THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 149 
breadth, and is so light that, coming off 
the water, they talce them up on tlieir 
baclis and carry them liome." 
The Indians are able in a similar man- 
ner to carry their bark canoes round any 
particularly dangerous or impracticable 
rapid, at what is called in tlie jjatois of the 
Canadian-French a jjortage. 
Canoes of the present day are very vari- 
ous in their patterns, as most makers and 
owners have some special manner of their 
own in constructing them. The shooting 
canoe with a flat bottom, in the style of 
the punt, is the most easy to build. Next 
to this, ]:)erhaps, comes the kind known as 
the "Eob Roy," from Mr. Macgregor's cel- 
ebrated little bark. Those provided with 
sails and shifting keels offer considerably 
more difflculty in construction. In fact, a 
good, light, strong, adaptable canoe may 
fairly be considered a thing which pre- 
sents many difficulties to the amateur 
boat-builder. 
Amateur boat-bailding may be said to 
be one of the most recent forms of uni>ro- 
fessional oocii[)ation. AVhy it should Jiave 
been so it is hard to say, as mucli of it 
does not make a greater claim on the 
amateur's skill than many other things 
which he takes up to freely. All that is 
required is some knowledge of the use of 
carpenters' or joiners' tools. Of course, 
few would aspire or hope to make a first- 
class racing- boat, which is the acme of 
delicate workmanship, and tasks the best 
abilities of the professional builder. 
There can be little doubt that to the 
riverside, or sea-shore dweller, who can 
turn out a decent skiff or other boat in a 
fairly respectable manner, not only is the 
pleasure and satisfaction of the success- 
ful work great, but tlie actual money- 
saving is very considerable. 
Some years ago, perhaps, four dollars 
per foot "length might be taken as a rough 
average of price among boat-builders. 
Since then materials have risen in price, 
and the number of good hands in the 
trade has, perhaps, not increased in a 
ratio sufficient to keep up with the popu- 
lar demand for pleasure boats. The re- 
sult is that prices rule now probably not 
much less than five dollars per foot on an 
average. Of course, however, it must be 
borne in mind that the amateur cannot 
expect to rival such craft as we have in 
view, but he can assuredly provide him- 
self with a very good substitute at a very 
big deduction. 
One thing that it is well should be 
borne in mind is that the amateur may 
not improbably find himself possessed of 
some natural " knack" wliich will stand 
him in better stead in boat-building than 
in nine pursuits out of ten, for a reason 
which will appear as we progress, and in 
this connection we give a suggestive ex- 
tract. 
"A well-built boat," says a recent 
writer on the subject, " when in the water 
seems of itself to suggest life with sponta- 
neous movement; the reason, no doubt, 
being that the beautiful curved lines 
which enclose its shape have been more 
or less adapted from forms that nature 
has bestowed on living animals. A boat, 
too, seems to have the separate individu- 
ality of a living thing, as all those who 
have had much to do with ships or boats 
of an^'^ kind will readily allow. Two boats 
constructed as far as possible on the same 
model will be found to vary in their ' go- 
ing ' more than would be believed pos- 
sible by the inexperienced ; one, proba- 
bly, being much more difficult to turn 
than the other when it has once taken a 
direction, aiid in a variety of ways show- 
ing what seems almost wilfulness. This 
seeming inconsistency is probably owing 
to the extreme subtlety of the ever-chang- 
ing curves in the form, which, however 
carefully they may be planned and meas- 
ured, must at last depend actually upon 
the eye of the builder, and are conse- 
quently subject to variations in common 
with ail true human work." 
Like most operations, except the very 
simplest, boat-building divides itself nat- 
urally into two jnain divisions, viz., those 
of designing the thing required, and of 
working out the design. For the pur- 
poses of the amateur no great knowledge 
of drawing is needed. Still it would be a 
fatal mistake to begin to build a boat 
without some design on paper to work t(» 
—at least, for the amateur. He cannot 
be expected to possess the "rule-of- 
thumb " knowledge of the i:)rofessional 
workman, and, therefore, the more care- 
fully he designs his ideal craft, and the 
more minutely he develops the details on 
paper before beginning the actual build- 
ing, the more certain lie is to attain a sat- 
isfactory realization of his hopes. 
To aid him in this we will in our next 
paper enumerate a few simple instru- 
ments necessary, and give some details as 
to the method of producing the prelimin- 
ary drawings, viz. , the "sheer plan" or 
representation of 1 he boat in profile pro- 
jection, the cross-sections, and the w^ater- 
lines. 
(To he Continued.) 
Decalcomanie. 
ECALCOMANIE can be applied 
to the ornamentation of all 
kinds of manufactured articles, 
such as sewing machines, ja- 
imnned ware, safes, agricultural imple- 
ments, carriages, sleighs, furniture, pot- 
tery, etc. The method of applying is so 
very simple that it requires little time and 
skill to become proficient in it. As an art 
