
SHE FLOATS. 
the timber with our axes, but occasionally 
resorted to the use of an adz, which Wright 
had taken with him for such work. We 
gradually dug out*all the surplus wood, 
until we thinned the sides of the canoe 
down to % of an inch, and the bottom to 
1% inches. 
We gauged the thickness of each side, 
and the bottom, by using a brad-awl with 
a file mark on it. This we drove occasion- 
ally from the outside until the mark came 
flush with the outer portion of the log. 
If the point showed through to the inside, 
we knew we were down to the proper thick- 
ness. It was an easy mattcr to plug 
these awl holes so they never leaked. We 
dressed the inside as well as the outside 
of the boat with a jack plane, and then cut 
3 dry sticks, each a little longer than the 
width of the boat, which we inserted at in- 
tervals, springing out the sides so they 
would take these thwarts. When each of 
these was placed we drove a 20 penny wire 
nail through the gunwale and into cach end 
of the stick. These were intended to pre- 
vent the sides of the boat from warping in- 
ward as the timber should season. 
While resting, so to speak, we cut down 
a dead bull pine about 6 inches in diameter, 
and hewed out a neat, handy paddle. 
When the boat was finished it was an 
easy matter to slide it over the wet moss, 
a distance of about 50 yards, to the lake. 
As I said, we struck the first blow on the 
tree at 5.30 in the morning, and at 10.30 the 
next morning the finished canoe was in the 
water. 
The pictures herewith show the work in 
process, and these, in connection with the 
description I have given, should enable any 
man who is handy with an axe to build a 
log canoe wherever he may need one. 
We found the work really enjoyable. It 
is genuine fun to sink an axe to the eye in 
a pine log, and to throw out a chip as big 
as a dinner plate at each blow. Even if I 
could only get one day’s use of a canoe, I 
should take pleasure in building one every 
time I go into the woods. 
You should pull your canoe out of the water 
when through with it; turn it bottom side 
up on the bank and cover it with a good, 
heavy roof of either bark or brush, to pro- 
tcct it from the sun, and in order that some 
other sportsman may have the benefit of it 
when he comes along. 
We used our canoe about a week and had 
many a delightful cruise in it, about the 
upper Spray lake. We covered it with 
boughs and left it on the lake shore, where 
I trust some reader of RECREATION may 
find it and may have as much fun with it as 
we had. 
RONDEAU. 
WEBSTER. 
) a 
The first of May! the day, methought, 
On which the festive trout are sought. 
With rod of steel, and feathered hook, 
I hastened to a limpid brook, 
As every loyal sportsman ought, 
The first of May. 
A rustic lad, of books untaught, 
With birchen pole by jackknife wrought, 
To that same stream himself betook, 
And baiting up his cast iron hook, 
Began to fish without a thought, 
The first of May. 
A string of fish the lad soon caught; 
My efforts all availed me naught; 
Yet, when the townsmen came to look 
Within my basket, out I took 
The wondrous trout—that I had bought, 
337 
The first of May. 
