282 YARNS OF THE SKEENA RIVER the stream came pouring along in six-foot waves at a rate of eighteen miles an hour, and went smashing in under an overhanging wall on the opposite side. Just below me its width broadened out somewhat, and formed a boiling maelstrom, an inferno of seething, swirling water. At this point the water would come surging up like the bottom of an upturned gigantic pot, and then round it would go, whirling faster and faster, and sinking lower and lower, until at last a huge gaping hole would appear ; then, with a roar, up it would come again. Great trees, when they came to this spot, would swirl round a few times, stand straight up on end, and then be sucked down out of sight. The longest canoe that ever braved those waters would have gone the same way. At such times even the river steamers did not attempt to force a pas- sage. For a steamer to pass through the canyon, even at a very moderate stage of high water, it was necessary to line her up almost the entire way by the cable. Formerly this cable would be fastened to a tree or anything that could be found to hold it, but this was so dangerous and unsatisfactory that, during a low stage of the water, ring-bolts were placed at convenient spots, and this simplified matters considerably. To get the cable to these ring-bolts required much skill on the part of those whose duty it was to attend to it, and often considerable danger was encountered in so doing. Some of these rings could be reached by scrambling along the foot of the walls, others only by the use of a canoe. Whichever way it was done, a slip or mistake of any kind meant death. None who entered the waters of that dread canyon were ever seen again. On one occasion, when the steamer was being wound up by hand, there were two white men on the capstan bars with the Indian crew. At a most critical time the Indians saw that the stream was too strong for them and that they could not even hold her where she - was, so one of them shouted to let go. This the Indians did and ducked under the revolving bars, but the two white men did not understand, and held on, Of course,