NORTHERN OCEAN. 
noes belonging to my party could be completed. 
97 
1771: 
On the nineteenth we began to proceed on our ~~~ 
journey ; but Matonabbee’s canoe meeting with 
fome damage, which took near a whole day to 
repair, we were detained till the twentieth. 
_ Thofe veflels, though made of the fame mate- 
rials with the canoes of the Southern Indians, dif- 
fer from them both in fhape and conftruction ; 
they are alfo much fmaller and lighter, and though 
| very flight and fimple in their confiruction, are 
| neverthelefs the beft that could poffibly be con- 
trived for the ufe of thofe poor people, who are 
frequently obliged to carry them a hundred, and 
fometimes a hundred and fifty miles at a time, 
without having occafion to put them into the wa- 
ter. Indeed, the chief ufe of thefe canoes is to 
ferry over unfordable rivers; though fometimes, 
and at a few places, it muft be acknowledged, 
that they are of great fervice in killing deer, as 
they enable the Indians to crofs rivers and the 
narrow parts of lakes; they are alfo ufeful in kill- 
| ing {wans, geefe, ducks, &c.in the moulting feafon. 
All the tools ufed by an Indian in building his 
canoe, as well as in making his fnow-fhoes, and 
every other kind of wood-work, confift of a 
hatchet, a knife, a file, and an awl; in the ufe of 
which they are fo dextrous, that every thing they 
| make is executed with a neatnefs not to be ex- 
| celled by the moft expert mechanic, aflifted with 
| every tool he could with. 
~ In fhape the Northern Indian canoe bears fome 
st refem- 
May. 
19th. 
22th, 
