Shantyboat On The Bayous by Harlan Hubbard; & Don Wallis

Author:Harlan Hubbard; & Don Wallis [Hubbard, Harlan & Wallis, Don]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780813188379
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2021-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

Houma, though fifty miles from the Gulf, to which it is connected only by narrow, winding bayous, is a busy fishing port, having docks and shipyards, sea-food packers, net makers, and dealers in fishermen’s supplies; all crowded along the narrow stream which must serve as harbor.

Next morning we moved farther up Bayou Terrebonne, crossed the Intracoastal Waterway, and found a mooring among the docks, bridges, and buildings of the city, which nearly swallowed up the narrow stream. After trying our shantyboat to a row of piling, we climbed the steep bank and found ourselves on the main street. An ice cream stand nearby had an outside tap which was a convenient source of drinking water.

Houma, which is pronounced “home-a,” was the largest place we had been in since leaving New Orleans. It gave us a chance to do some city shopping, though our most important purchase was a cast net which could have been bought at many of the waterside country stores in Louisiana. I had wanted a cast net ever since I saw the first one. After some looking about and comparing of prices which did not vary, we bought one at Pitre’s, a fisherman’s store located on Main Street, according to the address, but more properly on Bayou Terrebonne near the Intracoastal. Nine feet in diameter, the net was considered four and a half feet long, since that was its length when held by the center. At $2.50 per foot, our net cost $11.25—a high figure it seemed at first; but when we considered how many hours it would take to weave a foot of net, and how each succeeding foot increased in area with the spread of the net, the price asked was reasonable. We never regretted buying it; our cast net soon paid for itself in bait and fish caught. Though I never became very expert, I had much pleasure from casting, and some excitement. It is such a direct and simple way of fishing. The net was decorative when spread over the end of the cabin to dry; and it brought us close to the Cajuns.

After one night in Houma we were glad to escape from the city noises and smells, from the unclean water. It seemed best to follow the Intracoastal westward, though we were tempted to go into Bayou Black; or to follow an outbound fishing boat through a small bayou called Le Carpe, another of those leading from Houma to the Gulf. We wanted very much to reach the gulf shore, but our maps informed us that there would be shorter routes farther west; in fact, the Intracoastal canal seemed to skirt the shore in some places.

For a few miles out of Houma the canal wound through a higher land which might almost be called rolling; or perhaps the “hills” were merely heaps of spoil from dredging.

The breeze this day was so light that it would have been unnoticed on land, but coming directly against us it cut our speed to almost nothing.

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