THE BIRCH. 209 



some places, as many are seen lying on the ground as are 

 left standing. Such as have lain long are found to have 

 entirely lost the substance of the wood, the bark remaining 

 a hollow cylinder without any symptom of decay. In 

 North America this durability of the bark is turned to 

 good account in the structure of canoes. The Canadians 

 select a tree with a large and smooth trunk. In the 

 spring, two circular incisions are made quite through the 

 bark, several feet from each other. Two vertical incisions 

 are then made on opposite sides of the tree ; after which 

 a wooden wedge is introduced, by which the bark is easily 

 detached in plates usually ten or twelve feet long, and two 

 feet nine inches broad. To form the canoe, they are 

 stitchefl together with the fibrous roots of the White 

 Spruce. The seams are coated with resin from the Balm 

 of Gilead. Great use is made of these canoes by the 

 savages and by the French Canadians in their long 

 journeys into the interior of the country : they are very 

 light, and are easily carried on the shoulders from one lake 

 or river to another. A canoe calculated for four persons 

 weighs from forty to fifty pounds. Some of them are 

 made to carry fifteen passengers. This species is known 

 as the Paper Birch. 



The thin white bark of the common Birch, which peels 

 off like paper, is highly inflammable, and will burn like a 

 candle. The Birch abounds in a sweet watery sap, which 

 was formerly much valued for its supposed medicinal vir- 

 tues. The method pursued in collecting it is as follows : 

 About the beginning of March an oblique cut is made, 

 almost as deep as the pith, under some wide-spreading 

 branch, into which a small stone or chip is inserted, to 

 keep the lips of the wound open. To this orifice a bottle 

 is attached to collect the flowing juice, which is clear, 

 watery, and sweetish, but retains something both of the 

 taste and odour of the tree. Various receipts are given 

 for the preparation of the wine. That recommended by 

 Evelyn can hardly fail to produce an agreeable beverage. 



