20 ALL AFLOAT 



years if tarred or painted. They were, indeed, 

 one-piece canoes, which they had a perfect 

 right to be, as the word canoe conies from the 

 name the West Indian natives gave their 

 dug-outs when questioned by Columbus. Now- 

 adays the dug-out is generally used for the 

 dirtier work of 'longshore fisheries. It has 

 lost its elegance of form, and may be said 

 to have reverted to a lower type. But this 

 reversion only serves the better to remind the 

 twentieth century of what all sorts of craft 

 were like, not twenty, but two hundred, 

 centuries ago. 



Secondly comes the Indian bark canoe, 

 so justly famous in the history, romance, and 

 poetry of Canada. As in the case of other 

 craft, its form, size, and material have never 

 been what we call ' standardized.' Indians 

 living outside the birch belt had to use inferior 

 kinds of bark. But the finest type was always 

 made, and is still made, with birch-bark. At 

 least three kinds of tree are necessary for the 

 best results : the birch for the skin, the fir 

 to caulk it with, and the cedar for the sewing 

 fibres and the frame. Only a single tool is 

 needed — a knife ; and many a good canoe was 

 built before the whites brought metal knives 

 from Europe. The Indian looks out for the 



