BARK CANOES. 401 



outside the circle of its light. The canoe seems to 

 stand perfectly still, and the bottom of the river to run 

 rapidly away from it. Suddenly the man at the bow 

 makes a dart at a fish, and if fortunate enough to strike 

 a heavy salmon lets go his spear, and recovers it after- 

 wards with the fish between its jaws. The spear is made 

 of two jaws or shoulders of tough pliant wood, which open 

 out to admit the fish, which is held firmly by an iron spike 

 in the centre. 



An invaluable treasure to the backwoodsman is the 

 bark of the birch tree. It is easily detached from the 

 trunk in the early summer. At this season the Indian 

 prowls about the forest seeking for a canoe birch, i.e. 

 a tree from which a sheet of bark can be procured of 

 sufficient size to make a canoe, and free from flaws. 

 The tree having been found, felled, and chopped off to 

 the proper length, he proceeds to nick the log along one 

 side, and then tenderly and carefully peels off the bark, 

 ^ticking pegs in the ground to mark out the exact size of 

 the canoe, he then moulds the sheet of bark into shape, 

 warming it as he goes on at the fire to make it soft and 

 pliable. Next the gunwale of cedar wood is bent to the 

 required shape and stitched to the bark : the latter is his 

 squaw's work, and the threads she uses are the tough and 

 stringy roots of the spruce tree. The lining is made of 

 cedar, splits or laths, and five transverse bars of tough 

 wood securely fastened to the gunwale keep the canoe stiff 

 and shapely. For caulking purposes, a pitch made of 

 resin and grease is used, and with this mixture the stem, 

 stern, and other unavoidable seams are hermetically sealed, 

 and the pitch-pot is a part of the furniture of every canoe. 



2 D 



