With Gun > Rod in Canada 



basswood Lakefield canoe (she was a little too round on 

 the bottom, but as sleek as an eel), tied one paddle to the 

 thwarts, took the pole, and headed for Little Kempton 

 Falls, just above the camp. 



When I got to the foot of the run, I stood up in the 

 canoe and started to pole up over the first swift water. 

 I made good headway for about two lengths of the boat, 

 when she seemed to start off sideways, and I could not 

 head her upstream. The current caught her and quick 

 as a flash whipped her sideways against a rock, and I 

 went overboard. The canoe and I landed in the eddy 

 at the foot of the falls, still good friends. 



I took the canoe ashore, dumped the water out of her, 

 and came to the conclusion that it was essential, if one 

 intended to go upstream, to keep the canoe's head 

 exactly against the current at all times. One must 

 learn to balance his canoe, by the " feel " of the current, 

 exactly on the centre line of the trend of the stream. 

 Permanent headway could not be made otherwise. 

 So I tried again. 



This time I was most careful to keep the keel of my 

 canoe in exact line with the current. I made better 

 headway, and succeeded in getting up over the first 

 few feet of the run, when two converging currents which 

 had been divided by a big rock threw my canoe's head 

 sharply to the left, when it was most necessary that I 

 should keep her, if anything, a little more to the right. 

 I tried with all the strength in my arms to throw the 

 boat's head to the right, using the pole as a lever, but 

 in so doing I lost my hold with the pole, was swept 

 into an eddy and turned around, and was headed nicely 

 for camp before I could get a new hold with my 

 pole. 



As my canoe was now headed downstream and I was 

 in the stern, her bow was pretty well out of water. I 



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