SCULLING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 130, 10 September 1910, Page 3

SCULLING.

HOW ARXST WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH.

They were a curious crowd that assembled along, the river and near the finiVhir,'.' point (says the account of the Arnst-Barry -race cabled to the Sydney Sun). The white population was there almost to a man, but they were outnumbered >by 100 to 1 by the natives, who in their quaint dress—or no dress at afl—mingled with the whites and watched the race with the greatest excitement, gesticulating and jabbering wildly. It was a curious sight to sec the Europeans coming to the race, women conveyed in a sort of Sedan chair and wearing pith helmets, and men riding their small ponies. The whites were swamped by the blacks. Many natives came for miles and miles across country. Hundreds of them had never seen the Zambesi river before, and they were awed by the appearance of the. great water. iSome of them came from as far as Rausanshi, which is almost on the borders of the Congo 'State, over 400 miles away from the "scene of the race. They came with their families and animals, their women carrying their cooking pots and general impedimenta through" long stretches of dark forest and swamp land. There must have been at least 50,000 black men, women ami children along the river bank from starting point to finish. Arnst won the toss, and chose the? northern bank. Barry did not get hold of the water like Arnst, who immediately began to for.ge ahead. The New Zeaiander pulled 35 strokes to Barry's ; 37 in the' first minute, and getting a lead of three parts of a length in the first half minute began to ease down. At the half-mile Barry was losing ground, and was a length astern. Arnst kept his lead apparently without exerting himself l to his utmost and swept past the mile I nearly two lengths ahead rowing 24 I strokes to the m'inute to Barry's 27. I At two miles Barry drew level again ! amidst great excitement. Barry phi'.r- ---[ ged along gamely until the three miles [was reached, but was here again behind, land evidently done. The race was slow from here to the finish. Then Barry ! tracked up. Arnst contented himself | with pulling past the judge only two [lengths ahead. Barry stopped 200 yards '< from the finish, but went on again. _ I Dug-outs, outrigger canoes, weirdly I and wonderfully made, hulks of old mo- ■ tor launches purloined froni mission stations, large slaibs of tree trunks—anything warTuscd by the blacks to get near the st.ii'lii'.'j' point. 1 There was some, amusement at the i spot. Tt took a lot of telling to make j th? natives (some of whom spoke different dialects) understand that the two men in the "long, thin canoes" wanted a | clear course along the river. The natives weVe paddling all over the place, occasionally tumbling into the water, and swimming to their boat and j generally making lota of trouble. Tt was I lucky for thorn that the general commo'tion'at the starting place kept the hip- ! popotami away from that vicinity. Other- | vise there would have been a few casual- ■ ties.

In the higher reaches of the river many a grim snout could ho seen sticking out of the water, and the people religiously stayed ashore in these parts. Men were stationed all along the banks with heavy rifles, and any hippo, who looked like interfering with the race was promptly informed, per medium of a bullet, to sheer off. The course was thus kept quite, clear.