Evening star., 1940-03-10
Pirogue Padd|ers
OF Cajun Country
Welcome Travellers
Race in Treucherous
Craft Open to Outside
Spectators in Recent Years

NEW ORLEANS, La, March g.
More than 100 pirogue paddlers
from the Louisiana bayou country
are expected to compete in the sixth
annual race on Bayou Barataria,
approximately Is miles south of New
Orleans famed Canal street. Al
though the definite date, in early
May. has not as yet been named,
Cajun folk already are preparing
for the race, which they claim will
be the greatest sporting event ever
held in the bayou country.
The race will be padded over a
4-mile course, ending near Fleming
Park, where spectators from New
Orleans and countless other French
settlements of the bayou country
of Louisiana will gather.
Prospective contestants have been
working for weeks on the fleet
cookie shell" bayou craft, usually
followed from whole cypress logs,
whose racing qualities and tradi-
tional place in Louisiana water
transportation are honored by the
annual competition.
Public Welcomed Only Lately.
Adam Billiot's supremacy in the
bayou country of Louisiana is un-
disputed. Three times in four wears
ne has won the great race of the
back waters, a classic that has
thrilled the bayou Cajuns for gen.
erations, but which the modern
world has been privileged to see
only since 1884.
A reticent people, the Cajuns were
dead set against outsiders attend
ing their annual pirogue race. Final
,ly, several New Orleans sportsmen,
who use native guides in their hunt
ing, persuaded them to permit vis-
itors from New Orleans to view the
event, in return offering to cooper
ate by awarding some so or so
prizes, which include cash. silver
cups, pigs, cattle, smoked ham,
whisky, and gin. The Cajuns now
realize that the outsiders are not
attempting to exploit them, but in
stead are merely endeavoring to
perpetuate the traditions of Louisi-
ana's primitive mode of water travel,
with tribute to the men who build
and handle these curious craft.
A pirogue, in the miniature, re-
sembles the gondola of Venice and
with water displacement of only
2 or 3 inches. It may be navigated
IN the shallow marshes as well as
the deeper bayous.
Treacherous Craft.
The skill of a pirogue paddler is
marvel when one considers the
instability of the craft. The pirogue
is as delicate in touch as the but
terf1y's wings and as treacherous
as the water moccasin. It's an old
saying that stout man can't get
within 10 feet of a pirogue without
swamping it.
And so, when the definite date
for the race has been set, some
10000 persons, Cajun and city folk,
will again line the point along
Bayou Barataria to witness another
climax of this most unusual of all
Americas sporting events. The race
probably will start at 3 o'clock and
the crowd will mill around, i'm
patient for the starters gun, as
Father Gubler invokes a Catholic,
blessing upon the paddlers. Hun
dreds of others will stand on the
decks of palatial yachts and auxil-
iary water craft that will lay an
chored in the bayou.
Across Baratario Bayou the pad
oilers will line up and get ready for
the start. Adam Billiot will be
there near the post" but there's
no inside or outside rail" advantage,
since the paddlers, to avoid the
adverse currents, will cross and re-
cross the bayou several times dur
ing the race.