THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
115 
it, folded in place and tied there. The 
caulking of the seams was done by a squaw 
holding the pitch in her mouth until soft- 
ened, drawing it out into strings, placing it 
on the seams, and smoothing it down with 
a fire-brand. The Ojibways made twi .e 
from bass wood bark by soaking the bark in 
water until nothing was left but the flaxy 
fibre. This was tben twisted into cords and 
strings, to be used for canoe making and 
other purposes. 
The log canoe (Fig. 5) is made from pine, 
whitewood, black ash, basswood and Cot- 
tonwood. Pine is the best. After the tree 
is felled, the top and bottom of the intended 
canoe is shaped. The outline or gunwale 
and about three feet wide, may be made so 
as to weigh about fifty pounds, and will be 
capable of carrying seven or eight persons. 
Three sheets of fourteen-pound zinc will 
make the covering. Out the zinc so that 
there will be four pieces, three feet eight 
inches long and three feet wide. Curve or 
round off the longest sides about three- 
fourths of an inch at the ends, to nothing 
in the middle. Bend the pieces up to 
nearly as possible the shape of the inside 
of the canoe. Stay them so with a strip or 
two, and solder them with tinner's solder, 
using muriate of zinc as a flux. If the two 
middle sheets be made proportionately 
wider than the others, when bent up, lapped 
Fig. 4. 
lines of the sides are then marked out and 
shaped, the rule being to make the length 
into three sections, one being the bow, one 
the middle or body, and one the stern. A 
greater width in the middle gives ease of 
motion when sailing. After the exterior 
form of the canoe is made and finished, 
the inside is hewn or burned out. It can 
be made quite light by making the sides 
and bottom thin. 
The bark canoe of the form given in 
Fig. 4 is considered the best. An improve- 
ment in the bark covering may be made by 
substituting sheet zinc. It is lighter, more 
lasting, less liable to become leaky, capable 
of greater speed, and may be made more 
symmetrical. A canoe of this kind about 
eighteen feet long, eighteen inches deep. 
:. 5. 
about one-fourth of an inch and soldered^ 
and the edges properly rounded, the bot- 
tom will be of the proper curve. Place the 
other pieces, one on each end of these two 
pieces, and solder in like manner. Take 
two other pieces of zinc, fold them together 
like the ends of the bark canoe, solder one 
end of each, and fit the open end to the 
pieces already soldered; mark how they 
should fit, cut properly, lap and solder. 
There will be four spaces left at the corners 
of the curve, which will have to be covered 
with pieces cut to fit and then soldered. 
Eemember to solder well, both inside and 
outside. PJace two thin strips of wood, 
one on each side of the zinc, at the upper 
edge for gunwales; form a curve outwards 
and upwards, and nail through both strips 
