[Appeared to HUNT'S YACHTIKQ MAOAZIOT for February ana March, 1887.] AN INLAND CRUISE, By W. A. CLARK, E»Q. CHAPTER I. HCMBIB, AND ANCIIOLME, ON the evening of the 7th July, 1886, Sheila and I departed from Dundee on board the s.s. London, and late on the following afternoon arrived at Hull. Sheila is a double-scull boat of the Dundee Rowing Club dimensions, viz., length 17ft. 6in., beam 3ft. 9in., and depth lft. 4in., built of yellow pine and weighing about HOlbs. She is fitted with swivel rowlocks and fixed seats. A spare pair of 9ft. 6in. sculls were carried in case of accident, and a waterproof boat tent with some not very elaborate camp furniture completed the equipment of the boat. July 9th.—At 7h. 80m. on the morning after my arrival in Hull, I set out for the steamer to get Sheila ashore. On reaching the wharf judge my horror and disgust on discovering that the boat was minus both stretchers, which had been removed by the brilliant boat building genius to whom the shipment of the craft had been entrusted at Dundee. After offering up prayers on his behalf, I returned to my hotel and had a lengthened council of war with the landlady and boots. Boots proved a man of resource, and fortunately knew of a boat builder close at hand, to whose shed we quickly carried the vessel, and in the space of half an hour a stretcher was fitted in a ship-shape fashion. I regret I do not recollect the name of this carpenter, as he was a good workman and withal, a civil and obliging fellow—a feature so unusual in a boat builder, that one would like to hand his name down to posterity. 2 We carried the boat down to Victoria Pier, and at 9h. 5m. a.m. I got afloat on a good flood tide, and began the voyage by shaping my coarse across the broad waters of the Humber in the direction of New Holland, The water was almost calm, and the tide, which for the Humber, was a poor one, being nearly neap, nevertheless it ran with a velocity which fairly astonished me—I should say quite five miles au hour. Seeing that I would drift up to Ferriby Sluice—my destination for the Anoholme, which I purposed first exploring—quite fast enough, I merely sculled steadily along, and made New Holland at 9h. 25m. a.m. Here a light but increasing head wind from the north-west stopped the boat slightly, but notwithstanding, my progress was surprisingly rapid, and Barton (Similes) was passed at 9h. 40m. a.m. As I paddled along close to the beach, I was hailed by an old fisher- man, with whom I had a long and interesting conversation. On learning that the boat and crew came from the Tay, he informed me that he had been on that river on a duck shooting expedition in 1858, having been the first Southerner to exploit its waters in search of docks. Many were the tales of his prowess which he narrated, and many were the queries which he put regarding various tavern keepers in Newbnrgb, Errol and other Tayside villages, and very disgusted he seemed to be at my want of knowledge concerning those doubtless once celebrated, bat now presumably, defunct worthies. Shortly after leaving this only real original duck shooter, I rounded Cbowder Ness close inshore, and was surprised to find myself sculling against a strong downward current. However, on keeping well out towards the island I once more got into the full strength of the flood tide, and at lOh. 35m. a.m. reached the lock at Ferriby Sluice. Here I landed for an hour or two, and visited the pretty little village which lies close by. I passed through this lock at the mouth of the Ancholme at lh. p.m. and proceeded on my voyage towards Brigg, some nine miles up the river. The Ancholme is nearly straight all the way to Brigg, and has little in the way of scenery to recommend it, though quietly pretty in many places. It is from 15 to 20 yards broad, with an almost imper- ceptible current, and being quite free from weeds and other impediments, makes a capital boating water. There is only one lock at the entrance, for passing through which no charge is made. This river is navigable as far as Brandy Wharf, nearly 16 miles from the mouth, and seven miles beyond from Brigg. As, however, there was said to be absolutely nothing worth seeing at the landing place with the bibulous appellation, I decided on making Brigg the terminus for the day. On arriving there without adventure at 8h. 80m. p.m., I housed Sheila and self at the Angel, to 3 which inn access can be had from the river bank, and which appeared to be the only place where there is any accommodation for boats at Brigg, with the exception of a small shed belonging to the local rowing club. Distance rowed 18^ miles. DISTANCE TABLE —I. IIUMBEB AND ANCHOLME Date. Miles. July 9th, 1886. Hull (Victoria Pier) New Holland ... -i Barton 5± Ferriby Sluico ... 91 Saxby Bridge ... 12 Brigg 18 i Brigg is one of the quaintest old towns I have seen in England, and the Angel the quaintest inn in this quaint old town. The bill which I was called upon to defray in the morning had, however, little of the quaint iD its composition. Brigg has recently, and for the first time in history, in a manner, become famous. Shortly before my visit, while som6 workmen were engaged excavating at the gasworks, they came upon an ancient British boat embedded in the clay some four or five feet below the surface. It was found to be 48ft. long, 4ft. 4in. wide, and 2ft. 9in. deep. It is undoubtedly of very great age, being cut out of one solid log or tree of oak. The vessel when discovered, lay within a few yards of the river, and as the stern was considerably lower than the head it would seem that the craft had been beached or stranded on the bank of the stream, where it must have sunk into the soft silt or ooze, which rising by degrees, wholly enveloped it. The discovery of this strange boat caused considerable excitement in the sleepy little town. It appears, however, that Brigg is going to lose its only treasure, for the Lord of the Manor having successfully proved his title to the craft, has decided on sending it to the British Museum. "Whereat the inhabitants of the Lincolnshire town wax exceeding wroth, and invoke anything but blessings on the head of the " wicked squire." 10</i. Having inspected this pre-historic tub, I set out for the station, where, after a ridiculous amount of bother and delay, I suc- ceeded in getting Sheila put on a carriage tiuck, and in company with her set off for Ripon, in Yorkshire, whence I intended descending the Ure and Ouse. 4 CHAPTER II. UEE, SWALE, AND OCSE, 11<7i.—I found Ripon in the throes of an exciting election contest, so I tarried not, but making all haste at lh. 20m. p.m., launched the ship into the shallow waters of the Ure. So little water was there in this part of the river, that I had to wade down for about a quarter-of-a-mile from the bridge, pushing Sheila in front of me, until I came to a deep and placid pool with high and thickly wooded banks. Here I landed and restowed cargo, which had got considerably shifted during the wading manoeuvres. Below this some very awkward and shallow rapids were encountered. At Hewick Bridge, a mile-and-a-half below Ripon, the stream was apparently blocked np by great piles of boulders, which formed an ugly barrier underneath the bridge. After a good deal of wading and leaping about from one rock to another, I managed to zig- zag through, and then down a short rush into fine, smooth water below. An old gamekeeper, who had watched the proceedings from the bank with evident amusement, said that this was the only noteworthy obstacle on the river, which lower down became deep and sluggish, as I had always understood it to be. This bit at Hewick Bridge, however, reminded one more of some of our Scottish streams, and seemed quite out of place on a river which shortly after assumes the name of Ouse. All those shallows can of course be avoided by going down the canal from Ripon to Westwick Lock, but by this route (four miles) much lovely scenery is lost. In ascending, however, it would be necessary to lock into the canal, as it would hardly be practicable to go np the main stream without several portages. From Hewick down to Westwick Weir was an easy row through some lovely reaches past Newby Hall, an extremely beautiful riverside residence. At the weir the stream makes a fine fall, quite equal to many so called waterfalls of far greater pretensions. The high and densely wooded banks, together with the continual plashing of the water BB it tumbles over the weir, combine to form a picture essentially Highland, and the like of which I did not see again during my cruise. From this weir down to Milby Lock, at Borough-bridge, the scenery is very pretty, but of an entirely different nature from that above the weir the river twisting peacefully among green meadows and waving fields of grain.