hour passed when they made another attempt to carry out their threat; a general fight instantly ensued, and the raft was quickly strewn with slaughtered men. Upwards of sixty of the hapless crew perished in this disastrous affair.

But the survivors had not yet reached the extremity of horror. One cask of wine remained, but this could not allay the pangs of hunger, so they were compelled at last to devour the flesh of their dead companions.

On the fourth day a shoal of flying fish fell upon the raft and were captured. These curious fish have two fins, which are so long and powerful as to enable them to leap out of the water and fly for a short distance through the air. They are thus enabled to escape from their inveterate enemy the dolphin. Collecting these flying fish, the starving crew cooked them over a fire made in an empty cask. On the fourth night the mutineers again attempted to effect their mad purpose, but were quickly overcome, though not without the shedding of more blood.

The crew was by this time reduced to thirty men, most of whom were partially disabled by wounds and bruises, while some of them had all the skin chafed off their legs. In order to allay their sufferings two unhappy soldiers attempted to drink the remaining wine by stealth, but were discovered and instantly thrown into the sea. Of the men who remained only half seemed capable of surviving, even for a few days, the sufferings they had undergone. Perceiving this, the remaining half formed the terrible resolution of throwing their dying comrades into the sea in order to make their scanty provision last longer. The horrible resolve was carried into effect, and the fifteen remaining men spent two more days of suffering on the raft, when a vessel hove in sight and rescued them; but six of

these died soon after, and of the hundred and fifty human

LARGE RAFT OF PERU.

beings who embarked on the raft only nine survived to tell their tale of suffering.

In the account of the travels of the great scientific explorer, Baron von Humboldt, we are told of rafts which are used at the present day on the rivers of South America. Our annexed Woodcut represents one of those that are used near the mouth of the river Guayaquil. It is laden with the fruit of those tropical regions, and is on its way to market. It has a mast and sail, and covered sheds to protect the goods and crew, and it can stand a considerable sea. It sails well too, and can veer, and tack, and sail pretty close to the wind by means of lowering logs or planks into the water as before described. Such rafts, or "balzas," vary from 40 to 80 feet in length, and they have been used by the inhabitants of Peru from the most remote periods of the history of that country.

Turning now from the consideration of rafts, we shall consider the canoes which succeeded them.

CANOES must, we think, have been invented after rafts, and were formed, as we have said, out of logs, of bark, and of skins stretched upon frames of wood. Of ancient canoes we can say little; but it is probable that they were similar in most respects to the canoes used by savage nations at the present time, for man, in his lowest or most savage condition, is necessarily the same now that he was in ancient

times. We shall, therefore, take a glance at the canoes of savage nations now existing, and thus shall form a good idea, we doubt not, of what canoes were in days of old. Simplest among them all, perhaps, are the canoes of

they are sewed together with the long pliant roots of the pine, and the seams are rendered tight with gum, procured from the same tree. So light are these canoes, that two men can carry on their shoulders one capable of holding eight or ten men with their provisions, &c., for a voyage of many months. They are of various sizes: from the hunting canoe which holds one Indian, to the large canoe that carries fourteen. They are propelled by short paddles instead of oars.

Many and terrible are the risks run by voyageurs who travel through the lakes and rivers of North America in these canoes.

The following anecdote is related of a narrow escape made by some fur-traders while descending one of the rivers in the backwoods of the Hudson's Bay Territory: One fine

evening in autumn a north canoe was gliding swiftly down one of the noble bends in the river referred to. New, beautiful, and ever-changing scenes were being constantly opened up to the view of the voyageurs, whose plaintive and beautiful canoe songs were rolling over the waters. Suddenly the song ceased as the distant roar of a waterfall struck their ears, and the steersmen-for there are usually two, one in the bow and one in the stern-prepared to land and "make a portage,"—that is, to carry the canoe and lading past the falls by land, and re-launch in the smooth water below.

The approach to the landing-place at the head of the fall was somewhat difficult, owing to a point of rock which projected into the stream in the direction of the fall, and round which point it was necessary to steer with some dexterity in order to avoid being drawn into the strong current. The fearless guides, however, had often passed the place in former years in safety, and, accordingly, dashed at the point with reckless indifference, their paddles flinging a circle of spray over their heads as they changed from side to side with graceful but vigorous rapidity. The swift stream carried them quickly round the point of danger, and they had almost reached the quiet eddy near the landingplace when the stem of the canoe was caught by the stream, which instantly whirled it out from the shore and carried it down stream like an arrow. Another moment and the gushing water dragged them to the verge of the fall, which thundered and foamed among frightful chasms and rocks many feet below. The stern of the canoe overhung the abyss, and now the voyageurs plied their paddles with the desperation of men who felt that their lives depended on the exertions of the next awful minute. For a second the