CANOE SHOOTING. 323 



In making all canoes for gunning, the builder should 

 be careful to have the bottoms of them a little rounded 

 (say about half an inch of convex, " amidships," for a 

 bottom three feet broad) ; and, what is of still more 

 consequence, a little " kammelled," or sprung ; that is, 

 gradually rising " fore and aft," in order to " give them 

 life." They will otherwise row miserably heavy, and, 

 when they get aground, suck the mud or sand so much, 

 that, in order to get them off again, you might be forced 

 to stand up ; and this would frighten away the fowl. 

 If, however, the bottom of a canoe is too much kam- 

 melled, she will never keep steady in going to birds. 

 Some people, for this reason, leave hollow grooves be- 

 tween the bottom planks. I should say, that to every 

 five feet of plank I would give about one inch of " kam- 

 mel f so that the bottom of the canoe here engraved, 

 being ten feet, would, by holding a string along the 

 centre of the bottom (outside) prove convex about two 

 inches. If a little more, she would be none the worse ; 

 perhaps better ; provided that she drew water enough to 

 give a bearing to every part; otherwise the ends that 

 were sprung would, by being out of the water, " cluck" 

 so much as to make birds swim away in the night. In 

 short, let your draught of water be the chief guide, to 

 regulate the kammelling, or springing, of your punts 

 and canoes. If not required for rough work, or a fixed 

 swivel-gun, I should recommend that the planks be not 

 more than three quarters of the thickness specified in 

 the foregoing directions ; as nothing, provided it be 

 perfectly safe, can be too light for getting to wild birds. 

 It is the large size of a boat, not the substance of the 

 wood, that makes her safe in a sea. If the builder puts 

 some tarred oakum round the heads of the principal 



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