VERGE OF CIVILIZATION. 373 



ed and large game found. In wandering about the neigh- 

 borhood of my temporary residence, about two miles from 

 home I came upon one of those beautiful little sheets of 

 water so frequently found upon the northern portion of the 

 American continent. This soon became a favorite retreat, 

 for wild duck were numerous on a portion where wild rice 

 grew luxuriantly, and passenger-pigeons and spruce grouse 

 had adopted it as a watering-place, owing to its freedom 

 from intruders. All devoted admirers of nature know 

 what a pleasure it is to be alone where none of man's work 

 mars the prospect, where every object the eye rests upon 

 is as it came from the Creator's hands, unsullied and un- 

 changed. As I sat on a rocky promontory to see the sun 

 dip the horizon, perhaps visions of my distant land or far- 

 off friends flitting before me, I was struck with the im- 

 mense numbers of fish that kept breaking the unrippled 

 surface good evidence that the rod and line might find 

 abundant work, and on the next visit I determined to put 

 it to the test. 



To those who are acquainted with the birch-bark canoe 

 it is needless for me to say any thing. All the praises I 

 could sound could not further enhance it in their estima- 

 tion ; but to those who are not, to them let me say that 

 there is not in existence a more perfect piece of mechanism 

 for the purpose it is intended. Only learn to handle it 

 properly, and you can go in it anywhere, over shoals, down 

 rapids, through channels where an oar would be useless, 

 and finally, if necessary, you can take it on your shoulders, 

 and tramp across portages where nothing but an ox-team 

 could transport a boat. In construction they are models 

 of skill, yet the Indian alone knows how to make them ; for 

 although a white man may occasionally attempt their man- 

 ufacture, they never do so successfully. On the following 

 day, with my birch-bark on my shoulders, looking like a 



