Portable Boats. By Verplanck Colvin. 



[Read before the Albany Institute, May 1, 1875.] 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Albany Institute : I 

 affords me pleasure to accede to the wishes of the members 

 of the Institute and others who have desired me to afford 

 them an opportunity of examining the portable canvas 

 boat or canoe which I invented, and which was used during 

 a portion of my Adirondack explorations of the remoter 

 lakes. 



Before entering into an explanation of the character of 

 this portable boat, it would seem to be appropriate to give 

 a brief account of the portable boats which have heretofore 

 been used, so that the peculiarities of the one which I 

 place before you this evening may be better understood, 

 and the point wherein it differs from all boats heretofore 

 used may be made evident. This distinguishing charac- 

 teristic may be stated in brief, to be the fact that my boat 

 has no frame carried with it ; but, by a few bits of leather, 

 etc., peculiarly contrived and placed within an exterior of 

 water-proofed canvas, poles and boughs, cut in the forest 

 or among the bushes on river or lake shore, are readily 

 fastened within it as its temporary frame ; a frame entirely 

 inexpensive, and which may be thrown away when you 

 start upon a carry or portage, so easily are they replaced. 

 Thus, I obtain a boat weighing a little over ten pounds — 

 all that has to be carried being the canvas exterior and its 

 leathern attachments. My invention may therefore be 

 called, with much propriety, a boat without a frame! 



In reviewing history to trace the origin of portable boats, 

 we are led far back beyond even the most ancient chroui - 



