912 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
the country : they are very light, and are easily transported on 
the shoulders from one lake or river to another, which is called 
the portage. A canoe calculated for four persons with their 
baggage, weighs from forty to fifty pounds; some of them are 
made to carry fifteen passengers.’—Michaur, Sylva, I, p. 87. 
‘In the settlements of the Hudson’s Bay Company, tents are 
made of the bark of this tree, which, for that purpose, is cut it to 
pieces twelve feet long and four feet wide. ‘These are sewed 
together by threads made of the white spruce roots, already 
mentioned; and so rapidly is a tent put up, that a circular one 
of twenty feet in diameter, and ten feet high, does not occupy 
more than half an hour in pitching. The utility of these ‘rind 
tents,’ as they are called, is acknowledged by every traveller 
and hunter in the Canadas. They are used throughout the 
whole year; but, during the hot months of June, July, and 
August, they are found particularly comfortable.”— Loudon, 
Arb. Sil, p. 1709. 
This birch, in some parts of the northern regions, attains a 
diameter of six or seven feet. It is said not to occur far south 
of the Hudson. 
The heart-wood of the canoe birch has a reddish hue. The 
sap-wood is beautifully white. It is soft, smooth, takes a fine 
polish, with a pearly lustre, and is therefore fitted for ornamen- 
talworks. But it is perishable, when exposed to alternations of 
moisture, and not remarkable for strength. A canoe birch cut 
in summer and kept constantly from the weather, is very dura- 
ble, and becomes very hard. I have seen studs made of it 
nearly forty years old, entirely free from decay. It is used 
in the manufacture of chairs, and in other cabinet work. A 
portion taken from a part of the trunk from which a large 
branch issues, makes a beautifully feathered and varicgated 
surface for the front of a bureau, or for a table. It is also used 
for hat-blocks, and for many uses of the turner. 
Formerly, when large old trees of this species were more com- 
mon, the bark was used in the manner described above by Mi- 
chaux being placed beneath the shingles. Many old buildings in 
the back parts of New England are still found covered in this 
way. Carefully laid, it makes a covering impenetrable to rain, 
