THE ANGLER AND HUNTSMAN 37 



smartness of a wooden canoe without the latter's extreme 

 rigidity. The canvas canoe is a thing of life, pliant yet 

 strong, buoyant, yet stable. It has most of the virtues of 

 the other two, plus distinctive ones of its own; it is decided- 

 ly faster, being of the general model of the birch but with a 

 smooth surface instead of rough bark to glide through the 

 water. Secondly, it is delightfully light for portaging. 

 Thirdly, it is easily and dependably mended when it suf- 

 fers a tear. It will cost you more than a birch bought from 

 an Indian, but less than any of the rib canoes. 



"Whatever material you prefer, there are other con- 

 siderations; you would not attempt to carry a ton in a lit- 

 tle 13-foot canoe built for one man and his pack. You 

 would require for this a freighter weighing four times as 

 much as the little boat and some twenty feet long. Canoes 

 weigh all the way from 50 pounds and less to 200 pounds; 

 and sometimes two canoes of the same size will differ sur- 

 prisingly in -weight. Between these extremes, a man 

 can get nearly anything he wants, and it pays to insist on 

 suitability of your boat to the prospective use. For three 

 men and equipment to start out on a rough lake voyage in 

 a 14 or even a 15-foot canoe is apt to end in disappointment, 

 if not disaster. Their craft ought to be 18 feet long, 36 in- 

 ches w r ide and 13 inches deep. Two men could use a 17- 

 foot canoe and yet have good capacity by selecting one with 

 u;ood width and depth, but as a rule three men require a 

 long boat for satisfactory paddling. 



'"Sixteen feet is a good all-purpose length for a canoe. 

 The width may be from 31 to 36 inches, depending on the 

 degree of stability required in its use; the corresponding 

 depth from 11 to 14 inches. 



"Shape is another vital factor. Even the uninitiated 

 <-an readily understand that a flat-bottomed canoe has more 

 stability in the water. And it is equally obvious that, 

 ordinarily, it would be slower. What the "will-be" sea- 

 man does not always know is the important part played by 



