402 THE ANGLES. 



The tools used by the Indian for building his ship are the 

 axe, the awl, and the crooked knife the latter a curved 

 blade used as a spokeshave. 



The paddles are made of rock or bird's-eye maple, 

 6 feet 6 inches or 7 feet in length. They should be light 

 and springy. In paddling the upper hand is at the ex- 

 treme end, and the lower one (or the left hand if the 

 paddler is working at his left side) grasps the paddle close 

 to the blade. The farther apart the hands are held the 

 more power can be put into the stroke. At the com- 

 mencement of each stroke the paddle is nearly perpen- 

 dicular, and throughout the arms are held nearly stiff, the 

 motive power coming from the shoulders. 



The birch-bark canoe weighs about 60 Ibs., and can be 

 paddled or " portaged " by one man with the greatest 

 ease, yet, light as it is, can carry four heavy men with 

 perfect safety. With two or more of a crew two persons 

 paddle, one at each end of the canoe, and at opposite 

 sides. When the canoer is by himself he steers, not by 

 shifting the paddle from one side to the other, but by 

 pulling the water towards him as it were, or by pushing 

 it from him with the blade of his paddle. Paddling in 

 smooth water is by no means hard work, and the art can 

 soon be learned. 



Rapidly as the Indians are degenerating and losing 

 their characteristic traits, still the particular tribe to 

 which a red man belongs can be told at a glance by the 

 pattern of his canoe. Thus the Micmac, who lives on 

 the sea-coast, has a larger and more weatheiiy craft 

 than the Milicete, who " paddles his own canoe " only 

 on the inland waters. Both are, however, made out of 



