Page:Fifty Years in Chains, or the Life of an American Slave.djvu/213

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in March, my seine being now completed, my master told me I must take with me three other black men, and go to the river to clear out a fishery. This task was a [sic]disagreeble job, for it was nothing less than dragging out of the river all the old trees and brush that had sunk to the bottom, within the limits of our intended fishing ground.

My master's eldest son had been down the river, and had purchased two boats, to be used at the fishery; but when I saw them, I declared them to be totally unfit for that purpose. They were old batteaux, and so leaky that they would not have supported the weight of a seine and the men necessary to lay it out. I advised the building of two good canoes from some of the large yellow pines in the woods. My advice was accepted, and together with five others hands, I went to work at the canoes, which we completed in less than a week.

So far things went pretty well, and I flattered