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, 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. 6. Nay, more than this, the covered canoe is far stronger than an open boat, and may be fearlessly dropped head foremost 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 rowingboat, 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, THE ROB ROY ON WHEELS. 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 faithful 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 you can send it home or sell it, and take to the road yourself, or sink into the dull old cushions of the 'Première 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." The ease and cheapness with which the light canoe can be packed upon a railway or steamer, carried overland upon a cart, or borne through the streets of a village when the day's rowing is done, are no small items of advantage. Indeed, on most railways the boat was taken as luggage, as though it were a trunk, without extra charge. Mr. Macgregor's usual mode of procedure was to have his canoe carried as nearly as possible to the head-waters of a river which he wished to explore, and then to row down the current, setting sails upon broad streams and lakes. Thus he struck the Danube at its very source, in a clear spring in the princely gardens at Donauschwingen, and launching his canoe a little below where, two or three brooks having joined, the stream is a few feet broad, he followed it to Ulm, where it has become a great river. Mr. Macgregor's tour was commenced by rowing from London down the Thames to Sheerness, where he had a chance to try his canoe in rough water. Her buoyancy and stability more than equaled his expectations. In the very midst of the waves he managed to rig up mast and sail. Then he sent the canoe by rail to Dover, thence by steamer to Ostend, suppose a Barrister at Law: at all events a gentleman and "muscular Christian" in the best sense of that rather abused phrase; for he paddled his own canoe a thousand miles; took kindly to almost every body and every thing; laid by duly on Sundays, carried religious tracts for gratuitous distribution, and gives to the "Royal National LifeBoat Institution," and to the "Shipwrecked Mariners' Society," the profits of the clever little book in which he narrates the incidents of his summer vacation. The thousand miles of canoeing were performed A CHOKED CHANNEL. upon the British Thames; the German Sam- [ For a three months' cruise the following is bre, Meuse, Rhine, Main, and Danube; the given as a list of "Useful Stores :" Basket to Swiss Reuss, Aar, and Ill; the French Mo- sit on, 12X6X1 inches, holding an India-rubselle, Meurthe, Marne, and Seine; the Ger- ber coat; nails, screws, putty, gimlet, cord, man Lake Titisee; the Swiss lakes Constance, thread, string; buttons, needles, pins; lugUntersee, Zurich, Zug, and Lucerne; half a gage-bag 12X12X5 inches; flannel jacket dozen canals in Belgium and France, and two with short flaps, two pairs of flannel trowsers, expeditions in the open sea of the British Chan- two flannel shirts, one on the person, the other nel. Mr. Macgregor is an experienced trav- for shore; thin alpaca Sunday coat, thick waisteler. He has climbed glaciers and volcanoes; coat; pair of light-soled shoes, straw-hat, two has dived into caves and catacombs; has trotted collars, three pocket - handkerchiefs; brush, in a Norway carriole, and galloped in a Rus- comb, tooth-brush; Testament, tracts for dissian tarantasse; has sailed on the Egean, and tribution; purse, circular notes, and small boated on the Nile; has "muled" in Spain, change; blue spectacles, book for journal and "donkeyed" in Egypt, "cameled" in Syria, sketches, pen and pencils; maps, cutting of a "sleighed" in Canada, and "rantooned" in six-inch square at a time for pocket-references; Ireland. He has, he says, "most thoroughly pipe, tobacco-case, and light-box; guide-books, enjoyed these and other methods of locomotion and pleasant book for evening reading, tearing in the four quarters of the world; but the pleas-off covers, advertisements, and pages as read; ure in the canoe was far greater than them all." for no needless weight should be carried hun 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, 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 far stronger than an open boat, and may be fearlessly dropped head foremost 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 rowingboat, 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, THE ROB ROY ON WHEELS. 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 faithful 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 you can send it home or sell it, and take to the road yourself, or sink into the dull old cushions of the 'Première 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." The ease and cheapness with which the light canoe can be packed upon a railway or steamer, carried overland upon a cart, or borne through the streets of a village when the day's rowing is done, are no small items of advantage. Indeed, on most railways the boat was taken as luggage, as though it were a trunk, without extra charge. Mr. Macgregor's usual mode of procedure was to have his canoe carried as nearly as possible to the head-waters of a river which he wished to explore, and then to row down the current, setting sails upon broad streams and lakes. Thus he struck the Danube at its very source, in a clear spring in the princely gardens at Donauschwingen, and launching his canoe a little below where, two or three brooks having joined, the stream is a few feet broad, he followed it to Ulm, where it has become a great river. Mr. Macgregor's tour was commenced by rowing from London down the Thames to Sheerness, where he had a chance to try his canoe in rough water. Her buoyancy and stability more than equaled his expectations. In the very midst of the waves he managed to rig up mast and sail. Then he sent the canoe by rail to Dover, thence by steamer to Ostend, "Gut Tag," "Gut Morgen," or "Bon appetit," upon coming to or leaving the table. All the peasantry, too, can read, and 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." It happened to be a high-day at Donauschwingen, for there was a great singing meeting" for that part of Germany. The Rob Roy, a lion none the less welcome for being unexpected, was borne in procession through the streets, and safely deposited in the coachhouse of the hotel. Satisfying himself that among the rivulets which claim to be the source of the Danube that starting from a spring in the garden of the Prince of Furstemburg was the true one, our voyager, paying thirteen francs as his hotel bill for three days, launched his canoe upon the brook, and began the descent of the Danube, amidst the "hochs!" and farewells of the crowd. The upper Danube is exceedingly picturesque. Having in a few miles swollen from a tiny brook to a considerable river, it winds slowly through level meads, with waving sedge on the banks, and silken, sleepy weeds in the river. There are long-necked, long-winged, long-legged herons, which seem to have forgotten to get a body, and flocks of wild ducks in the water, while the air is alive with gay butterflies and fierce-looking dragon-flies. The hay-makers are busy in the fields, half their work seemingly consisting in sharpening their miserable scythes. At length hills begin to skirt the stream; these are soon crowned with old castles; then come woods and rocks, and the current grows more rapid, the river descending fifteen hundred feet in the course of a five-days' sail. Every few hours is a mill-dam. If one is not more than four feet high our canoe-man was wont to shoot it; if higher, the canoe was ACCOMMODATIONS WANTED. dragged around and launched below. When he came to one of these places he used to walk straight into the hay-fields, dragging the boat over the wet, newly-mown grass, in literal imitation of the mythical American craft which would run wherever there was a heavy dew, greatly to the amusement of hay-makers. Once Mr. Macgregor got belated, and night fell in with no signs of a habitation in sight, and he had made up his mind to sleep supperless in the canoe, though a storm was coming up. Just then he caught sight of a light high up on the bank; scrambling through the thick- | nigh forgotten his Latin, and they had no other et, oar in hand to keep off the large dogs which throng around these lonely habitations, he knocked loudly at the door. All was still, though just before he had heard the sound of several voices. At length a window far above was opened, and a fat night-capped head was thrust out, and after a parley the window was closed-soon to be opened and other heads thrust out. At length, convinced that the stranger was alone, he was admitted and hospitably entertained with the best that the house contained-kirschwasser, bread, and eggs, of which latter the hungry traveler made way with half a score. The priest was sent for to talk with him, but as the Englishman had well language, their talk was not very edifying. At Teutlingen, a quaint old town "with a good inn and bad pavement," where every house seems to be dyer's shop or a tannery, the Rob Roy and her master was quite a lion. The whole floating population followed in procession as the boat, mounted on a wheel-barrow, was borne to the inn, where it was hoisted into the hay-loft; and until far into the night visitors came with lanterns to get a sight of the curious craft. In the morning all the populace flocked to the bridge to see the departure, one man politely requesting that it might be delayed a few minutes till his bedridden father could come up to get a sight. |