escribes it,
made his soul overflow with joy, and roam in fancy through fairyland,
yet, as it is through an almost uninhabited country, with numerous
rapids and torrents, woods to be traversed, and mountains to be climbed,
the difficulties are not contemptible.

"To surmount these obstacles to navigation," say Mr Brett, "it is
necessary in some places to carry or haul the canoe overland at the
sides of the fall. At others, advantage is taken of the eddies which
are found at the base, and huge rocks that intercept the stream. The
Indians pass from rock to rock by leaping, wading, or swimming, and, by
means of a hawser, haul the boat through the rushing water from one
resting-point to another, the steersman keeping his seat, and--sometimes
lashed to it--striving with his large paddle to guide in some degree her
course. The roar of the water dashing and foaming against the
surrounding rocks renders this operation as exciting as it is difficult.
Still more exciting and difficult is the task of descending these
rapids. The safety of all then depends on their perfect steadiness, and
on the bowman and steersman acting in concert, and with instant
decision. The canoe is kept in the very centre of the current, one of
her best hands kneeling with quick eye and ready paddles in the bow, and
the rest of the crew exerting their strength to give her headway.
Darting swiftly along, she arrives at the head of the fall, and bounding
downward, shoots into the surf below it, dashing it up on either side,
and leaving her crew alone visible. If all be well, rising above the
foam, she obeys the guiding paddles in stem and stern, and dances over
the tumbling waves, while her excited crew exult at their success.
Whole families, however, even of Indians, are sometimes drowned; and in
1805 Captain Beresford, son-in-law of the governor, and four other
gentlemen, with two of their crew, lost their lives in shooting the
lower falls of the Masaruni."

THE BERBICE RIVER.

On the Berbice, which falls into the Atlantic about sixty miles eastward
of George Town, the falls and rapids--which do not, however, reach to
within one hundred and sixty miles of its mouth--are very numerous.
While the scenery round them is highly picturesque, they are extremely
dangerous. Here is found the cascade of Idurewadde; and higher up, the
cataract of Itabru. Above these again are more than forty falls and
rapids, called by Schombergh the Christmas Cataracts, a