DUCK SHOOTING. 229 



on an excursion in a new scow, which he had 

 built and equipped after the most approved man- 

 ner, especially to kill ducks in the Susquehanna 

 and the upper bay. She was wall- sided and 

 flat-bottomed, forty feet long and nine feet beam. 

 She carried a jib and a lartre fore and aft main- 

 sail. A space barely sufficient for a tall man to 

 lie at length, was decked off forward, and con- 

 tained three or four bunks and a small stove, 

 besides the stooling guns, several bags of heavy 

 shot and kegs of ducking powder, not to speak 

 of a quart coffee-pot and two large baskets of 

 provender. This was the hardy duck-shooter's 

 cabin ; it was well pitched so as to be waterlight, 

 and was entered by a small scuttle with a slide ; 

 here he cooked, eat, slept, kept tally of his game, 

 manufactured the heads and necks of decoys, 

 cut his gun-wads, spun his yarns, drank his grog 

 or coffee, and kept care outside from October 

 until April, during the severest season of the 

 year. 



The scow's rudder was set on a pivot so as to 

 be readily unshipped in case of necessity, or to 

 be used like the steering-oar of a whale boat, in 

 throwing her head around. She had large lee- 

 boards, which enabled her to lie very close to the 

 wind in moderate weather, though from her 

 15 



