THE OOLOGJST. 



251 



Some years ago the writer decided to 

 cruise a considerable distance down the 

 Connecticut River to make certain geo- 

 logical observation and to observe nat- 

 ural phenomena in general. The sea- 

 son seclected was rather late for obser- 

 vations in Oology, but numerous 

 species of birds were studied and elab- 

 orate notes taken. A few valuable 

 specimens were also secured. For this 

 cruise a boat capable of carrying one 

 person and a small outfit, and also 

 light enough to be itself carried on the 

 sholders for short distances, was neces- 

 sary. Such a craft was accordingly 

 planned and soon constructed, and 

 since it proved to be so well suited to 

 the purpose and in every way desira- 

 ble and reliable, I shall briefly describe 

 how it was built. It. very much resem- 

 bled in appearance an ordinary can- 

 vas canoe, only it was somewhat wider 

 and was provided with rowlocks and 

 light oars instead of the usual clouble- 

 bladed paddle. It was desirable to 

 have a boat that could be propelled by 

 oars as well as paddle for this cruise, 

 but if any of my readers desire to build a 

 canoe for paddling alone, it might be 

 well to make it somewhat shorter in 

 the beam than the one about to be des- 

 cribed; never the-less, as a rule, the 

 broader the boat the steadier she will 

 be in the water. 



My boat was twelve feet long. The 

 first thing made was the frame-work 

 over which the canvas was stretched. 

 A cedar board ten inches wide, an inch 

 thick and eleven feet six inches in 

 length, was taken as the bottom board 

 or keelson, and was marked off by two 

 transverse lines into three equal lengths. 

 Each outer third of the board was then 

 cut tapering toward its respective end 

 until it measured but one and a half 

 inch at the extremities, and the under 

 edges were beveled off along its entire 

 length. Two cross-boards, or moulds, 

 were next sawed from a one-inch pine 

 plank. These were thirty-six inches 



wide and thirteen inches high, and 

 were cut away in the center to avoid 

 useless weight. They were rounded at 

 their two lower corners and notches 

 one inch and a half deep were sawed in 

 the two upper corners of each to re- 

 ceive the gunwales. These moulds 

 were then fastened cross Avise to the 

 keelson, on the transverse lines already 

 marked off, with long stout screws 

 passed from below upward — and when 

 so placed devided the keelson in three 

 equal parts. The stem and stern pieces 

 were then added. For these I secured 

 two strips of green elm eighteen inches 

 long and an inch and a half square. 

 One end of each was cut off obliquely 

 so as to taper for a distance of about 

 two and a half inches, and by this end — 

 the oblique surface resting upon the 

 keelson and the square end pointing 

 straight out— one strip was firmly screw- 

 ed to each extremity of the bottom 

 board. Both were then bent over, with 

 their concave surfaces toward the mid- 

 dle of the board, until they formed 

 curved end pieces or "cut-waters," and 

 were secured in this position by means 

 of wires stretched from their free ex- 

 tremities to nails driven into the bot- 

 tom-board (keelson,) near the moulds. 

 Elm was used for this purpose because 

 tough and not likely to break in bend, 

 ing and the green wood was taken be- 

 cause on drying it would retain, to a 

 considerable extent, the shape into 

 which it had been bent. The gun- 

 wales were next added. They consist- 

 ed of light strips of ash a little more 

 than twelve feet in length, an inch and 

 a half wide and half an inch thick. 

 They were fastened by means of long 

 nails to the moulds and firmly secured 

 to the end pieces with slim bolts— the 

 end pieces being notched to make them 

 flush. Everything was now ready for 

 the ribs, but before these were put on 

 two strips of wood similar to the gun- 

 wales were stretched from stem to 

 stern and made a pass along the lower 



