Esquimaux

“Then they saw people, floating on the water and looking back at them. In tiny, skin-covered kayaks the strangers darted among the icebergs; their legs were hidden inside their boats, their arms extended by two-bladed paddles. Flash-flash: into the ocean and out again, water streaming silver from the blades. The paddles led to tight hooded jackets; the jackets merged into oval skirts connecting the men at their waists to the boats – like centaurs, Erasmus thought. Boat men, male boats. It was all a blur, he couldn’t see their faces.”

(Andrea Barrett, The Voyage of the Narwhal)

(Centaurs! I think every time I see one of those skilled OC1 canoe riders navigating the river.)