es--a proceeding quite wonderful to be permitted by the police so
strict in France.

CHAPTER VI.

The Seine--A wetting--Pump--Locks--Long reach--Rouen--Steering--A
mistake--Horny hands--Henpecked--British flag--The captain's wife.

Havre was a good resting-place to receive and send letters, read up the
newspapers, get a long walk, and a hot bath, and fresh water and
provisions. Bacon I found, after many trials to cook it, was a delusion,
so I gave mine to a steamboat in exchange for bread. Hung beef too was
discovered to be a snare--it took far too long to cook, and was tough
after all; so I presented a magnificent lump to a bargee, whose time was
less precious and his teeth more sharp. Then one mast had to come down
in preparation for the bridges on the Seine; and therefore with these
things to do, and working with tools and pen, all the hours were busily
employed until, at noon on June 26, I hooked on to a steamer, 'Porteur,'
with its stern paddles very common in France, to be towed up the river; a
long and troublesome voyage of about 300 miles, so winding is the course
to Paris by the Seine.

This mode of progress was then new to me, and I had made but imperfect
preparations, so that when we rounded the pier to the west, and met the
short, snappish sea in the bay, every wave clashed over me, and in ten
minutes I was wet to the skin, while a great deal of water entered the
fore-compartment of the yawl through the hole for the chain-cable at that
time left open. {85} The surprising suddenness of this drenching was so
absurd that one could only laugh at it, nor was there time to don my
waterproof suit--the sou'wester from Norway ten years ago, the oilskin
coat (better than macintosh) from Denmark last year, and the canvas
trowsers.

A good wetting can be calmly borne if it is dashed in by a heavy sea in
honest sailing, or is poured down upon you from a black cloud above; but
here it was in a mere river-mouth, and on a sunny day, and there was no
opportunity to change for several hours, until we stopped at a village to
discharge cargo. The river at that place was narrow, and all the swell I
thought was past; so, after a complete change of clothes, it was too bad
to find in a mile or two the same story over again, and another wetting
was the result. The evening rest was far from comfortable with my
bedding all moist, and both suits of clothes wet through. One has
therefore to beware of the accompanimen