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76 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
their canoes as despatch-boats. With their broad-bladed
paddles they would sound the depth of the stream ; then
they would slip round the next bend, be gone a little while,
and come paddling back again as soon as they found any-
thing like a critical passage. In one place the river was
split into five branches, and between the islands of rubbish
and driftwood the water was churned white. Straight
into the gaping throat of one of these we drove at full speed.
It was as much as ever our ferry-boat could do to scrape
through, indeed, the passage was so narrow that she
crashed against the obstacles on both sides. But she
did just manage it, amid the excited shouts and cries
of the natives.
On the 24th November we had a more than usually
exciting experience. As it happened, the big ferry-boat
was leading the way, all the small craft being behind her.
We were travelling rapidly. The river, though regularly
formed, was narrow, and all was going gaily ; but all at once
the stream made a sudden bend, and we had to exert our
every effort to prevent the rapid current from carrying
us into disastrous collision with the high vertical bank.
Immediately below the bend, Palta caught sight of a fallen
poplar tree, which lay in a horizontal position, reaching
out across the river just where the current ran. Its crown
was trailing in the water, but the trunk hung about a
yard above it ; and it was straight against this treacherous
bridge that we were being carried down so swiftly. Palta
shouted a shrill cry of warning. In went all the punting-
poles ; but the river was too deep. Where are the new
poles we have had made—those of extra length ? These the
boatmen now seized upon, two men to a pole, and they
began to pull at them with desperation. Meanwhile we
were approaching the ill-omened poplar alarmingly fast. A
minute or so more, and all our top hamper would be swept
overboard, or if our craft went broadside on she would
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