The Timber of Canada. 361 



quite a luxury, and the only variety in the bill of fare 

 was thai it consisted of pea soup, bread, pork and beana 

 for dinner, the same, with the addition of tea for Bupper, 

 and either, less the pea soup, for breakfast. On the St. 

 Maurice, for many years, the living has been good and 

 substantial, with comfortable shanties provided with stove, 

 tables, and bunks, the cooking being usually done in an 

 outside compartment. The shantyman's condition, how- 

 ever, is improving with the times. 



Our shantymen, whether English or French, as a rule, 

 are as good axemen, and expert drivers and canoemen, as 

 can be found in any country. Our people are Well up in 

 dam building, as well as in making slides and clearing 

 away the rivers to facilitate driving. Our rivers, as a 

 general thing, being very precipitous and rapid, require 

 extensive improvements, especially for the running of 

 square timber. 



I can hardly let the occasion pass without a reference 

 to two of our woods, the first because of its usefulness to 

 the poor aborigine, whose heritage we possess ; it served 

 to cover his wigwam, and was the material for his canoe, 

 to aid locomotion ; the latter, the great wood of commerce. 



The white birch, or boleau, has within a few years be- 

 come of some value when found within easy reach, having 

 been turned to account for the manufacture of spools and 

 spool wood for thread makers, the white part of the wood 

 only being used. It is made into squares, varying from 

 one inch, in eighths, to say, two inches, and three or four 

 feet long. Many shiploads have been shipped to England 

 and Scotland the past few years, principally from the 

 Lower St. Lawrence. The red, or heart, being worthless 

 to the spoolmakers, is either used as firewood or left bo 

 rot. There are vast quantities of this wood in the 

 interior, too far from navigation or rail to he of any 

 value. It is mostly found on poor soil, mixed with bal- 

 sam, small spruce and cedar. It makes good firewood 



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