go 



RECREATION 



trifle of water, because she is racked con- 

 siderably each time she grounds or the lad- 

 ing is shifted. But a big canoe, with care- 

 ful gumming and due regard for her frailty, 

 can be kept comparatively free from water. 



The best gum to use, and for that matter 

 the only proper gum, is from the white 

 spruce tree. Some seem to think the only 

 thing to do is melt the gum and smear it 

 on the seams. As a result the action of the 

 sun above board, and friction of the tepid 

 water in under, will cause the gum to melt 

 and run all over the bark in a most un- 

 sightly manner and leave the seams exposed 

 in places, allowing the water to enter. 



I had a canoe, comfortable size for three 

 men and baggage, gummed on the twelfth of 

 May, traveled eleven hundred miles; she 

 was carried over eighty-three portages and 

 we arrived back at the post without ever 

 having occasion to even warm the gum. I 

 admit the canoe was a well-made one in the 

 first place, and I had two careful men, nev- 

 ertheless without proper gum repairs would 

 have been necessary and vexatious delays 

 unavoidable. 



Now, I must tell the secret of gum cook- 

 ing ere I tire the reader or exasperate the 

 searcher after knowledge. 



Where a number of canoes are to be 

 gummed or kept in commission it is the bet- 

 ter plan to prepare a quantity of gum at 

 once. 



For summer use take ten (10) pounds of 

 clean, hand-picked white spruce gum, put it 

 into a kettle two-thirds too large for it and 

 start to melt it over a gentle fire having a 

 flat, paddle-shaped stick to stir it occasionally. 

 When it gets to the boiling point_ constant 

 care and watchfulness must be given, and 

 almost a continual whirl of the paddle kept 

 up, otherwise at this stage of the cooking 

 it will boil over, ignite, and the whole kettle 

 will be a mass of flames in a moment. 



The process of making proper gum is 

 lengthy and tedious, as it requires from six 

 to ten hours' constant attention. Strange to 

 say, during the boiling process it changes 

 from the original yellow color of the gum to 

 coal black. Another strange phenomenon 

 is that about the time it gets deep black no 

 matter how much fuel is added to the fire 

 it is no longer possible to make the contents 

 of the kettle boil. 



Now, when you have arrived at this point 

 of relief from the stirring process, add one 

 (i) pound of pure rendered beef tallow, 

 stir occasionally for another twenty minutes, 

 keeping the same amount of fire going, and 

 your gum is cooked. 



The better way before it cools is to run it 

 off into small receptacles for future use. 

 Empty tomato cans, small kettles or other 

 convenient vessels. p , 



In applying the gum to a new canoe it is 

 better to have the gum not too liquid. Have 

 a little pallet of wood, dipping it into the 



gum as required and spreading it carefully 

 along the seams. After all the seams are 

 served heat a flat piece of iron, the end of a 

 poker or some other suitable thing, and pass 

 it little by little on and along the gum to 

 give it a polish and firm set. The Indians, 

 when doing this, keep masticating a piece 

 of gum or a twig to create saliva ; then, as 

 the hot iron has warmed a certain surface 

 they expectorate some of the spittle into the 

 palm of the hand, rubbing the hand back and 

 forth over the heated surface until it cools, 

 hardens and has a polished appearance. 



Like everything else, to do a thing well 

 requires time, but when it is well done it 

 lasts. I have seen a canoe, gummed in the 

 way I have described, placed out on an ex- 

 posed beach and left all day in the heat of 

 a July sun and at night, upon examination, 

 the gum had not melted or moved an eighth 

 of an inch. This canoe belonged to the man 

 who taught me how to cook gum. 



As the water and the air is getting cold 

 about the twentieth of September, we take 

 all this gum off our canoes in commission 

 and replace it with gum of a more plastic 

 consistency. It is made in this manner, when 

 boiled to a deep coffee color (before it 

 reaches the black hue), add two (2) pounds 

 of pure rendered beef tallow to ten (10) 

 pounds of gum. Such gum does not crack 

 with the frost, or if accidentally coming in 

 contact with a rock only shows a dinge, 

 thereby leaving the canoe still watertight. 



To take off the summer gum a tent or 

 tarpaulin is stretched on the ground, the 

 canoe placed upon it and each gummed por- 

 tion gone over with a small flat stick. With 

 this he gives the gum short, sharp, decisive 

 blows and the gum crumbles and falls on the 

 canvas placed to catch it. When the canoe 

 is perfectly free of gum she is lifted on one 

 side and the gum carefully gathered for next 

 summer's use, by adding half a pound of 

 tallow and boiling for half an hour. 



Even in the country where birch bark 

 canoes are in use it is not every one who 

 knows how to cook gum properly. 



FOREST FIRES 



BY ELMER RUSSELL GREGOR. 



The forest fires which semi-annually rage 

 through our forests, destroying all in their 

 path and leaving behind desolation and bar- 

 renness, may indeed be called the scourge 

 of the American wilderness. The havoc 

 wrought by these destructive fires may be 

 readily appreciated on traveling through the 

 burnt lands over which these fires have 

 swept. Nothing remains to gladden the eye 

 or cheer the mind save blackened stumps 

 and dead undergrowth. Not alone do forest 

 fires destroy the beauty of the landscape and 

 consume millions of feet of valuable timber, 

 but live game of all descriptions suffer se- 

 verely as well. Particularly is this true if 



