CANOES 27 



paddled, rowed, or sailed, according to build 

 and circumstances. The common punt is the 

 best known form of it ; the dory by far 

 the handiest all round ; the cargo barge the 

 biggest ; and the old-fashioned ' bateau ' the 

 most characteristically Canadian. The modern 

 ' bateau ' is to be found only among keeled 

 sailing craft. But the old ' bateau,' which 

 Wolfe's local transport officers spelt battoe, 

 was more of a rowboat. It was sharp at both 

 ends, wall-sided, and fitted with oars, poles, 

 and a square sail. The bottom had some sheer 

 that is, it was curved up at each end but 

 less than the top. Four men rowed, the fifth 

 steered, and three tons of miscellaneous goods 

 or thirty-five barrels of flour made a fair cargo. 

 Bateaux like this were the craft in which the 

 United Empire Loyalists went up the St Law- 

 rence to settle Upper Canada. Afterwards the 

 size and crew were increased till the average 

 cargo amounted to about four tons and a 

 half. But the Durham boat, introduced by 

 American traders from the Mohawk valley, 

 soon became a successful rival, which was not 

 itself supplanted till canals enabled still larger 

 craft to pass from one open water to another. 

 The Durham was larger than the bateau ; long, 

 light, and shallow. It had a not quite flat 



