River Cam

“ On the Washington side we see two pretty villages, Washougal and La Camas. The first has the historical distinction of being at or nearly at the highest spot reached by the English explorer Broughton in 1792, and named by him Point Vancouver. La Camas is the location of the most extensive paper mills in the North-west.
[Pg 376] If, while we are in this section of the River and our eyes are bent eagerly forward to catch the ever-changing shore and river lines, we happen to glance backward, our gaze is fastened as with a magnet, and for a moment utterance fails. For what do we see? ”

“ I could see lights in the blockhouses as I passed them, and soon afterwards could see large villages on the banks of the river. Then the stream began to narrow{106} rapidly, and after about two hours’ drifting my canoe grounded on the southern bank of the river, the creek in which I had left the schooner being on the northern side. I was bitterly cold, and being without clothes or the means of making a fire, I did what was perhaps the wisest thing—scraped a hole in a bank of dry sand which lay above high-water mark and covered myself up in it. ”

“ For the next three or four miles the margin of the Cam, uninteresting as its scenery may be, is often lively enough, for skiffs, pairs, four-oars, eight-oars, dart up and down, propelled by the strong arms of sturdy rowers. Dingeys or “tubs” progress more leisurely, while now and again a long string of barges is towed or punted onwards, and almost blocks the waterway. As a result of this, the representatives of learning and of commerce exchange compliments, when the language is vernacular rather than classic. Brightest of all is the scene on occasions of the college races. ”

“ But though the current of Grand River was slow as compared with that of Gold Cave Creek, it would be a mistake to imagine that it was at all stagnant.
The beds of all its tributaries were swollen at this time, so that the waters of Grand River were thirty feet above the average level and moving with a speed of four or five miles an hour.
Although continually watching for some place in which he could make a landing, it was not till near sunset that Sam found such a spot as he wanted. ”

“ After some stay, we set out with fresh boats and crews, and were five days passing the wild rapids between here and Wieng Chan. The river finds its way among low hills in a narrow, deep channel between clay-slate rocks alternating with sandstones and conglomerates with a general easterly dip. The rapids are of the whirlpool and eddy character, and extend for miles on end; the water is in places confined to a width of 150 feet, and the rushes, boilings, spinnings, and general deafening pandemonium which results is astounding; not one place is like another, nor one whirlpool like the next. ”

“ Here the Chemung makes a great bend, flowing in more than half a circle; and there are little hills to the north, around which we crept, hearing always the stirring and movements of men ahead of us, and utterly unable to comprehend what they were so busily about.
Just beyond the island another and larger creek enters the river; and here, no longer daring to follow the Seneca trail, we turned southwest, slinking across the river flats, through the high Indian grass, until we came to a hardwood ridge, from whence some of these sounds proceeded. ”

“ In shape it might be compared to a violin. The whole space between it and the Mekon is a vast plain; while on the opposite side are the great chains of Poursat and its ramifications.
LAKE OF CAMBODIA.
The entrance to the great lake of Cambodia is grand and beautiful. The river becomes wider and wider, until at last it is four or five miles in breadth; and then you enter the immense sheet of water called Touli-Sap, as large and full of motion as a sea. It is more than 120 miles long, and must be at least 400 in circumference. ”

“ It rises in 6° N, 10° 30′ E. in the mountains of Cameroon, and flows at first N.W. In 8° 48′ E., 5° 50′ N. are a series of rapids; below this point the river is navigable for shallow-draught boats. At 8° 20′ E., 6° 10′ N., its most northern point, the river turns S.W. and then S., entering the Gulf of Guinea through the Calabar estuary. ”

“ Cambuslang is only a mile below, but on the other or southern bank, along a reach of river beautifully fringed by trees—Cambuslang, with its high-placed church tower, its Kirkton burn bickering down its ravine past the golf-course and the amphitheatre where Whitfield uplifted his voice in the great “Revival Wark” of 1742; and with Rosebank, the home of David Dale, on the river front, shouldered by dye works and neighboured by the fine new railway bridge over the Clyde. ”

“ Beneath us, in the valley Ray or Roedale, a branch of Wens [Pg 174] leydale, spreads Simmer Water, a lake of one hundred and five acres. Shut in by hills, and sprinkled with wood around its margin, it beautifies and enlivens the landscape. It abounds in trout, moreover, and bream and grayling, and any one who chooses may fish therein, as well as in the Ure, all the way down to Bainbridge, and farther. The river trout are considered far superior to those of the lake. ”

“ We had already come to Pamet River, which empties into the Bay. This was the limit of the Pilgrims’ journey up the Cape from Provincetown, when seeking a place for settlement. It rises in a hollow within a few rods of the Atlantic, and one who lives near its source told us that in high tides the sea leaked through, yet the wind and waves preserve intact the barrier between them, and thus the whole river is steadily driven westward butt-end foremost,—fountain-head, channel, and light-house at the mouth, all together. ”

“ At a great distance south-eastward, appear the two high mountains near fort Chamblais, and some others near lake Champlain, raising their tops above the woods. All the fields hereabouts are filled with stones of different sizes; and among them, there is now and then a black lime-stone. About a French mile from the town, the high road goes along the river, which is on the left-hand; and on the right-hand all the country is cultivated and inhabited. The farm-houses are three, four, or five arpens distant from each other. The hills near the river are generally high and pretty steep ”

“ The stream here flows nearly west, through a beautiful valley of alluvial land, formed by the Cumberland mountains and a continuation of the Blue Ridge of Virginia. Immediately opposite the termination of the Cumberland mountains commences a broken and rocky surface, which extends along the shore of the river for many miles, presenting 168the most varied and novel scenery in nature; while the other shore is level, fertile, and mostly in a high state of cultivation, abounding in verdant fields of meadow, corn and tobacco. ”

“ It was curious to see the boats being towed along by men walking beside them in the water harnessed as trackers. Lower down, the river becomes deeper, and some of the181 rapids look very pretty, as the water is a bluish-green colour and the rocks are red sandstone. Sometimes the road from the riverside leads up precipitous hills by long stone staircases. The reflections of the common blue clothes of the people, as seen in the river, are an exquisite turquoise colour. The scenery becomes increasingly beautiful as one proceeds down the river. ”

“ The creeks were growing more shallow, and near the bulkhead, or middleground, where tides from two inlets met, there was so little water and so many oyster reefs, that, without a chart, the route grew more and more perplexing in character. It was a distance of thirty miles to Cape Fear, and twenty miles to New Inlet, which was one of the mouths of Cape Fear River. From the plantation to New Inlet, the shallow interior sheets of water with their marshes were called Middle, Masonboro, and Myrtle sounds. ”

“ Lawrence. A tremendous scene is here presented to the view; each river comes rushing down into the lake, over immense rocks, with an impetuosity which, seemingly, nothing can resist. The waves are as high as what are commonly met with in the British Channel during a smart breeze, and the breakers so numerous and dangerous, that one would imagine a bateau could not possibly live in the midst of them; and indeed, unless it were navigated by men intimately acquainted with the place, and very expert at the same time, there would be evident danger of its being filled with water. ”

“ Four miles from hence we left Flinn’s ferry, where is a very handsome settlement on the left. Three miles and a half farther brought us to the upper end of Rocking cave island, just above which the river is {247} a mile wide, and in another mile we saw on the right Casey’s farm, where the landing abounds in curious loose limestone petrifactions. ”

“ That Congress did not act arbitrarily in determining that 'for the purposes of navigation of said waters and the waters connected therewith,' the whole flow of the stream should be devoted exclusively to that end, is most evident when we consider the character of this stream and its relation to the whole problem of lake navigation. The river St. Marys is the only outlet for the waters of Lake Superior. The stretch of water called the falls and rapids of the river is about 3,000 feet long, and from bank to bank has a width of about 4,000 feet. ”

“ In the first a mere brook, it rapidly increases as it traverses the lower portions of every valley, until it attains a width of twenty or thirty yards, within a mile of the spot where it is first discernible as a stream. Every plain in succession being lower than the first, the course of the river is extremely irregular; now a maze of tortuous winding, then a broad, still stream, bounded by grassy undulations ”

“ Nor does the chalk stream usually run like a western river. It moves at most times but little faster than the rivers on which men go boating or float-fishing for roach. Its environment is smooth, its course is peaceful, and its fall gradual. It is all this that gives the flavour and charm of the unexpected, when you{66} arrive at the bank and find a stream gliding past your feet as translucent as if it had just gushed out from a limestone mountain in Cumberland. ”

“ We continued our march up the south fork of the Platte some ten miles, where we crossed over the bluffs which lie between the two streams, and after going two miles we reached the north fork at about noon. In the afternoon we continued up on [Pg 33] the south side of the north flat. At this point the river wears the same general characteristics as the lower Platte. The banks are lower and the soil less productive, but the stream is wide, shallow, and filled with islands or sand-bars. Tonight we feed our cattle on two of these little islands, near the south shore. The grass is very poor here. ”

“ We turned our horses loose, and let them feed on the prairie.
The Prophet and Party Reach Tower Hill.
Saturday, 19.—This morning we struck our tents and formed a line of march, crossing Grand River at the mouth of Honey Creek and Nelson's Ferry. Grand River is a large, beautiful, deep and rapid stream, during the high waters of Spring, and will undoubtedly admit of navigation by steamboat and other water craft. At the mouth of Honey Creek is a good landing. We pursued our course up the river, {35} mostly through timber, for about eighteen miles, when we arrived at Colonel Lyman Wight's home. ”

“ This phenomenon surprised me, as the entrance into this ravine being from the plain, it was evident that the currents which had produced these displacements could not at any era have come from thence. But at the termination of this ravine, which ended nearly at the river, the cause became evident. An ancient canal, now nearly filled up, leads from the river into this ravine, and the rush of the current during the seasons of inundation, has loosened and displaced fragments of the bordering mountains. ”

“ In this leaky craft we threaded the spectral Drowned Lands, penetrating every hidden water-lead, every concealed creek, every lost pond which glimmered unseen amid cranberry bogs, vast wastes of stunted willow, pinxter shrubs in bloom, and the endless wilderness of reeds. Nesting black-ducks rose on clattering wings in scores and scores at our stealthy invasion; herons and bitterns flapped heavily skyward; great chain-pike, as long as a young boy, slid like shadows under our dipping paddles. But we saw no Indians.
Nor was there a sign of any canoe amid the Drowned Lands ”

“ All the merchants deal in bills of exchange on Europe.
“The falls of James River, which obstructed its navigation from the distance of seven miles above Richmond, heretofore imposed the necessity of employing land carriage for that space. At present a canal, running parallel with the course of the river for those seven miles, connects the communication by water, and opens a navigation which extends without interruption 200 miles above Richmond. I have seen one of the two mills at Richmond. It stands below the falls of the river, receives a great power of water, and turns six pair of stones. ”

“ Creep along between high craggy peaks for ten miles to reach the Klamath river, a wide, rapid stream that I have to cross, but how, just now is a puzzler. The banks are high; not a tree grows along its sides, or near by, wherewith to make either canoe or raft. I follow on its course for eight miles; the river makes a sudden bend, and in the angle on the opposite side I can see the charred remains of a log-shanty, amidst a clump of trees, one of which has been felled so as to fall across the river, and forms a rude foot269bridge. ”