riioto by George Shiras, 3rd 



OTTER SWIMMING IN A BAY OF SKII.AK LAKi;. 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 tlie 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 suffi- 

 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 1,000 

 pounds of stufif and two occupants, and 

 then start down the river wrong-end 

 foremost, where every 100 yards or so 



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