14 THE GREAT NORTH-WEST 



should immediately leave their own business, no matter 

 how pressing it might be, and assist him in the work. 

 No excuse was accepted, or permitted. The man who 

 Avould not hasten to put his neighbour under cover would 

 be ostracised as an ill-conditioned fellow. But I never 

 knew, or heard of, a refusal. All, farmers and settlers 

 from miles around, hasten cheerfully to perform this work 

 of charitable good-neighbourship. 



The most onerous part of the work, however, falls upon 

 the owner of the hut ; for he has to fell the timber and 

 " clean " the logs — that is, lop off the branches, and cut 

 the logs of the required length. When he has done this, 

 he intimates to his neighbours that he is ready to have 

 the hut erected. The rationale of this assistance is palp- 

 able : one man could not place the logs in position. It 

 takes a party of men to do that, and when they start the 

 work is soon finished. A very good log-hut can be 

 erected in six hours or less, the logs being previously 

 prepared. Sometimes the logs have the bottom side 

 roughly " squared " or cut flat ; if all four sides of the 

 log are squared, they form a " block-house," in distinction 

 to a " log-hut." A block-house is considered a superior 

 sort of residence, and they are seldom erected, except by 

 people who intend to inhabit them for a great number of 

 years. For the log-hut is only the preliminary substitute 

 for a more pretentious house of brick or stone, which 

 the settler hopes, sooner or later, to have the means of 

 erecting. 



A foundation is generally placed for the lowermost 

 logs, though not always. Stones or masses of rock, if pro- 

 curable, are used for this purpose ; otherwise " stumps," 

 or the rooted ends of the felled trees, are substituted. If 

 there is no foundation, the lowest logs soon rot, and this 

 destroys the whole structure. If the hut is well con- 

 structed of good timber (beech is the best), it will last at 

 least thirty years. As to its size, that is a matter of 

 taste ; but if the new chum cuts his logs of greater 



