It is Difficult to find in life any event which so effectually condenses intense nervous sensation into the shortest possible space of time as does the work of shooting or running an immense rapid. There is no toil, no heart breaking labour about it, but as much coolness, dexterity and skill as man can throw into the work of hand, eye and head; knowledge of when to strike and how to do it; knowledge of water and rock and of the one hundred combinations which rock and water can assume - - for these two things, rock and water, taken in the abstract, fail as completely to convey any idea of their fierce embracing's in the throes of a rapid as the fire burning quietly in a drawing - room fireplace fails to convey the idea of a house wrapped and sheeted in flames"
- Sir William Francis Butler (1872)
This page was last updated on 01/11/01.