mountain rivulet, and as the boat glides on over its
shallows, the rocks and pebbles of its bed lie discovered
to the eye. Splendid giants of the forest marshal both
its banks ; creepers, purple and azure, hang in masses
from the boughs. Plantain-groves and sloping fields of
beans and broad tobacco tell of man, the newcomer, his
small and scattered beginnings. Wild and majestic as is
the river here, after a course of more than a thousand
miles from its infancy in unknown lands, its near banks,
along which we steer, are graced with many of the minor
charms of an English river—grasses and ferns, and
drooping willows, and cool shady places under trees.
PRIMITIVE TRAVEL
The poling keeps us well in touch with these, and
the rough bark of the willow-trees is scarred and pitted
with the prints of the passing pole-heads. Year by year,
the boats go up in a long procession, and each boat as it
passes leaves its
trace.
The art of the
poler is itself a
thing of fascination.
The men, of
whom there two,
run down the
centre of the boat
p lan k , and the
poles of fifteen feet,
with pointed iron
h e ad s , g l i d e
through the fingers
with a “ slick ”
grace, till they ring
on a rock under
the 'water. Then
TH E POLER
they bend and
quiver, like reeds in the wind, as the polers bear
upon them, and the boat leaps forward. At times
they run out to the last rung, and find no bottom;
the boat swings nearer to the bank, and they shoot
out to a tree-trunk, find a lodgment there, and the
polers strain at their butts. As the. boat moves,