CANOES 27 



paddled, rowed, or sailed, according to build 

 and circumstances. The common punt is the 

 best known form of it ; the dory by far 

 the handiest all round ; the cargo barge the 

 biggest ; and the old-fashioned ' bateau ' the 

 most characteristically Canadian. The modern 

 ' bateau ' is to be found only among keeled 

 sailing craft. But the old ' bateau,' which 

 Wolfe's local transport officers spelt battoe, 

 was more of a rowboat. It was sharp at both 

 ends, wall-sided, and fitted with oars, poles, 

 and a square sail. The bottom had some sheer 

 — that is, it was curved up at each end — but 

 less than the top. Four men rowed, the fifth 

 steered, and three tons of miscellaneous goods 

 or thirty-five barrels of flour made a fair cargo. 

 Bateaux like this were the craft in which the 

 United Empire Loyalists went up the St Law- 

 rence to settle Upper Canada. Afterwards the 

 size and crew were increased till the average 

 cargo amounted to about four tons and a 

 half. But the Durham boat, introduced by 

 American traders from the Mohawk valley, 

 soon became a successful rival, which was not 

 itself supplanted till canals enabled still larger 

 craft to pass from one open water to another. 

 The Durham was larger than the bateau ; long, 

 light, and shallow. It had a not quite flat 



