Sun.—When there is a brilliant glare of the sun, and it is low, and directly in front, and the eyes are dazzled by its reflection on the water, a good plan is to direct the bow to some point you are to steer for, and then observe 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.
Caution.—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.
Weeds.—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—the requisite three inches. 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 forward instead, even if you have to get out and pull her through. Paddling through rushes, or flags, or other plants, so as to cut off a corner, is a mistake. Much more “way” is lost then by the friction than might be supposed.
Stores on the Rob Roy.—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 two feet long. Mast, boom, and yard. Lug sail, jib, and spare jib (used as a sun shawl). Stretcher, two back boards, floor-boards, basket holding a mackintosh coat. For repairs—iron and brass screws, sheet copper and copper nails, putty and whitelead, a gimlet, cord, string, and thread, one spare button, needle, pins, canvas wading shoes (wooden clogs would be better); all the above should be left with the boat. Black bag for 3 months’ luggage, size, 12 inches by 12 inches, by 5 inches deep (just right), closed by three buttons, and with shoulder-strap. Flannel Norfolk jacket (flaps not too long, else they dip in the water, or the pockets are inverted in getting out and in); wide flannel trousers, gathered by a broad back buckle belt, second trousers for shore should have braces, but in the boat the back buttons are in the way. Flannel shirt on, and another for shore. Before me while writing this there are 21 various head covers used in different tours, but for boating the straw hat is best of all. Thin alpaca black Sunday coat, thick waistcoat, black leather light-soled shoes (should be strong for rocks and village pavements), cloth cap (only used as a bag), 2 collars, 3 pocket handkerchiefs, ribbon tie, 2 pairs of cotton socks (easily got off for sudden wading, and drying quickly on deck). Brush, comb, and tooth-brush. Testament, passport (scarcely needed now), leather purse, large (and full), 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. Guide-books and pleasant evening reading book. Cut off covers and useless pages, 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. Medicine (rhubarb and court plaster), small knife, and pencil.
Rocks and Currents.—Even if a set of 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 patiently acquired in all athletic exercises.
But the canoeist, who passes many hours daily in the consideration of the river problems always set before him, will feel some interest in this attempt to classify those that occur most frequently.
Steering a boat in a current among rocks is like walking on a crowded pavement, where the other passengers are going in various directions, and at various speeds. A great deal of practice, and lessons enforced by collisions, are needed to make a pedestrian au fait in a crowd. But years of walking produce a certain power, which insensibly directs a man in his course and his speed.
After this capacity becomes, as it were, instinctive, a man can walk briskly along Fleet-street at four P.M., and, without any distinct thought about other people, or about his own progress, he can get safe to the end. Indeed, if he does begin to think of rules or how to apply them, he is almost sure to knock up against somebody. 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.
The importance of this subject of “boating instinct” will be considered sufficient to justify these remarks when the canoeist has by much practice at last attained to that desirable proficiency which enables him to steer without thinking about it, and therefore to enjoy the conversation of other people on the bank, or the scenery, while he is rapidly speeding through rocks, eddies, and currents.
As the descent of a current among rocks resembles a walk along the pavement through a crowd, so the passage across a rapid is even more strictly in resemblance 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 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 in the afternoon requires the very same sort of calculation as the passage across the stream in a rapid on the Rhine.