Chap. XXXV. THE FRAIL CANOES. 
469 
repair, and a third one in a state of decay, and unfit 
for service. 
It was now that for the first time I saw these rude 
little shells, hollowed out of a single trunk — for 
the boats of the Biidduma are more artificial, being 
made of a number of boards joined together ; and I 
soon began to eye these frail canoes with rather 
an anxious feeling, as I was about to trust myself 
and all my property to what seemed to offer very 
inadequate means of crossing with safety a large and 
deep river. They measured from twenty-five to thirty 
feet in length, and only from a foot to a foot and a 
half in height, and sixteen inches in width ; and one 
of them was so crooked, that I could scarcely imagine 
how it could stem the strong current of the river. 
On the river itself two canoes were plying; but, 
notwithstanding our repeated hallooing and firing, 
the canoemen would not come to our side of the 
river ; perhaps they were afraid. Roving about 
along the bushy watercourse, I found an old canoe, 
which being made of two very large trunks joined 
together, had been incomparably more comfortable 
and spacious than the canoes now in use ; although 
the joints being made with cordage just like the 
stitching of a shirt, and without pitching the holes, 
which were only stuffed with grass, necessarily al- 
lowed the water to penetrate continually into the 
boat ; it, however, had the great advantage of not 
breaking if it ran upon a rock, being in a certain 
degree pliable. It was about thirty-five feet long, 
H H 3 
