4 A SPORTING PARADISE 



prefer camping out and long expeditions with 

 Indian guides. These visitors buy every kind 

 of farm produce gladly, and are, therefore, 

 a godsend to the farm. Few Indians reside 

 in this district now, but numbers of them 

 pass through it on their way from Rama 

 to their hunting-grounds. They are very 

 quiet, inoffensive people, fond of jewellery and 

 gaudy attire. They sing very sweetly, and the 

 squaws execute some bead-work which displays 

 great taste. It is amusing to see them glide 

 along in their bark canoes.* The healthiness of 



* How to make a canoe. These canoes are not difficult to 

 make, if one selects a tree of sufficient size from which a 

 sheet of bark can be procured without a flaw. The directions 

 are as follows: Chop out proper lengths, nick the log along 

 one side, then tenderly and carefully peel off the bark. Stick 

 pegs into the ground to mark off the size of the canoe ; then 

 mould the sheet of bark into shape, and warm at the fire to 

 make it soft and pliable. Then bend the gunwale of cedar 

 wood and stitch the bark. Line with cedar splits or laths, and 

 five transverse bars of tough wood ; fasten to the gunwale to 

 keep the canoe stiff and shapely. Caulk with pitch made of 

 resin and grease, and the stem, stern, and other unavoidable 

 seams hermetically seal, and be careful to have a pitch-pot in 

 the canoe. The Indian uses an axe and crooked knife as his 

 only tools. The paddles, which are from 6 ft. to 7 ft. in length, 

 are made of rock maple. They should be light and springy. 

 In paddling, the upper hand is at the extreme end, and the 

 lower one grasps the paddle close to the blade. The farther 

 apart the hands are held the more power can be put into the 



