BOATS. 309 
about three inches above the water. When choppy 
waves threaten to engulf you they will be speedily re- 
pelled by the combing of the pit. The waves at times 
seem about to break inon you. Instinctively you draw 
yourself together as one comes toward you; it breaks 
against the sides, overflows the decking, is warded off 
by the combing, then rapidly down along the boat’s 
decking, and merrily trickles back into the water again, 
not a drop going into the boat. There is a vast fund 
of pleasure in hunting in one of these boats, that defies 
pen description. An illustration will show what can be 
done with them when other means fail. 
A few years ago in Goose Lake, in this county, Mr. 
Ben Woodward and myself dropped in on the natives 
unannounced, with one of these boats and twenty-five 
decoys. When the inhabitants of the village saw us 
they volunteered the information that “we wouldn’t 
kill a duck.” Said there were some flying over the lake, 
but came in high and pitched down in the centre of the 
lake, and that no man could get them. We trimmed 
our boat to represent a muskrat house, laid portions of 
muskrat bed on the sides, pushed into grass about two 
feet high, lay flat on our backs until the ducks got right 
over our decoys, and that afternoon and the next fore- 
noon hagged nearly 70 ducks. When we brought in 
the birds the citizens were greatly astounded. We 
were féted (at our own expense), and accorded the 
freedom of the village. 
To build a duck-boat requires practical as well as 
theoretical skill, and while I give in this article the 
measurements requisite to build one such as I use, which 
my experience has demonstrated to be the best in use, 
I would not advise an inexperienced person to 
