DOWN THE AU SABLE. BOATS. POLERS. 281 



ling lishhig in this country as, perhaps, the finest grayling 

 stream in Michigan. At this point it is not more than 

 twenty feet wide and lias an average depth of about one 

 foot, with holesand slial lows interspersed, and with crooks, 

 *nai!> and rapids that necessitate a peculiar boat and 

 method of propulsion. 



\Ve had two boats. Hat-bottomed, with sides nearly per- 

 pendicular, pointed at each end, and having a "fish -well" 

 or watertight compartment, about one-third the length of 

 thr b.:al back from the bow. The water-tightness was 

 relieved, and the bo\ made available for keeping fish alive 

 in it. by pulling halt' a do/en plugs from auger holes in the 

 endo>ed bottom of the boat. The cover of the box made 

 a comf'oi -table -eat for the fisherman sitting face bow- wards, 

 while a round, old fashioned "cat-hole" in the seat, on 

 either >ide, invited him to plump in his fish as fast as taken, 

 they being supplied with fresh water from the river, 

 through the auger holes, in a degree of abundance corres- 

 ponding \\ith the avoirdupois of the man above their 

 prison. Fat anglers are the grayling's favorites; fatness 

 means water, and water means life. 



Thr boatman, or " poler," as he is locally known, sits or 

 stands- -as the ease or difficulty of his work permits <>r 

 requires in the stern of the boat, in a contracted space 

 that suggests an easy loss of equilibrium and a consequent 

 ducking. Armed with a slender but tough fibred pole, 

 which is about ten feet long and pointed at both ends with 

 iron, h- forces the boat rapidly along the shallow stream, 

 around the sharp curves, among the snags and through the 



