In the Arctic Regions. 91 
Hearne, and several of the American travelers, a detail 
of the process will be unnecessary. Its extreme 
length was thirty-two feet six inches, including the 
bow and stern pieces ; its greatest breadth was four 
feet ten inches, but it was only two feet nine inches - 
forward where the bowman sat, and two feet four inches 
behind where the steersman was placed ; and its depth 
was one foot eleven and aquarter inches. There were 
seventy-three hoops of thin cedar, and a layer of slen- 
der laths of the same wood within the frame. These 
feeble vessels of ‘bark will carry twenty-five pieces: of 
goods, each weighing ninety pounds, exclusive of the 
necessary provision and baggage for the crew of five 
or six men, amounting in the whole to about three 
thousand three hundred pounds’ weight. This great 
lading they annually carry between the depéts and the 
posts, in the interior ; and it rarely happens that any 
accidents occur, if they are managed by experienced 
bowmen and steersmen, on whose skill the safety of 
the canoe entirely depends in the rapids and difficult 
places. When a total portage is made, these two men 
carry the canoe, and they often run with it, though its 
weight is estimated at about three hundred pounds, 
exclusive of the poles and oars, which are occasionally 
left in where the distance is short. 
July 13.—This morning Mr. Back and I had the 
sincere gratification of welcoming our long separated 
