THE AVILD-FOWL CANOE. 231 



with one oar ; they are besides sharp at both ends, which is a gross 

 error, because of the difficulty of sculling- such a boat with any 

 certainty by means of one oar ; though it might be pushed ahead in 

 shallow water with a long" pole weig-hted at the lower end. But, as 

 the canoe is more frequently employed in creeks and narrow channels, 

 among- islands and marshes, it is more desirable to have a boat such 

 as may be sculled ahead steadily and surely, in a straig'ht line with 

 the birds, which the round-bottomed canoe, with keelson, enables the 

 fowler to perform with ease and certainty ; yet cannot be done with 

 the Poole canoe.* 



Another disadvantag-e in the Poole canoe in being' flat-bottomed is, 

 the difficulty of launching- when lying- ashore, or accidentally g-etting' 

 aground on a sand bank ; it appears to stick to the soil with the per- 

 tinacity of a flat-fish, and requires two or more hands to move it. 

 The round-bottomed canoe, on the contrary, may be launched by one 

 person ; and thoug-h it has an inch or two of keelson projecting- below 

 the bottom, it draws so little extra water that it may generally be 

 taken over the same shallows as a flat-bottomed boat. It also rows 

 lighter, and is safer in rough water. 



The wild-fowl canoe is seldom sailed, its form and the purpose to 

 which it is employed rendering such a proceeding- impracticable. 



* Colonel Hawker recommends tlie Poole canoe, as well adapted for the purpose ; 

 but lie had probably never seen the superior form of wild-fowl canoes used at some 

 other places on the eastern coast, or he would have acknowledged the inferiority of 

 the former. 



