ungry and thirsty on getting ashore. The
rapidity with which the plates, cups, and glasses were emptied was
really surprising, and would have done credit to a crowd of
Californians, who, I think, can eat more and drink more in a given
time than any race of men upon the earth.

The canal for some distance beyond the locks is quite narrow--often
barely wide enough for two steamers to pass. On the left the banks
rise to a considerable height, and then gradually decline till the
canal passes along a ridge, high above the surrounding country. The
effect in these places is very peculiar. The overhanging trees almost
unite their branches over the chimney of the steamer as she wends her
way slowly and steadily along; deep ravines extend downward into an
impenetrable abyss on either side; the sky glimmers through the
foliage in a horizontal line with the eye, and one can almost fancy
the world has been left below somewhere, and that a new highway has
been entered, upon which passengers steam their way to the stars. I am
quite certain, if we had kept a direct course long enough, we would
have reached the moon or some of the heavenly bodies.

It was late at night when we reached the Boren Lake, another of those
natural highways that lie between the Baltic and the North Sea. This
lake is comparatively small, but it abounds in rocky islands and
shoals which render the navigation through it rather intricate. A
pilot is taken on board at the entrance of each lake, and discharged
upon reaching the next canal station.

I remained on deck until midnight, enjoying the strange and beautiful
lights spread over the heavens in this latitude, and was reluctant
even then to lose the views during any part of the journey. Nature,
however, can not be defrauded of her legitimate demands even by the
beauties of scenery, and I went below to sleep out the remainder of
the night. My berth was in the forward cabin, where twenty or thirty
passengers were already stretched out--some on the tables, some on the
floor, and as many as could find room were snoring away in the
temporary berths erected on the seats for their accommodation. Toward
morning I was suddenly aroused by a strange and jarring motion of the
boat, accompanied by a grating sound. It seemed as if an earthquake
were throwing us up out of the water; yet the shocks were more sudden
and violent than any I had ever before experienced. Many of the
passengers were cast out of their berths, and