CHAPTER IV 
STILL-PADDLING 
ie the wilderness the highways are the 
ponds and lakes themselves. Here the 
canoe is man’s best friend. He paddles to 
market; he paddles to church. To speak pre- 
cisely, he rows, for the guide boat, which 
weighs little more than a canoe and can be 
both rowed or paddled, is used far more than 
the canoe by the wilderness folk. A guide 
boat weighs from forty-five to fifty-five 
pounds and by one man alone is always 
rowed, except in narrow waterways or where 
there is occasion to move silently, when the 
paddle is used. If there are two in the boat, 
one rows and the other paddles, steering at 
the same time. In this manner rapid pro- 
gress can be made, for the craft is so light it 
skims through the water in a way astonish- 
ing to one accustomed toa heavy boat. With 
a strong head wind, however, the boat is 
blown backward nearly as fast as it can be 
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