104 CANADIAN NIGHTS 



laden birch-bark canoe will not stand a great deal 

 of sea, and quite a heavy sea gets up very rapidly on 

 large fresh-water lakes, so that a long " traverse " is 

 a somewhat formidable matter. You may want to 

 cross a lake, say, five or six miles in width, but of such 

 a size that it would take you a couple of days to coast 

 all round. That open stretch of five or six miles 

 would be called a " traverse." 



The number and length of the portages on any 

 canoe route, and the kind of trail that leads over 

 them, are important matters to consider in canoe 

 travelling. A man in giving information about any 

 journey will enter into most minute particulars 

 about them. He will say, " You go up such and 

 such a river," and he will tell you all about it — 

 where there are strong rapids ; where it is very 

 shallow ; where there are deep still reaches in 

 which the paddle can be used, and where you must 

 pole, and so forth. Then he will tell you how you 

 come to some violent rapid or fall that necessitates 

 a " portage," and explain exactly how to strike into 

 the eddy, and shove your canoe into the bank at a 

 certain place, and take her out there, and how long 

 the " portage " is ; whether there is a good trail, or a 

 bad trail, or no trail at all ; and so on with every 

 " portage " on the route. Carrying canoes and 



