24 ALL AFLOAT 



were all bad. The elm bark was used inside 

 out, because the outside was too rough and 

 brittle for the bottom of a canoe. It made dull 

 paddling and never lasted the whole of a hard 

 season, unlike the birch-bark, which sometimes 

 had a life of six or seven years. The most 

 modern material is canvas, which is gener- 

 ally painted red or green. It is light, easily 

 repaired, and has much to recommend it, 

 though trappers think it gives a taint which 

 scares their game away. The paddles were 

 and are of all shapes and sizes, long and short, 

 broad and narrow, spoon-blade and square ; 

 and they were and are made of all kinds of 

 wood, from the lightest spruce to the much 

 heavier but handsomer bird's-eye maple. Sails 

 were and are only used with light winds dead 

 aft, and not often in birch-barks even then, 

 because there is no ' stiffness ' without a keel. 

 There were skin as well as bark canoes 

 among the Indians. But the typical skin canoe 

 is the Eskimo kayak. This is a shuttle-shaped 

 craft, about fifteen feet long and just wide 

 enough to let its single paddler sit flat on the 

 bottom. It differs from the Indian canoe in 

 being entirely decked over. The skin of the 

 grey seal, when that best of canoe skins can 

 be found, is carefully sewn, so as to be quite 



