MOOSE-HUNTING IN CANADA 105 



baggage across the " portage " is arduous work. A 

 birch-bark canoe must be treated delicately, for it 

 is a very fragile creature. You allow it to ground 

 very carefully ; step out into the water, take out all 

 the bales, boxes, pots, pans, bedding, rifles, &c. ; 

 lift up the canoe bodily, and turn her upside down 

 for a few minutes to drain the water out. The 

 Indian then turns her over, grasps the middle 

 thwart with both hands, and with a sudden twist of 

 the wrists heaves her up in the air, and deposits her 

 upside down on his shoulders, and walks off with 

 his burden. An ordinary-sized Micmac or Meli- 

 cite canoe, such as one man can easily carry, weighs 

 about 70 or 80 lbs., and will take two men and about 

 600 or 700 lbs. 



The impedimenta are carried in this manner. 

 A blanket, doubled to a suitable size, is laid 

 upon the ground ; you take your portage-strap, or 

 tump-line as it is sometimes called, which is com- 

 posed of strips of webbing or some such material, 

 and is about twelve feet long, a length of about 

 two feet in the centre being made of a piece of 

 broad soft leather ; you lay your line on the 

 blanket so that the leather part projects, and fold 

 the edges of the blanket over either portion of 

 the strap. You then pile up the articles to be 



