope when it is stretched and quite hori- 
 zontal, or at any rate how hard it is to judge 
 correctly of its distance from the spectator's eye. 
 This can be well noticed in walking by the sea- 
 
154 INVISIBLE ROPE. 
 
 shore among fishing-boats moored on the beach, 
 when you will sometimes even knock against a 
 taut hawser before you are aware that it is so 
 close. 
 
 This is caused by the fact that the mind esti- 
 mates the distance of an object partly by com- 
 paring the two views of its surface obtained by the 
 two eyes respectively, and which views are not 
 quite the same, but differ, just as the two pictures 
 prepared for a stereoscope. Each eye sees a 
 little round one side of the object, and its solid 
 look and its distance are thus before the mind. 
 
 Now when the rope is horizontal the eyes do 
 not see round the two sides in this manner, though 
 if the head is leant sideways it will be found that 
 the illusion referred to no longer appears. 
 
 Nor is it out of place to inquire thus at length 
 into this matter, for I can assure you that one 
 or two blunt slaps on the head from these ropes 
 across a river make it interesting if not pleasant 
 to examine " the reason why." 
 
 The actual number of miles in a day's work is 
 much influenced by the number of waterfalls or 
 artificial barriers which are too dry or too high to 
 allow the canoe to float over them. 
 
 In all such cases, of course, I had to get out 
 and to drag the boat round by the fields, as has 
 been already described (p. 84); or to lower her 
 
SHIRKING A FALL.' 
 
 155 
 
 "Shirking a Fall." 
 
 carefully among the rocks, as is shown in the 
 accompanying sketch, which represents the usual 
 appearance of this part of the day's proceedings. 
 Although this sort of work was a change of 
 posture, and brought into play new muscular 
 action, yet the strain sometimes put on the limbs 
 
156 STEEPS. 
 
 by the weight of the boat, and the great caution 
 required where there was only slippery footing, 
 made these barriers to be regarded on the whole 
 as bores. 
 
 The river banks now suddenly assumed a new 
 character. They were steep and high, and their 
 height increased as we advanced between these 
 two upright walls of stratified gravel and boulders. 
 
 A Ml body of water ran between them, the 
 current being of only ordinary force at its edges, 
 where it was interrupted by rocks, stones, and 
 shingle, and was thus twisted into e*ddies in- 
 numerable. 
 
 To avoid these entanglements at the sides, it 
 seemed best, on the whole, to keep the boat 
 in mid-channel, though the breakers were far 
 more dangerous there, in the full force of the 
 stream. 
 
 I began to think that this must be the " hard 
 place coming," which a wise man farther up 
 the river had warned me was quite too much for 
 so small a boat, unless in flood times, when fewer 
 rocks would be in the way. In reply, I had told 
 him that when I got near such a place I would 
 pull out my boat and drag it along the bank, if 
 requisite. To this he said, " Ah ! but the banks 
 are a hundred feet high." So I had mentally 
 resolved (but entirely forgot) to stop in good 
 
GRIM NOISES. 157 
 
 time and to climb up the rocks and investigate 
 matters ahead before going into an unknown run 
 of broken water. 
 
 Such plans are very well in theory, but some- 
 how the approach to these rapids was so gradual, 
 and the mind was so much occupied in overcoming 
 the particular difficulty of each moment, that 
 no opportunity occurred for rest or reflection. 
 The dull heavy roar round the corner got louder 
 as the Rob Roy neared the great bend. For 
 here the river makes a turn round the whole 
 of a letter S, in fact very nearly in a complete 
 figure of 8, and in wheeling thus it glides 
 over a sloping ledge of flat rocks, spread 
 obliquely athwart the stream for a hundred feet 
 on either hand, and just a few inches below the 
 surface. 
 
 The canoe was swept over this singular place 
 by the current, its keel and sides grinding and 
 bumping on the stones, and sliding on the soft 
 moss which here made the rock so slippery and 
 black. 
 
 The progress was aided by sundry pushes and 
 jerks at proper times, but we advanced altogether 
 in a clumsy, helpless style, until at length there 
 came in sight the great white ridge of tossing 
 foam where the din was great, and a sense of 
 excitement and confusion filled the mind. 
 
158 RAPIDS OF THE REUSS. 
 
 I was quite conscious that the sight before me 
 was made to look worse because of the noise 
 around, and by the feeling of the loneliness and 
 powerlessness of a puny man struggling in a 
 waste of breakers, where to strike a single one 
 was sure to upset the boat. 
 
 From the nature of the place, too, it was 
 evident that it would be difficult to save the 
 canoe by swimming alongside it when capsized 
 or foundered, and yet it was utterly impossible 
 now to stop. 
 
 Bight in front, and in the middle, I saw the 
 well-known wave which is always raised when a 
 main stream converges, as it rushes down a nar- 
 row neck. The depression or trough of this was 
 about two feet below, and the crest four feet above 
 the level, so the height of the wave was about 
 six feet. 
 
 Though rather tall it was very thin and sharp- 
 featured, and always stationary in position, though 
 the water composing it was going at a tremend- 
 ous pace. After this wave there was another 
 smaller one, as frequently happens. 
 
 It was not the height of the wave that gave 
 any concern ; had it been at sea the boat would 
 rise over any lofty billow, but here the wave 
 stood still, and the canoe was to be impelled 
 against it with all the force of a mighty stream, 
 
THE CENTRAL WAVE. 159 
 
 and so it must go through the body of water, 
 for it couid not have time to rise. 
 
 And so the question remained, " What is behind 
 that wave ?" for if it is a rock then this is the 
 last hour of the Rob Roy.* 
 
 The boat plunged headlong into the shining 
 mound of water as I clenched my teeth and 
 clutched my paddle. I saw her sharp prow deeply 
 buried, and then (I confess) my eyes were shut 
 involuntarily, and before she could rise the mass 
 of solid water struck me with a heavy blow full 
 in the breast, closing round my neck as if cold 
 hands gripped me, and quite taking away my 
 breath, f 
 
 Vivid thoughts coursed through the brain in 
 this exciting moment, but another slap from the 
 lesser wave, and a whirl round in the eddy below, 
 told that the battle was over soon, and the little 
 boat slowly rose from under a load of water, 
 
 * I had not then acquired the knowledge of a valuable 
 fact, that a sharp wave of this kind never has a rock 
 behind it. A sharp wave requires free water at its rear, 
 and it is therefore in the safest part of the river so far as 
 concealed dangers are concerned. This at least was the 
 conclusion come to after frequent observation afterwards 
 of many such places. 
 
 f See a faithful representation of this incident, so far 
 as relates to the water, in the Frontispiece. 
 
160 DRENCHED. 
 
 which still covered my arms, and then, trembling, 
 and as if stunned by the heavy shock, she staggered 
 to the shore. The river too had done its worst, 
 and it seemed now to draw off from hindering 
 us, and so I clung to a rock to rest for some 
 minutes, panting with a tired feeling of nervous- 
 ness and gladness strangely mingled. 
 
 Although the weight of water had been so 
 heavy on my body and legs, very little of it had 
 got inside under the waterproof covering, for the 
 whole affair was done in a few seconds, and 
 though everything in front was completely 
 drenched up to my necktie, the back of my coat 
 was scarcely wet. 
 
 Most fortunately I had removed the flag from 
 its usual place about an hour before, and thus it 
 was preserved from being swept away. 
 
 Well, now it is over, and we are rested, and 
 begin with a fresh start ; but there is still some 
 work to do in threading a way among the breakers. 
 The main point, however, has been passed, and 
 the difficulties after it look small, though at other 
 times they might receive attention. 
 
 Here is our resting-place, the old Roman town 
 of Bremgarten, which is built in a hollow of this 
 very remarkable serpent bend of the rapid Reuss. 
 The houses are stuck on the rocks, and abut on 
 the river itself, and as the stream bore me past 
 
BREMGARTEN. 161 
 
 these I clung to the doorstep of a washerwoman's 
 house, and pulled my boat out of the water into 
 her very kitchen, to the great amusement and 
 surprise of the worthy lady, who wondered still 
 more when I hauled the canoe again through the 
 other side of her room until it fairly came out to 
 the street behind. 
 
 It must have astonished the people to see a 
 canoe thus suddenly appearing on their quiet 
 pavement. They soon crowded round and bore 
 her to the hotel, which was a moderately bad one. 
 Next morning the bill was twelve francs, nearly 
 double its proper amount ; and thus I had in one 
 day the only two extortionate innkeepers met 
 with at all.* 
 
 This quaint old place, with high walls and a 
 foss, and several antiquities, was well worth the 
 inspection of my early morning walk, and then 
 the Rob Roy was ordered to the door. 
 
 * However, I made the landlord here take eight francs 
 as a compromise. 
 
 M 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Music at the mill Sentiment and chops Eiver Limmat 
 Fixed on a fall On the river Aar Falls of 
 Lauffenburg. The cow cart. 
 
 THE wetting and excitement of yesterday made 
 me rather stiff in beginning again ; and anon, 
 when a rushing sound was heard in front I was 
 aware of a little anxiety as to whether this might 
 not mean the same sort of rough work as yester- 
 day's over again, whereas hitherto this sound 
 of breakers to come had always promised nothing 
 but pleasure. However, things very soon came 
 back to their old way, a continuous and varied 
 enjoyment from morning to night. 
 
 The river was rapid again, but with no really 
 difficult places. I saw one raft in course of 
 preparation, though there were not many boats, 
 for as the men there said, "How could we get 
 boats up that stream?" 
 
 The villages near the river were often so high 
 up on lofty cliffs, or otherwise unsuitable, that I 
 went on for some miles trying in vain to fix on 
 
HUNGER. 163 
 
 one for my (No. 1) dinner. Each bend of the 
 winding water held out hopes that down there at 
 last, or round that bluff cape at farthest, there 
 must be a proper place to breakfast. But when 
 it was now long past the usual hour, and the 
 shores got less inhabited and hunger more impe- 
 rative, I determined to land at a mill which over- 
 hung the stream in a very picturesque spot. 
 
 I landed unobserved. This was a blunder^in 
 diplomacy, for the canoe was always good as 
 credentials ; but I climbed up the bank and 
 through the garden, and found the hall door 
 open ; so I walked timidly into a large, comfort- 
 able house, leaving my paddle outside lest it 
 might be regarded as a bludgeon. I had come 
 as a beggar, not a burglar. 
 
 The chords of a piano, well struck and by firm 
 fingers, led me towards the drawing-room ; for 
 to hear music is almost to make sure of welcome 
 in a house, and it was so now. 
 
 My bows and reverences scarcely softened the 
 exceedingly strange appearance I must have made 
 as an intruder, clothed in universal flannel, and 
 offering ten thousand apologies in French, Ger- 
 man, and English for thus dropping down from 
 the clouds, that is to say, climbing up from the 
 water. 
 
 The young miller rose from the piano, and 
 M 2 
 
164 MAIDS OF THE MILL. 
 
 bowed. His fair sister stopped her sweet song, and 
 blushed. For my part, I modestly asked for 
 bread and wine, and got hopelessly involved in 
 an effort to explain how I had come by the river 
 tmperceived. The excessive courtesy of my new 
 friends was embarrassing, and was further com- 
 plicated by the arrival of another young lady, 
 even more surprised and hospitable. 
 
 ^Quickly the refreshments were set on the table, 
 and the miller sealed the intimacy by lighting his 
 ample pipe. Our conversation was of the most 
 lively and unintelligible character, and soon 
 lapsed into music, when Beethoven and Goss 
 told all we had to say in chants and symphonies. 
 
 The inevitable sketch-book whiled away a good 
 hour, till the ladies were joined by a third damsel, 
 and the adventures of Ulysses had to be told to 
 three Penelopes at once. The miller's party 
 became humorous to a degree, and they resisted 
 all my efforts to get away, even when the family 
 dinner was set on the board, and the domestic 
 servants and farm labourers came in to seat them- 
 selves at a lower table. 
 
 This was a picture of rural life not soon to 
 be forgotten. The stately grandmamma of the 
 mansion now advanced, prim and stiff, and with 
 dignity and matronly grace entreated the stranger 
 to join their company. The old oak furniture 
 
GRANDMAMMA. 
 
 165 
 
 was lightened by a hundred little trifles worked 
 by the women, or collected by the tasteful dili- 
 gence of their brother ; and the sun shone, and 
 the mill went round, and the river rolled by, and 
 all was kindness, "because you are an English- 
 man." 
 
 The power of the Civis Romanus is far better 
 shown when it draws forth kindness, than when 
 it compels fear. But it would not do to stop and 
 eat, and it would not do to stop and not eat, or to 
 make the potatoes get cold, or the granddames' 
 dinner too late; so I must go, even though the 
 girls had playfully hidden my luggage to keep the 
 guest among them. 
 
 The whole party, therefore, adjourned to the 
 little nook where I had left my boat concealed ; 
 and when they caught sight of its tiny form, 
 and its little fluttering flag, the young ladies 
 screamed with delight and surprise, clapping 
 their hands and waving adieux as I paddled 
 away. 
 
 I left this happy, pleasant scene with -mingled 
 feelings, and tried to think out what was the 
 daily life in this sequestered mill ; and if I got a 
 little sentimental in my rowing, it may be par- 
 doned by travellers who have come among kind 
 friends where they expected perhaps a cold 
 rebuff. 
 
166 SENTIMENTAL. 
 
 The romantic effect of all this was to make me 
 desperately hungry, for be it known that bread 
 and wine and Beethoven will not do to dine upon 
 if you are rowing forty miles in the sun. So I 
 must confess that when an hour afterwards I saw 
 an auberge by the water's edge it became neces- 
 sary to stifle my feelings by ordering an omelette 
 and two chops. 
 
 The table was soon spread under a shady pear- 
 tree just by the water, and the Rob Roy rested 
 gently on the ripples at my feet. 
 
 The pleasures of this sunny hour of well-earned 
 repose, freshened by a bunch of grapes and a pear 
 plucked from above my head, were just -a little 
 troubled by a slight apprehension that some day 
 the miller's sister might come by and hear how 
 had been comforted my lacerated heart. 
 
 Again " to boat," and down by the shady trees, 
 under the towering rocks, over the nimble rapids, 
 and winding among orchards, vineyards, and 
 wholesome scented hay, the same old story of 
 constant varied pleasure. The hills were in front 
 now, and their contour showed that some rivers 
 were to join company with the Reuss, which here 
 rolled on a fine broad stream, like the Thames at 
 Putney. 
 
 Presently the Limmat flowed in at one side, 
 and at the other the river Aar, which last then 
 
THE LIMMAT AND THE AAR. 167 
 
 gives the name to all the three, though it did not 
 appear to be the largest. 
 
 This is not the only Aar among the rivers, but 
 it is the "old original Aar," which Swiss travellers 
 regard as an acquaintance after they have seen it 
 dash headlong over the rocks at Handek. 
 
 It takes its rise from two glaciers, one of them 
 the Finster Aar glacier, not far from Grimsel ; 
 and to me this gave it a special interest, for I had 
 been hard pushed once in the wilds near that 
 homely Hospice. 
 
 It was on an afternoon some years ago, when I 
 came from the Furca, by the Rhone glacier to 
 the foot of the valley, walking with two Germans ; 
 and as they were rather "muffs," and meant to 
 stop there, I thoughtlessly set off alone to climb 
 the rocks and to get to the Grimsel by myself. 
 
 This is easy enough in daylight, but it was nearly 
 six o'clock when I started, and late in September ; 
 so after a short half-hour of mounting, the snow 
 began to fall, and the darkness was not made less 
 by the white flakes drifting across it. By some 
 wonderful conjuncture of things I managed to get 
 over the mountain, but not by any path till I 
 struck on a little stream which had often to be 
 forded in the dark, but was always leading to the 
 desired valley, until at length the welcome light 
 of the Hospice was a haven to steer for, and I 
 
168 HARD QUESTIONS. 
 
 soon joined the pleasant English guests inside, and 
 bought a pair of trousers from the waiter for 
 3s. 6d. for a change in the wet. 
 
 But paddling on the Aar had no great danger 
 where I met it now, for the noisy, brawling tor- 
 rent was sobered by age, and after much knocking 
 about in the world it had settled into a steady and 
 respectable river. 
 
 A few of my friends, the snags, were however 
 lodged in the water hereabouts, and as they 
 bobbed their heads in uneasy beds, and the river 
 was much discoloured, it became worth while to 
 keep a sharp lookout for them. 
 
 The " river tongue," explained already as 
 consisting of sign language with a parallel com- 
 ment in loud English, was put to a severe test on 
 a wide stream like this. Consider, for example, 
 how you could best ask the following question 
 (speaking by signs and English only) from a man 
 who is on the bank over there a hundred yards 
 distant. 
 
 " Is it better for me to go over to those rocks, 
 and keep on the left of that island, or to pull my 
 boat out at these stumps, and drag her on land 
 into this channel ? " 
 
 One comfort is the man made out my meaning, 
 for did he not answer, " Ya vol." He could not 
 have done more had we both learned the same 
 
MILL WEIRS. 169 
 
 language, unless indeed he had heard what I 
 said. 
 
 Mills occurred here and there. Some of 
 these had the waterwheel simply built on the 
 river ; others had it so arranged as to allow 
 the shaft to be raised or lowered to suit the 
 varying height of water in floods and droughts. 
 Others had it floating on barges. Others, again, 
 had a half weir built diagonally across part of the 
 river ; and it was important to look carefully at 
 this wall so as to see on which side it ought to be 
 kept in selecting the best course. In a few cases 
 there was another construction ; two half weirs, 
 converged gradually towards the middle of the 
 river, forming a letter Y, with its sharp end 
 turned up the stream, and leaving a narrow 
 opening there, through which a torrent flowed, 
 with rough waves dancing merrily in the pool 
 below. 
 
 I had to " shoot " several of these, and at other 
 times to get out and lower the boat down them, 
 in the manner explained before. 
 
 On one occasion I was in an unaccountably 
 careless fit, and instead of first examining the 
 depth of the water on the edge of the little fall, I 
 resolved to go straight at it and take my chance. 
 
 It must be stated that while a depth of three 
 inches is enough for the canoe to float in when all 
 
170 FIXED FOR FIVE MINUTES. 
 
 its length, is in the water, the same depth will by 
 no means suffice at the upper edge of a fall. For 
 when the boat arrives there the fore part, say 
 six or seven feet of it, projects for a time over the 
 fall and out of the water, and is merely in the air, 
 without support, so that the centre of the keel 
 will sink at least six or seven inches ; and if there 
 be not more water than this the keel catches the 
 crest of the weir, and the boat will then stop, and 
 perhaps swing round, after which it must fall over 
 sideways, unless considerable dexterity is used in 
 the management. 
 
 Although a case of this sort had occurred to me 
 before, I got again into the same predicament, 
 which was made far more puzzling as the fore 
 end of the boat went under a rock at the bottom 
 of the fall, and thus the canoe hung upon the edge, 
 and would go neither one way nor another. It 
 would also have been very difficult to get out of 
 the boat in this position, indeed it was not a 
 feasible solution of the fix, and I fear the canoe 
 was much wrenched in my struggles, which, how- 
 ever, ended by our tumbling down sideways, and, 
 marvellous to say, quite safely to the bottom. 
 
 This performance was not one to be proud of.* 
 
 * This adventure was the result of temporary careless- 
 ness, while that at the rapids was the result of impatience, 
 for the passage of these could probably have been effected 
 
RIVER AAR. 
 
 171 
 
 " Fixed on the fall." 
 
 Surely it was like ingratitude to treat the Hob 
 Roy so, exposing it to needless risk when it had 
 carried me so far and so well. 
 
 The Aar soon flows into the Rhine, and here is 
 the Rob Roy on old Rhenus once more, with the 
 town of Waldshut (" end of the forest ") leaning 
 over the high bank to welcome the canoe. 
 
 There is a lower path and a row of little houses 
 
 without encountering the central wave had an hour or two 
 been spent in examining the place. Let not any tourist, 
 then, be deterred from a paddle on the Eeuss, which is a 
 perfectly suitable river, with no unavoidable dangers. 
 
172 DOUANIERS. 
 
 at the bottom of the cliff, past which the Rhine 
 courses with rapid eddies deep and strong. Here 
 an old fisherman soon spied me, and roared out his 
 biography at the top of his voice ; how he had 
 been a courier in Lord Somebody's family; how 
 he had journeyed seven years in Italy, and could 
 fish with artificial flies, and was seventy years 
 old, with various other reasons why I should put 
 my boat into his house. 
 
 He was just the man for the moment ; but first 
 those two uniformed douaniers must be dealt with, 
 and I had to satisfy their dignity by paddling up 
 the strong current to their lair ; for the fly had 
 touched the spiders' web and the spiders were too 
 grand to come out and seize it. Good humour, 
 and smiles, and a little judicious irony as to the 
 absurd notion of overhauling a canoe which could 
 be carried on your back, soon made them release 
 me, if only to uphold their own dignity, and I 
 left the boat in the best drawing-room of the 
 ex-courier, and ascended by stairs to the hotel 
 aloft. 
 
 But the man came too, and he had found time 
 to prepare an amended report of the boat's journey 
 for the worthy landlord, so, as usual, there was 
 soon everything ready for comfort and good 
 cheer. 
 
 Waldshut is made up of one wide street almost 
 
A POCKET CANOE. 173 
 
 closed at the end, and with pretty gardens about 
 it, and a fine prospect from its high position; 
 but an hour's walk appeared to exhaust all the 
 town could show, though the scenery round such 
 a place is not to be done with in this brief 
 manner. 
 
 The visitors soon came to hear and see more 
 nearly what the newspapers had told them of the 
 canoe. One gentleman, indeed, seemed to expect 
 me to unfold the boat from my pocket, for a 
 French paper had spoken about a man going over 
 the country " with a canoe under his arm." The 
 evening was enlivened by some magnesium wire 
 signals, which I burned at the window of my 
 bedroom to lighten up the whole street. This 
 little entertainment was evidently to the Wald- 
 shutians at least entirely new. 
 
 Before we start homewards on the Rhine with 
 our faces due West, it may be well very briefly 
 to give the bearings and direction of the canoe's 
 voyage up to this point. 
 
 First, by the Thames, E. (East), to Shoebury- 
 ness, thence to Sheerness, S. From that by rail 
 to Dover, and by steamer to Ostend, and rail 
 again to the Meuse, along which the course was 
 nearly E., until its turn into Holland, JN".E. 
 Then to the Rhine, S.E., and ascending it nearly 
 S., until at Frankfort we go N.E. by rail to 
 
174 DANGERS AHEAD. 
 
 Asschaffenburg, and by the river wind back again 
 to Frankfort in wide curves. Farther up the 
 Rhine our course is due S., till from Freyburg 
 the boat is carted E. to the Titisee, and to 
 Donaueschingen, and descends the Danube, which 
 there flows nearly E., but with great bends to W, 
 and S. until we are at Ulm. The rail next carries 
 us S. to the Lake of Constance, which is sailed 
 along in a course S.W., and through the Zeller 
 See to Schaffhausen, about due W. Thence 
 turning S. to Zurich, and veering to the "W. 
 by Zug, we arrive on Lucerne, where the 
 southernmost point of the voyage is reached, 
 and then our prow points to N., till we land at 
 Waldshut. 
 
 This devious course had taken the boat to 
 several different kingdoms and states Holland, 
 Belgium, France, Wurtemburg, Bavaria, and 
 the Grand Duchy of Baden, Rhenish Prussia, 
 the Palatinate, Switzerland, and the pretty Hohen- 
 zollern Sigmaringen. Now we had come back 
 again to the very Grand Duchy again, a land 
 where all travellers must mind their p's and q's. 
 
 The ex-courier took the canoe from his wife's 
 washing-tubs and put her on the Rhine, and then 
 he spirited my start by recounting the lively parts 
 I must expect soon to meet. I must take care to 
 " keep to the right," near the falls of Lauffenburg, 
 
LITTLE HURRICANE. 175 
 
 for an English lord had been carried over them 
 and drowned ; * and I must beware of Rheinfelden 
 rapids, because an Englishman had tried to de- 
 scend them in a boat with a fisherman, and their 
 craft was capsized and the fisherman was drowned ; 
 and I must do this here, and that there, and so 
 many other things everywhere else, that all the 
 directions were jumbled up together. But it 
 seemed to relieve the man to tell his tale, and 
 doubtless he sat down to his breakfast comfort- 
 able in mind and body, and cut his meat into little 
 bits, and then changed the fork to the right hand 
 to eat them every one, as they all do hereabouts, 
 with every appearance of content. 
 
 Up with the sails ! for the East wind freshens, 
 and the fair wide river hurries along. This was a 
 splendid scene to sail in, with lofty banks of rock, 
 and rich meads, or terraces laden with grapes. 
 After a good morning's pleasure here the wind 
 suddenly rose to a gale, and I took in my jib just 
 in time, for a sort of minor hurricane came on, 
 raising tall columns of dust on the road alongside, 
 blowing off men's hats, and whisking up the hay 
 and leaves and branches high into the air. 
 
 Still I kept the lug sail set ; and with wind and 
 
 * This was Lord Montague, the last of his line, and on 
 the same day his family mansion of Cowdray, in Sussex, 
 was burned to the ground. 
 
176 THE FALLS. 
 
 current in the same direction I scudded faster than 
 I ever sailed before in my life. Great exertion 
 was required to manage a light skiff safely with 
 such a whirlwind above and a whirlwind below ; 
 one's nerves were kept in extreme tension, and it 
 was a half-hour of pleasant excitement. 
 
 For this reason it was that I did not for some 
 time notice a youth who had been running after 
 the boat, yelling and shrieking, and waving his 
 coat in the air. I drew nearer to him, and " luffed 
 up," crying, " What's the matter ? " and he could 
 only pant out " Wasserfall, Wasserfall, funf 
 minuten," so I found the breeze had brought 
 me within a hundred yards of the falls of 
 Lauffenburg. 
 
 I crossed to the right bank (as the ex-courier 
 had directed), but the youth's loud cries to come 
 to the "links," or left side, at last prevailed, and 
 he was right in this. So I lowered the sail, and 
 hauled the boat on a raft, and then this fine young 
 fellow explained that five minutes more would 
 turn the corner and get me into the horrid 
 current sweeping over the falls. 
 
 I asked him to get a cart to convey the boat, 
 and I had time to pull her up the high bank and 
 make all snug for a drive, when he appeared 
 again with a very grotesque carter and a most 
 crazy vehicle, actually drawn by a milch cow! 
 
COW CART. 177 
 
 All three of us laughed as we hoisted the Rob 
 Roy on this cart, and the cow kicked vehemently, 
 either at the cart, or the boat, or the laughing. 
 
 Our procession soon entered the little town, 
 but it was difficult to be dignified. A cow draw- 
 ing a boat to the door of a great hotel is certainly 
 a quaint proceeding ; although in justice to the 
 worthy quadruped I should mention that she now 
 behaved in a proper and lady-like manner. As 
 the cart with a screeching wheel rattled slowly 
 over the big round stones of the street, vacant at 
 midday, the windows were soon full of heads, and 
 after one peep at us, down they rushed to see the 
 fun.* 
 
 Here the public hit upon every possible way 
 but the right one to pronounce the boat's name, 
 painted in blue letters on its bow. Sometimes it 
 was "Roab Ro," at others " Rubree," but at 
 length a man in spectacles called out, " Ah ! ah ! 
 Yaltarescote ! " The mild Sir Walter's novels 
 had not been written in vain. 
 
 The falls of Lauifenburg f can be seen well from 
 the bridge which spans the river, much narrowed 
 at this spot. 
 
 * A sketch of this cow-cart will be found, post, page 215. 
 
 f " Lauffenburg " means the " town of the falls," from 
 "laufen," to run; and the Yankee term "loafer" may 
 come from this, " herum laufer," one running about. 
 
 N 
 
178 SMASHED. 
 
 A raft was coming down at this very time of 
 course without the men upon it ; and it was a 
 very curious sight as the great solid frame seemed 
 to resent the quickening of its solemn pace, and 
 to hold back when every moment drew it nearer 
 to the plunge. 
 
 Crash go all the bindings, and the huge, sturdy 
 logs are hurled topsy-turvy into the gorge, boun- 
 cing about like chips of firewood, and rattling 
 among the foam. 
 
 Nor was it easy to look calmly on this without 
 thinking how the frail canoe would have fared in 
 such a cauldron of cold water boiling. 
 
 The salmon drawn into this place get terribly 
 puzzled by it, and so are caught by hundreds in 
 great iron cages lowered from the rocks for this 
 purpose. 
 
 Fishing stations of the same kind are found at 
 several points on the river, where a stage is built 
 on piles, and a beam supports a strong net below. 
 In a little house, like a sentry box, you notice a 
 man seated, silent and lonely, while he holds ten- 
 derly in his hand a dozen strings, which are fas- 
 tened to the edges of the net. When a fish is 
 beguiled into the snare, or is borne in by the swift 
 current, the slightest vibrations of the net are 
 thrilled along the cords to the watcher's hand, and 
 he raises the great beam and secures the prize. 
 
ENGLISH FOUR-OAR. 179 
 
 My young friend, who had so kindly warned 
 me, and got the cow, and shown the salmon, I 
 now invited to breakfast, and he became the hero 
 of the hour, being repeatedly addressed by the 
 other inquirers in an impossible German title, 
 which signifies, in short, " Man preserver." 
 
 Here I heard again of a certain four-oared boat, 
 with five Englishmen in it, which had been sent 
 out from London overland to Schaff hausen, and 
 then descended the Rhine rowing swiftly. This, 
 the people said, had come to Lauffenburg about 
 six weeks before, and I fully sympathized with 
 the crew in their charming pull, especially if the 
 weather was such as I had enjoyed; that is to say, 
 not one shower in the boat from the source of the 
 Danube to the Palace of Westminster. 
 
 N 2 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Field of Foam Precipice Puzzled Rheinfelden Eapids 
 DazzledAstride Very Salt The Ladies Whirl- 
 pool Funny English A baby The bride. 
 
 THE canoe was now fixed on a hand-cart and 
 dragged once more through the streets to a 
 point below the falls, and the Bob Koy became 
 very lively on the water after its few hours of 
 rest. All was brilliant around, and deep under- 
 neath, and azure above, and happy within, till 
 the dull distant sound of breakers got louder, and 
 at last could not be ignored ; it was the rapids of 
 E/heinfelden. 
 
 The exaggeration with which judicious friends 
 at each place describe the dangers to be encoun- 
 tered is so general in these latitudes, that one gets 
 to receive it calmly, but the scene itself when I 
 came to the place was certainly puzzling and grand. 
 
 Imagine some hundreds of acres all of water in 
 white crested waves, varied only by black rocks 
 resisting a struggling torrent, and a loud, thun- 
 dering roar, mingled with a strange hissing, as 
 
A FIELD OF FOAM. 181 
 
 the spray from ten thousand sharp-pointed billows 
 is tossed into the air. 
 
 And then you are alone, too, and the banks are 
 high, and you have a precious boat to guard. 
 
 While there was time to do it I stood up in my 
 boat to survey, but it was a mere horizon of 
 waves, and nothing could be learned from looking. 
 Then I coasted towards one side where the shrubs 
 and trees hanging in the water brushed the paddle, 
 and seemed so safe because they were on shore. 
 
 The rapids of Bremgarten could probably be 
 passed most easily by keeping to the edge, though 
 with much delay and numerous "getting outs," 
 but an attempt to go now along the side in this way 
 was soon shown to be useless, for presently I came 
 to a lofty rock jutting out into the stream, and the 
 very loud roar behind it fortunately attracted so 
 much attention that I pulled into the bank, made 
 the boat fast, and mounted through the thicket 
 to the top of the cliff. 
 
 I saw at once that to try to pass by this rock 
 in any boat would be madness, for the swiftest 
 part of the current ran right under the projecting 
 crag, and then wheeled round and plunged over 
 a height of some feet into a pool of foam, broken 
 fragments, and powerful waves. 
 
 Next, would it be just possible to float the 
 boat past the rock while I might hold the painter 
 
182 PUZZLED BY A PRECIPICE. 
 
 from above? The rock was found too high for 
 this. 
 
 To see well over the cliff I had to lie down on 
 my face, and the pleasant curiosity felt at first, 
 as to how I should have to act, now gradually 
 sickened into the sad conviction, " Impossible ! " 
 Then was the time to turn with earnest eyes to 
 the wide expanse of the river, and see if haply, 
 somewhere at least, even in the middle, a channel 
 might be traced. Yes, there certainly was a 
 channel, only one, very far out, and very difficult 
 to hit upon when you sit in a boat quite near the 
 level of the water ; but the attempt must be made, 
 or stay, might I not get the boat carried round 
 by land ; under the trees far off were men who 
 might be called to help, labourers quietly working, 
 and never minding me. I was nearly tempted, 
 but did not yield. 
 
 For a philosphical thought had come upmost, 
 that, after all, I had not to meet every wave and 
 rock now visible, and the thousand breakers dash- 
 ing around, but only a certain few which would be 
 on each side in my crooked and untrod way. Of 
 the rocks in any one line say fifty of them be- 
 tween me and any point only two would become 
 a near danger when I crossed that line. Then 
 again, rapids look worse from the shore than they 
 really are, because you see all their difficulties at 
 
PHILOSOPHIZING. 183 
 
 once, and you hear the general din. On the 
 other hand, waves look much smaller from the 
 side (being half hidden by others) than you find 
 them to be when the boat is in the trough between 
 two. The hidden rocks may make a channel 
 which looks good enough from the land, to be 
 quite impracticable when you attempt it in the 
 water. 
 
 Lastly, the current looks swifter from the shore 
 where you observe its speed from a fixed point, 
 than it does when looked at from the water where 
 you notice only its velocity in relation to the 
 stream on each side, which is itself all the time 
 running at four or five miles an hour. But it is 
 the positive speed of the current that ought 
 really to be considered, for it is by this the boat 
 will be urged against a breaker stationary in the 
 river. 
 
 To get to this middle channel at once from 
 the place where I had left my boat was not 
 possible. I must enter it higher up the river, 
 so I had to pull the canoe up stream, over shal- 
 lows, and along the bristly margin, wading, tow- 
 ing, and struggling, for about half a mile, till at 
 length it seemed I must be high enough up stream 
 to let me paddle out swiftly across, while the 
 current would take the boat sideways to the rough 
 water. 
 
184 INTO THE WAVES. 
 
 In a little quiet bay I rested half an hour to 
 recover strength after this exertion, and to prepare 
 fully for a " spurt," which might be delayed in 
 starting, but which, once begun, must be vigorous 
 and all watchful to the end. 
 
 Here various thoughts blended and seemed to 
 tumble about in the mind most disorderly. To 
 leave this quiet bank and willingly rush out, in 
 cold blood, into a field of white breakers ; to tar- 
 nish the fair journey with a foolhardy prank ; to 
 risk the Rob Roy where the touch of one rock 
 was utter destruction. Is it pleasant ? Is it wise ? 
 Is it right ? 
 
 The answer was, to sponge out every drop of 
 water from the boat, to fasten the luggage inside, 
 that it might not fall out in an upset, to brace the 
 waterproof cover all tight around, and to get its edge 
 in my teeth ready to let go in capsizing, and then 
 to pull one gentle stroke which put the boat's 
 nose out of the quiet water into the fast stream, 
 and hurrah ! we are off at a swinging pace. 
 
 The sun, now shining exactly up stream, was 
 an exceedingly uncomfortable addition to the 
 difficulties ; for its glancing beams confounded 
 all the horizon in one general band of light, so 
 that rocks, waves, solid water, and the most 
 flimsy foam were all the same at a little distance. 
 This, the sole disadvantage of a cloudless sky, 
 
DAZZLED. 185 
 
 was so much felt in my homeward route that I 
 sometimes prolonged the morning's work by three 
 or four hours (with sun behind or on one side), 
 so as to shorten the evening's quota where it was 
 dead in the eye of the sun. On the present occa- 
 sion, when it was of great moment to hit the 
 channel exactly, I could not see it at all, even 
 with my blue spectacles on. They seemed to be 
 utterly powerless against such a fiery blaze ; and, 
 what was almost worse, the eye was thereby so 
 dazzled that on looking to nearer objects I could 
 scarcely see them either. 
 
 This unexpected difficulty was so serious that I 
 thought for a moment of keeping on in my 
 present course (directed straight across the river), 
 so as to attain the opposite side, and there to wait 
 for the sun to go down.* 
 
 But it was already too late to adopt this plan, 
 for the current had been swiftly bearing me 
 down stream, and I had to come to an instant 
 decision. "Now," thought I, "judging by the 
 number of paddle-strokes, we must be opposite 
 the channel in the middle, and now I must turn 
 to it." 
 
 By a happy hit, the speed and the direction of 
 the canoe were both well fitted, so that when the 
 current had borne us to the breakers the boat's 
 bow was just turned exactly down stream, and I 
 
186 THE UPPER RAPIDS. 
 
 entered the channel whistling for very loneliness, 
 like a boy in the dark. 
 
 But it was soon seen to be " all right, English- 
 man ; " so in ten minutes more the canoe had 
 passed the rapids, and we floated along pleasantly 
 on that confused " bobbery " of little billows 
 always found below broken water, a sort of mob 
 of waves, which for a time seem to be elbowing 
 and jostling in all directions to find their proper 
 places. 
 
 I saw here two fishermen by one of the salmon 
 traps described above, and at once pulled over to 
 them, to land on a little white bank of sand, 
 that I might rest, and bale out, and hear the news. 
 
 The men asked if I had come down the rapids 
 in that boat. " Yes." " By the middle channel? " 
 "Yes." They smiled to* each other, and then 
 both at once commenced a most voluble and loud- 
 spoken address in the vilest of patois. Their 
 eagerness and energy rose to such a pitch that I 
 began to suppose they were angry; but the 
 upshot of all this eloquence (always louder when 
 you are seen not to understand one word of it) 
 was this, " There are other rapids to come. You 
 will get there in half an hour. They are far 
 worse than what you have passed. Your boat 
 must be carried round them on land." 
 
 To see if this was said to induce me to employ 
 
CONFUSION WORSE CONFOUNDED. 187 
 
 them as porters, I asked them to come along in 
 their boat, so as to be ready to help me ; but 
 they consulted together, and did not by any 
 means agree in admiring this proposal. Then I 
 asked them to explain the best route through 
 the next rapids, when they drew such confused 
 diagrams on the sand, and gave such complicated 
 directions, that it was impossible to make head or 
 tail of their atrocious jargon ; so I quietly bowed, 
 wiped out the sand pictures with my foot, and 
 started again happy and free ; for it is really the 
 case that in these things "ignorance is bliss." 
 The excitement of finding your way, and the 
 satisfaction when you have' found it yourself, is 
 well worth all the trouble. Just so in mountain 
 travel. If you go merely to work the muscles, 
 and to see the view, it will do to be tied by a rope 
 to three guides, and to follow behind them ; but 
 then theirs is all the mental exertion, and tact, 
 and judgment, while yours is only the merit of 
 keeping up with the leaders, treading in their 
 steps. And therefore I have observed that there 
 is less of this particular pleasure of the discoverer 
 when one is ascending Mont Blanc, or other 
 hills where one must be tied to the guides, than 
 in making out a path over a mountain pass un- 
 directed, though the heights thus climbed up are 
 not so great. 
 
188 SCANNING THE LOWER RAPIDS. 
 
 When the boat got near the lower rapids, I 
 went ashore and walked for half a mile down the 
 bank, and so was able to examine the bearings 
 well. It appeared practicable to get along by the 
 shallower parts of one side, so this was resolved 
 upon as my course. 
 
 It is surely quite fair to go by the easiest way, 
 provided there is no carrying overland adopted, 
 or other plan for shirking the water. The 
 method accordingly used in this case was rather 
 a novel mode of locomotion, and it was quite 
 successful, as well as highly amusing. 
 
 In the wide plain of breakers here, the central 
 district seemed radically bad, so I cautiously kept 
 out of the main current, and went where the 
 stream ran fast enough nevertheless. I sat 
 stridelegs on the deck of the boat near its stern, 
 and was thus floated down until the bow, pro- 
 jecting out of the water, went above a ridge of 
 rocks, and the boat grounded. Thus I received 
 the shock against my legs (hanging in the water), 
 so that the violence of its blow was eased off from 
 the boat. 
 
 Then I immediately fixed both feet on the 
 rock, and stood up, and the canoe went free from 
 between my knees, and could be lowered down or 
 pushed forward until the water got deeper, and 
 when it got too deep to wade after her I pulled 
 
AMPHIBIOUS PLAN. 
 
 189 
 
 " Astride the Stern." 
 
 the boat back between my knees, and sat down 
 again on it as before. 
 
 The chief difficulty in this proceeding was to be 
 equally attentive at once to keep hold of the boat, 
 to guide it between rocks, to keep hold of the 
 paddle, and to manage not to tumble on loose 
 stones, or to get into the water above the 
 waist. 
 
 Thus by successive riding and ferrying over 
 the deep pools, and walking and wading in the 
 shallows, by pushing the boat here, and by being 
 carried upon it there, the lower rapids of Rhein- 
 
190 HOW THE FOUR-OAR PASSED. 
 
 felden were most successfully passed without any 
 damage. 
 
 It will be seen from the descriptions already 
 given of the rapids at Bremgarten, and now of 
 these two rapids on the Rhine, that the main 
 difficulties are only for him who goes there un- 
 informed, and that these can be avoided by 
 examining them on the spot at the cost of a walk 
 and a short delay. But the pleasure is so much 
 enhanced by the whole thing being novel, that, 
 unless for a man who wishes simply to get past, 
 it is better to seek a channel for oneself, even if a 
 much easier one has been found out by other 
 people. 
 
 The town of Rheinfelden was now in view, and 
 I begun to wonder how the English four-oar 
 boat I had traced as far as Lauffenburg could have 
 managed to descend the rapids just now passed. 
 But I was informed this crew had not a very suc- 
 cessful time of it, and that the boat being stove in 
 or waterlogged the men had to come ashore and 
 get her carried past the rapids for half-an-hour. 
 If this turns out to be an incorrect account the 
 blame will rest on the people at Bale, who gave 
 it ; but in corroboration, the hotel folks mentioned 
 that when the five shipwrecked Britons arrived 
 there their clothes and baggage were all drenched, 
 and the waiter said, with a malicious grin, that 
 
VERY SALT. 
 
 191 
 
 thereby his friend the washerwoman had earned 
 twenty-seven francs in one night. 
 
 On the left bank of the river was a large 
 building with a smooth gravel shore in front, 
 to which I steered at once. This was the great 
 salt-water baths of Rheinfelden a favourite resort 
 for crippled invalids. The salt rock in the earth 
 beneath impregnates the springs with such an 
 intensity of brine that eighty per cent, of fresh 
 water has to be added before the saline mixture 
 can be medicinally employed as a bath. If you 
 take a glass of the water as it proceeds from the 
 spring, and put a little salt in it, the salt will not 
 dissolve, the water is already saturated. A drop 
 of it put on your coat speedily dries up and leaves 
 a white stain of minute crystals. In fact, this 
 water seemed to me to be far more saline than even 
 the water of the Dead Sea, which is in all con- 
 science salt enough, as every one knows who has 
 rubbed it on his face in that reeking-hot death- 
 stricken valley of Jericho. 
 
 Though the shore was pleasant here and the 
 water was calm, I found no one to welcome me 
 now, and yet this was the only time I had reason 
 to expect somebody to greet the arrival of the 
 canoe. For in the morning a worthy German 
 had told me he was going by train to Eheinfelden, 
 and he would keep a look out for the canoe, and 
 
192 WAITING IN VAIN. 
 
 would surely meet me on the beach if I " ever got 
 through the rapids." But I found afterwards that 
 he had come there, and with his friends, too, and 
 they had waited and waited till at last they gave 
 up the Rob Roy as a lost vessel. Excellent man, 
 he must have had some novel excuses to comfort 
 his friends with as they retired, disappointed, after 
 waiting in vain ! 
 
 There was however, not far off, a poor woman 
 washing clothes by the river, and thumping and 
 bullying them with a wooden bludgeon as if her 
 sole object was to smash up the bachelor's shirt- 
 buttons. A fine boy of eight years old was with 
 her, a most intelligent little fellow, whose quick 
 eye at once caught sight of the Rob Roy as it 
 dashed round the point into the smooth water of 
 the bay, and landed me there a tired, tanned 
 traveller, wet and warm. 
 
 This juvenile helped me more than any man 
 ever did, and with such alacrity, too, and intelli- 
 gence, and good humour, that I felt grateful to 
 the boy. We spread out the sails to dry, and my 
 socks and shoes in the sun, and sponged out the 
 boat, and then dragged her up the high bank. 
 Here, by good luck, I found two wheels on an 
 axle left alone, for what purpose I cannot imagine ; 
 but I got a stick and fastened it to them as a pole, 
 and then put the boat on this extemporized vehicle, 
 
A NEW CARRIAGE. 193 
 
 and with the boy (having duly got permission 
 from his mamma) soon pulled the canoe to the 
 gates of the old town, and then rattling through 
 the streets, even to the door of the hotel. A 
 bright franc in the lad's hand made him start 
 with amaze, but he instantly rose to the dignity 
 of the occasion, and some dozens of other urchins 
 formed an attentive audience as he narrated the 
 events of the last half-hour, and ended always by 
 showing the treasure in his hand, " and the Herr 
 gave me this ! " 
 
 The Krone hotel here is very prettily situated. 
 It is a large house, with balconies overlooking the 
 water, and a babbling jet d'eau in its garden, 
 which hangs over the river. 
 
 The stream flows fast, and retains evidence 
 of having passed through troublous times higher 
 up, therefore it makes no small noise as it rushes 
 under the arches of the covered wooden bridge, 
 but though there are rocks and a few eddies the 
 passage is easy enough if you look at it for five 
 minutes to form a mental chart of your course. 
 My German friend having found out that the 
 canoe had arrived after all, his excitement and 
 pleasure abounded. Now he was proved right. 
 Now his promises, broken as it seemed all day, 
 were all fulfilled. 
 
 He was a very short, very fat, and very hilarious 
 
194 ON THE ISLAND. 
 
 personage, with, a minute smattering of English, 
 which he had to speak loudly, so as to magnify its 
 value among his Allemand friends, envious of his 
 accomplishment. 
 
 His explanations of the contents of my sketch- 
 book were truly ludicrous as he dilated on it page 
 by page, but he well deserved all gratitude for 
 ordering my hotel bedroom and its comforts, which 
 were never more acceptable than now after a hard 
 day's work. Music finished the evening, and then 
 the hum of the distant rapids sounded as I went 
 to sleep. 
 
 Next morning, as there was but a short row to 
 Bale, I took a good long rest in bed, and then 
 carried the canoe half way across the bridge where 
 there is a picturesque island formed into a terraced 
 garden, and here we launched the boat on the 
 water. Although, the knocks and strains of the 
 last few days were very numerous, and many of 
 them of portentous force, judging by the sounds 
 they made, the Rob Roy was still hale and hearty, 
 and the carpenter's mate had no damages to 
 report to the captain. It was not until harder 
 times came, in the remainder of the voyage, that 
 her timbers suffered and her planks were tortured 
 by rough usage. 
 
 A number of ladies patronized the start on this 
 occasion, and as they waved their parasols and the 
 
WHIRLPOOL. 195 
 
 men shouted hoch ! and bravo ! we glided down 
 stream, the yellow paddle being waved round my 
 head in an original mode of "salute," which I 
 invented specially for returning friendly gratula- 
 tions of this kind. 
 
 Speaking about Rheinfelden, Baedeker says, 
 "Below the town another rapid of the Rhine 
 forms a sort of whirlpool called the Hollenhaken," 
 a formidable announcement, and a terrible name; 
 but what is called here the "whirlpool" is not 
 worth notice. 
 
 The sound of a railway train beside the river 
 reminds you that this is not quite a strange, wild, 
 unseen country. Reminds you I say, because 
 really when you are in the river bed, you easily 
 forget all that is beyond it on each side. Let a 
 landscape be ever so well known from the road, 
 it becomes new again when you view it from the 
 level of the water. For before the scene was 
 bounded by a semicircle with the diameter on the 
 horizon, and the arch of sky for its circumference. 
 But when you are seated in the canoe, the picture 
 changes to the form of a great sector, with its 
 point on the clear water, and each radius inclining 
 aloft through rocks, trees, and mossy banks, on 
 this side and on that. And this holds good even 
 on a well worn river like the Thames. The land- 
 scenes between Oxford and London get pretty 
 o 2 
 
196 FUNNY ENGLISH. 
 
 well known and admired by travellers, but the 
 views will soon be fresh, and fair if you row down 
 the river through them. Nay, there are few 
 rivers which have such lovely scenery as the 
 Thames can show in its windings along that route. 
 
 But though the boat is not on the Thames it is 
 now getting back to civilization, and away from 
 that pleasant simplicity where everything done in 
 the streets or the hotel is strange to a stranger, 
 because it is natural to the natives. Here, on the 
 contrary, we have composite candles and therefore 
 no snuffers ; here the waiter insists on speaking 
 English, and sitting down by me, and clutching 
 my arm, he confidentially informs me that there 
 are no " bean green/' translating "haricots verts," 
 but that perhaps I might like a " flower caul/' so 
 I assent to a cauliflower. 
 
 This is funny enough, but far more amusing is 
 it when the woman waiter of some inland German 
 village shouts louder German to you, because that 
 she rattles out at first is not understood. She 
 gazes with a new sensation at a guest who actually 
 cannot comprehend her voluble words, and then 
 guest and waiter burst into laughter. 
 
 Here too I saw a boat towed along the Rhine 
 a painful evidence of being near commerce, even 
 though it was in a primitive style ; not that there 
 was any towing-path, but men walked among the 
 
A BABY AT BALE. 197 
 
 bushes, pulling the boat with a rope, and often 
 wading to do so. This sight told me at once that 
 I had left the fine free forests where you might 
 land anywhere, and it was sure to be lonely and 
 charming. 
 
 After a few bends westward we come in sight 
 of the two towers of Bale, but the setting sun 
 makes it almost impossible to see anything in its 
 brightness, so we must only paddle on. 
 
 The bridge at Bale was speedily covered by the 
 idle and the curious as the canoe pulled up at an 
 hotel a few yards from the water. 
 
 It was here that the four-oared boat had arrived 
 some weeks ago with its moist crew. The pro- 
 prietor of the house was therefore much pleased 
 to see another English boat come in, so little and 
 so lonely, but still so comfortable and so dry. I 
 walked about the town till I came to the Pro- 
 testant church, where a number of people had 
 assembled at a baptism. The baby was fixed on a 
 sort of frame, so as to be easily handed about 
 from mother to father, and from clerk to minister. 
 I hereby protest against this mechanical arrange- 
 ment as a flagrant indignity to the little darling. 
 I have a great respect for babies, sometimes a 
 certain awe. The instant the christening was 
 done, a happy couple came forward to be married, 
 an exceedingly clumsy dolt of a bridegroom and a 
 
198 ODD MARRIAGE. 
 
 fair bride, not very young, that is to say, about 
 fifty-five years old. There were no bridesmaids 
 or other perplexing appurtenances, and after the 
 simple ceremony the couple just walked away, 
 amid the titters of a numerous crowd of women. 
 The bridegroom did not seem to know exactly 
 what to do next. He walked before his wife, then 
 behind her, and then on one side, but it did not 
 somehow feel quite comfortable, so he assumed a 
 sort of diagonal position, and kept nudging her on 
 till they disappeared in some house. Altogether, 
 I never saw a more unromantic commencement 
 of married life, but there was this redeeming point, 
 that they were not bored by that dread infliction 
 a marriage breakfast the first meeting of two 
 jealous sets of new relations, who are all expected 
 to be made friends at once by eating when they 
 are not hungry, and listening when there is no- 
 thing to say. But, come, it is not for an old 
 bachelor to criticise these mysteries, so let us go 
 back to the inn. 
 
 In the coffee-room a Frenchman, who had been 
 in London, has just been instructing two Mexicans, 
 who are going there, as to hotels, and it is exces- 
 sively amusing to hear his description of the 
 London "Caffy Hous," and the hotels in "Lyces- 
 ter-squar." " It is pronounced squar," he said, 
 " in England." 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Private concert Thunderer La Hardt Forest River 
 111 Madame Nico Vosges Admirers New wine. 
 
 BALE is, in every sense, a turning-point on the 
 Rhine. The course of the river here bends 
 abruptly from west to north, and the character of 
 the scenery beside it alters at once from high 
 sloping banks to a widespread network of streams, 
 all entangled in countless islands, and yet ever 
 tending forward, northward, seaward through the 
 great rich valley of the Rhine with mountain 
 chains far off, but reared on each side like two 
 everlasting barriers. 
 
 Here then I could start anew almost in any 
 direction, and I had not settled yet what route to 
 take, whether by the Saone and Doubs to paddle 
 to the Rhone, and so descend to Marseilles, and 
 coast by the Cornici road, and sell the boat at 
 Genoa ; or and this second plan must be surely 
 a better alternative, if by it we can avoid a 
 sale of the Rob Roy- I could not part with her 
 
200 A LADY IN THE BUSH. 
 
 now so let us at once decide to go back through 
 France. 
 
 I was yet on the river slowly paddling when 
 this decision was arrived at, and the river carried 
 me still, for I determined not to leave its pleasant 
 easy current for a slow canal, until the last possible 
 opportunity. A diligent study of new maps 
 procured at Bale, showed that a canal ran north- 
 ward nearly parallel to the Rhine, and approached 
 very near to the river at one particular spot, 
 which indeed looked hard enough to find even on 
 the map, but was far more dubious when we got 
 into a maze of streamlets and little rivers circling 
 among high osiers, so thick and close that even 
 on shore it was impossible to see a few yards. 
 
 But the line of tall poplars along the canal 
 was visible now and then, so I made a guesswork 
 turn, and it was not far wrong, or at any rate 
 I got so near the canal that by winding about 
 for a little in a pretty limpid stream, I brought 
 the Rob Roy at last within carrying distance. 
 
 A song or two (without words) and a variation 
 of the music by whistling on the fingers would 
 be sure to bring anybody out of the osiers who 
 was within reach of the outlandish concert, and 
 so it proved, for a woman's head soon peered over 
 a break in the dense cover. She wished to help 
 to carry the boat herself, but the skipper's gal- 
 
CURIOUS BRIDGES. 201 
 
 lantry had scruples as to this proposal, so she 
 disappeared and soon fetched a man, and we bore 
 the canoe with some trouble through hedges and 
 bushes, and over dykes and ditches, and at last 
 through deep grassy fields, till she was safely 
 placed on the canal. 
 
 The man was delighted by a two-franc piece. 
 He had been well paid for listening to bad music, 
 the reverse of the arrangement at ordinary 
 concerts. 
 
 To my surprise and satisfaction the canal had 
 a decided current in it, and in the right direction 
 too. It is true that this current was only about 
 two miles an hour, but even that is something. 
 
 This little channel was only about twelve feet 
 wide, yet it was clear and deep, and by no means 
 stupid to travel on. 
 
 After a few miles I came to a drawbridge, which 
 rested within a foot of the water. A man came 
 to raise the bridge by machinery, and he was 
 surprised to see my way of passing it instead, 
 that is, to shove my boat under it, while I quietly 
 walked over it and got into the boat at the other 
 gide. This was, without doubt, the first boat 
 which had traversed the canal without the bridge 
 being raised, but I had passed several very low 
 bridges on the Danube, some of them not two 
 inches above the surface of the water. The very 
 
202 OMELETTE. 
 
 existence of these proves that no boats pass there, 
 and mine only passed by pulling it over the bridge 
 itself. It may be asked, how such a low bridge 
 fares in flood times ? and the answer is, that the 
 water simply flows all over it. In some cases 
 the planks which form the roadway are removed 
 when the water rises, and then the wayfaring 
 man who comes to the river must manage in some 
 other mode. His bridge is removed at the very 
 time when the high water makes it most neces- 
 sary. 
 
 The bridge man was so intelligent in his re- 
 marks that I determined to stop there and break- 
 fast, so I left the canoe in his charge and found 
 my way to a little publichouse at the hamlet of 
 Gros Kembs, and helped the wizened old lady 
 who ruled there to make me an omelette my help, 
 by the bye, consisted in ordering, eating, and 
 paying for the omelette, for the rest she was sure 
 to do well enough, as all French women can, and 
 no English ones. 
 
 The village gossips soon arrived, and each 
 person who saw the boat came on to the inn to 
 see the foreigner who could sail in such a bateau. 
 
 The courteous and respectful behaviour of Con- 
 tinental people is so uniform that the stranger 
 among them is bound, I think, to amuse and interest 
 these folk in return. This was most easily done 
 
GROS KEMBS THUNDERER. 203 
 
 by showing all my articles of luggage,* and of 
 course the drawings. A Testament with gilt 
 leaves was, however, the chief object of curiosity, 
 and all the savants of the party tried in turn to 
 read it. 
 
 One of these as spokesman, and with commen- 
 dable gravity, told me he had read in their district 
 newspaper about the canoe, but he little expected 
 to have the honour of meeting its owner. 
 
 Fancy the local organ of such a place! Is it 
 called the " News of the Wold," or the " Gros 
 Kembs Thunderer"? Well, whatever was the 
 title of the Gazette, it had an article about Pontius 
 Pilate and my visit to the Titisee in the Black 
 Forest, and this it was no doubt which made these 
 canal people so very inquisitive on the occasion. 
 
 The route now lay through the great forest of 
 La Hardt, with dense thickets on each side of the 
 canal, and not a sound anywhere to be heard but 
 the hum now and then of a dragon fly. 
 
 One or two woodmen met me as they trudged 
 silently home from work, but there was a lonely 
 feeling about the place without any of the romance 
 of wild country. In the most brilliant day the 
 scenery of a canal has at best but scant liveliness, 
 the whole thing is so prosaic and artificial, and in 
 
 * See an inventory of these in the Appendix. 
 
204 LA HARDT FOREST. 
 
 fact stupid, if one can ever say that of any place 
 where there is fresh air and clear water, and blue 
 sky and green trees. 
 
 Still I had to push on, and sometimes, for a 
 change, to tow the boat while I walked. The dif- 
 ference between a glorious river encircling you 
 with lofty rocks and this canal with its earthen 
 walls was something like that between walking in 
 a valley among high mountains and being shut 
 up by mistake in Bloomsbury-square. 
 
 No birds chirped or sung, or even flew past, 
 only the buzzing of flies was mingled with 
 the distant shriek of a train on the railway. 
 It is this railway which has killed the canal, for I 
 saw no boats moving upon it. The long continued 
 want of rain had also reduced its powers of accom- 
 modation for traffic, and the traffic is so little at 
 the best that it would not pay to buy water for 
 the supply. For in times of drought canal water 
 is very expensive. It was said that the Regent's 
 Canal, in London, had to pay 5,000/. for what 
 they required last summer, in consequence of the 
 dryness of the season. 
 
 At length we came to a great fork of the canal 
 in a wide basin, and I went along the branch to 
 the town of Mulhouse, a place of great wealth, 
 the largest French cotton town the Manchester 
 of France. 
 
MULHOUSE. 205 
 
 The street boys here were very troublesome, 
 partly because they were intelligent, and therefore 
 inquisitive, and partly because manufacturing 
 towns make little urchins precocious and forward 
 in their manners. 
 
 I hired a truck from a woman and hired a man 
 to drag it, and so took the boat to the best hotel, 
 a fine large house, where they at once recognized 
 the canoe, and seemed to know all about it from 
 report. 
 
 The hotel porter delayed so long next morning 
 to wheel the boat to the railway, that when I took 
 her into the luggage office as usual and placed the 
 boat on the counter with the trunks and band- 
 boxes, the officials declined to put it in the train. 
 
 This was the first time it had been refused on a 
 railroad, and I used every kind of persuasion, but 
 in vain, and this being the first application of 
 the kind on French soil I felt that difficulties 
 were ahead, if this precedent was to hold good. 
 
 Subsequent experience showed that the French 
 railways will not take a canoe as baggage ; while 
 the other seven or eight countries I had brought 
 the boat through were all amenable to pressure 
 on this point. 
 
 I had desired to go by the railway only a few 
 miles, but it would have enabled me to avoid about 
 fifty locks on the canal and thus have saved two 
 
206 REJECTED ON A RAILROAD. 
 
 tedious days. As, however, they would not take 
 the boat in a passenger train I carried her back to 
 the canal, and I determined to face the locks 
 boldly, and to regard them as an exercise of 
 patience and of the flexor muscles, as it happens 
 sometimes one's walk is only " a constitutional." 
 
 The Superintendent of the Rhine and Rhone 
 Canal was very civil, and endeavoured to give me 
 the desirable information I required, but which he 
 had not got, that is to say, the length, depth, and 
 general character of the several rivers I proposed 
 to navigate in connexion with streams less 
 "canalize," so I had to begin again as usual, 
 without any knowledge of the way. 
 
 "With rather an ill-tempered " adieu" to Mul- 
 house, the Rob Roy set off again on its voyage. 
 The water assumed quite a new aspect, now that 
 one must go by it, but it was not so much the 
 water as the locks which were objectionable. 
 For at each of these there is a certain form of 
 operations to be gone through all very trifling 
 and without variety, yet requiring to be carefully 
 performed, or you may have the boat injured, or 
 a ducking for yourself. 
 
 When I get to a lock I have to draw to the 
 bank, open my waterproof covering, put my 
 package and paddle ashore, then step out and 
 haul the boat out of the water. By this time 
 
LOCK CEREMONIES. 207 
 
 two or three persons usually congregate. I select 
 the most likely one, and ask him to help in such 
 a persuasive but dignified manner that he feels it 
 an honour to carry one end of the boat while 
 I take the other, and so we put her in again 
 above the barrier, and, if the man looks poor, 
 I give him a few sous. At some of the locks 
 they asked me for a "carte de permission," or 
 pass for travelling on their canal, but I laughed 
 the matter off, and when they pressed it with 
 a " mais monsieur," I kept treating the proposal 
 as a good joke, until the officials were fairly 
 baffled and gave in. The fact is, I had got into 
 the canal as one gets over the hedge on to a public 
 road, and as I did not use any of the water in locks 
 or any of the lock-keepers' time, and the "pass " 
 was a mere form, price 5d., it was but reason- 
 able to go unquestioned; and besides, this "carte" 
 could not be obtained except at the beginning. 
 Having set off late, I went on until about sunset, 
 when we passed into the river 111, a long dull 
 stream, which flows through the Yosges into the 
 Rhine. 
 
 This stream was now quite stagnant, and a mere 
 collection of pools covered by thick scum. It was 
 therefore a great comfort to have only a short 
 voyage upon it. 
 
 When I got back again to the canal, an 
 
208 THE ILL AND THE WHITE HORSE. 
 
 acquaintance was formed with a fine young lad, 
 who was reading as he sauntered along. He was 
 reading of canoe adventures in America, and so 
 I got him to walk some miles beside me, and 
 to help the boat over some locks, telling him 
 he could thus see how different actual canoeing 
 was from the book stories about it made up of 
 romance ! He was pining for some expansion 
 of his sphere, and specially for foreign travel, and 
 above all to see England. "We went to an auberge, 
 where I ordered a bottle of wine, the cost of 
 which was twopence halfpenny. After he left, 
 and as it grew dark, I halted, put my boat in 
 a lock-keeper's house, and got his son to conduct 
 me to the little village of Illfurth, a most un- 
 sophisticated place indeed, with a few vineyards 
 on a hill behind it, though the railway has a road 
 station near. It was not easy to mistake which 
 was the best house here even in the dark, so 
 I inquired of madame at the White Horse if she 
 could give me a bed. " Not in a room for one 
 alone ; three others will be sleeping in the same 
 chamber." 
 
 This she had answered after glancing at my 
 puny package and travel-worn dress, but her 
 ideas about the guest were enlarged when she 
 heard of how he had come, and so she managed 
 (they always do if you give time and smiles and 
 
TAPROOM CHARACTERS. 209 
 
 show sketches) to allot me a nice little room 
 to myself, with two beds of the hugest size, a 
 water-jug of the most minute dimensions, and 
 sheets very coarse and very clean. Another 
 omelette was consumed while the customary 
 visitors surrounded the benighted traveller ; 
 carters, porters, all of them with courteous 
 manners, and behaving so well to me and to 
 one another, and talking such good sense, as 
 to make me feel how different from this is the 
 noisy taproom of a roadside English " public." 
 
 Presently two fine fellows of the Gendarmerie 
 came in for their half bottle of wine, at one 
 penny, and as both of them had been in the 
 Crimea there was soon ample subject for most 
 interesting conversation. This was conducted 
 in French, but the people here usually speak 
 a patois utterly impossible for one to comprehend. 
 I found they were discussing me under various 
 conjectures, and settled at last that I must be 
 rather an odd fish, but certainly a gentleman, and 
 probably "noble." They were most surprised 
 to hear I meant to stop all the next day at 
 Illfurth, simply because it was Sunday, but they 
 did not fail to ask for my passport, which until 
 this I had carried about without having had a 
 single inquiry on the subject. 
 
 The sudden change from a first-rate hotel this 
 
210 NIGHT NOISES. 
 
 morning to the roadside inn of Illfurth, was more 
 entertaining on account of its variety than for its 
 agreeables ; but in good health and good weather 
 one can put up with anything. 
 
 The utter silence of peaceful and cool night 
 in a place like this reigns undisturbed until about 
 four o'clock in early morn, when the first sound 
 is some matutinal cock, who crows first because 
 he is proud of being first awake. After he has 
 asserted his priority thus once or twice, another 
 deeper toned rooster replies, and presently a dozen 
 cocks are all in full song, and in different keys. 
 In half an hour you hear a man's voice ; next, 
 some feminine voluble remarks ; then a latch 
 is moved and clicks, the dog gives a morning 
 bark, and a horse stamps his foot in the stable 
 because the flies have aroused to breakfast on his 
 tender skin. At length a pig grunts, his gastric 
 juice is fairly awake, the day is begun. And so 
 the stream of life, thawed from its sleep, flows 
 gently on again, and at length the full tide of 
 village business is soon in agitation, with men's 
 faces and women's quite as full of import as if 
 this French Stoke Pogis were the capital of the 
 world. 
 
 While the inmates prepare for early mass, and 
 my bowl of coffee is set before me, there are four 
 dogs, eight cats, and seven canaries (I counted 
 
DUCKING IN A POND. 211 
 
 them) all looking on, moving, twittering, mewing, 
 each evidently sensible that a being from some 
 other land is present among them; and as they 
 look with doubtful inquiring eyes on the stranger, 
 there is felt more strongly by him too, " Yes, 
 I am in a foreign country." 
 
 On Sunday I had a quiet rest, and walk, and 
 reading, and an Englishman, who had come out 
 for a day from Mulhouse to fish, dined in the 
 pleasant arbour of the inn with his family. One 
 of his girls managed to fall into a deep pond and 
 was nearly drowned, but I heard her cries, and 
 we soon put her to rights. This Briton spoke 
 with quite a foreign accent, having been six years 
 in France ; but his Lancashire dialect reappeared 
 in conversation, and he said he had just been 
 reading about the canoe in a Manchester paper. 
 His children had gone that morning to a Sunday- 
 school before they came out by railway to 
 fish in the river here; but I could not help 
 contrasting their rude manners with the good 
 behaviour of the little " lady and gentleman " 
 children of my host. One of these, Philibert, 
 was very intelligent, and spent an hour or two 
 with me, so we became great friends. He asked 
 all kinds of questions about England and America, 
 far more than I was able to answer. I gave him 
 a little book with a picture in it, that he might 
 p 2 
 
212 STRANDED GEESE. 
 
 read it to his father, for it contained the remark- 
 able conversation between Napoleon and his 
 Marshal at St. Helena concerning the Christian 
 religion, a paper well worth reading, whoever 
 spoke the words. This Sunday being an annual 
 village fete a band played, and some very uncouth 
 couples waltzed the whole day. Large flocks of 
 sheep, following their shepherds, wandered over 
 the arid soil. The poor geese, too, were flapping 
 their wings in vain as they tried to swim in water 
 an inch deep, where usually there had been 
 pleasant pools in the river. I sympathized with 
 the geese, for I missed my river sadly too. 
 
 My bill here for the two nights, with plenty to 
 eat and drink, amounted to five shillings in all, 
 and I left Madame Nico with some regret, starting 
 again on the canal, which looked more dull and 
 dirty than before. 
 
 After one or two locks this sort of travelling 
 became so insufferable that I suddenly deter- 
 mined to change my plans entirely for is 
 not one free? By the present route several 
 days would be consumed in going over the hills 
 by a series of tedious locks ; besides, this very 
 canal had been already traversed by the four-oar 
 boat "Waterwitch some years ago. A few moments 
 of thought, and I got on the bank to look for some 
 way of deliverance. Far off I could see the vine- 
 
HUMILIATED. 213 
 
 clad Mils of the Vosges, and I decided at once to 
 leave the canal, cross the country to those hills, 
 cart the canoe over the range, and so reach the 
 source of the Moselle, and thus begin to paddle 
 on quite another set of rivers. I therefore turned 
 my prow back, went down the canal, and again 
 entered the river 111, but soon found it too shallow 
 to float even my canoe. Once more I retraced my 
 way, ascending the locks, and, passing by Illfurth, 
 went on to reach a village where a cart could be had. 
 Desperation made me paddle hard even in the 
 fierce sun, but it was not that which so much 
 troubled me as the humiliation of thus rowing 
 back and forward for miles on a dirty, stagnant 
 canal, and passing by the same locks two or three 
 times, with the full conviction that the people 
 who gazed at the procedure must believe me 
 not only to be mad (this much one can put up 
 with), but furiously insane, and dangerous to be 
 at large. 
 
 Whether we confess it or not we all like to be 
 admired. The right or wrong of this depends on 
 for what and from whom we covet admiration. 
 But when the deed you attract attention by is no 
 longer a great one, or one which others have not 
 done or cannot do, but is one that all other people 
 could but would not do, then you are not admired 
 as remarkable but only stared at as singular. 
 
214 METAPHYSICS. 
 
 The shade of a suspicion that this is so in any 
 act done before lookers-on is enough to make it 
 hateful. Nay, you have then the sufferings of a 
 martyr, without his cause or his glory. But I 
 fear that instead of getting a cart for the canoe I 
 am getting out of depth in metaphysics, which 
 means, you know, " When ane maun explains 
 till anither what he disna under staun himsel, that's 
 metapheesics." 
 
 Well, when we came to the prescribed village, 
 named Haidwiller, I found they had plenty of 
 carts, but not one would come to help me even 
 for a good round sum. It was their first day 
 with the grapes, and " ancient customs must be 
 observed " ; but I went on still further to another 
 village, and here I found them letting out the 
 water from the canal to repair a lock. Here was 
 a position of unenviable repose for the poor Bob 
 Eoy ! No water to float in, and no cart to carry 
 her. 
 
 To aid deliberation I attacked a large cake of 
 hot flour baked by the lock-keeper's dirty wife, 
 and we stuck plums in it to make it go down, 
 while I sent the man to the fields to get some 
 animal that could drag a clumsy vehicle cart 
 is too fine a name for it which I had impressed 
 from a ploughman near. 
 
 The man came back leading a gloomy-looking 
 
BOAT CART. 
 
 215 
 
 "The Bob Hoy on wheels." 
 
 bullock, and we started with the boat now travel- 
 ling on wheels, but at a most dignified pace.* 
 
 This was the arrangement till we reached 
 another village, where there were no vineyards, 
 and therefore I could get a horse there, instead 
 of the gruff bullock ; while the natives were lost 
 in amazement to see a boat in a cart, and a big 
 foreigner gabbling beside it. 
 
 * The sketch represents the lady cow which dragged the 
 cart at Lauffenburg, but it will do almost equally well for 
 the present equipage. 
 
216 NEW WINE. 
 
 The sun was exceedingly hot, and the road 
 dusty; but I felt the walk would be a pleasant 
 change, though my driver kept muttering to him- 
 self about my preference of pedestrianism to the 
 fearful jolts of his cart. 
 
 "We passed thus through several villages on a 
 fine fruitful plain, and at some of them the horse 
 had to bait, or the driver to lunch, or his em- 
 ployer to refresh the inner man, in every case the 
 population being favoured with an account by the 
 driver of all he knew about the boat, and a great 
 deal more. 
 
 At one of the inns on the road some new wine 
 was produced on the table. It had been made 
 only the day before, and its colour was exactly 
 like that of cold tea, with milk and sugar in it, 
 while its taste was very luscious and sweet. 
 This new wine is sometimes in request, but 
 especially among the women. " Corn shall make 
 the young men cheerful, and new wine the 
 maids." (Zech. ix. 17.) 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Bonfire My wife Matthews Tunnel picture Im- 
 posture Moselle Cocher Gymnastics The paddle 
 A spell Overhead Feminine forum. 
 
 As evening came on the little flag of the Rob 
 Roy, which was always hoisted, even in a cart, 
 showed signs of animation, being now revived 
 by a fresh breeze from the beautiful Yosges 
 mountains when we gradually brought their 
 outline more distinctly near. 
 
 Then we had to cross the river Thur, but that 
 was an easy matter in these scorched days of 
 drought. So the cavalcade went on till, the high 
 road being reached, we drove the cart into the 
 pretty town of Thann. The driver insisted on 
 going to his hotel, but when I got there I saw it 
 could not be the best in a town of this size (expe- 
 rience quickens perception in these matters), and 
 I simply took the reins, backed out of the yard, 
 and drove to a better one. 
 
 Here the hotel-keeper had read of the Rob 
 Roy, so it was received with all the honours, and 
 the best of his good things was at my disposal. 
 
218 BONFIRE. 
 
 In the evening I burned some magnesium-wire 
 signals to amuse the rustics, who came in great 
 crowds along the roads, drawing home their 
 bullock-carts, well loaded with large vats full of 
 the new grapes, and singing hoarsely as they 
 waved aloft flowers and garlands and danced 
 around them, the rude rejoicings for a bounteous 
 vine harvest. It is remarkable how soon the 
 good singing of Germany is lost trace of when 
 you cross into France, though the language of 
 the peasants here was German enough. 
 
 At night I went to see an experiment in put- 
 ting out fires. A large bonfire was lighted in the 
 market-place, and the inventor of the new apparatus 
 came forward, carrying on his back a vessel full of 
 water, under the pressure of " six atmospheres " 
 of carbonic acid gas. He directed this on the fire 
 from a small squirt at the end of a tube, and it 
 was certainly most successful in immediately ex- 
 tinguishing the flames.* This gentleman and 
 other savants of the town then visited the boat, 
 and the usual entertainment of the sketch-book 
 closed a pleasant day, which had begun with 
 every appearance of being the reverse. 
 
 Although this is a busy place, I found only one 
 
 * This invention has since been exhibited in London, 
 and it seems to be a valuable one. 
 
MY WIFE. 219 
 
 book-shop in it, and that a very bad one. A priest 
 and two nuns were making purchases there, and I 
 noticed that more images and pictures than printed 
 books were kept for sale. 
 
 Next morning a new railroad enabled me to 
 take the boat a little farther into the hills ; but 
 they fought hard to make her go separate, that is, 
 in a " merchandise " train, though I said the boat 
 was " my wife/' and could not travel alone. At 
 last they put their wise heads together, filled up 
 five separate printed forms, charged double fare, 
 and the whole thing cost me just ninepence. 
 Verily, the French are still overloaded with forms, 
 and are still in the straitwaistcoat of systeme. 
 The railway winds among green hills, while here 
 and there a " fabrik," or factory, nestles in a 
 valley, or illumines a hill-side at night with its 
 numerous windows all lighted up. These are the 
 chief depots of that wonderful industry of taste 
 which spreads the shawls and scarfs of France 
 before the eyes of an admiring world, for ladies to 
 covet, and for their husbands to buy. I was 
 informed that the designs for patterns here cost 
 large sums, as if they were the oil paintings of the 
 first masters, and that three times as much is paid 
 here for cutting one in wood as will be given by 
 an English manufacturer. At "Wesserling I 
 managed to mount the Rob Boy on a spring 
 
220 "MASSIOUS." 
 
 vehicle, and we set off gaily up the winding road 
 that passes the watershed of the Yosges moun- 
 tains. I never had a more charming drive. For 
 six hours we were among woods, vineyards, 
 bright rivulets, and rich pastures. Walking up 
 a hill, I overtook a carriage, and found one of the 
 occupants was an Englishman. But he had re- 
 sided in France for more than twenty years, and 
 really I could scarcely understand his English. 
 He spoke of "dis ting," and "ve vill go," and 
 frequently mingled French and German words 
 with his native tongue. In a newspaper article 
 here I noticed after the name " Matthews/' the 
 editor had considerately added, "pronounced, in 
 English, Massious." This is well enough for a 
 Frenchman, but it certainly is difficult to conceive 
 how a man can fail in pronouncing our " th," if 
 he is a real live Englishman. When he found 
 out my name, he grasped my hand, and said how 
 deeply interested he had been in a tract written 
 by one of the same name, giving an account of the 
 " Loss of the Kent East Indiaman by Fire." 
 
 The spring carriage had been chartered as an 
 expensive luxury in this cheap tour, that is to say, 
 my boat and myself were to be carried about 
 thirty-five miles in a comfortable four-wheeled 
 vehicle for twenty-six francs not very dear when 
 you consider that it saved a whole day's time to 
 
TUNNEL ON THE VOSGES. 221 
 
 me and a whole day's jolting to the canoe, which 
 seemed to enjoy its soft bed on the top of the 
 cushion, and to appreciate very well the conveni- 
 ence of springs. After a good hard pull up a 
 winding road we got to the top of the pass of this 
 " little Switzerland," as it is called, and here was 
 a tunnel on the very crest of the watershed. 
 
 The arch of this dark tunnel made an excellent 
 frame to a magnificent picture ; for before me was 
 stretched out broad France. All streams at our 
 back went down to the all-absorbing Rhine, but 
 those in front would wend their various ways, 
 some to the Mediterranean, others into the Bay of 
 Biscay, and the rest into the British Channel. 
 
 A thousand peaks and wooded knolls were on 
 this side and that, while a dim panorama of five 
 or six villages and sunny plains extended before 
 us. This was the chain of the Yosges mountains 
 and their pleasant vales, where many valorous 
 men have been reared. The most noted crusaders 
 came from this district, and from here too the first 
 of the two great Napoleons drew the best soldiers 
 of his army.* Most of the community are 
 Protestants. 
 
 High up on one side of us was a pilgrim station, 
 where thousands of people come year by year, and 
 
 * The giant called " Anak," who is now exhibiting in 
 London, is from the Vosges mountains. 
 
222 IMPOSTURES. 
 
 probably they get fine fresk air and useful exer- 
 cise. The French seem to walk farther for 
 superstitious purposes than for mere pedestrian 
 amusement.* 
 
 My English friend got into my carriage, and 
 we drove a little way from the road to the village 
 of Bussang to see the source of the Moselle. 
 
 This river rises under the " Ballon d' Alsace," 
 a lofty mountain with a rounded top, and the 
 stream consists at first of four or five very tiny 
 trickling rivulets which unite and come forth in a 
 
 * Among other celebrated French "stations" there is 
 the mountain of La Salette, near Grenoble, where, even in 
 one day, 16,000 pilgrims have ascended to visit the spot 
 where the Virgin Mary was said to have spoken to some 
 shepherds. On the occasion of my pilgrimage there I met 
 some donkeys with panniers bringing down holy water (in 
 lemonade bottles) which was sold throughout Europe for a 
 shilling a bottle, until a priest at the bottom of the mountain 
 started a private pump of his own. The woman who had 
 been hired to personate the Holy Saint confessed the de- 
 ception, and it was exploded before the courts of law in a 
 report which I read on the spot ; but the Roman Catholic 
 papers, even in England, published attractive articles to 
 support this flagrant imposture, and its truth and goodness 
 were vehemently proclaimed in a book by the Romish 
 Bishop of Birmingham, with the assent of the Pope. Me- 
 thinks it is easier to march barefoot 100 miles over sharp 
 stones than to plod your honest walk of life on common 
 pavement and with strong soled boots. 
 
SOURCE OF THE MOSELLE. 223 
 
 little spring well about the size of a washing- 
 tub, from which the water flows across the road 
 in a channel that you can bridge with your 
 fingers. 
 
 But this bubbling brook had great interest for 
 me, as I meant to follow its growth until it would 
 be strong enough to bear me on its cool, clear 
 water, now only like feathers strewed among the 
 grass, and singing its first music very pretty and 
 low. 
 
 We like to see the source of a great river ; a 
 romantic man must have much piquant thought at 
 the sight, and a poetic man must be stirred by its 
 sentiment. Every great thought must also have 
 had a source or germ, and it would be interesting 
 to know how and when some of the grand ideas 
 that have afterwards aroused nations first quivered 
 in the brain of a genius, a warrior, a philosopher, 
 or a statesman. And besides having a source, 
 each stream of thought has a current too, with 
 ripples and deep pools, and scenery as it were 
 around. Some thoughts are lofty, others broad ; 
 some are straight, and others round about ; some 
 are rushing, while others glide peacefully ; only a 
 few are clear and deep. 
 
 But this is not the place to launch upon fancy's 
 dreams, or even to describe the real, pretty valleys 
 around us in the Yosges. "We go through these 
 
224 LAGOONS AND STARS. 
 
 merely to find water for the Rob Roy, and in this 
 search we keep descending every hour. 
 
 When the bright stars came out I saw them 
 glitter below thick trees in pools of the water now 
 so quickly become a veritable river, and I scanned 
 each lagoon in the darkness to know if still it was 
 too small for the boat. 
 
 We came to the town of Remiremont and to a 
 bad sort of inn, where all was disorder and dirt. 
 The driver sat down with me to a late supper and 
 behaved with true French politeness, which always 
 shows better in company than in private, or when 
 real self-denial or firm friendship is to be tested. 
 So he ate of his five different courses, and had his 
 wine, fruit, and neat little etceteras, and my bill 
 next day for our united entertainment and lodging 
 was just 3s. 4d. 
 
 This cocker was an intelligent man, and con- 
 versed on his own range of subjects with consider- 
 able tact, and when our conversation was turned 
 upon the greater things of another world he said, 
 " They must be happy there, for none of them 
 have ever come back " a strange thought, oddly 
 phrased. As he became interested in the subject 
 I gave him a paper upon it, which he at once 
 commenced to read aloud.* 
 
 * Some days previously a stranger gave me a bundle of 
 papers to read, for which I thanked him much. When I 
 
LAUGHING CROWD. 225 
 
 Next morning, the 20th of September, the Rob 
 Hoy was brought to the door in a handcart, and 
 was soon attended by its usual levee. 
 
 As we had come into the town late at night the 
 gazers were ignorant of any claims this boat 
 might have upon their respect, and some of them 
 derided the idea of its being able to float on the 
 river here, or at any rate to go more than a mile 
 or two. 
 
 But I had previously taken a long walk before 
 breakfast to examine the Moselle, and I was con- 
 vinced it could be begun even here and in this dry 
 season. A curious old gentleman, with green 
 spectacles and a white hat, soon brought the scep- 
 tical mob to their senses by telling them he had 
 read often about the boat, and they must not 
 make fun of it now. 
 
 Then they all chopped round and changed their 
 minds in a moment the fickle French and they 
 helped me with a will, and carried the Eob Roy 
 
 was at leisure I examined the packet, which consisted of 
 about thirty large pages sewn together, and comprising 
 tracts upon politics, science, literature, and religion. The 
 last subject was most prominent, and was dealt with in a 
 caustic clever style, which interested me very much. These 
 tracts were printed in England and with good paper and 
 type. They are a weekly series, distributed everywhere 
 at six shillings a dozen, and each page is entitled " The 
 Saturday Eeview." 
 
 Q 
 
226 ON THE MOSELLE. 
 
 about a mile to the spot fixed upon for the start, 
 which was speedily executed, with a loud and warm 
 "Adieu!" and "Bon voyage!" from all the 
 spectators. 
 
 It was pleasant again to grasp the paddle and to 
 find pure clear water below, which I had not seen 
 since the Danube, and to have a steady current 
 alongside that was so much missed on the 111 
 and the Basel Canal. 
 
 Pretty water flowers quivered in the ripples 
 round the mossy stones, and park-like meadows 
 sloped to the river with fruit trees heavy laden. 
 After half an hour of congratulation that I had 
 come to the Moselle rather than the Saone and the 
 Doubs, I settled down to my day's work with 
 cheerfulness. 
 
 The water of this river was very clear and cool, 
 meandering through long deep pools, and then 
 over gurgling shallows ; and the fish, waterfowl, 
 woods, and lovely green fields were a most wel- 
 come change from the canal I had left. The sun 
 was intensely hot, but the spare "jib," as a shawl 
 on my shoulders, defied its fierce rays, and so I 
 glided along in solitary enjoyment. The numerous 
 shallows required much activity with the paddle, 
 and my boat got more bumped and thumped to- 
 day than in any other seven days of the tour. Of 
 course I had often to get out and to tow her 
 
GYMNASTICS. 227 
 
 through the water ; sometimes through the fields, 
 or over rocks, but this was easily done with canvas 
 shoes on, and flannel trousers that are made for 
 constant ducking. 
 
 The aspect of the river was rather of a singular 
 character for some miles, with low banks sloping 
 backwards, and richly carpeted with grass, so that 
 the view on either side was ample ; but there was 
 also in front a spacious picture of several suc- 
 cessive levels, seen to great advantage from the 
 great height we were upon, and from which the 
 river descends by sudden leaps and deep falls, 
 chiefly artificial, and some trouble is caused in 
 getting down each of these. The boat had to be 
 lowered by hand, with a good deal of gymnastic 
 exercise among the slippery rocks ; the mosses 
 and lichens were studied in anything but botanical 
 order. 
 
 At this period of the voyage the paddle felt so 
 natural in my hands from long use of it every 
 day, that it was held unconsciously. In the 
 beginning of my practice I had invented various 
 tethers and ties to secure this all-important piece 
 of furniture from being lost if it should fall over- 
 board, and I had practised what ought to be done 
 if the paddle should be ever beaten out of hand by 
 a wave, or dropped into the water in a moment of 
 carelessness. 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 THE PADDLE. 
 
 But none of these plans were satisfactory in 
 actual service. The strings got entangled when 
 I jumped out suddenly, or I forgot the thing was 
 tied when I had to throw it out on the shore, 
 so it was better to have the paddle perfectly 
 loose ; and thus free, it never was dropped or lost 
 hold of even in those times of difficulty or con- 
 fusion which made twenty things to be done, and 
 each to be done first, when an upset was imminent, 
 and a jump out had to be managed instead.* 
 
 The movement of the paddle, then, got to be 
 almost involuntary, just as the legs are moved in 
 walking, and the ordinary difficulties of a river 
 seemed to be understood by the mind without 
 special observation, and to be dealt with naturally, 
 without hesitation or reasoning as to what ought 
 to be done. This faculty increased until long 
 gazes upwards to the higher grounds or to the 
 clouds were fully indulged without apparently 
 
 * The bamboo mast was meant originally to serve also 
 as a boat-hook or hitcher, and had a ferrule and a fishing 
 gaff neatly fastened on the end, which fitted also into the 
 mast step. I recollect having used the boat-hook once at 
 Gravesend, but it was instantly seen to be a mistake. You 
 don't want a boat-hook when your canoe can come close 
 alongside where it is deep, and will ground when it is 
 shallow. Besides, to use a boat-hook you must drop the 
 paddle. 
 
A SPELL. 229 
 
 interrupting the steady and proper navigation of 
 the boat, even when it was moving with speed. 
 On one of these occasions I had got into a train 
 x>f thought on this subject, and was regretting 
 that the course of the stream made me turn my 
 back on the best scenery. I had spun round two 
 or three times to feast my eyes once more and 
 again upon some glowing peaks, lit up by the 
 setting sun, until a sort of fascination seized the 
 mind, and a quiet lethargy crept over the system ; 
 and, moreover, a most illogical persuasion then 
 settled that the boat always did go right, and that 
 it was no use being so much on the alert to steer 
 well. This still held me as I came into a cluster 
 of about a dozen rocks all dotted about, and with 
 the stream welling over this one and rushing over 
 that, and yet I was spellbound and doggedly did 
 nothing to guide the boat's course. 
 
 But the water was avenged on this foolish 
 defiance of its power, for in a moment I was 
 driven straight on a great rock, only two inches 
 below the surface, and the boat at once swung 
 round, broadside on to the current, and then 
 slowly but determinedly began to turn over. As 
 it canted more and more my lax muscles were 
 rudely aroused to action, for the plain fact stared 
 out baldly that I was about to get a regular 
 ducking, and all from a stupid, lazy fit. 
 
230 OVERHEAD AT LAST. 
 
 The worst of it was I was not sitting erect, 
 but stretched almost at full length in the boat, 
 and one leg was entangled inside by the strap of 
 my bag. In the moments following (that seem 
 minutes in such a case) I had a whole gush of 
 thoughts through the mind while the poor little 
 boat was still turning over, until at last I gave a 
 spring from my awkward position to jump into 
 the water. 
 
 The jerk released the canoe from the rock, and 
 I only fell with head and arms into the river in a 
 most undignified position, which had to be laughed 
 off, as well as might be, when I recovered my seat, 
 with a wet head and dripping sleeves ! 
 
 However, this little faux pas quite wakened and 
 sobered me, and I looked in half shame to the 
 bank to see if any person had witnessed the 
 absurd performance. And it was well to have 
 done with sentiment and reveries, for the river 
 had now got quite in earnest about going along. 
 
 Permit me again to invite attention to the 
 washerwomen on the river. This institution, 
 which one does not find thus floating on our 
 streams in England, becomes a very frequent object 
 of interest if you canoe it on the Continent. 
 
 As the well in Eastern countries is the recog- 
 nised place for gossiping, and in colder climes a 
 good deal of politics is settled in the barber's 
 
FEMININE FORUM. 
 
 231 
 
 " Washing Barge." 
 
 shop, so here in fluvial districts the washing 
 barge is the forum of feminine eloquence. 
 
 The respectability of a town as you approach 
 it is shadowed forth by the size and ornaments of 
 the Uanchisseuses* float; and as there are often 
 fifty faces seen at once, the type of female loveli- 
 ness may be studied for a district at a time. While 
 they wash they talk, and while they talk they 
 thump and belabour the clothes ; but there is 
 always some idle eye wandering which speedily 
 will catch sight of the Rob Hoy canoe. 
 
 In smaller villages, and where there is no barge 
 
232 POLITE TO THE LADIES. 
 
 for them to use, the women have to do without 
 one, and kneel on the ground, so that even in 
 far-off parts of the river we shall find them there. 
 
 A flat sounding whack ! whack ! tells me that 
 round the corner I shall come upon at least a 
 couple of washerwomen, homely dames, with 
 brown faces and tall caps, who are wringing, 
 slapping, and scrubbing the "linge." Though 
 this may encourage the French cotton trade, I 
 rejoice that my own shirts are of strong woollen 
 stuff, which defies their buffeting. 
 
 I always fraternized with these ladies, doffing 
 my hat, and drawing back my left foot for a bow 
 (though the graceful action is not observed under 
 the macintosh) . Other travellers, also, will find 
 there is much to be seen and heard worth stopping 
 for if they pass five minutes at the washing-barge. 
 But even if it were not instructive and amusing 
 thus to study character when a whole group is 
 met with at once, surely it is to be remembered 
 that the pleasure of seeing a new sight and of 
 hearing a foreigner speak cheerful and kind 
 words, is to many of these hard-working, honest 
 mothers a bright interlude in a life of toil ; and 
 to give pleasure is one of the best pleasures of a 
 tourist. It is in acting thus, too, that the lone 
 traveller feels no loneliness, while he pleases and 
 is pleased. Two Englishmen may travel together 
 
PUBLIC BREAKFAST. 233 
 
 agreeably among foreigners for a week without 
 learning so much, of the life, and mind, and 
 manners of the people as would be learned in 
 one day if each of the tourists went alone, pro- 
 vided he was not too shy or too proud to open 
 his eyes, and ears, and mouth among strangers, 
 and had sense enough to be an exception to the 
 rule that " Every Englishman is an island." 
 
 Merely for a change, I ran the Hob Hoy into a 
 long millrace in search of breakfast. A fine boy 
 of twelve years old soon trotted alongside, and I 
 asked him if he was an honest lad, which he 
 answered by a blush, and " Yes." " Here is a 
 franc, then. Go and buy me bread and wine, and 
 meet me at the mill." A few of the " hands " 
 soon found out the canoe, moored, as it was 
 thought, in quiet retirement, with its captain 
 resting under a tree, and presently a whole crowd 
 of them swarmed out, and shouted with delight as 
 they pressed round to see. 
 
 The boy brought a very large bottle of wine, 
 and a loaf big enough to dine four men; and I 
 set to work with an oarsman's appetite, and that 
 happy sang froid which no multitude of gazers 
 now could disturb. 
 
 However, one of the party invited me into her 
 house, and soon set delicate viands before the new 
 guest, while the others filled the room in an 
 
234 POLICE BOYS. 
 
 instant, and were replaced by sets of fifty at a 
 time, all very good-humoured and respectful. 
 
 But it was so hot and bustling here that I 
 resolved to go away and have a more pleasant and 
 sulky meal by myself on some inaccessible island. 
 The retreat through the crowd had to be regularly 
 prepared for by -military tactics ; so I appointed 
 four of the most troublesome boys as "police- 
 men " to guard the boat in its transit across the 
 fields, but they discharged their new duties with 
 such vigour that two little fellows were soon 
 knocked over into the canoe, and so I launched 
 off, while the Manager of the factory called in 
 vain to his cottonspinners, who were all now in 
 full cry after the boat, and were making holiday 
 without leave. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Epinal The Tramp Halcyon Painted woman Beating 
 to quarters Boat in a hedge The Meurthe Moving 
 House Tears of a mother Five francs. 
 
 IN a dark arbour-like arch of foliage, where the 
 water was deep and still, I made fast to the long 
 grass, cast my tired limbs into the fantastic con- 
 tortions of ease, and, while the bottle lasted and 
 the bread, I watched the bees and butterflies, and 
 the beetles and rats, and the coloured tribes of 
 airy and watery life that one can see so well in a 
 quiet half hour like this. 
 
 How little we are taught at school about these 
 wondrous communities of real life, each with its 
 laws and instincts, its beauties of form, and mar- 
 vellous ingenuities ! 
 
 How little of flowers and insects, not to say of 
 trees and animals, a boy learns as school-lessons, 
 while he is forced at one end and crammed at the 
 other with the complicated politics of heathen 
 gods, and their loves and faction fights, which are 
 neither real nor possible. 
 
 The Moselle rapidly enlarged in volume, though 
 
236 EPINAL. 
 
 one could easily see that it had seldom been so low 
 before. It is a very beautiful river to row on, 
 especially where I began it. Then it winds to the 
 west and north, and again, turning a little east- 
 wards, traverses a lovely country between Treves 
 and Coblentz, where it joins the ancient Khine. 
 
 My resting-place for this evening was Epinal, 
 a town with little to interest ; and so I could turn 
 to books and pencils until it was time for bed. 
 
 Next day the scenery was by no means so 
 attractive, but I had plenty of hard work, which 
 was enjoyed very much, my shoes and socks being 
 off all day, for it was useless to put them on when 
 so many occasions required me to jump out. 
 
 Here it was a plain country, with a gravel soil, 
 and fast rushings of current ; and then long pools 
 like the Serpentine, and winding turns leading 
 entirely round some central bill which the river 
 insisted upon circumventing. 
 
 At noon I came upon a large number of 
 labourers at work on a milldam, and as this sort 
 of crowd generally betokens something to eat 
 (always, at any rate, some drinkable fluid), I left 
 my boat boldly in mid-stream, and knocked 
 at a cottage, when an old woman came out. 
 "Madame, I am hungry, and you are precisely 
 the lady who can make me an omelette." " Sir, 
 I have nothing to give you." "Why," said I, 
 
ROB BOY THE TRAMP. 237 
 
 " look at these hens ; I am sure they have laid 
 six eggs this morning, they look so proud." She 
 evidently thought I was a tramp demanding alms, 
 and when I told her to see the boat I had come in 
 from England, she said she was so old she was too 
 blind to see. However, we managed to make an 
 omelette together, and she stood by (with an eye, 
 perhaps, to her only fork) and chatted pleasantly, 
 asking, " What have you got to sell ? " I told 
 her I had come there only for pleasure. " What 
 sort" of pleasure, Monsieur, can you possibly hope 
 to find in this place? " But I was far too gallant 
 to say bluntly that her particular mansion was not 
 the ultimate object of the tour. After receiving 
 a franc for the rough breakfast, she kept up a 
 battery of blessings till I got to the boat, and 
 ended by shrieking out to a navvy looking on, " I 
 tell you every Englishman is rich ! " 
 
 Next day was bright and blue-skyed as before, 
 and an early start got the fine fresh morning air 
 oil the river. 
 
 The name of this river is sometimes pronounced 
 " Moselle," and at other times " Mosel," what 
 we should call " Mozle." WTien a Frenchman 
 speaks of " la Moselle," he puts an equal emphasis 
 on each of the three syllables he is pronouncing ; 
 whereas generally we Englishmen call this river 
 the Moselle. 
 
238 HALCYON. 
 
 The name of a long river goes through some 
 changes as it traverses various districts and 
 dialects; as, for instance, the Missouri, which 
 you hear the travellers in Kansas call " Mzoory," 
 while they wend along the Californian road. 
 
 When the scenery is tame, and the channel of 
 the river is not made interesting by dangers to he 
 avoided, then one can always turn again to the 
 animals and birds, and five minutes of watching 
 will be sure to see much that is curious. Here, 
 for instance, we have the little kingfisher again, 
 who meets us on the Danube and the Heuss, and 
 whom we knew well in England before ; but now 
 we are on a visit to his domain, and we see him in 
 his private character alone. There are several 
 varieties of this bird, and they differ in form and 
 colour of plumage. This " Royal bird," the 
 Halcyon of antiquity, the Alcedo in classic tongue, 
 is called in German " Eis fogl," or " Ice bird," 
 perhaps because he fishes even in winter's frost, 
 or because his nest is like a bundle of icicles, 
 being made of minnows' bones most curiously 
 wrought together. 
 
 But now it is on a summer day, and he is 
 perched on a twig within two inches of the water, 
 and under the shade of a briar leaf, his little 
 parasol. 
 
 He is looking for fish, and is so steady that 
 
PRETTY BIRD ! 239 
 
 you may easily pass him without observing that 
 brilliant back of azure, or the breast of blushing 
 red. 
 
 When I desired to see these birds, I quietly 
 moved my boat till it grounded on a bank, and, 
 after it was stationary thus for a few minutes, the 
 Halcyon fisher got quite unconcerned, and plied 
 his task as if unseen. 
 
 He peers with knowing eye into the shallow 
 below him, and now and then he dips his head a 
 bit to make quite sure he has marked a fish 
 worth seizing; then suddenly he darts down 
 with a splash, and flies off with a little white 
 minnow, or a struggling sticklebat nipped in his 
 beak. 
 
 If it is caught thus crosswise, the winged 
 fisherman tosses his prey into the air, and nimbly 
 catches it in his mouth, so that it may be gulped 
 down properly. Then he quivers and shakes with 
 satisfaction, and quickly speeds to another perch, 
 flitting' by you with wonderful swiftness, as if a 
 sapphire had been flung athwart the sunbeam, 
 flashing beauteous colours in its flight. 
 
 Or, if bed-time has come, or he is fetching 
 home the family dinner, he flutters on and on, 
 and then with a little sharp note of " good-bye," 
 pops into a hole, the dark staircase to his tiny 
 nest, and there he finds Mrs. Halcyon sitting 
 
240 PAINT. 
 
 in state, and thirteen baby Kingfishers gaping 
 for the dainty fish. 
 
 This pretty bird has an air of quiet mystery, 
 beauty, and vivid motion, all combined, which 
 has made him a favourite with the Hob Roy. 
 
 Strangely enough, the river in this part of its 
 course actually gets less and less as you descend 
 it. Every few miles some of the water is drawn 
 off by a small canal to irrigate the neighbouring 
 land, and in a season of drought like this, very 
 little of the abstracted part returns. They told 
 me that the Moselle river never has been so 
 "basse" for 30 years, and I was therefore an 
 unlucky voyageur in having to do for the first 
 time what could have been done more easily in 
 any other season. 
 
 As evening fell I reached the town of Chatel, 
 and got the Rob Roy a quiet bed in the wash- 
 house of the hotel. But five minutes had not 
 elapsed before a string of visitors came for the 
 daily inspection. 
 
 As I sauntered along the bridge a sprightly 
 youth came up, who had not seen the canoe, but 
 who knew I was " one of her crew." He was 
 most enthusiastic on the subject, and took me 
 to see his boat, a deadly-looking flat-bottomed 
 open cot, painted all manner of patterns ; and 
 as he was extremely proud of her I did not tell 
 
THE WAITER FRIEND. 241 
 
 that I consider a boat is like a woman, too 
 good to paint : a pretty one is spoiled by paint, 
 and a plain one is made hideous. 
 
 Then he came for a look at the Rob Roy, and, 
 poor fellow, it was amusing to observe how in- 
 stantly his countenance fell from pride to intense 
 envy. He had a " boating mind," but had never 
 seen a really pretty boat till now. However, 
 to console himself he invited me to another hotel 
 to drink success to the canoe in Bavarian beer, 
 and to see my drawings, and then I found my 
 intelligent, eager, and, I may add, gentlemanly 
 friend was the waiter there ! 
 
 A melancholy sensation pervaded the Rob Roy 
 to-day, in consequence of a sad event, the loss 
 of the captain's knife. We had three knives 
 on board in starting from England; one I had 
 given away in reward for some signal service, 
 and this which was now lost was one with a metal 
 haft and a curious hook at the end, a special 
 description made in Berlin, and very useful to 
 the tourist. It is not to be wondered that in so 
 many leaps and somersaults, and with such con- 
 stant requirements for the knife to mend pencils, 
 &c., &c., the trusty blade should at last have dis- 
 appeared, but the event suggests to the next 
 canoeman that his boat-knife should be secured 
 to a lanyard. 
 
242 EXTRAORDINARY CHANNEL. 
 
 One singular conformation of the river-bed 
 occurred in my short tour upon this part of the 
 Moselle. Without much warning the banks of 
 rock became quite vertical and narrowed close 
 together. They reminded me of the rock-cutting 
 near Liverpool, on the old railway to Manchester. 
 The stream was very deep here, but its bed was 
 full of enormous stones and crags, very sharp 
 and jagged, which, however, could be easily avoided, 
 because the current was gentle. 
 
 A man I found fishing told me that a little 
 farther on there was an "impossible" place, so 
 when after half a mile I heard the well-known 
 sound of rushing waters (the ear got marvellous 
 quick for this), I beat to quarters and prepared 
 for action. 
 
 The ribbon to keep my hat was tied down. 
 Sleeves and trousers were tucked up. The cover- 
 ing was braced tight and the baggage secured 
 below; and then came the eager pleasures of 
 anticipating, wishing, hoping, fearing, that are 
 mixed up in the word excitement. 
 
 The sound was quite near now, but the river 
 took the strangest of all the forms I had yet 
 seen. 
 
 If you suppose a trench cut along Oxford-street 
 to get at the gas-pipes, and if all the water of 
 a river which had filled the street before suddenly 
 
CHURLS. 243 
 
 disappeared in the trench, that would be exactly 
 what the Moselle had now become. 
 
 The plateau of rock on each side was perfectly 
 dry, though in flood times, no doubt, the river 
 covers that too. The water boiled and foamed 
 through this channel from 3 to 20 feet deep, 
 but only in the trench, which was not five feet 
 wide. 
 
 An intelligent man came near to see me enter 
 this curious passage, but when I had got a little 
 way in I had to stop the boat, and this too by 
 putting my hands on both sides of the river. 
 
 Then I got out and carefully let the boat drive 
 along the current, while I held by the painter. 
 Soon it got too narrow and fast even for this 
 process, so I pulled the canoe upon the dry rock, 
 and sat down to breathe and to cool my panting 
 frame. 
 
 Two other gentlemen had come by this time, 
 and on a bridge above were several more with 
 two ladies. 
 
 I had to drag the boat some hundred yards 
 over most awkward rocks, and these men hovered 
 round and admired, and even talked to me, and 
 praised my perseverance, yet not one offer of any 
 help did any one of them give ! 
 
 In deep water again, and now exactly under 
 the bridge I looked up and found the whole party 
 B 2 
 
244 BOAT IN A HEDGE. 
 
 regarding the Rob Roy with curiosity and smiles. 
 Within a few yards was a large house these people 
 had come from, and I thought their smiles were 
 surely to preface, " Would you not like a glass 
 of wine, Sir, after your hour of hard work ? " 
 But as it meant nothing of the sort I could not 
 help answering their united adieux ! by these words, 
 " Adieu, ladies and gentlemen. Many to look, 
 but none to help. The exhibition is gratuitous ! " 
 Was I wrong to say this? It was utterly im- 
 possible not to think it. 
 
 One or two other places gave trouble without 
 interest, such as when I had to push the boat 
 into a hedge point foremost, and to pull it through 
 by main force from the other side, and then found, 
 after all, it was pushed into the wrong field, so 
 the operation had to be done over again in a 
 reverse direction. 
 
 But never mind, all this counted in the day's 
 work, and all the trouble of it was forgotten after 
 a good night's sleep, or entirely recompensed by 
 some interesting adventure. 
 
 The water of the Moselle is so clear that the 
 scenery under the surface continually occupied 
 my attention. In one long reach, unusually deep 
 and quiet, I happened to be gazing down at some 
 huge trout, and I accidentally observed a large 
 stone, the upper part of a fine column, at the very 
 
RIVER METJRTHE. 245 
 
 bottom of the water, at least ten feet below me. 
 The capital showed it to be Ionic, and near it was 
 another, a broken pediment of large dimensions, 
 and a little farther on a pedestal of white marble. 
 I carefully examined both banks, to see if a Roman 
 villa or bridge, or other ruin, indicated how these 
 subaqueous reliques had come into this strange 
 position, and I inquired diligently at Charmes, 
 the next town ; but although much curiosity was 
 shown on the matter, no information was obtained, 
 except that the Romans had built a fort some- 
 where on the river (but plainly not at that spot), 
 so I consider that the casual glance at the fish 
 revealed a curious fragment of the past hitherto 
 probably unnoticed. 
 
 After pulling along the Moselle, from as near 
 to its source as my canoe could find water, until 
 the scenery became dull at Charmes, we went 
 by railway from thence to Blainville, on the river 
 Meurthe, which is a tributary of the Moselle, for 
 I thought some new scenery might be found 
 in this direction. The Rob Roy was therefore 
 sent by itself in a goods-train, the very first sepa- 
 ration between us for three months. It seemed 
 as if the little boat, leaning on its side in the 
 truck, turned from me reproachfully, and I fore- 
 boded all sorts of accidents to its delicate frame, 
 but the only thing lost was a sponge, a necessary 
 
246 MOSSY WEEDS. 
 
 appendage to a boat's outfit when you desire 
 to keep it perfectly dry and clean. Two railway 
 porters, with much good-humoured laughing, car- 
 ried the Bob Roy from the station to the river's 
 edge, and again I paddled cheerily along, and 
 on a new river, too, with scenery and character 
 quite different from that of the Moselle. 
 
 The Meurthe winds through rich plains of soft 
 earth, with few rocks and little gravel. But then 
 in its shallows it has long thick mossy weeds, all 
 under the surface. I found these rather trouble- 
 some, because they got entangled with my paddle, 
 and they could not be seen beforehand, and the 
 channel was, therefore, not discernible as where 
 rocks or gravel give those various forms of ripples 
 which the captain of a canoe soon gets to know 
 as if they were a chart telling the number of 
 inches of depth. Moreover, when you get grounded 
 among these long weeds, all pointed down stream, 
 it is very difficult to "back out, 5 ' for it is like 
 combing hair against the grain. 
 
 The larger rivers in France are all thoroughly 
 fished. In every nook you find a fisherman. 
 They are just as numerous here as in Germany 
 they are rare. And yet one would think that 
 fishing is surely more adapted to the contemplative 
 German than to the vivacious French. Yet, here 
 they are by hundreds, both men and women, and 
 
FISHERS. 
 
 247 
 
 "French Fishers." 
 
 every day, each, staring intensely on a tiny float, 
 or at the grasshopper bait, and quite content now 
 and then to pull up a gudgeon the size of your 
 thumb. 
 
 Generally, these people are alone, and when 
 they asked me at hotels if I did not feel lonely 
 in the canoe, I said, "Look at your fishermen, 
 for hours by choice alone. They have something 
 to occupy attention every moment, and so have I." 
 
248 PRAWNS AND PIKES. 
 
 Sometimes, however, there is a whole party in one 
 clumsy boat. 
 
 The pater familias sits content, and recks not 
 if all his time is spent in baiting his line and 
 lighting his pipe. The lazy "hopeful" lies at 
 full length on the grass, while a younger brother 
 strains every nerve to hook a knowing fish that 
 is laughing at him under water, and winking its 
 pale eye to see the fisher just toppling over. 
 Mademoiselle chatters whether there are bites or 
 not, and another, the fair cousin, has got on shore, 
 where she can bait her hook and simper to the 
 bold admirer by her side. 
 
 Not one of these that I have spoken to had 
 ever seen an artificial fly. 
 
 Then besides, we have the fishers with nets. 
 These are generally three men in a boat, with 
 its stem and stern both cocked up, and the whole 
 aifair looking as if it must upset or sink. Such 
 boats were painted by Haphael in the great 
 cartoons, where all of us must have observed how 
 small the boat is compared with the men it 
 carries. 
 
 Again, there are some young lads searching 
 under the stones for ecrevisses, the freshwater 
 prawns, much in request, but giving very little 
 food for a great deal of trouble. Near these 
 fishers the pike plies his busy sportsman's life 
 
MOVING HOUSE. 249 
 
 below the surface, and I have sometimes seen 
 a poor little trout leap high into the air to escape 
 from the long-nosed pursuer, who followed him 
 even out of the water, and snapped his jaws 
 impudently on the sweet morsel. This sound, 
 added to the very suspicious appearance of the 
 Rob Roy gliding among the islands, decides the 
 doubtful point with a duck, the leader of a flock 
 of wild ducks that have been swimming down 
 stream in front of me with a quick glance on each 
 side every moment, every one of them seemingly 
 indignant at this intrusion on their haunts; at 
 last, as if with one wing, they flap the water 
 and rise in a body to seek if there be not at least 
 some one nook elsewhere to nestle in where John 
 Bull does not come. 
 
 That bell tinkling is at the ferry, to call the 
 ferryman who lives at the other side, and he will 
 jump into his clumsy boat, which is tied to a 
 pulley running on a rope stretched tight across 
 the river. He has only to put his oar obliquely 
 on the gunwale, and the transverse effect of the 
 current brings the boat rapidly to the other 
 bank. 
 
 Paddling on, after a chat with the ferryman 
 (and he is sure to be ready for that), a wonderful 
 phenomenon appears. I see a house, large, new, 
 and of two stories high, has actually moved. 
 
250 MOTHER'S TEARS. 
 
 I noticed it a few minutes ago, and now it has 
 changed its position. I gaze in astonishment, 
 and while I ponder, the whole house entirely 
 disappears. Now, the true explanation of this is 
 soon found when we get round the next corner of 
 the reach ; the house is a great wooden bathing 
 " etablissement," built on a barge, and it is being 
 slowly dragged up the stream. 
 
 I noticed three women on the river-bank evi- 
 dently in great alarm : it was a mother, a 
 daughter, and a maid, who searched in vain for 
 two boys, supposed to have gone away to fish, 
 but now missing for many hours. They eagerly 
 inquired if I had seen the lads, and implored me 
 with tears to give them advice. 
 
 I tried all I could to recollect, but no ! I had 
 not seen the boys, and so the women went away 
 distracted, and I was sorrowful who would not 
 be so at a woman's tears, and a mother's too? 
 Suddenly, when toiling in the middle of a very 
 difficult piece of rock-work, lowering the boat, 
 I remembered having seen those boys, so I ran 
 after the anxious mamma and convinced her the 
 children had been safe an hour ago, and their 
 faithful servant with them, but that he had 
 become the fisherman, and they, like boys, had 
 got tired of the rod, and were playing with a 
 goat. 
 
FRENCH ROWING. 251 
 
 When I told the poor mother I had seen the 
 little fellows and they were safe, her tears of joy 
 were quite affecting, and vividly recalled one's 
 schoolboy days, when the thoughtless play-time 
 of childhood so often entails anxiety on a loving 
 mother's heart. 
 
 Such, then, are the river sights and river 
 wonders, ever new, though trifling, perhaps, 
 when told, but far more lively and entertaining 
 than the incidents of a dusty road, or a whirring, 
 shrieking train. 
 
 With a few wadings and bumpings, and one or 
 two " vannes," or weirs, I got on pleasantly until 
 evening came on, and still the towers of St. 
 Nicholas, visible on the horizon, seemed ever to 
 move from side to side without being any nearer, 
 so much does this river wind in its course. I 
 paddled at my best pace, but the evening rapidly 
 grew darker, until we overtook two French youths 
 in, a boat, the first occasion on which I had 
 noticed Frenchmen rowing for exercise. They 
 could not keep up with the canoe, so I had to 
 leave them ingloriously aground on a bank, and 
 yet too lazy to get out and help their boat over 
 the difficulty. 
 
 Soon after I came to a great weir about fifteen 
 feet in height, the deepest we had encountered, 
 and it was a matter of some little trouble to get 
 
252 A TIRESOME TUG. 
 
 the boat over this in the dark ; but what was far 
 worse immediately followed, as I found myself in 
 a maze of shallows, without light to see how to get 
 out. Finally, I had to wade and haul the boat 
 along, and jump in and ferry myself over the 
 pools, for fully half a mile, until I was delighted 
 to find a bridge and a house. 
 
 All this, which may be told in a few sentences, 
 took a full hour of very tiresome work, though, 
 as there was no current, there was no danger, and 
 it was merely tedious, wet, and uncomfortable. 
 "When I came to the bridge, I was sure it must be 
 a town, and then there happened a scene almost 
 an exact counterpart of that which took place at 
 Gegglingen, on the Danube. 
 
 I pulled up my boat on the dark shore, and, 
 all dripping wet, I mounted to the house above, 
 and speedily aroused the inmates. A window 
 opened, and a worthy couple appeared in their 
 night-dresses, holding a candle to examine the 
 intruder. The tableau was most comical. The 
 man asked, " Is it a farce ? " He could scarcely 
 expect a traveller from England to arrive there at 
 such an hour. But he soon helped me to carry 
 the boat to a little restaurant, where a dozen men 
 were drinking, who rushed out with lamps to look 
 at the boat, but entirely omitted to help the forlorn 
 captain. 
 
FIVE FRANCS. 253 
 
 Nor was there any room in this restaurant, so 
 we had to carry the boat through the dark streets 
 to another house, where another lot of topers 
 received me in like style. I put the Hob Hoy 
 into a garden here, and her sails flapped next 
 morning while a crowd gazed over the walls with 
 anxious curiosity. The worthy husband who had 
 thus left his spouse that he might carry my wet 
 boat, all slippery with mud, was highly pleased 
 with a five-franc piece, which was the least I 
 thought him to deserve, though it was like a five- 
 pound note to him in such a cheap country. 
 
 Next morning in the light of day I had a 
 survey of the scene of last night's adventure. It 
 was very amusing to trace the various channels I 
 had groped about in the darkness. 
 
 Here I met a French gentleman, of gay and 
 pleasant manner, but who bemoaned his lot as 
 Secretary of a great factory in this outlandish 
 place, instead of being in joyous, thoughtless, 
 brilliant Paris, where, he said, often for days toge- 
 ther he did not sleep in bed, but ran one night 
 into the next by balls, theatres, and supper 
 parties. 
 
 He kindly took me to see the great salt works, 
 that send refined salt all over Europe. This 
 rock salt is hoisted out of a deep mine, in blocks 
 like those of coal, having been hewn from the 
 
254 SALT, 
 
 strata below, which are pierced by long and lofty 
 galleries. Then it is covered in tanks by water, 
 which becomes saturated, and is conducted to flat 
 evaporating pans, when the water is expelled by 
 the heat of great furnaces, and the salt appears in 
 masses like snow-drifts. Salt that is sold by 
 weight they judiciously wet again, and other quali- 
 ties sold by measure they cleverly cause to deposit 
 itself in crooked crystals, so as to take up as much 
 space as possible ! 
 
 "We found a canal here, and as the river was so 
 shallow I mounted to the artificial channel, and 
 with a strong and fair wind was soon sailing along 
 rapidly. This canal has plenty of traffic upon it, 
 and only a few locks ; so it was by no means 
 tedious. They asked for my card of permission, 
 but I smiled the matter off as before. However, 
 an officer of the canal who was walking alongside 
 looked much more seriously at the infringement 
 of rules, and when we came to a lock he insisted I 
 mtfst produce the "carte." As a last resort, I 
 showed him the well-worn sketch-book, and then 
 he at once gave in. In fact, after he had laughed 
 at the culprit's caricatures, how could he gravely 
 sentence him to penalties ? 
 
 It is wonderful how a few lines of drawing will 
 please these outlying country people. Sometimes I 
 gave a small sketch to a man when it was de- 
 
PORTRAIT. 255 
 
 sirable to get rid of him : lie was sure to take it 
 away to show outside, and when he returned I 
 had departed. Once I gave a little girl a portrait 
 of her brother, and next morning she brought it 
 again all crumpled up. Her mother said the child 
 had held it all night in her hand. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Ladies in muslin Officers shouting Volunteers' umbrella 
 Eeims Leaks Wet Madame Clicquot Heavy 
 blow Dinner talk The Elephant Cloud. . 
 
 THE canal brought me to Nancy, a fine old 
 town, with an archbishop, a field-marshal, a good 
 hotel, large washhand basins, drums, bugles, ices, 
 and all the other luxuries of life ! In the cathe- 
 dral there was more tawdry show about the Mass 
 than I ever remarked before, even in Italy. At 
 least thirty celebrants acted in the performance, 
 and the bowings and turnings and grimaces of 
 sedate old men clad in gorgeous, dirty needle- 
 work, fumbling with trifles and muttering Latin, 
 really passed all bounds : they were an insult to 
 the population, who are required to attend this 
 vicarious worship, and to accept such absurdities 
 as the true interpretation of " This do in remem- 
 brance of me/' A large and attentive congrega- 
 tion, nearly all women, listened first to an eloquent 
 sermon from a young priest who glorified an old 
 saint. It is possible that the ancient worthy was 
 a most respectable monk, but probably he was, 
 
LADIES IN MUSLIN. 257 
 
 when he lived, a good deal like the monks one 
 meets in the monasteries, and now that I have 
 lived pretty frequently with these gentlemen I 
 must say it makes one smile to think of canonizing 
 such people, as if any one of them had unap- 
 proachable excellence ; but perhaps this monk 
 distinguished himself by proper daily ablutions, 
 and so earned the rare reputation of being reason- 
 ably clean. In the afternoon the relics of the 
 monk were borne through the streets by a pro- 
 cession of some thousand women and a few men. 
 These ladies, some hundreds of whom were dressed 
 in white muslin, and in two single ranks, chanted 
 as they slowly marched, and all the bystanders 
 took off their hats, but I really could not see what 
 adoration was due to the mouldering bones of a 
 withered friar, so my excellent straw hat was 
 kept on my head. 
 
 But the French, who live in public, must have a 
 public religion, a gregarious worship, with demon- 
 strative action and colours and sounds. Deep 
 devotion, silent in its depth, is for the north and 
 not for this radiant sun, though you will find that 
 quiet worship again in lower latitudes where the 
 very heat precludes activity. 
 
 Some twenty years ago, one of the ablest men 
 of the University of Cambridge read a paper on 
 the influence which the insular position and the 
 s 
 
258 CLIMATE. 
 
 climate of Britain lias upon our national character, 
 and it appeared to be proved clearly that this 
 influence pervades every feature of our life. 
 
 In a third-rate French town like Nancy, nearly 
 all the pleasant agrements depend on the climate, 
 and would be sadly curtailed by rain or snow. 
 So, again, when a Frenchman visits England and 
 gets laughed at for mistakes in our difficult 
 language, and has to eat only two dishes for 
 dinner, and drinks bad coffee, and has no even- 
 ing lounge in the open air, and is then told to 
 look at our domestic life, and finds he cannot get 
 an entrance there {for how very few French do 
 enter there), his miseries are directly caused by 
 our climate, and no wonder his impression of 
 Albion is that we are all fog and cotton and 
 smoke, and everything triste. 
 
 From Nancy I sent the canoe by rail to meet 
 me on the river Marne, and while the slow 
 luggage-train lumbered along I took the oppor- 
 tunity of visiting the celebrated Camp of Chalons, 
 the Alder shot of France. An omnibus takes you 
 from the railway station, and you soon enter a 
 long straggling street of very little houses, built 
 badly, and looking as if one and all could be 
 pushed down by your hand. These are not the 
 military quarters, but the self-grown parasite 
 sutlers' town, which springs up near every camp. 
 
CAMP OF CHALONS. 259 
 
 Here is " Place Solferi.no," and there " Eue 
 Malakhoff," where the sign of the inn is a 
 Chinaman having his pigtail lopped off by a 
 Fran^ais. The camp is in the middle of a very 
 large plain, with plenty of dust and white earth, 
 which " glared " on my eyes intensely, this being 
 the hottest day I have experienced during the 
 vacation. But there are trees for shade, and a 
 good deal of grass on the extensive downs where 
 great armies can manoeuvre and march past the 
 Emperor as he sits enthroned under a bower on 
 that hill-crest overlooking all. 
 
 The permanent buildings for the troops consist 
 of about 500 separate houses, substantial, airy, 
 and well lighted, all built of brick, and slated, 
 and kept in good repair ; each of these is about 
 seventy feet long, twenty broad, and of one story 
 high. About a million and a-half pounds sterling 
 have already been expended on this camp. Behind 
 the quarters are the soldiers' gardens, a feature 
 added lately to the camps in England. There 
 were only a few thousand soldiers at the place, 
 so I soon saw everything interesting, and then 
 adjourned to a restaurant, where I observed about 
 twenty officers go in a body to breakfast. This 
 they did in a separate room, but their loud, coarse, 
 and outrageously violent conversation really 
 amazed me. The din was monstrous and with- 
 s 2 
 
260 TEMPLE UMBRELLA. 
 
 out intermission. I had never before fallen in 
 with so very bad a specimen of French manners, 
 and I cannot help thinking there may have been 
 special reasons for these men bellowing for half 
 an hour as they ate their breakfast. 
 
 The " mess system " has been tried in the 
 French army several times, but it seems to fail 
 always, as the French Clubs do, on the whole. 
 It is not wise, however, for a traveller to gene- 
 ralize too rapidly upon the character of any 
 portion of a great people if he has not lived long 
 among them. A hasty glance may discern that a 
 stranger has a long nose, but you must have better 
 acquaintance with him before you can truly de- 
 scribe the character of your friend. In a little 
 book just published in France about the English 
 Bar two facts are noted, that Barristers put the 
 name of their "inn" on their visiting cards, 
 and that the Temple Volunteers are drilled 
 admirably by a Serjeant-at-Law, who wields " an 
 umbrella with a varnished cover, which glances in 
 the sun like a sword." 
 
 Another interesting town in this department of 
 France is Rheims (spelt Reims, and pronounced 
 very nearly Rens). Having still an hour or two 
 free, I went there, and enjoyed the visit to the 
 very splendid cathedral. It is one of the finest 
 in Europe, very old, very large, very rich, and 
 
REIMS. 261 
 
 celebrated as the place of coronation for the 
 French sovereigns. Besides all. this it is kept in 
 good order, and is remarkably clean. The outside 
 is covered with stone figures, most of them rude 
 in art, but giving at a distance an appearance of 
 prodigal richness of material. A little periodical 
 called France Illustrated is published at fourpence 
 each number, with a map of the Department, 
 several woodcuts of notable places or events, and 
 a brief history of the principal towns, concluding 
 with a resume of the statistics of the Depart- 
 ment. A publication of this kind would, I 
 think, be very useful in England ; and for 
 travellers especially, who could purchase at the 
 county town the particular number or part then 
 required. 
 
 In one of the adjoining Departments, accord- 
 ing to this publication, it appears that there are 
 about a hundred suicides in the year among a 
 population of half a million. Surely this is an 
 alarming proportion ; and what should we say if 
 Manchester had to report 100 men and women in 
 one year who put themselves to death ? 
 
 But we are subsiding, you see, into the ordinary 
 tales of a traveller, because I am waiting now for 
 the train and the Rob Roy, and certainly this my 
 only experience of widowerhood made me long 
 again for the well-known yellow oaken side of 
 
262 LEAKS AND CANDLES. 
 
 the boat and her pink-brown cedar varnished 
 top. 
 
 Well, next morning here is the canoe at 
 Epernay, arrived all safe at a cost of 2s. 6d. 
 All safe, I thought at first, but I soon found 
 it had been sadly bruised, and would surely 
 leak. I turned it upside down on the railway 
 platform, and bought two candles and occu- 
 pied three good hours in making repairs and 
 greasing all the seams. But after all this trouble, 
 when I put the boat into the Marne, the water 
 oozed in all round. 
 
 It is humiliating to sit in a leaky boat it is 
 like a lame horse or a crooked gun ; and of all the 
 needful qualities of a boat the first is to keep out 
 the water. So I stopped at the first village, and 
 got a man to mix white lead and other things, and 
 we carefully worked this into all the seams, leav- 
 ing it to harden while I had my breakfast in the 
 little auberge close by the shore, where they are 
 making the long rafts to go down to Paris, and 
 where hot farmers come to sip their twopenny 
 bottle of wine. 
 
 The raft man was wonderfully proud of his per- 
 formance with the canoe, and he called out to each 
 of his friends as they walked past, to give them 
 its long history in short words. When I paid 
 him at last, he said he hoped I would never forget 
 
NOVEL BARRIER. 263 
 
 that the canoe had been thoroughly mended in the 
 
 middle of France, at the village of , but I 
 
 really do not remember the name. 
 
 However, there were not wanting tests of his 
 workmanship, for the Rob Roy had to be pulled 
 over many dykes and barriers on the Marne. 
 Some of these were of a peculiar construction, and 
 were evidently novel in design. 
 
 A "barrage" reached across the stream, and 
 there were three steps or falls on it, with a plateau 
 between each. The water ran over these steps, and 
 was sometimes only a few inches in depth on the 
 crest of each fall, where it had to descend some 
 eight or ten inches at most. 
 
 This, of course, would have been easy enough 
 for the canoe to pass, but then a line of iron posts 
 was ranged along each plateau, and chains were 
 tied from the top of one post to the bottom of 
 another, diagonally, and it will be understood that 
 this was a very puzzling arrangement to steer 
 through. 
 
 In cases of this sort I usually got ashore to re- 
 connoitre, and, having calculated the angle at 
 which I must enter the passage obliquely, down a 
 fall, and across its stream, I managed to get suc- 
 cessfully through several of these strange barriers. 
 We came at length to one which, on examination, 
 I had to acknowledge was "impassable," for the 
 
264 
 
 "The Chain Barrier." 
 
 chains were slack, and there was only an inch or 
 two of " law " on either side of the difficult course 
 through them. 
 
 However, a man happened to see my movements 
 and the canoe, and soon he called some dozen of 
 his fellow navvies from their work to look at the 
 navigator. 
 
 I was therefore incited by these spectators to 
 try the passage, and I mentally resolved at any rate 
 to be cool and placid, however much discomfiture 
 was to be endured. I steered to the very best of 
 my power, but the bow of the canoe swerved an 
 
WET. 265 
 
 inch in the swift oblique descent, and instantly it 
 got locked in the chains, while I quietly got out 
 (whistling an air in slow time), and then, in the 
 water with all my clothes on, I steadily lifted the 
 boat through the iron network and got into her, 
 dripping wet, but trying to behave as if it were 
 only the usual thing. The navvies cheered a long 
 and loud bravo ! but I felt somewhat ashamed of 
 having yielded to the desire for ignorant applause, 
 and when finally round the next corner I got out 
 and changed my wet things, a wiser and a sadder 
 man, but dry. 
 
 This part of the river is in the heart of the 
 champagne country, and all the softly swelling 
 hills about are thickly covered by vineyards. The 
 vine for champagne is exceedingly small, and 
 grows round one stick, and the hillside looks just 
 like a carding-brush, from the millions of these 
 little sharp-pointed rods upright in the ground 
 and close together, without any fence whatever 
 between the innumerable lots. The grape for 
 champagne is always red, and never white, so 
 they said, though white grapes are grown for 
 " eating." During the last two months few people 
 have consumed more grapes in this manner than 
 the chief mate of the Rob Boy canoe. 
 
 On one of these hills I noticed the house of 
 Madame Clicquot, whose name has graced many a 
 
266 MADAME CLICQUOT. 
 
 cork of champagne bottles (and of bottles not 
 champagne). The vineyards of Ai, near Epernay, 
 are the most celebrated for their wine. After the 
 bottles are filled, they are placed neck downwards, 
 and the sediment collects near the cork. Each 
 bottle is then uncorked in this position, and the 
 confined gas forces out a little of the wine with the 
 sediment, while a skilful man dexterously replaces 
 the cork when this sediment has been ex- 
 pelled. I should say that only a very skilful man 
 can perform such a feat. When the bottles are 
 stored in " caves," or vast cellars, the least change 
 of temperature causes them to burst by hundreds. 
 Sometimes one-fourth of the bottles explode in 
 this manner, and it is said that the renowned 
 Madame Clicquot lost 400,000 in the hot autumn 
 of 1843 before sufficient ice could be fetched from 
 Paris to cool her spacious cellars. Every year 
 about fifty million bottles of genuine champagne 
 are made in France, and no one can say how many 
 more millions of bottles of champagne are imbibed 
 every year by a confiding world. 
 
 The Marne is a large and deep river, and its 
 waters are kept up by barriers every few miles. 
 It is rather troublesome to pass these (by taking 
 the boat out and letting it down on the other 
 side), and in crossing one of them I gave a serious 
 blow to the stern of the canoe against an iron bar. 
 
267 
 
 This blow started four planks from the sternpost, 
 and revealed to me also that the whole frame 
 had suffered from the journey at night on an open 
 truck. However, as my own ship's carpenter 
 was on board, and had nails and screws, I soon 
 managed to make all tight again, and by moon- 
 light found myself at Dormans, where I got two 
 men to carry the boat as usual to an hotel, and had 
 the invariable run of visitors from that time until 
 everybody went to bed. 
 
 It is curious to remark the different names by 
 which the canoe has been called, and among these 
 the following: "Batteau," " schiff," " bot," 
 " barca," " canot," " caique " (the soldiers who 
 have been in the Crimea call it thus), " chaloupe" 
 " navire," " schipp " (Low German), " yacht " 
 ("jacht" Danish, "jaht," from "jagen," to 
 ride quickly properly a boat drawn by horses). 
 Several people have spoken of it as "batteau a 
 vapeur" for in the centre of France they have 
 never seen a steamboat, but the usual name with 
 the common people is "petit batteau," and among 
 the educated people "nacelle" or " pcrissoir ;" 
 this last as we call a dangerous boat a " coffin " or 
 " sudden death." 
 
 An early start next morning found me slipping 
 along with a tolerable current and a fine fresh 
 breeze, but the same unalterable blue sky. I had 
 
268 GENTLEMEN. 
 
 several interesting conversations with farmers and 
 others riding to market along the road which here 
 skirts the river. What most surprises the French- 
 man is that a traveller can possibly be happy 
 alone ! Not one hour have I had of enmii, and, 
 however selfish it may seem, I must aver that for 
 this sort of journey I very much prefer to travel 
 entirely seul. 
 
 Pleasant trees, wild fowl, and pretty gardens 
 are all along in plenty, but where are the 
 houses of the gentlemen of France, and where 
 are the French gentlemen themselves ? Here is 
 a difference between France and England which 
 cannot fail to " knock " the observant traveller 
 (as Artemus Ward would say) the notable ab- 
 sence of country seats during hours and hours 
 of passage along the best routes; whereas in 
 England the prospect from almost every hill of 
 woodland would have a great house at the end of 
 its vista, and the environs of every town would 
 stretch into outworks of villas smiling in the sun. 
 The French have ways and fashions which are not 
 ours, but their nation is large enough to entitle 
 them to a standard of their own, just as the 
 Americans, with so great a people agreed on the 
 matter, have surely liberty to speak with a nasal 
 twang, and to spell " plough " without a " g." 
 
 I am convinced that it is a mistake to say we 
 
DINNER TALK. 269 
 
 are a silent people compared with the French or 
 Americans. At some hundred sittings of the 
 table d'hote in both these countries I have found 
 more of dull, dead silence than in England at our 
 inns. An Englishman accustomed to the pleasant 
 chat of a domestic dinner feels ill at ease when 
 dining with strangers, and so notices their silence 
 all the more ; but the French table d'hote (not in 
 the big barrack hotels, for English tourists, I 
 have before remarked upon) has as little general 
 conversation, and an American one has far less 
 than in England. Here come six or seven 
 middle-class men to dine. They put the napkin 
 kept for each from yesterday, and recognized 
 by the knot they tied on it, up to their chins 
 like the pinafore of a baby, and wipe plate, fork, 
 and spoons with the other end, and eat bits and 
 scraps of many dishes, and scrape their plates 
 almost clean, and then depart, and not one word 
 has been uttered. 
 
 Then, again, there is the vaunted French 
 climate. Bright sun, no doubt, but forget not 
 that it is so very bright as to compel all rooms to 
 be darkened from ten to four each day. At noon 
 the town is like a cemetery; no one thinks of 
 walking, riding, or looking out of his window in 
 the heat. From seven to nine in the morning, 
 and from an hour before sunset to any time you 
 
270 SUNLIGHT. 
 
 please at night, the open air is delicious. But I 
 venture to say that in a week of common summer 
 weather we see more of the sun in England than 
 in France, for we seldom have so much of it at 
 once as to compel us to close our eyes against its 
 fierce rays. In fact, the sensation of life in the 
 South, after eleven o'clock in the morning, is that 
 of waiting for the cool hours, and so day after day 
 is a continual reaching forward to something about 
 to come ; whereas, an English day of sunshine 
 is an enjoyable present from beginning to end. 
 Once more, let it be remembered that twilight 
 lasts only for half an hour in the sunny South; 
 that delicious season is a characteristic of the 
 northern latitudes which very few Southerners 
 have ever experienced at all. 
 
 The run down the Marne for about 200 miles 
 was a pleasant part of the voyage, but seldom so 
 exciting in adventure as the paddling on unknown 
 waters. Long days of work could therefore be 
 now well endured, for constant exercise had 
 trained the body, and a sort of instinct was 
 enough, when thus educated by experience, to 
 direct the mind. Therefore, the Rob Roy's 
 paddle was in my hands for ten hours at a time 
 without weariness, and sometimes even for twelve 
 hours at a stretch. 
 
 After a comfortable night at Chateau Thierry 
 
THE ELEPHANT ON THE MARNE. 271 
 
 in the Elephant Hotel, which is close to the water, 
 I took my canoe down from the hayloft to which 
 it had been hoisted, and once more launched her 
 on the river. The current gradually increased, 
 and the vineyards gave place to forest trees. 
 See, there are the rafts, some of casks, lashed 
 together with osiers, some of planks, others of 
 hewn logs, and others of great rough trees. 
 There is a straw hut on them for the captain's 
 cabin, and the crew will have a stiff fortnight's 
 work to drag, push, and steer this congeries of 
 wood down to the Seine. The labour spent 
 merely in adjusting and securing the parts is 
 enormous, but labour of that kind costs little 
 here. 
 
 Farther on there is a large flock of sheep con- 
 ducted to the river to drink, but (be it known) 
 also driven to the water by the sagacious shep- 
 herds' dogs, who seem to know perfectly that 
 the woolly multitude has come precisely to drink, 
 and, therefore, the dogs cleverly press forward, 
 each particular sheep, until it has got a place by 
 the cool brink of the water. In the next quiet 
 bay a village maid drives her cow to the river, 
 and chats across the water with another, also 
 leading a cow to wade in knee deep, and to dip 
 its broad nose, and lift it gently again from the 
 cool stream. On the road alongside is a funny 
 
272 FIRST CLOUD. 
 
 little waggon, and a whole family are within. 
 This concern is actually drawn along by a goat. 
 Its little kid skips about, for the time of toil 
 has not yet come to the youngling, and it may 
 gambol now. But here is the bridge of Nogent, 
 so I leave my boat in charge of an old man, and 
 give positive pleasure to the cook at the auberge 
 by ordering a breakfast. Saints' portraits adorn 
 the walls, and a "sampler" worked by some 
 little girl, with only twenty-five letters in the 
 alphabet, for the " w " is as yet ignored in classic 
 grammars, though it has now to be constantly 
 used in the common books and newspapers. Why, 
 they even adopt our sporting terms, and you see 
 in a paper that such a race was only " un Walk- 
 over," and that another was likely to be "un 
 dead heat." 
 
 Suddenly the sky was shaded, and on looking 
 up amazed I found a cloud; at last, after six 
 weeks of brilliant blue and scorching glare, one 
 fold of the fleecy curtain has been drawn over the 
 sun. 
 
 The immediate effect of this cooler sky was 
 very invigorating, though, after weeks of hot 
 glare (reflected upwards again into the face from 
 the water), it seemed the most natural thing to 
 be always in a blaze of light, and much of the 
 inconvenience was avoided by a plan which will 
 
CLOUD AT LAST. 273 
 
 be found explained in the Appendix, with some 
 other hints to " Boating Men." 
 
 The day went pleasantly now, and with only 
 the events of ordinary times, which need not be 
 recounted. The stream was steady, the banks 
 were peopled, and many a blue-bloused country- 
 man stopped to look at the canoe as she glided 
 past, with the captain's socks and canvas shoes on 
 the deck behind him, for this was his drying- 
 place for wet clothes. 
 
 Now and then a pleasure-boat was seen, and 
 there were several canoes at some of the towns, 
 but all of them flat-bottomed and open, and des- 
 perately unsafe well named " perissoirs." Some 
 of these were made of metal. The use of this is 
 well known to be a great mistake for any boat 
 under ten tons ; in all such cases it is much 
 heavier than wood of the same strength, consider- 
 ing the strains which a boat must expect to 
 undergo. 
 
 " La Ferte sous Jouarre " is the long name of 
 the next stopping-place. There are several towns 
 called by the name La Ferte (La Fortifie), which 
 in some measure corresponds with the termination 
 "caster" or "cester" of English names. Mill- 
 stones are the great specialty of this La Ferte. 
 A good millstone costs 50/., and there is a 
 large exportation of them. The material has 
 
274 RIVAL GOSSIPS. 
 
 the very convenient property of not requiring to 
 be chipped into holes, as these exist in this stone 
 naturally. 
 
 At La Ferte I put the boat into a hayloft: 
 how often it has occupied this elevated lodgings 
 amongst its various adventures; and at dinner 
 with me there is an intelligent and hungry bour- 
 geois from Paris, with his vulgar and hearty wife, 
 and the gossip of the town, who kept rattling on 
 the stupid, endless fiddle-faddle of everybody's 
 doings, sayings, failings, and earnings. Some 
 amusement, however, resulted from the collision 
 of two gossips at our table of four guests, for 
 while the one always harped upon family tales 
 of La Ferte and the minute sayings of its people, 
 the other kept struggling to turn our thoughts 
 to shoes and slippers, for he was a commercial 
 traveller with a cartful of boots to sell. But, 
 after all, how much of our conversation in better 
 life is only of the same kind, though about larger, 
 or at any rate different things ; what might 
 sound trifles to our British Cabinet would be the 
 loftiest politics of Honolulu. 
 
 When we started at eight o'clock next day I 
 felt an unaccountable languor ; my arms were 
 tired, and my energy seemed, for the first time, 
 deficient. This was the result of a week's 
 hard exercise, and of a sudden change of wind 
 
CUTTING ACROSS. 275 
 
 to the south. Give me our English climate 
 for real hard work to prosper in. 
 
 One generally associates the north wind with 
 cool and bracing air, and certainly in the Mediter- 
 ranean it is the change of wind to the south, the 
 hated sirocce, which enervates the traveller at 
 once. But this north wind on the Marne came 
 over a vast plain of arid land heated by two 
 months of scorching sun, whereas the breezes of 
 last week, though from the east, had been tem- 
 pered in passing over the mountains of the 
 Yosges. 
 
 Forty-two miles lay before me to be accom- 
 plished before arriving to-night at my resting- 
 place for Sunday, and it was not a pleasant 
 prospect to contemplate with stiff muscles in the 
 shoulders. However, after twelve miles I found 
 I could cut off about twenty miles in turnings of 
 the river by putting the boat on a cart, and thus a 
 league of walking and 3s. 4d. of payment solved 
 the difficulty. The old man with his cart was 
 interesting to talk to, and we spoke about those 
 deep subjects which are of common interest to all. 
 
 At a turn in the road we came upon a cart over- 
 turned and with a little crowd round it, while the 
 earth was covered with a great pool of what 
 seemed to be blood, but was only wine. The cart 
 had struck a tree, and the wine-cask on it instantly 
 T 2 
 
276 WINE SPILLED. 
 
 burst, which so frightened the horse that he over- 
 set the cart. 
 
 The Rob Roy was soon in the water again, and 
 the scenery had now become much more enjoyable. 
 
 I found an old soldier at a ferry who fetched 
 me a bottle of wine, and then he and his wife sat 
 in their boat and became very great friends with 
 the Englishman. 
 
 He had been at the taking of Constantine in 
 Algeria, a place which really does look quite im- 
 possible to be taken by storm. But the appear- 
 ance of a fortress is deceptive except to the 
 learned in such matters. Who would think that 
 Comorn, in Hungary, is stronger than Constan- 
 tine ? When you get near Comorn there is no- 
 thing to see, and it is precisely because of this that 
 it was able to resist so long. 
 
 The breeze soon freshened till I hoisted my 
 sails and was fairly wafted on to Meaux, so that, 
 after all, the day, begun with forebodings, became 
 as easy and as pleasant as the rest. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Hammering Popish forms Wise dogs Blocked up No 
 water Odd fellows Dream on the Seine Charing- 
 cross. 
 
 THERE are three hemispheres of scenery visible to 
 the traveller who voyages thus in a boat on the 
 rivers. First, the great arch of sky, and land, and 
 trees, and flowers down to the water's brink ; then 
 the whole of this reflected beautifully in the surface 
 of the river; and then the wondrous depths in 
 the water itself, with its animal life, its rocks and 
 glades, and its flowers and mosses. Now rises 
 the moon so clear, and with the sky around it 
 so black that no "man in the moon'" can be seen. 
 At the hotel we find a whole party of guests 
 for the marriage-dinner of a newly-wedded pair. 
 The younger portion of the company adjourn to 
 the garden and let off squibs and crackers, so it 
 seems to be a good time to exhibit some of my 
 signal lights from my bedroom- window, and there 
 is much cheering at the Englishman burning 
 magnesium wire, which illumines the whole 
 neighbourhood like the electric light. Next day 
 
278 HAMMER. 
 
 the same people all assembled for a marriage 
 breakfast, and sherry, madeira, and champagne 
 flowed from the well-squeezed purse of the bride's 
 happy father. 
 
 I have noticed that the last sound to give 
 way to the stillness of the night in a village is 
 that of the blacksmith's hammer, which is much 
 more heard abroad than at home. Perhaps this is 
 because much of their execrable French ironwork 
 is made in each town ; whereas in England it is 
 manufactured by machinery in great quantities 
 and at special places. At any rate, one associates 
 with the Continent (after travelling long enough 
 to have got calm and observant, seeing, hearing, 
 and, we may add, scenting all around) blue 
 dresses, white stones, jingling of bells, and the 
 " cling, cling " of the never idle blacksmith. 
 
 This town of Meaux has a bridge with houses 
 on it, and great mill-wheels filling up the arches 
 as they used to do in old London-bridge. Plea- 
 sant gardens front the river, and cafes glitter 
 there at night. These are not luxuries but posi- 
 tive necessaries of life for the Frenchman, and it 
 is their absence abroad which I believe is one 
 chief cause of his being so bad a colonist, for the 
 Frenchman has only the expression " with me ' ' for 
 "home," and no word for "wife " but " woman." 
 
 The cathedral of Meaux is grand and old, and 
 
FORM AND CEREMONY. 279 
 
 see how they masquerade the service in it ! Look 
 at the gaunt " Suisse," with his cocked-hat kept 
 on in church, and his sword and spear. The 
 twenty priests and twelve red-surpliced boys intone 
 to about as many hearers. A monk escorted through 
 the church makes believe to sprinkle holy water 
 on all sides from that dirty plasterer's' brush, and 
 then two boys carry on their shoulders a huge 
 round loaf, the " pain benit," which, after fifty 
 bowings, is blessed, and escorted back to be cut 
 up, and is then given in morsels to the congrega- 
 tion. These endless ceremonies are the meshes of 
 the net of Popery, and they are well woven to 
 catch Frenchmen, who must have action, show, 
 the visible tangible outside, whatever may be 
 meant by it. 
 
 This service sets one a-thinking. Some form 
 there must be in worship. One can suppose, 
 indeed, that perfect spirit can adore God without 
 attitude, or even any sequence or change. Yet in 
 the Bible we hear of seraphs veiling their bodies 
 with their wings, and of elders prostrate at cer- 
 tain times, and saints that have a litany even in 
 heaven. Mortals must have some form of adora- 
 tion, but there is the question, How much ? and on 
 this great point how many wise and foolish men 
 have written books without end, or scarcely any 
 effect ! 
 
280 WISE DOGS. 
 
 The riverside was a good place for a quiet Sun- 
 day walk. Here a flock of 300 sheep had come to 
 drink, and nibble at the flowers hanging over the 
 water, and the simple-hearted shepherd stood 
 looking on while his dogs rushed backward and for- 
 ward, yearning for some sheep to do wrong, that 
 their dog service might be required to prevent 
 or to punish naughty conduct. This " Berger " 
 inquired w r hether England was near Africa, and 
 how large our legs of mutton are, and if we have 
 sheep-dogs, and are there any rivers in our island 
 on the sea. Meanwhile at the hotel the marriage 
 party kept on "breakfasting," even until four 
 o'clock, and non-melodious songs were sung. The 
 French, as a people, do not excel in vocal music, 
 either in their tones or their harmonies. 
 
 Afloat again next morning, and quite refreshed, 
 I prepared for a long day's work. The stream was 
 now clear, and the waving tresses of dark green 
 weeds gracefully curved under water, while islands 
 amid deep shady bays varied the landscape 
 above. 
 
 I saw a canal lock open, and paddled in merely 
 for variety, passing soon into a tunnel, in the 
 middle of which I found a huge boat fixed, and 
 nobody with it. The boat exactly filled the tun- 
 nel, and the men had gone to their dinner, so I 
 had to drag the boat out, and then the canoe 
 
BLOCKED IN A TUNNEL. 281 
 
 proudly glided into daylight, having a whole 
 tunnel to itself. 
 
 At Lagny, where I wished to breakfast, I left 
 my boat with a nice old gentleman, who was 
 fishing in a nightcap and spectacles, and he 
 assured me he would stop there two hours. But 
 when I scrambled back through the mill (the 
 miller's men amazed among their wholesome dusty 
 sacks), I found the boat all alone, the first time 
 she had been left in a town an " unprotected 
 female." 
 
 To escape a long serpent wind of the river, I 
 entered another canal and found it about a foot deep, 
 with clear water flowing pleasantly. This I thought 
 was very fortunate for me, and it was enjoyed most 
 thoroughly for a few miles, little knowing what 
 was to come. Presently weeds began, then clumps 
 of great rushes, then large bushes and trees, all 
 growing with thick grass in the water, and at 
 length this got so dense that the prospect before 
 me was precisely like a very large hayfield, with 
 grass four feet high, all ready to be mowed, but 
 which had to be mercilessly rowed through. 
 
 This on a hot day without wind, and in a long 
 vista, unbroken by a man or a house, or anything 
 lively, was rather daunting, but I had gone too 
 far to recede with honour, and so by dint of push- 
 ing and working I actually got the boat through 
 
282 
 
 NO WATER. 
 
 Canal Miseries.' 
 
 some miles of this novel obstruction (known only 
 this summer), and brought her safe and sound 
 again to the river. At one place there was a 
 bridge over this wet marsh, and two men hap- 
 pened to be going over it as the canoe came near. 
 They soon called to some neighbours, and the 
 row of spectators exhibited the faculty so notable 
 in French people and so rarely found with us, 
 that of being able to keep from laughing right 
 out at a foreigner in an awkward case. The absurd 
 sight of a man paddling a boat amid miles of thick 
 rushes was indeed a severe test of courteous gravity. 
 
ARBOUR AND GARRET. 283 
 
 However, I must say that the labour required to 
 penetrate this marsh was far less than one would 
 suppose from the appearance of the place. The 
 sharp point of the boat entered, and its smooth 
 sides followed through hedges, as it were, of 
 aquatic plants, and, on the whole (and after all 
 was done !), I preferred the trouble and muscular 
 effort required then to that of the monotonous 
 calm of usual canal sailing. 
 
 Fairly in the broad river again I found myself 
 at Neuilly, and it was plain that my Sunday rest 
 had enabled over thirty miles to be accomplished 
 without any fatigue at the end. "With some 
 difficulty I selected an inn on the waterside. 
 The canoe was taken up to it and put on a table 
 in a summer-house, while my own bed was in a 
 garret where I could not stand upright the only 
 occasion where I have been badly housed; and 
 pray let no one be misled by the name of this 
 abode" The Jolly Bowers." 
 
 Next day the river flowed fast again, and 
 numerous islands made the channels difficult to 
 find. The worst of these difficulties is that you 
 cannot prepare for them. No map gives any just 
 idea of your route the people on the river itself 
 are profoundly ignorant of its navigation. For 
 instance, in starting, my landlord told me that in 
 two hours I should reach Paris. After ten miles 
 
284 IGNORANCE AND INGENUITY. 
 
 an intelligent man said, " Distance from Paris ! 
 it is six hours from here;" while a third informed 
 me a little farther on, " It is just three leagues 
 and a half from this spot." The banks were now 
 dotted with villas, and numerous pleasure-boats 
 were moored at neat little stairs. The vast 
 number of these boats quite astonished me, and 
 the more so as very few of them were ever to be 
 seen in actual use. 
 
 The French are certainly ingenious in their 
 boat-making, but more of ingenuity than of 
 practical exercise is seen on the water. In 
 several rivers I remarked the " walking ma- 
 chine," by which a man can walk on the water 
 by fixing two small boats on his feet. A curious 
 mode of rowing has lately been invented by a 
 Frenchman, a description of which will be found 
 in the Appendix. 
 
 I stopped to breakfast at a new canal cutting, 
 and as there were many gamins < about, I 
 fastened a stone to my painter and took the 
 boat out into the middle of the river, and so 
 left her moored within sight of the arbour, 
 where I sat, and also within sight of the ardent- 
 eyed boys who gazed for hours with wistful 
 looks on the tiny craft and its little fluttering 
 flag. Their desire to handle as well as to see 
 is only natural for these little fellows, and, there- 
 
ODD FELLOWS. 285 
 
 fore, if the lads behave well, I always make a 
 point of showing them the whole affair quite near, 
 after they have had to abstain from it so long 
 as forbidden. 
 
 Strange that this quick curiosity of French 
 boys does not ripen some of them into travellers, 
 but it soon gets expended in trifling details of a 
 narrow circle, while the sober, sedate, nay, the 
 triste, Anglian is found scurrying over the world 
 with a carpet-bag, and pushing his way in foreign 
 crowds without one word of their language, and 
 all the while as merry as a lark. Among the odd 
 modes of locomotion adopted by Englishmen, I 
 have already mentioned that of the gentleman 
 travelling in Germany with a four-in-hand and 
 two spare horses. I met another Briton who had 
 made a tour in a road locomotive which he bought 
 for 700^., and sold again at the same price for 
 India. Neither of these, however, could cross 
 seas, lakes, and rivers like the canoe, which I 
 could take wherever a man could walk or a plank 
 could swim. 
 
 It seemed contrary to nature that, after thus 
 nearing pretty Paris, one's back was now to be 
 turned upon it for hours in order to have a wide, 
 vague, purposeless voyage into country parts. But 
 the river willed it so ; for here a great curve began 
 and led off to the left, while the traffic of the 
 
286 ROUND AND ROUND. 
 
 Marne went straight through a canal to the right, 
 through a canal, and therefore I would not 
 follow it there. 
 
 The river got less and less in volume ; its water 
 was used for the canal, and it could scarcely 
 trickle, with its maimed strength, through a 
 spacious sweep of real country life. Here I often 
 got grounded, got entangled in long mossy weeds, 
 got fastened in overhanging trees, and, in fact, 
 suffered all the evils which the smallest brook had 
 ever entailed, though this was a mighty river. 
 
 The bend was more and more inexplicable, as it 
 turned more round and round, till my face was 
 full in the sunlight at noon, and I saw that the 
 course was now due south. 
 
 Rustics were there to look at me, and wonder- 
 ing herdsmen too, as if the boat was in mid 
 Germany, instead of being close to Paris. Evi- 
 dently boating men in that quarter never came 
 here by the river, and the Rob Roy was a rara 
 avis floating on a stream unused. 
 
 But the circle was rounded at last, as all circles 
 are, however large they be ; and we got back to 
 the common route, to civilization, fishing men 
 and fishing women, and on the broad Marne once 
 more. So here I stopped a bit for a ponder. 
 
 And now we unmoor for the last time, and 
 enter the Rob Roy for its final trip the last few 
 
DREAM ON A BANK. 287 
 
 miles of the Marne, and of more than a thousand 
 miles rowed and sailed since we started from 
 England. I will not disguise my feeling of 
 sadness then, and I wished that Paris was still 
 another day distant. 
 
 For this journey in a canoe has been interest- 
 ing, agreeable, and useful, though its incidents 
 may not be realized by reading what has now 
 been described. The sensation of novelty, free- 
 dom, health, and variety all day and every day 
 was what cannot be recited. The close acquaint- 
 ance with the people of strange lands, and the 
 constant observation of nature around, and the 
 unremitting attention necessary for progress, all 
 combine to make a voyage of this sort improving 
 to the mind thus kept alert, while the body 
 thoroughly enjoys life when regular hard exercise 
 in the open air dissipates the lethargy of these 
 warmer climes. 
 
 These were my thoughts as I came to the Seine 
 and found a cool bank to lie upon under the trees, 
 with my boat gently rocking in the ripples of the 
 stream below, and the nearer sound of a great 
 city telling that Paris was at hand. " Here/' 
 said I, " and now is my last hour of life savage 
 and free. Sunny days; alone, but not solitary; 
 worked, but not weary " as in a dream the 
 things, places, and men I had seen floated before 
 
288 ON THE SEINE. 
 
 my eyes half closed. The panorama was wide, 
 and fair to the mind's eye; but it had a tale 
 always the same as it went quickly past that 
 vacation was over, and work must begin. Up, 
 then, for this is not a life of mere enjoyment. 
 Again into the harness of "polite society," the 
 hat, the collar, the braces, the gloves, the waist- 
 coat, the latch-key perhaps, the razor certainly 
 the umbrella! How every joint and limb will 
 rebel against these manacles, but they must be 
 endured ! 
 
 The gradual approach to Paris by gliding down 
 the Seine was altogether a new sensation. By 
 diligence, railway, or steamer, you have nothing 
 like it not certainly by walking into Paris along 
 a dusty road. 
 
 For now I was smoothly carried on a wide and 
 winding river, with nothing to do but to look and 
 to listen while the splendid panorama majestically 
 unfolds. Yillas thicken, gardens get smaller as 
 houses are closer, trees get fewer as walls in- 
 crease. Barges line the banks, commerce and its 
 movement, luxury and its adornments, spires and 
 cupolas grow out of the dim horizon, and then 
 bridges seem to float towards me, and the hum of 
 life gets deeper and busier, while the pretty little 
 tinkling sound of the river waters yields to the 
 roar of traffic, and to that indescribable thrill 
 
ALMOST OVER. 289 
 
 which throbs in the air around this the capital of 
 the Continent, the centre of the politics, the focus 
 of the pleasure and splendour of the world. 
 
 In passing the island at Notre Dame I for- 
 tunately took the proper side, but even then I 
 found a very awkward rush of water under the 
 bridges. This was caused by the extreme low- 
 ness of the river, which on this very day was 
 three feet lower than in the memory of man. 
 The fall over each barrier, though wide enough, 
 was so shallow that I saw at the last bridge the 
 crowd above me evidently calculated upon my 
 being upset; and they were nearly right too. 
 The absence of other boats showed me (now 
 experienced in such omens) that some great 
 difficulty was at hand, but I also remarked that 
 by far the greater number of observers had col- 
 lected over one particular arch, where at first 
 there seemed to be the very worst chance for 
 getting through. By logical deduction I argued, 
 " that must be the best arch, after all, for they 
 evidently expect I will try it," and, with a horrid 
 presentiment that my first upset was to be at my 
 last bridge, I boldly dashed forward whirl, whirl 
 the waves, and grate, grate my iron keel ; but I 
 am through, and a rewarding Bravo ! from the 
 Frenchmen above is answered by a British " All 
 right " from below 
 
 u 
 
290 NO ADMITTANCE. 
 
 No town was so hard to find a place for the 
 canoe in as the bright, gay Paris. I went to the 
 floating baths ; they would not have me. I 
 paddled to the funny old ship ; they shook their 
 heads. I tried a coal wharf; but they were only 
 civil there. Even the worthy washerwomen, 
 my quondam friends, were altogether callous now 
 about a harbour for the canoe. 
 
 In desperation I paddled to a bath which was 
 getting repaired, but when my boat rounded the 
 corner it was met by a volley of abuse from the 
 proprietor for disturbing his fishing ; he was just 
 in the act of expecting the final bite of a goujon. 
 
 Eelenting as I apologized and told the Rob 
 Roy's tale, he housed her there for the night ; and 
 I shouldered my luggage and wended my way to 
 an hotel. 
 
 Here is Meurice's, with the homeward tide of 
 Britons from every alp and cave of Europe flow- 
 ing through its salons. Here are the gay streets, 
 too white to be looked at in the sun, and -the 
 penny poupee theatres under the trees, and the dan- 
 dies driving so stiff in hired carriages, and the 
 dapper, little soldiers, and the gilded cafes. 
 
 Yes, it is Paris and more brilliant than ever ! 
 
 I faintly tried to hope, but pray pardon me 
 
 utterly failed to believe that any person there 
 
 had enjoyed his summer months with such exces- 
 
SAFE HOME. 
 
 291 
 
 sive delight as the captain, the purser, the ship's 
 cook, and cabin boy of the Rob Roy canoe. 
 
 Eight francs take the boat by rail to Calais. 
 Two shillings take her thence to Dover. The 
 railway takes her free to Charing Cross, and 
 there two porters put her in the Thames again. 
 
 A flowing tide, on a sunny evening, bears her 
 fast and cheerily straight to Searle's, there to 
 debark the Rob Roy's cargo safe and sound and 
 thankful, and to plant once more upon the shore 
 of old England 
 
 The flag that braved a thousand miles, 
 The rapid and the snag. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 FOR CANOISTS. 
 
 THOSE who intend to make a river voyage on the 
 Continent and already several canoes are on the 
 stocks for this purpose will probably feel interested 
 in some of the following information, while other 
 readers of the foregoing pages may be indulgent 
 enough to excuse the relation of a few particulars 
 and technical details. 
 
 It is proposed, then, to give, first, a description of 
 the canoe considered to be most suitable for a voyage 
 of this sort after experience has aided in modifying 
 the dimensions of the boat already used ; second, an 
 inventory of the cargo or luggage of the Rob Hoy, 
 with remarks on the subject, for the guidance of 
 future passengers. 
 
 Next there will be found some notes upon currents 
 in broken water j and lastly, some miscellaneous obser- 
 vations upon various points. 
 
 Although the Hob Roy and its luggage were not 
 prepared until after much cogitation, it is well that 
 intending canoists should have the benefit of what 
 
294 APPENDIX. 
 
 experience has since proved as to the faults and virtues 
 of the arrangements devised for a first trip, after these 
 have been thoroughly tasted in so pleasant a tour. 
 
 The best dimensions for the canoe appear to be 
 length, 1 3 feet ; beam, 2 feet 2 inches ; depth outside, 
 from keel to deck, 9 inches ; camber, 2 inches ; keel, 
 1 inch, with a strip of iron, half an inch broad, care- 
 fully secured all the way below, and a copper strip up 
 the stem and stern posts, and round the top of each of 
 them. The opening in the deck should be 4 feet long 
 (at most) and 20 inches wide, with a strong combing 
 all round, but not more than 1 inch high. This 
 opening should be semicircular at the ends, both for 
 appearance sake and strength and convenience, so as 
 to avoid corners. The macintosh sheet to cover this 
 must be strong, to resist constant wear, light coloured, 
 for the sun's heat, and so attached as to be readily 
 loosened and made fast again, say 20 times a day. 
 A water-tight compartment in the hull is a mistake. 
 Its partition prevents access to breakages within, and 
 arrests the circulation of air, and it cannot be kept 
 long perfectly staunch. There should be extra timbers 
 near the seat. The canoe must be so constructed as 
 to endure without injury, (1) to be lifted by any part 
 whatever ; (2) to be rested on any part ; (3) to be sat 
 upon while aground, on any part of the deck, the 
 combing, and the interior. 
 
 Wheels for transport have been often suggested, 
 but they would be useless. On plain ground or grass 
 you can readily do without them. On rocks and 
 rough ground, or over ditches and through hedges, 
 
APPENDIX. 295 
 
 wheels could not be employed, or would be in the 
 way. Bilge pieces are not required. Strength must 
 be had without them, and their projection seriously 
 complicates the difficulties of pushing the boat over a 
 pointed rock, both when afloat and when ashore. 
 
 The paddle should be 7 feet long (not more), strong, 
 with both ends rounded, thick, and banded with copper. 
 There should be conical cups to catch the dribbling 
 water, and, if possible, some plan (not yet devised) for 
 preventing or arresting the drops from the paddle 
 ends, which fall on the deck when you paddle slowly, 
 and when there is not enough centrifugal force to 
 throw this water away from the boat. Painter of 
 best flexible rope, not tarred, well able to bear 2001b. 
 weight ; more than 20 feet is a constant encumbrance. 
 Ends secured through a hole in stem post and another 
 in stern post (so that either or both can be readily cast 
 off), the slack coiled on deck behind you. 
 
 There should be a back support of two wooden 
 slips, each 15 inches by 3 inches, placed like the side 
 strokes of the letter H, and an inch apart, but laced 
 together with cord. Rest them against the edge of 
 the combing, and so as to be free to yield to the motion 
 of the back at each stroke, without hurting the spine. 
 If made fast so as always to project, they are much in 
 the way of the painter in critical times. They may 
 be hinged below so as to fold down as you get out. 
 
 The mast should be 5 feet long, strong enough to 
 stand gales without stays, stepped just forward of the 
 stretcher, and so as to be struck without your rising 
 when in a squall, or when nearing trees, or a bridge, 
 
296 APPENDIX. 
 
 barrier, ferry-rope, bank, or waterfall, or going 
 aground. 
 
 The sail, if a lug, should have a fore leach of 4 feet, 
 a head of 3 feet 6 inches, and a foot of 4 feet 6 inches ; 
 yard and boom of bamboo. 
 
 The boat can well stand more sail than this at sea, 
 or in lakes and broad channels, but the foregoing size 
 for a lug is quite large enough to manage in stiff 
 breezes and in narrow rocky tortuous rivers. 
 
 A spritsail, on the whole, would be better as en- 
 abling more canvas to be carried, while it can be reduced 
 at once to a leg of mutton sail by dropping the sprit 
 in a gale. 
 
 The material of the sail should be strong cotton, 
 in one piece, without any eyelet or hole whatever, but 
 with a broad hem, enclosing well-stretched cord all 
 round. A jib is of little use as a sail. It is apt to 
 get aback in sudden turns. Besides, you must land to 
 set it or to take in its outhaul, so as to be quite snug. 
 But the jib does well to tie on the shoulders when 
 they are turned to a fierce sun. The sails (with the 
 booms or yards) should be rolled up round the mast 
 compactly, to be stowed away forward, so that the end 
 of the mast resting on the stretcher will keep the roll 
 of sails out of the wet. The flag and its staff when 
 not fast at the mast-head should fit into the mast-step, 
 and should be light, so as not to sink if it falls over- 
 board, as one of mine did. 
 
 The floor-boards should be strong, and easily de- 
 tachable, so that one of them can be at once used as 
 a paddle if that falls overboard. 
 
APPENDIX. 297 
 
 The stretcher should have only one length, and let 
 this be carefully determined after trial before starting. 
 The two sides of its foot-board should be high and 
 broad, while the middle may be cut down to let the 
 hand get to the mast. The stretcher should, of course, 
 be moveable, in order that you may lie down with the 
 legs at full length for repose. 
 
 One brass cleat for belaying the halyard should be 
 on deck, about the middle, and on the right-hand side. 
 A stud on the other side, and this cleat will do to 
 make one turn of the sheet round on either tack. 
 
 LIST OF STORES ON BOARD THE ROB ROY. 
 
 1. Useful Stores. Paddle, painter (31 feet at first, 
 but cut down to 20 feet), sponge, waterproof cover, 
 5 feet by 2 feet 3 inches, silk blue union jack, 10 inches 
 by 8 inches, on a staff 2 feet long. Mast, boom, and 
 yard. Lug sail, jib, and spare jib (used as a sun shawl). 
 Stretcher, two back boards, floor boards, basket to sit on 
 (12 inches by 6 inches, by 1 inch deep), and holding a 
 macintosh coat. For repairs iron and brass screws, 
 sheet copper and copper nails, putty and whitelead, a 
 gimlet, cord, string, and thread, a spare button, needle, 
 and pins, canvas wading shoes (wooden clogs would be 
 better) ; all the above should be left with the boat. 
 Black bag for luggage, closed by three buttons, and 
 with shoulder-strap, size, 12 inches by 12 inches, by 
 5 inches deep (just right). Flannel Norfolk jacket 
 
298 APPENDIX. 
 
 (flaps not too long, else they dip in the water, or the 
 pockets are inverted in getting out and in); wide 
 flannel trousers, with broad back buckle, second 
 trousers with belt (braces are better on shore). Flannel 
 shirt on, and another for shore. Thin alpaca black 
 Sunday coat, thick waistcoat, black leather light-soled 
 spring-sided shoes (should be stronger for rocks and 
 village pavements), straw hat, cloth cap (only used as 
 a bag), 2 collars, 3 pocket handkerchiefs, ribbon tie, 
 2 pair of cotton socks (easily got oif for sudden wading, 
 and drying quickly when put on deck in the sun). 
 Brush, comb, and tooth-brush. Testament, passport 
 (scarcely needed after this winter), leather purse, circular 
 notes, small change in silver and copper for frequent 
 use, blue spectacles in strong case, book for journal 
 and sketches, black, blue, and red chalk, and steel 
 pen. Maps, cutting off a six inch square at a time for 
 pocket reference. Pipe, tobacco-case, and light-box 
 (metal, to resist moisture from without and within), 
 guide books and pleasant evening reading book, you 
 should cut off covers and all useless pages of these, 
 and every page as read. No needless weight should 
 be carried hundreds of miles ; even a fly settling on 
 the boat must be refused a free passage. Illustrated 
 papers, tracts, and anecdotes in French and German 
 for Sunday reading and daily distribution (far too few 
 had been taken, they were always well received). 
 Box of " Gregory's Mixture," sticking plaister, small 
 knife, and pencil. 
 
 2. Useless Articles. Boathook, undervest, water- 
 proof helmet ventilated cap, foreign conversation books, 
 
APPENDIX. 299 
 
 glass seltzer bottle and patent cork (for a drinking 
 flask), tweezers for thorns. 
 
 3. Lost or Stolen Articles. Bag for back cushion, 
 waterproof bag for sitting cushion, long knife, necktie, 
 woven waistcoat, box of quinine, steel-hafted knife. 
 These, except the last of them, were not missed. I 
 bought another thick waistcoat from a Jew. 
 
 HOCKS AND CURRENTS. 
 
 A few remarks may now be made upon the princi- 
 pal cases in which rocks and currents have to be dealt 
 with by the canoist. 
 
 Even if rules could be laid down for the management 
 of a boat in the difficult parts of a river, it would not 
 be made easier until practice has given the boatman 
 that quick judgment as to their application which has 
 to be acquired in this and other athletic exercises, such 
 as riding, skating, and even in walking. 
 
 It is only, therefore, as a subject of interest, and not 
 by way of directions or instruction, that the following 
 observations are here given; but the canoist who 
 passes many hours every day for months together in 
 the earnest consideration of the river problems always 
 set before him for solution will probably feel some 
 interest in this attempt to classify those that occur 
 most frequently. 
 
 Steering a boat in a current among rocks is not 
 unlike walking on a crowded pavement, where the 
 
300 APPENDIX. 
 
 other passengers are going in various directions, and at 
 various speeds ; and this operation of " threading your 
 way " requires a great deal of practice, and not a few 
 lessons learned in collisions, to make a pedestrian 
 thoroughly au fait as a good man in a crowd. After 
 years of walking through crowds, there is produced by 
 an education of the mind and training of the body a 
 certain power not possessed by a novice which in- 
 sensibly directs a man in his course and his speed, but 
 still his judgment has had to take cognizance of many 
 varying data in the movements of other people which 
 must have their effect upon each step he takes. 
 
 After this capacity becomes, as it were, instinctive, 
 or, at any rate, acts almost involuntarily, a man can 
 walk briskly along Fleet-street, and, without any 
 distinct thought about other people, or about his own 
 progress, he will safely get to his journey's end. In- 
 deed, if he does begin to think of rules or how to 
 apply them systematically, he is then almost sure to 
 knock up against somebody else. Nay, if two men 
 meet as they walk through a crowd, and each of them 
 " catches the eye " of the other, they will probably 
 cease to move instinctively, and, with uncertain data 
 to reason from, a collision is often the result. 
 
 As the descent of a current among rocks resembles 
 the walk along the pavement through a crowd, so the 
 passage across a rapid is even more strictly in resem- 
 blance with the course of a man who has to cross a 
 street where vehicles are passing at uncertain intervals 
 and at various speeds, though all in the same direction. 
 For it is plain that the thing to be done is nearly the 
 
APPENDIX. 301 
 
 same, whether the obstacles (as breakers) are fixed and 
 the current carries you towards them, or the obstacles 
 (as cabs and carts) are moving, while you have to walk 
 through them on terra firma. 
 
 To cross Park-lane at four o'clock p.m. requires the 
 very same sort of calculation as the passage across a 
 rapid on the Rhine. 
 
 The importance of this subject will be considered 
 sufficient to justify these remarks when the canoist has 
 by much practice at last attained to that desirable pro- 
 ficiency which enables him to steer without thinking 
 about it, and therefore to enjoy the conversation of 
 others or the scenery on the bank, while he is rapidly 
 speeding through rocks, eddies, and currents. 
 
 We may divide the rocks thus encountered into two 
 classes (1) Those that are sunk, so that the boat can 
 perhaps float over them, and the direction of the 
 current is not altered. (2) Those that are breakers, 
 and so deflect the direction of the current, and do not 
 allow the boat to float over them. 
 
 The currents may be divided into (1) Those that 
 are equable in force, and in the same direction through 
 the course to be steered. (2) Those that alter their 
 direction in a part of that course. 
 
 In the problems before the canoist will be found the 
 combinations of every degree and variety of these 
 rocks and currents, but the actual circumstances he 
 has to deal with at any specified moment may it is 
 believed be generally ranged under one or other of 
 the six cases depicted in the accompanying woodcut. 
 
 In each of the figures in the diagram the current is 
 
302 APPENDIX. 
 
 supposed to run towards the top of the page, and the 
 general course of the canoe is supposed to be with the 
 current. The particular direction of the current is 
 indicated by the dotted lines. The rocks when 
 shaded are supposed to be sunk, and when not 
 shaded they are breakers. 
 
 Thus the current is uniform in figs. 1, 2, 3 ; and it 
 is otherwise in figs. 4, 5, 6. The rocks are all sunk in 
 figs. 1, 2, 3, and 5 ; whereas in figs. 4 and 6 there are 
 breakers. The simplest case that can occur is when 
 the canoe is merely floating without " way " through a 
 current, and the current bears it near a rock. If this 
 be a breaker, the current, being deflected, will gene- 
 rally carry the boat to one side. The steering in such 
 cases is so easy, and its frequent occurrence gives so 
 much practice, that no more need be said about it. 
 
 But if the rock be a sunk rock, and if it is not quite 
 plain from the appearance of the water that there is 
 depth enough over the rock to float the boat, then it is 
 necessary to pass either above the rock, as in fig. 1, or 
 below it, as in fig. 2. The black line in these figures, 
 and in all the others, shows the proper course of the 
 centre of the boat, and it is well to habituate oneself to 
 make the course such as that this line shall never be 
 nearer to the rock than one-half of the boat's length. 
 
 A few days' practice is not thrown away if the 
 canoist seizes every opportunity of performing feats 
 under easy circumstances which may at other times 
 have to be done under necessity, and which would not 
 then be so well done if attempted then for the first 
 time. 
 
304 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 FIG. 4-. 
 
 FIG. 2. 
 
 FIG. 5 
 
APPENDIX. 305 
 
 Let him, therefore, become adept in crossing above 
 or below a single sunk rock with his boat's bow pointed 
 to any cmgle of the semicircle before him. 
 
 Next we have to consider the cases in which more 
 than one rock will have to be avoided. However 
 great the number of the rocks may be, they can be 
 divided into sets of three, and in each of the figures 
 3, 4, 5, 6 it is supposed that (for reasons which may be 
 different in each case, but always sufficient) the canoe 
 has to pass between rocks A and B, and then between 
 B and 0, but must not pass otherwise between A 
 and C. 
 
 In fig. 3 the course is below B y and above <?, being 
 a combination of the instance in fig. 2 with that in 
 fig. 1. 
 
 The precise angle to the line of the course which 
 the boat's longer axis ought to have will depend upon 
 what is to be done next after passing between B 
 and (7, and hence the importance of being able to 
 effect the passages in fig. 1 and fig. 2 with the boat at 
 any required angle. 
 
 We may next suppose that one of the three rocks, 
 say J5, is a breaker which will deflect the current (as 
 indicated by the dotted stream lines) so as to modify 
 the angle of the boat's axis, though the boat's centre, 
 as in fig. 4, has to be kept in the same course as 
 before. 
 
 It will be seen at once that if A were a breaker the 
 
 angle would be influenced in another manner, and 
 
 that if C were a breaker the angle at which the boat 
 
 should emerge from the group of rocks would be 
 
 x 
 
306 APPENDIX. 
 
 influenced by the stream from C also ; but it is only 
 necessary to remind the reader that all the combina- 
 tions and permutations of breakers and sunk rocks 
 need not be separately discussed, they may be met 
 by the experience obtained in one case of each class of 
 circumstances. 
 
 Fig. 5 represents a circular current in the group 
 of three rocks. This is a very deceptive case, for it 
 looks so easy that at first it is likely to be treated care- 
 lessly. If the boat were supposed to be a substance 
 floating, but without weight, it would have its direction 
 of motion instantly altered by that of the current. But 
 the boat has weight, and as it has velocity (that 
 of the current even if it is not urged also by the paddle 
 so as to have " way" through the water), therefore it 
 will have momentum,, and the tendency will be to con- 
 tinue in a straight line, instead of a curve guided solely 
 by the current. In all these cases, therefore, it will 
 be found (sometimes inexplicably unless with these 
 considerations) that the boat insists upon passing 
 between A and (7, where it must not be allowed to 
 go, on the hypothesis we have started with ; and where 
 it effects a compromise by running upon (7, this is by 
 no means satisfactory. 
 
 This class of cases includes all those where the river 
 makes a quick turn round a rock or a tongue B, where 
 the boundary formed by the rock A and the outer 
 bend of the stream is a solid bank, or a fringe of 
 growing trees, or of faggots artificially built as a pro- 
 tection against the erosion of the water. This case 
 occurs, therefore, very frequently in some fast rivers, 
 
APPENDIX. 307 
 
 say, at least, a hundred times in a day's work, and 
 perhaps no test of a man's experience and capacity as 
 a canoist is more decisive than his manner of steering 
 round a fast, sharp bend. 
 
 The tendency in such cases is always to bring the 
 boat round by paddling forward with the outer hand, 
 thereby adding to the " way," and making the force 
 of the current in its circular turn less powerful rela- 
 tively. "Whereas, the proper plan is to back with the 
 inner hand, and so to stop all way in the direction of 
 the boat's length, and to give the current its full force 
 on the boat. 
 
 The case we have now remarked upon is made easier 
 if either A or C is a breaker, but it is very much in- 
 creased in difficulty if the rock B is a breaker or is a 
 strong tongue of bank, and so deflects the current out- 
 ward at this critical point. 
 
 The difficulty is often increased by the fact that the 
 water inside of the curve of the stream may be shoal, 
 and so the paddle on that side strikes the bottom or 
 grinds along it in backing. 
 
 When the curve is all in deep water, and there is a 
 pool after , the boat ought not to be turned too 
 quickly in endeavouring to avoid the rock C, else it 
 will sometimes then enter the eddy below , which 
 runs up stream sometimes for fifty yards. Again, the 
 absurd position you are thereby thrown into naturally 
 causes you to struggle to resist or stem this current ; 
 but I have found, after repeated trials of every plan I 
 could think of, that it is best to let the boat swing 
 with the eddy so as to make an entire circuit, until 
 
308 APPENDIX. 
 
 the bow can come back towards B (and below it), 
 when the nose of the boat may be thrust into the main 
 stream, which then will now turn the boat round again 
 to its proper course. Much time and labour may be 
 spent uselessly in a wrong contest with an eddy. 
 
 In fig. 6, where the three rocks are in a straight 
 line, and the middle one is a breaker, an instance is 
 given when the proper course must be kept by 
 backing during the first part of it. 
 
 We must suppose, then, that the canoist has attained 
 the power of backing with perfect ease, and this is 
 quite necessary if he intends to take his boat safely 
 through several hundred combinations of sunk rocks 
 and breakers. Presuming this, the case in fig. 6 will 
 be easy enough, though a little reflection will show 
 that it might be very difficult, or almost impossible, 
 if it is in the power of the canoist to give only a 
 forward motion to the boat. 
 
 To pass most artistically, then, through the group 
 of rocks in fig. 6 the stern should be turned towards 
 A, as shown in the diagram, and the passage across 
 the current, between A and JB, is to be effected solely 
 by backing water (and chiefly in this case with the 
 left hand) until the farthest point of the right of the 
 curve is reached, with the boat's length still as before 
 in the position represented in the figure. Then the 
 forward action of both hands will take the canoe 
 speedily through the passage between E and C. 
 
 Cases of this sort are rendered more difficult by the 
 distance of C from the point above -4, where you are 
 situated when the decision has to be made (and in 
 
APPENDIX. 309 
 
 three instants of time) as to what must be done ; also, 
 it would usually be imprudent to rise in the boat in 
 such a place to survey the rock C from a nearer 
 position. 
 
 If it is evident that the plan described above will 
 not be applicable, because other and future circum- 
 stances require the boat's bow to emerge in the oppo- 
 site direction (pointing to the right), then you must 
 enter forwards, and must back between and (7, so as 
 to be ready, after passing C, to drive forward, and to 
 the right. It is plain that this is very much more 
 difficult than the former plan, for your backing now 
 has to be done against the full stream from the 
 breaker JB. 
 
 In all these cases the action of the wind has been 
 entirely omitted from consideration, but it must not 
 be forgotten that a strong breeze materially complicates 
 the problem before the canoist. This is especially so 
 when the wind is aft ; when it is ahead you are not 
 likely to forget its presence. A strong fair wind that 
 has scarcely been felt with your back to it, and the 
 swift stream and the boat's speed from paddling all 
 in one direction, will suddenly become a new element 
 in the case when you try to cross above a rock as in 
 fig. 1, and find the wind carries you broadside on 
 against all your calculations. 
 
 Nor have I any observations to make as to sailing 
 among rocks in a current. The canoe would of course 
 be directed solely by the paddle in a long rapid, and in 
 the other places the course to be steered by a boat 
 sailing would be the same as if it were being merely 
 
310 APPENDIX. 
 
 paddled, though the action of the wind has to be care- 
 fully taken into consideration when the manner of 
 keeping to the course has to be devised. In all these 
 things boldness and skill come only after a few lessons 
 of experience, and the canoist will find himself ready 
 and able, at the end of his voyage, to sail down a rapid 
 which he would have approached timidly, with the 
 paddle, at the beginning. 
 
 But perhaps enough has been said for the expe- 
 rienced oarsman, while surely more than enough has 
 been said to show the tyro aspirant the varied work 
 he has to do, and the boundless field of interesting 
 circumstances which will occupy his attention on a 
 delightful river tour. 
 
 The following notes are on miscellaneous points : 
 
 (a) We are sometimes asked about such a voyage as 
 this, "Is it not very dangerous ? " There seems to me 
 to be no necessary danger in the descent of a river in a 
 canoe. If it is desired to make it as safe as possible 
 you must get out at each difficult place and examine 
 the course, and if the course is too difficult you may 
 take the boat past the danger by land. 
 
 But if the excitement and novelty of finding 
 out a course in the spur of the moment is to be 
 enjoyed, then, no doubt, there is more danger to the 
 boat. 
 
 As for danger to the canoist, it is supposed, 
 imprimis, that he is well able to swim, not only in 
 a bath when stripped, but when unexpectedly thrown 
 
APPENDIX. 311 
 
 into the water with his clothes on, and that he knows 
 he can rely on this capacity. 
 
 If this be so, the chief danger to him occurs when 
 he meets a steamer on water (rare enough on such 
 a tour) ; for if he is upset by it, and his head is broken 
 by the paddle floats, the swimming powers are futile 
 for safety. 
 
 The danger incurred by the boat is certainly both 
 considerable and frequent, but nothing short of the 
 persuasion that the boat would be smashed if a great 
 exertion is not made would incite the canoist to those 
 very exertions which are the charm of travelling, 
 when spirit, strength, and skill are to be proved. 
 Men have their various lines of exercise as they have 
 of duty. The huntsman may not understand the 
 pleasures of a rapid, nor the boatman care for the 
 delights of a "bullfinch." Certainly, however, the 
 waterman can say that a good horse may carry a bad 
 rider well, but that the best boat will not take a bad 
 boatman through a mile of broken water. In each 
 case there is, perhaps, a little of populus me sibilat, 
 and it may be made up for by a good deal of at mihi 
 plaudo. 
 
 (b) It has been said that the constant use of a canoe 
 paddle must contract the chest, but this is certainly a 
 mistake. If, indeed, you merely dabble each blade of 
 the paddle in the water without taking the full length 
 of the stroke the shoulders are not thrown back, and the 
 effect will be injurious ; but exactly the same is true if 
 you scull or row with a short jerky stroke. 
 
 In a proper use of the paddle the arms ought to be 
 
312 APPENDIX. 
 
 in turn fully extended, and then brought well back, so 
 that the hand touches the side, and the chest is then 
 well plied in both directions. 
 
 In using the single-bladed paddle, of which I have 
 had experience in Canada and New Brunswick with 
 the Indians in bark canoes and log canoes, there seems 
 to be a less beneficial action on the pectoral muscles, 
 but after three months' use of the double paddle I 
 found the arms much strengthened, while clothes that 
 fitted before were all too narrow round the breast 
 when put on after this exercise. 
 
 (c) In shallow water the paddle should be clasped 
 lightly, so that if it strikes the bottom or a rock the 
 hand will yield and not the blade be broken. 
 
 Great caution should be used in placing the blade in 
 advance when it is meant to meet a rock, or even a 
 gravel bank, otherwise it gets jammed in the rock or 
 gravel, or the boat overrides it. 
 
 It is better in such a case to retard the speed by 
 dragging the paddle (tenderly), and always with its 
 flat side downwards, so that the edge does not get 
 nipped. 
 
 (df) M. Farcot, a French engineer, has lately exhibited 
 on the Thames a boat which is rowed by the oarsman 
 sitting with his face to the bow, and thus securing 
 one of the advantages of the canoe that of seeing 
 where you are going. 
 
 To effect this, a short prop or mast about three feet 
 high is fixed in the boat, and the two sculls are joined 
 to this by their handles, while their weight is partly 
 sustained by a strong spiral spring acting near the 
 
APPENDIX. 313 
 
 joint, and in such a manner as to keep the blade of the 
 scull a few inches from the surface of the water when 
 it is not pressed down purposely. 
 
 The sculler then sits with his face towards the mast 
 and the bow, and he holds in each hand a rod jointed 
 to the loom of the corresponding scull. By this means 
 each scull is moved on the mast as a fulcrum with the 
 power applied between it and the water. The opera- 
 tion of feathering is partially performed, and to facili- 
 tate this there is an ingeniously contrived guide. 
 
 This invention appears to be new, but it is evident 
 that the plan retains many of the disadvantages of 
 common sculls, and it leaves the double paddle quite 
 alone as a simple means for propelling a canoe in 
 narrow or tortuous channels, or where it has to meet 
 waves, weeds, rocks, or trees. 
 
 However, the muscular power of the arms can be 
 applied with good effect in this manner, and I found it 
 not very difficult to learn the use of this new rowing 
 apparatus, which is undoubtedly very ingenious, and 
 deserves a full trial before a verdict is pronounced. 
 
 (e) In a difficult place where the boat is evidently 
 going too near a rock, the disposition of the canoist is to 
 change the direction by a forward stroke on one side, 
 but this adds to the force with which a collision may be 
 invested. It is often better to back a stroke on the other 
 side, and thus to lessen this force ; and this is nearly 
 always possible to be done even when the boat appears 
 to be simply drifting on the stream. In fact, as a 
 maxim, there is always steerage way sufficient to en- 
 able the paddle to be used exactly as a rudder. 
 Y 
 
314 APPENDIX. 
 
 (/) When there is a brilliant glare of the sun, and it 
 is low, and directly in front, and it is impossible to bear 
 its reflection on the water, a good plan is to direct the 
 bow to some point you are to steer for, and then ob- 
 serve the reflection of the sun on the cedar deck of the 
 boat. Having done this you may lower the peak of 
 your hat so as to cut off the direct rays of the sun, and 
 its reflected rays on the water, while you steer simply 
 by the light on the deck. 
 
 (g) When a .great current moves across a river to a 
 point where it seems very unlikely to have an exit, you 
 may be certain that some unusual conformation of the 
 banks or of the river bed will be found there, and 
 caution should be used in approaching the place. 
 
 This, however, is less necessary when the river is 
 deep. Cross currents of this sort are frequent on the 
 Rhine, but they result merely from un evenness in the 
 bottom far below. 
 
 (h) The ripple and bubbles among weeds are so totally 
 different from those on free water that their appearance 
 at a distance as a criterion of the depth, current, and 
 direction of the channel must be learned separately. 
 In general, where weeds are under water, and can 
 sway or wave about, there will be water enough to 
 pass. Backing up stream against long weeds is so 
 troublesome, and so sure to sway the stern round 
 athwart stream, that it is best to force the boat for- 
 ward instead, even if you have to get out and pull her 
 through. 
 
 (i) Paddling through rushes, or flags, or other plants 
 ajbove the water, so as to cut of a corner, is a mistake. 
 
APPENDIX. 315 
 
 Much more " way " is lost by the friction than might 
 be supposed. 
 
 (j) The hard exercise of canoe paddling, the open-air 
 motion, constant working of the muscles about the 
 stomach, and free perspiration result in good appetite 
 and pleasant sleepiness at night. But at the end of 
 the voyage the change of diet and cessation of exercise 
 will be apt to cause derangement in the whole system, 
 and especially in the digestion, if the high condition or 
 " training " be not cautiously lowered into the hum- 
 drum " constitutionals " of more ordinary life. Still I 
 have found it very agreeable to take a paddle in the 
 Rob Roy up to Hammersmith and back even in 
 December. 
 
 (k) Other pleasant voyages may be suggested for the 
 holiday of the canoist. One of these might begin with 
 the Thames, and then down the Severn, along the 
 north coast of Devon, and so by the river Dart to 
 Plymouth. Another on the Solent, and round the 
 Isle of Wight. The Dee might be descended by the 
 canoe, and then to the left through the Menai Straits. 
 Or a longer trip may be made from Edinburgh by the 
 Forth, and into the Clyde, and through the Kyles of 
 Bute to Oban j then along the Caledonian Canal, until 
 the voyager can get into the Tay for a swift run 
 eastward. 
 
 But why not begin at Gothenburg and pass through 
 the pretty lakes of Sweden to Stockholm, and then 
 skirt the archipelago of green isles in the Gulf of 
 Bothnia, until you get to Petersburg ? 
 
 For one or other of such tours a fishing-rod and an 
 
316 APPENDIX. 
 
 air rifle, and for all of them a little dog, would be a 
 great addition to the outfit. 
 
 In some breezy lake of these perhaps, or some rush- 
 ing river, the little Hob Roy may hope to meet the 
 reader's canoe ; and when the sun is setting, and the 
 waters sparkle sleepily, the pleasures of the paddle will 
 be known far better than they have been told by the 
 pen. 
 
 C. A. Macintosh, Printer, Great New-street, London. 
 

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