Photo by George Shiras, 3rd. 
OTTER SWIMMING IN A BAY OF SKILAK LAKE, SEEKING SALMON: THE OTTER SWIMS 
WITH HEAD HIGH OUT AND BODY SUBMERGED 
kind of work to line up the skiff, the 
canoe having been abandoned in order 
that the three men might devote their 
energies to the larger boat. 
And even at that date we were the 
first to get up the river, due wholly to 
Tom's skill and the energy of all. 
On the short trip from the outlet of 
the upper lake to our first camp, at the 
junction of Cooper Creek and the Kenai 
River, I found that it was the invariable 
practice for all boats, big or little, to go 
down this stream stern first, and to me 
this was a new method of navigating 
swift and dangerous waters. Heretofore 
I had boated on many such Northern 
streams, originally in the frail and buoy- 
ant birch-bark canoe, in dugouts, and, 
later, in the modern canvas-covered cedar 
ones, or at times in the knock-down type, 
as well as having occasionally used the 
big, strong, sharp-pointed batteaux of 
the Hudson Bay and Newfoundland 
kind, which could plunge with impunity 
into the roughest water ; or, when sul^- 
ciently manned, could be lined up any 
stream, irrespective of inshore rocks and 
snags. 
But whatever the craft or the charac- 
ter of the water, bow first was the rule, 
except when a mishap in the breaking of 
an oar or the slipping of a rope decreed 
otherwise. 
Therefore, to load down a small, frail, 
flat-bottom, square-stern skiff with i,ooo 
pounds of stuff' and two occupants, and 
then start down the river wrong-end 
foremost, where every lOO yards or so 
433 
