BOATS AND BOAT-BUILDING. 89 



have no fear of using it on reasonably smooth 

 waters. 



It sometimes happens that boards of sufficient 

 width to build a boat, as at first described, can- 

 not be easily procured. In such a case, strips of 

 weather-boarding, or " siding,'' as it is called out 

 West, may be made to take their place. The 

 operation of building is then quite different. The 

 first thing to be done is to prepare the bottom, 

 and fasten the principal ribs, bulkheads, stem, 

 and stern-post in position; then the siding is put 

 on, commencing at the bottom in lap-streaks, cop- 

 per or clout nails being used to fasten the laps, 

 and the remaining ribs and seats afterwards added. 



The sculling-float mentioned in the chapter on 

 wild-goose shooting is rarely used in the pursuit of 

 ducks where they are to be found in any consider- 

 able numbers. So much time is lost in the neces- 

 sarily slow approaches, that more ducks are usually 

 to be killed with less labor and more sport in 

 some other way. But where wild fowl are scarce 

 or appear only occasionally, the case is different. 

 Time is then of less importance, as one or two 

 favorable shots are, perhaps, all that can be rea- 

 sonably expected during the day, and these can be 

 obtained with most certainty by use of the scull 



