BIRCH-BARK CANOES. 225 



completed a bargain for the purchase of an Indian canoe. These 

 Indian or birch-bark canoes are getting to be more and more valu- 

 able all along the coast. Formerly the bark grew in abundance in 

 certain localities on the Labrador shores, but the call for it lately 

 has been so great, since both boats and huts are made of it, that 

 the home supply has become exhausted, and the Indians now send 

 for it to Anticosti, and even Gaspe on the south shore of the St. 

 Lawrence, whence the greater part is now obtained. The Betula 

 papyracea, the tree from which this valuable product is obtained 

 has, strange to say, in these regions at least, become nearly extinct. 

 Of course, the stripping of a tree of all its bark or outer covering 

 at once kills it. The great danger is, that soon the probably already 

 limited quantity south of the St. Lawrence will also become ex- 

 hausted, when, unless considerable growths are found upon the 

 island of Anticosti, where the Indians were recently engaged in 

 searching for it, the supply will become entirely exhausted. At 

 present the Indians, and those whites who are so fortunate as to 

 have bark on hand, are very sparing of it, and will sell only for 

 cash to those parties with whom they regularly trade. 



An Indian canoe is apparently (to use an American slang 

 phrase) a most "cranky" affair. It is light, weighing according to 

 its size from seventy-five to two hundred pounds. The ordinary 

 canoe is about twelve to fifteen feet long, and two feet and six inches 

 wide in the centre, its widest part, while the depth is about three 

 fifths of its width. From the middle both ends taper, cigar-shaped 

 to the bow and stern. Each end is slightly elevated and pointed ; 

 but it is needless to describe further the shape of an Indian canoe. 

 Within this apparently frail craft the natives go from place to place 

 — of course seldom venturing far out to sea — with the utmost 

 freedom. I have seen them rocked about near shore in the surf 

 when it seemed as if the waves would overpower them at any 

 moment ; and then again I have seen a canoe with a single individ- 

 ual paddling as easily and regularly through a narrow pass against 

 high waves that had appeared too dangerous for many of the older 

 boatsmen with their wooden boats. In these small canoes, that 

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