CANOE BIRCH. 
51 
Yellow Birch, which are far preferable for the uses of the joiner and the 
wheel-wright. It is fully equal, however, to the White Birch which grows 
in Sweden and Norway, and which, for many purposes, is advantageously 
substituted for the Oak ; but these countries are destitue of trees analogous 
to those which have just been mentioned as enriching the native soil of the 
Canoe Birch. In the District of Maine, tables are frequently made of it, 
and stained in imitation of Mahogany. 
A section of the trunk of this tree, 1 or 2 feet in length, immediately 
below the first ramification, exhibits very elegant undulations of the fibre, 
representing bunches of feathers or sheaves of corn : these pieces are 
divided into thin plates for inlaying Mahogany, and in Boston and the 
towns situated further north, they are generally employed by ' cabinet- 
makers to embellish their work. 
The Canoe Birch affords excellent fuel, and is exported in great quan- 
tities from the District of Maine to Boston. 
On trees not exceeding 8 inches in diameter, the bark is of a brilliant 
white, like that of the White Birch of Sweden, and, like that too, it is 
almost indestructible. Trees long since prostrated by time are often met 
with in the forests, whose trunk appears sound, while the bark contains 
only a friable substance, like vegetable mould. This bark, like that of the 
European species, is devoted to many uses : in Canada and in the District 
of Maine, the country people place large pieces of it immediately below 
the shingles of the roof, to form a more impenetrable covering for their 
houses : baskets, boxes and portfolios are made of it, which are sometimes 
embroidered with silk of different colors ; divided into very thin sheets, it 
forms a substitute for paper ; and placed between the soles of the shoes 
and in the crown of the hat, it is a defence against humidity. But the 
most important purpose to which it is applied, and one in which it is 
replaced by the bark of no other tree, is the construction of canoes. To 
procure proper pieces, the largest and smoothest trunks are selected : in 
the spring two circular incisions are made several feet apart, and two 
longitudinal ones on opposite sides of the tree ; after which, by introducing 
a wooden wedge, the bark is easily detached. These plates are usually 
10 or 12 feet long, and 2 feet 9 inches broad. To form the canoe, they are 
stitched together with fibrous roots of the White Spruce, about the size 
of a quill, which are deprived of the bark, split, and suppled in water. 
The seams are coated with resin of the Balm of Gilead. Great use is 
made of these canoes by the savages and by the French Canadians in their 
long journeys into the interior of the country : they are very light, and are 
easily transported on the shoulders from one lake or river to another, which 
is called the portage. A canoe calculated for four persons with their bag- 
gage, weighs from 40 to 50 pounds ; some of them are made to carry fif- 
