Jack the Young Canoeman: An Eastern Boy's Voyage in a Chinook Canoe

by George Bird Grinnell

  CHAPTER X

  THE START

  The sun was not very high when they pushed off. The wind blew in gustsfrom the southeast and the sky was obscured by a loose bank of cloudswhich occasionally gave down a little rain.

  The bow paddle was wielded by a gigantic Indian, known as Hamset;while in the stern, occupying the position of steersman, sat a muchsmaller man, whose unpronounceable Ucletah name had been shortened forconvenience to "Jimmie." Between the bow and the stern, seated on rollsof blankets, were the four whites--first, Fannin, then Charlie, thecook, then Hugh, and last of all Jack. Each was provided with a paddle,and they worked two on each side of the canoe. The provisions werestored in one box, the mess kit in another, and the rolls of blanketswere placed in the bottom of the canoe so as to trim it properly. Thecanoe was quite dry, and loose boards on the bottom would keep thecargo from getting wet, even if a little water were shipped.

  The breeze which was now blowing was a favorable one; and they hadhardly started before it began to rain steadily and to threaten a wet,boisterous day. Fannin was in great spirits at this prospect; for he,better than any one else, knew what a few days of favoring winds wouldaccomplish toward hastening them along on their voyage. As the rainfell harder mats and rubber blankets were spread over the guns andbedding. The sail was hoisted, and all hands except the steersman tookin their paddles and sat back with a satisfied air, as if they hadnothing to do except to watch the breeze blowing and the land moving bythem.

  Farther to the southward there had been many islands, which would havecut off the breeze; but here the open waters of the Gulf stretched awayto windward for twenty or thirty miles, and there was nothing to breakthe force of the breeze. As they advanced various islands appeared,Texada showing a high peak above the fog; and then other smallerislands,--Denman and Hornby.

  The wind kept blowing harder and harder, until at noon quite a sea wasrunning, and the waves began to break over the sides of the vessel,necessitating bailing. The canoe was heavily loaded and set rather lowin the water, cutting through the waves instead of riding over themas it should have done. This pleasant condition of things lasted forsome time, but about two o'clock the sky cleared, the wind fell, andit was necessary to take to the paddles once more, for now the sailflapped idly against the mast and the canoe began to float back towardNanaimo--the tide having turned. The sea became as smooth as glass,the sun glared down from the unclouded sky with summery fierceness,and after a little while the travellers realized that the canoe tripmight mean a lot of hard work. More than that, the canoe seemed to beanchored to the bottom, and, so far as could be judged from occasionalglances toward the distant shore, did not move at all. The work becameharder and harder, and Hugh and Jack at last realized that here was astruggle between the paddles and the tide, with the chances rather infavor of the tide. This, of course, meant that they must work harder.Coats were stripped off, the crew bent to their work, and at last foundthat the craft did move, although very, very slowly.

  After a half hour's hard paddling Jack said to Hugh: "I tell you, Hugh,watching that shore is like watching the hands of a watch. If you lookat the shore you would think that we were perfectly motionless. It'sonly when you take some object on the beach and notice its position,and then, five or ten minutes later, look at it again that you findthat our position has changed with relation to it, and that it isfarther behind than it was when you last saw it."

  "Yes," said Fannin, "I've done lots of canoeing in my time, but I guessI shall learn something on this trip as well as the rest of you. We'repretty heavily loaded, and if we have head winds and tides much of thetime we'll have to put in about all the hours every day working atthese paddles. Besides that, we've got to figure on being wind-boundfor a certain number of days, and, taking it all in all, we can't hopeto go very far. Nevertheless, we can go far enough to see a good deal."

  The progress of the canoe was made more slow by the fact that its trackskirted the shore, following quite closely all its windings, and hardlyever cutting across the bays, large or small, that indented the island.

  Jack asked Fannin why the Indians did not go across from one headlandto another, thus saving much paddling; and Fannin explained that thiswas done partly to avoid the force of the tide, and partly from thehabitual caution of the east coast Indians. "On the waters of theGulf," said Mr. Fannin, "gales often spring up without giving muchwarning, and quite a heavy sea may follow the wind almost at once.These canoes, especially when heavily loaded, as ours is, cannot standmuch battering by the waves."

  As the sun sank low, after a long spell of paddling, the bow of thecanoe was turned into the mouth of Qualicum River; and a little later,when close to the shore, the vessel was turned bow out and the sternpushed shoreward, till it grated gently on the pebbly beach. All handsat once sprang out, and it was a relief to get on firm ground again andto stretch the limbs, contracted by nearly twelve hours of sitting inone position.

  Now the rolls of blankets were tossed on the beach, the provisionbox and mess kit and other property were unloaded and carried upto the meadow above. In a few moments a fire had been kindled, andpreparations for the evening meal were begun. Now, Jack and Fanninbegan putting together their fishing rods; Hugh took his rifle andlooked it over, wiping off the moisture that had accumulated on it, andgot out some ammunition. The party wanted fresh meat and was going totry hard to get it. Meantime the Indians had taken out the boards fromthe canoe, placed them on the beach, and were sliding the vessel up,far above high-water mark.

  Before Jack had made many casts he had a rise or two, and he was doinghis best to hook a fish when Charlie's shout of "Dinner" caused themall to lay aside their tools and repair to the fire for supper. It wasa simple meal of bacon, bread, and coffee; but the work of the day hadgiven all hearty appetites and they enjoyed it. Then, a little later,Jack went back to his fishing, and Fannin, Hugh, and Hamset put off inthe canoe and disappeared behind a bend of the river.

  Being unable to do anything with the fish, which were now jumpingeverywhere at the mouth of the river, Jack worked along up the stream,and around the next point was more successful. A fish rose to hisflies and was hooked, and, after a brief struggle, was dragged up onthe beach. It was a beautiful trout, only weighing half a pound, to besure, but none the worse on that account, if regarded simply from thepoint of view of so much food. Encouraged by this success, Jack fishedfaithfully and carefully, and before long had killed half a dozenothers, all about the same size as the first. Most of these were takenin more or less shallow water near the beach, but at length he cameto a place where an eddy of the stream had dug out a big hole not farfrom the edge of the bank, and casting over this two or three times, hehad a rise which almost made his heart stop beating. The fish missedthe fly, but rose again to another cast, and this time was hooked ona brown hackle. And then for a little while Jack had the time of hislife. The fish was far too strong for him to handle, and for a littletime kept him running up and down the beach, following its powerfulrushes, taking in line whenever he could, and yielding it when he must.Once or twice the rush of the fish was so prolonged that almost all theline went off the spool, and he even ran into the river up to his kneesin the effort to save some of his line. At last, however, the runs grewshorter, and the fish yielded and swayed over on its side and was towedup to the beach. But as soon as it saw Jack it seemed to regain all itsvigor, and darted away with a powerful rush. This was its last effort.Gradually Jack drew it into water which was more and more shallow,and finally up, so that its head rested on the beach. Then seizingthe leader he dragged it well in, and in a moment he had it in hishands. It was a beautiful and very powerful fish, and must have weighedbetween four and five pounds. A little later another fish was taken,not quite so large, to be sure, but big enough to give the angler asplendid fight; and then, as the sun had disappeared behind the forest,Jack strung his trout on a willow twig and made his way back to camp.Charlie received him with delight
.

  "Well," he said, "you're the kind of a man I like to be outwith--somebody that can go out and get food to eat. I bet them otherfellows won't bring in anything; but we've got enough here nearly forbreakfast and dinner to-morrow. I wish if you have time you'd go outto-morrow morning and catch some more."

  "I'd like to," said Jack. "Those two big fellows over there gave me asmuch fun as I ever had in my life."

  "Well," said Charlie, "you'll have better fun than that to-morrowmorning when you're eating that fish."

  "No," said Jack, "I don't believe it. I think that I would rather havethe fun of catching those two fish than eating the best meal that wasever cooked."

  From the camp Jack wandered away along the beach and over the meadowsback toward the forest that came down from the higher land. Here he sawthat this must be quite a camping place for Indians, and that some hadbeen there within a few days. There were the remains of recent fires,tent poles that had been cut only a few days before; and some littleway back from the beach, and hardly to be seen among the timber, was anIndian house in which Jack discovered four canoes.

  When he returned to camp, Charlie said: "I heard them fellows shooting,but I reckon they didn't get nothing; maybe a duck or two, but nothingfit to eat, like them fish you brought in."

  "Yes," said Jack, "I heard the shot, but it was from the shot-gun, notfrom a rifle."

  In the meantime the party in the canoe had pushed its way quite a longdistance up the river. There was a possibility that a deer might beseen along the bank, or a brood of ducks feeding in the shallow water,and rifles and shot-gun were ready to secure anything that might makeits appearance. For a long way the canoe advanced through the denseforest without much difficulty. Then it came to a series of shallowrapids, up which so large a craft could not be taken. The canoe wasthen drawn as near the bank as possible. The Indian carried the twowhite men ashore on his shoulders, and all three followed up the streamthrough the now darkening woods. They found many old tracks of deer,and from time to time passed the fresher slide of an otter; but no gamewas seen. As the light grew more and more dim, they faced about, wentback to the canoe, and turned its nose down the stream.

  As the vessel swept noiselessly along the swift current, two or threebroods of ducks were surprised by its sudden approach from behind thebend. On the upward journey the birds, warned by the noise of thepaddles, had seen the craft before it was near them, and had creptashore and hidden themselves in the grass. But now there was not timefor this. A flock of mallards, startled from the water, sprang away inflight, and two of them were stopped by Fannin, and fell back into thestream, to be picked up by Hamset as the canoe swept by.

  It was only gray light next morning when all hands were astir. Whilethe breakfast was being cooked bundles of bedding were rolled up andtransported to the shore; and as soon as breakfast was over and thedishes washed, the canoe was pushed off and loaded; the paddlerstook their places, and they set out again at just six o'clock by Mr.Fannin's watch.

  The day was bright and pleasant, with light airs from half a dozenquarters, but no breeze strong enough to justify the setting of thesail.

  Just after they had pushed out of the mouth of the river, Jack calledFannin's attention to a flock of birds sitting on the water; and theywere presently made out to be scoter ducks, of two kinds. There was anenormous multitude of them, and almost all seemed to be males. When tooclosely approached, fifty or five hundred of them would rise on thewing, swing out over their fellows, and then alight on the outside ofthe flock.

  "Where in the world do all those birds come from, Mr. Fannin?" askedJack. "These are the birds that we call coots down on the Atlanticcoast; but I don't think at any one time I ever saw so many of them aswe see this morning."

  "I don't know just what they're doing here," said Fannin. "But, asnearly as I can see with my glasses, they seem to be all males; and Ishouldn't be a bit surprised if the females were all ashore, at littlesprings or lakes, raising their broods. Pretty soon these birds willbegin to moult, and then the Indians will try to get around them anddrive them ashore and kill them. But this is a method that seldomsucceeds with these birds. If they see that they are going to be forcedon the shore they will dive and swim back under the boat."

  "That's pretty smart," said Jack. "I have heard of the loons doingsomething like that, but I didn't suppose a coot had sense enough forthat."

  "Yes," said Fannin, "that's what they're said to do."

  As they paddled along the head of a seal appeared above the water,close to them, and after watching them for a moment or two sank backout of sight.

  "Son, why don't you try one of those fellows with your rifle,"suggested Hugh. "It looks as if there were time enough to draw a beadon one and kill it. I hear these Indians eat that sort of meat; and Isuppose what they can do we can too, if we get a chance."

  Jack pulled his gun out of its case, put a couple of cartridges in hisvest pocket, and declared he would try the seals the next time one gavehim a chance. He did so, but the animals kept their heads above waterso short a time that he was unable to get a satisfactory sight on one,and did not fire.

  "Well," said Hugh, "these fellows are pretty watchful and pretty quick;and as you don't know when they're coming up, it's a pretty hard matterto shoot at them."

  "So it is," said Fannin, "and yet I think if one had practice enoughthey would be easy to kill. Certainly the Indians here, and still moreto the north, get a great many of them, shooting them and then paddlingquickly up and putting a spear in them before they sink. These littleseals that we see are, of course, nothing but the common harbor seal;but when the big fur-seal herds pass up the coast the Indians get agood many of them in that way, though many are killed by paddling upclose to them when they are asleep on the water and spearing them. Along line is attached to the lance, the head of which is barbed, sothat it will not draw out; and at length they pull the seal up close tothe canoe and kill it, either with a club or by spearing it again. Sealmeat and seal oil are pretty important parts of the native food supplyon this coast; but more so to the north than down here, where the foodis more varied."

  "Well," said Hugh, "we've surely got to get some fresh meat of one kindor other, on this trip; if we don't, our grub will give out, and we'llhave to travel back to the settlement hungry. There seems to be a worldof food lying around,--deer, and fish, and seals, and all that. Yousee, Fannin, Jack and I are prairie men, and don't know how to earna living on this water. If we were travelling back on the plains, orin the mountains, we'd think it mighty queer if we couldn't keep thecamp in meat; but here we don't know how to go to work to do it. Don'teither of these Indians understand how to catch these fish or to killthese animals?"

  "I expect the Indians do," said Fannin, "but I don't, for I never havehad occasion to live in the country along the shore here. I'm somethinglike you, a mountain hunter. But we ought to be able to catch somesalmon, and to do it right here. You know that in a few days or weeksnow all the rivers along the coast will be full of salmon, running uptoward the heads of the stream to spawn. At the present time they aregathering in the salt water, each fish pushing toward the mouth of theriver, in which it was hatched, and down which it made its way towardthe sea. They say that all salmon go back to the streams in which theywere bred to spawn. Now, when they are in salt water, and before theyreach the mouths of the rivers, the salmon will bite, and a great manyof them are caught by trolling, either with bait or with a spoon.Haven't you some fishing tackle there that you could throw overboardnow, and let the bait follow the canoe? If we could get a few fish itwould help out mightily with our eating."

  "Why, yes," said Jack; "of course there's some fishing tackle. Let'sget it out and try them."

  Hugh bent down; and after fumbling in the provision box for a fewmoments, brought out a package which he passed over to Fannin, sayingto him: "You know more about these things than either of us, and you'dbetter pick out the lines and baits that are to be used."

  The long, strong line, with a
lure of metal and feathers attached toit, was soon overboard, and dragging in the long sinuous wake thatstretched out behind the canoe. Jack held it in one hand as he wieldedthe paddle. All the power that they had was needed to push the boatalong; and if one man should sit and fish in idleness it would not havebeen fair to the others.

  Jack sat hopefully, expecting each moment to feel a tug on the line,but none came. "Tell me, Mr. Fannin," he asked, "don't salmon biteafter they get into the fresh water? You said that when in salt waterthey were caught in numbers. Does that mean that they do not take thebait in fresh water?"

  "Yes," replied Fannin, "that's just what it means. When they getinto the fresh water they seem to lose all interest in the foodquestion, and will not take the bait or rise to a fly. Some friendsof mine, who are great fishermen, have tried bait,--spoons, flies,and grasshoppers,--but no attention was paid to any of these things.There's a story, you know, about some British commissioner, sent outyears ago, when England and the United States were quarrelling overthe question of who owned Oregon and Washington, and they say thatthis commissioner was a great salmon angler. They say that he was hereduring the salmon run, and fished the streams faithfully for them,without even getting a rise, though he could see millions of them.The story goes that he was so disgusted with the way the salmon actedthat he went back to England and reported that the great territory indispute was not worth quarrelling about, and not worth holding by GreatBritain, because the salmon in the stream would not rise to a fly."

  "That's sure comical," said Hugh; "but after all there's a good deal ofhuman nature in it. We're all likely to look at things from our littlenarrow point of view and to think only of matters as they interest us."

  Before very long Jack found the holding of the trolling line somethingof a nuisance, and at Fannin's suggestion passed it over to Jimmie,the steersman, who tied it about one of his arms and kept up the workof paddling. That there was salmon about now was very evident, forgreat silvery fish were frequently seen jumping out of the water, orfloundering about on the surface, throwing shining drops about them inshowers.

  "Why do these fish jump in that way, Mr. Fannin?" asked Jack. "It'scommon enough to see fish jump out of the water and then fall back, butthese, when they strike the water, act almost like a fish thrown onthe shore, and flopping there."

  "The Indians say," replied Fannin, "and I guess very likely it'strue, that this flopping around by the salmon is done for the purposeof ridding themselves of certain parasites that are attached totheir bodies. I've often seen these parasites. They are flat, ovalcrustaceans, and a good deal like the common sow bugs--those littleflattish, purple, many-legged bugs that we find under the bark of deadtrees or sometimes under stones, back in the East. Almost all salmoncaught in salt water have some of these things stuck to them, sometimesonly one and sometimes a dozen. They will be found chiefly about thefins, and especially on those of the back. They cling closely to theskin, and some force is needed to dislodge them; but as soon as thefish get in the fresh water they die and drop off."

  They were paddling along, not very far from a kelp bed, which lay northand south, along the channel that they were following for a mile ormore, when suddenly Jimmie dropped his paddle and began to haul inon his line. A moment's work, however, showed that he had no fish onit, and he let it go again. But Fannin told him to draw in the lineand see that the spoon was all right; for it occurred to him that thecurrent might have carried the spoon in among the leaves of the kelpbed, that it might have caught in one of them, and been torn off. Whenthe end of the line was recovered it appeared that this was just whathad happened; and Fannin, grumbling at the Indian's carelessness, puton another spoon and threw the line overboard, but this time kept itin his own hand. It had hardly straightened out, when there was aviolent tug on it, and Fannin dropped his paddle and began to haul inthe line rapidly, hand over hand. Every one in the boat was more orless excited at the capture, and they all stopped paddling. The greatfish was drawn nearer and nearer; sometimes out of sight, and sometimesstruggling on the surface of the water and making a great splashing. Itwas not very long before it was close to the side. All the paddles weretaken in; and Fannin, being very careful to keep the fish away fromthe side of the canoe, let his right hand down close to the line, andgrasped the fish close behind the gills, and lifted it into the canoe.Jack, Hugh, and Charlie cheered vigorously, and the Indians grinnedwith delight.

  It was a fine silvery fish, of ten pounds weight, fat and firm,promising delicious food. The fish was passed aft for the inspectionof Hugh and Jack; and Fannin called their especial attention to thepresence on its back of three of the parasites of which they had beentalking only a few moments ago. Then, after they had all admired thefish, it was laid aside in a shady place and the canoe went on.