312 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [16:7— Oct., 1920 



paddle made of the same tree. When the streams are frozen and 

 snow covers the earth, he is drawn on sledges or glides along on 

 snow-shoes that are constructed from this tree. The Indian's 

 wigwam is protected by its resinous bark, and when sweet sap begins 

 to flow in the springtime he knows how to boil it into syrup or 

 make it into a cooling drink. Of his life the tree is a part, and from 

 the standpoint of sentiment it seems as though it should be left 

 for the Indian rather than given to the lumber men who sell it 

 for making shoe lasts, pegs and fuel." 



No other tree has a bark so shiningly white, and even the snow 

 is unable to dim its purity. We usually think of the tree as being 

 fragile and delicate, especially as we recall it as it grows along the 

 edge of woodlands where the shade of other trees has forced it 

 to grow slender and tall in reaching for light. 



Longfellow tells us that ' ' The great triumph of the birch is the 

 bark canoe. The design of a savage, yet it looks like the thought 

 of a poet and its grace and fitness haunt the imagination. He 

 says that he supposes its production was the inevitable result of 

 the Indian's wants and surroundings, but that does not detract 

 from its beauty. "It is, indeed, one of the fairest flowers the thorny 

 plant of necessity ever bore." 



John Burroughs tells us that curious traditions gather about 

 this natural paper. That Pliny and Plutarch agree that the fam- 

 ous books of Numa Pompilius, written seven hundred years before 

 Christ, were of birch bark, and the Sibylline leaves purchased by 

 Tarquin are by some believed to have been of the same material. 



It is a shame, I think, the way some of these trees are damaged 

 by tourists. The inner bark contains starch so abundantly that 

 it is a valuable resource to the people of the extreme north who 

 bruise and mix it with their foods. 



In Longfellow's Story of Hiawatha we find again the usefulness 



of the birch. 



"Give me of your bark, O birch tree! 

 Of your yellow bark, O birch tree! 

 Growing by the rushing river, 

 Tall and stately in the valley! 

 I a light canoe will build me, 

 Build a swift Cheemaun for sailing, 

 Thou shalt float upon the river, 

 Like a yellow leaf in autumn, 

 Like a yellow water lily! 



"Lay aside your cloak, O birch tree! 



