OF THE POLAR SEA. 



163 



did not exceed fifty yards, yet they appeared to be living very com- 

 fortably, having formed huts with the canoes' sail and covering, and 

 were amply supported by the fish their nets daily furnished. They 

 sometimes had a change in their fare, by procuring a few ducks and 

 other water fowl, which resort in great abundance to the marshes, 

 by which they were surrounded. 



July 2. — The canoe, which was ordered to be built for our use, 

 was finished. As it was constructed after the manner, which has 

 been accurately 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 hundred pounds' weight. 

 This great lading they annually carry between the depots and the 

 posts, in the interior ; and it rarely happens that any accidents occur, 

 if they are managed by experienced bowmen and steersmen, on 

 whose skill the safety of the canoe entirely depends in the rapids and 

 difficult places. When a total portage is made, these two men carry 

 the canoe, and they often run with it, though its weight is estimated 

 at about three hundred pounds, exclusive of the poles and oars, which 

 are occasionally left in where the distance is short. 



On the 5th, we made an excursion for the purpose of trying our 

 canoe. A heavy gale came on in the evening, which caused a great 

 swell in the lake, and in crossing these waves we had the satisfaction 

 to find that our birchen vessel proved an excellent sea boat. 



Y 2 



