CANOEING as a recreation made its debut nearly a hundred years ago when John MacGregor built his
canoe "R OB R OY " and in her made pioneer journeys along European waterways. His subsequent lectures
and the books that came from his pen introduced the sport to the public; and the young men who followed it up and persuaded MacGregor to found The Canoe Club in 1866 became responsible for popularizing the sport in Europe and America.
As a result of this back- ground, the early books on canoeing were all written by British or American canoeists, and both from a technical point of view and as travel books they made excellent reading.
