numerous. All directions were given with signals; the human voice was
of little avail in the turmoil. We kept the boats in the water as long
as it was safe to do so, for it greatly lessened the hard work of a
portage. With one end of the boat floating on the water, an ordinary
lift would take the other end over a rock with insufficient water
above it to float the boat. Then the boat was balanced on the rock,
the opposite end was lifted, she was shoved forward and dropped in the
water again and another threatening rock was passed. Foot by foot we
fought our way, now on the shore, now waist deep in the water below
some protecting boulder, threatened every moment by the whirling water
that struggled to drag us into the torrent. The sand and water
collecting in our clothes weighted us down; the chill of standing in
the cold water numbed our limbs. Finally the barrier was reached and
the boats were run out close to the end, and tied in a quiet pool,
while we devised some method of getting them past or over this
obstruction.

Directly underneath and beyond the roots of the tree were large
rounded boulders, covered with slippery mud. Past this barrier the
full force of the water raced, to hurl itself and divide its current
against another rock. It was useless to try to take a boat around the
end of the rock. The boat's sides, three-eighths of an inch thick,
would be crushed like a cardboard box. If lifted into the V-shaped
groove, the weight of the boats would wedge them and crush their
sides. Fortunately an upright log was found tightly wedged between
these boulders. A strong limb, with one end resting on a rock
opposite, was nailed to this log; a triangle of stout sticks, with the
point down, was placed opposite this first limb, on the same level,
and was fastened to the upright log with still another piece; and
another difficulty was overcome.