The Portland daily press., 1870-11-18

~ .nese portions OF the State where it first
atl~eo, the cabbage crop has been nearly if
not entirely destroy ed. So unparalleled i3
the increase of this insect from the three or
iour broods which occur during the year, that
| in all probability no cabbages can be SUCCESS
fully grown in this portion of the State the
coming year. The culture will have to
be abandoned unless we should be
favored with an attack upon the caterpillar
by one or more of our native parasites, which
may serve to bring it within the limits which
! it occupies in the Eastern world. There it
has at least four parasites which prey upon it
and check its excessive increase, but unfortu-
| nately they were not imported with it.
| In view of this prospective abandonment of
tie culture OF cabbage, it would seem to be a
| pity, if from any unfounded fear, any persons
should be deferred from enjoying it while they
have the privilege.-Albdny Journal
Shooting the Rnpids-A Lively Narrative.
| Correspondence of the Buffalo Com, Advertiser.
Floating down the great Columbia, I grew
very lazy again. For miles there was moth
ing to change the sameness of the view-hills,
and little points Of rock jutting out into the
| water; now and then long strip Of bunch
| grass land here some Indians were fishing;
| there large bands of cattle and horses, owned
by Indians; now and then an Indian garden;
but nothing grand. got very tired of it, so
went to building few more air.castles, and
seeing how much tobacco the Indian in the
bow of the boat would smoke. Then watch
ed white man washing gold on one of the
many "bars" we passed; went ashore to talk
some admirable lies. He is, without any
doubt, the grandest liar in America. 1 just
| had to start him on any subject, and he was
sure to lie in the most astounding manner
about it. He lied about the river, about the
gold he twas getting, about the Hand, abe n
the snakes, iabout every mortal and
immortal thing he could Ethink of. 1 was
| too lazy to contradict him or even to doubt
his word; likewise, he was much larger than
| ~ but when he said he had killed snakes six
| ty feet long on the Columbia, thought it
| time for me to paddle.
| He said as got into the canoe, stranger,
| thar is bad bit of water at the He'll Gate.
Look Outw l thought he was lying and so
only nodded to him. What's the He'll Gate?
found out before long. At He'll Gate land a
more fitting name never could think of, the
river narrOws down to half its width, and
| there are three large rocks in the stream,
making it still smaller. The water is forced
through the passages with great force and
rapidly, most of it taking the left passage. At
| sight of it l "peeled," and thought if l got
/ ashore with my skin, l would let my shirt and
tobacco go to the dogs. Ipaddled that canoe,
l padded until l thought the skin across
my back would surely give way. Two hun
! dred pounds were put in every stroke, and l
made about eighty per minute. The rocky
banks looked as though they were being drag
| ged back at railroad speed. Hurrah through
4 Jollxx OF
water! looked back and hugged myself,
took smoke, 1 Dragged like a mosquito
about it, all to myself. 1t is flip of a cent
which had rather do, run Spokane Canon or
the He'll Gate and would rather walk two
miles than to Go either again.
Dressed and floating down the river in my
lazy manner, enjoying the air, my pipe, and
-four with the great satisfaction, L saw a
house on the bank, and went there-found
two fwhi.e men, and 1t was decided to
camp. Theimen gave me onions, peas, corn
melons and coffee. had a rare meal. After
supper went up to !the house to talk and
smoke. wonder what makes the men of the
river so profane, and so exceedingly inaccu-
rate in their statements. These two Quilted
the noble liar met in the morning. Tbey
told sme wonderful tales, and, of course, l
believed them. One told me about the Co
lumbia River Canon L would pass through
about noon the next day; told me Of the
great number of men who had found path
to kingdom'co come in those waters-of the Hud-
son Bay canoe men that had been lost there,
and seeing that Twas getting bit anxious,
| be ruined all by saying that he had seen great
cedar trees broken in two by the whirlpools
in the canon. That tree was a little more
than could take in, and as Idon't like to re-
ject part of the tale just set all his descrip-
tion down as one magnificent lie, and himself
as very promising young Baron Munchau-
| sen.
In the morning started off with great con-
tempt for the canon-but still the feeling
grew On me that the Baron could not have
made up all of the tales. So when heard
the rush of the water beyond a rocky point,
stripped to the skin, covered myself with a
blanket, and lay back looking at the water
getting faster and faster, and the river getting
narrower; / noticed that the high water line
was far above the banks, or rather far above
the present water; SO knew the canon must
be very narrow to pile back the water in that
manner. My courage was still good until 1
saw the water foam and boil up, and then re-
tire into whirlpool, and rush mady down
the stream, fairly howling for something to
suck in. l weakened" wanted to go ashore,
but saw that one could not get away from the
spot he landed at, owing to the nature OF the
banks. We grabbed the paddles, and the ca
noe had very anxious white man in it.
There in front of us, hiding from our eyes
was an Internal point of rocks, round which
the river curved, and there, supposed from
the noise, the real canon commenced.
When there it was picture for painter
Two naked Indians and one naked white man
} the Indians standing up-I on my knees
all with uplfted paddles-all bent well for
ward and with tightly compressed lips-all
looking anxiously at the point and wondering
what was beyond it. Round we came at a
ten mile per hour gait. There in the centre
of the narrowed river was mound of water
at least ten feet high, and that mound seemed
to be the signal for the waters to break into
waves and whirlpools and foam. In went the
paddles and we shot a little to the left of the
rock that formed the mound, and then / saw
that was in for it. As far as the eye coult
reach the water was white. l said to myself
: "Good-by wife and baby, father and all, an
Il salmon bait. Sure as shooting, will SET
Mary and Bayard tonight and then grew
= bit reckless, and thought might as well en-
joy the novel trip till we went under, still
: meaning to get out, if work would take mi
out. Far above our heads, at least thirty feet
were the platforms, from which the Indian:
spear the salmon in high water, The watel
: had fallen about one-half; SO the canon wa.
/, not near as bad as it is at times. Then pad
died and looked about me, and yelled and go
excited, and lost all fear and enjoyed it.
/
e of water.
r Suddenly the water boiled up just under US
| We were half filled in about a second. No
time to bail out. Shove those paddles int,
the water and do it almighty fast and stron,
t or we will be sucked under! We made abou
three quarters of turn around the whirlpool
and then, with an effort that was an effort
got into the white water where the grea
waves were, and away the canoe went like
} frightened racehorse. 1t was glorious! tn
fighting at Cold Harbor, North Anna and Pc
tersburg was tame in comparison. In fifteer
minutes We were through four miles of canor
canoe full of water-blankets gone-clothe'
: all wet-so was my flour and tobacco. shooi
: my fist at the canon and taunted IL. 1 wa
very brave then; but, little woman, l uon
ride through that caoon again was 'oo
: for doing it-yes, an Ignorant looi
SURGERY.-A capital story IS tod OF the
: late Doctor Charles Cheever, OF Portsmouth
J. N H.. one of whom many remember with
o feelings the most grateful emotion. He
& was a man, literally "born to commando" Of
= Grand presence, and possessinga wonderful
magnetism that exerted a most powerful con-
i troll. One dav Codline, of that ilk, came in,
/ to Preston's druggistry, looking hollow-eyed
-l.s.~ - e a