Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 April 1895 — In an Indian Canoe. [ARTICLE]

In an Indian Canoe.

“What a wonderful creation is> the Indian canoe I Light as foam, blown like a feather by the slightest breeze, responsive as a cork to the least rip1 this same fragile bark is adapted to the wildest waters. It leaps in safety from crest to crest of the cataract, or buoyantly surmounts the billows of the stormy lake. It was well for this morning that it was so, for we were heading toward a broad sheet of water that ivas thickly dotted with white caps. We were soon far enough out to feel the full force of the gale that stung our faces with wind and spray. To go against such a wind with a bark canoe would be an utter impossibility, but to run with it was great fun. Our safety depended upon the skill of the steersman in keeping her before the wind. Certainly the da}' had commenced auspiciously; we were making quick time. The complacent Irishman was taking to himself all the credit for this gale as though it were a part of his business. I was forbidden to paddle, but with Capt. Mick’s consent I tied the tails of my rubber coat to the handles of two paddles and inserted the blades in the armholes. This extempore sail greatly added to the speed of our flying craft. On we flew, outstripping the spray that leaped after us and fell short. This kind of sailing furnished sensations for which no analogy can be found in the whole range of navigation. Instead of plunging deeply and laboring heavily as a wooden boat would, our buoyant vessel scarcely deigned to plunge at all, but seemed to skim like a sea-gull on the very foam itself. So we crossed Lake Talon in a boat which a man could carry, doing eight miles of angry waves without shipping a thimbleful of water.” [Outing.