OF THE POLAR SEA. 



65 



procuring a few ducks and other water- 

 fowl, which resort in great abundance to 

 the marshes, by which they were sur- 

 rounded. 



July 2 — The canoe, which was ordered 

 to be built for our use, was finished. As it 

 was constructed after the manner described 

 by Hearne, and several of the American 

 travellers, a detail of the process will be 

 unnecessary. Its extreme length was thirty- 

 two feet six inches, including the bow and 

 stern pieces, its greatest breadth was four 

 feet ten inches, but it was only two feet 

 nine inches forward where the bowman sat, 

 and two feet four inches behind where the 

 steersman was placed ; and its depth was 

 one foot eleven and a quarter inches. There 

 were seventy-three hoops of thin cedar, and 

 a layer of slender laths of the same wood 

 within the frame. These feeble vessels of 

 bark will carry twenty-five pieces of goods, 

 each weighing ninety pounds, exclusive of 

 the necessary provision and baggage for the 

 crew of five or six men, amounting in the 

 whole to about three thousand three hun- 



VOL. II. F 



