TRANSPORT AND EXPORT TIMBER TRADE. 197 
course, go on, sometimes head foremost, and sometimes 
making first a complete somersault or revolution. In 
general also a workman, or it may be two, or even three, 
are stationed at these points with long poles to aid at the 
time the movement of any trees which might otherwise 
be in danger of sticking fast and blocking the way. The 
slides in general lead to pools of considerable depth in a 
lake or river. Into these the trees ofttimes descend more 
than their entire length, starting up again vertically before 
setting off anew on their course. 
Much. débris is found all about such spots; but it is 
compazatively seldom that logs are seriously damaged. 
The quantity of splinters may be, to a great extent, com- 
posed of the lesser branches left on the tree when placed 
in the slide. 
Brands or marks may be seen upon some logs. These 
are, I presume, the marks of the woodcutter or the con- 
tractor, made to enable each one to claim his own property 
should logs belonging to different proprietors get mixed 
together. 
The logs are carried down by the river, and if the 
river falls into a lake, they are—at the embouchure of the 
river—collected and formed into a raft; and such rafts 
are sometimes towed by a little steamer across the lake 
to its outlet. If the stream flowing thence be smooth, 
they may be floated further as a raft; if it proceed over 
waterfalls in its course, the logs are unchained and allowed 
to float down apart, to be reformed into a raft below these, 
if circumstances allow of this. Notwithstanding the care 
which may be taken, many logs are stranded on the banks 
of the lakes and rivers. The logs are cut into size and 
‘shape for the foreign market by saw-muills near the coast, 
which are driven by water-power. 
Saw-mills of the simplest structure, consisting only of 
a water-wheel and a circular saw, fixed apparently on the 
same axle, are common appendages to farmhouses in-the 
country. They are employed in cutting up the firewood 
required for the family and their retainers. 
