Nov. 3. 1906.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
691 
BUILDING A BIRCH BARK CANOE. 
Photo by Mrs. R. R. McLeod. 
penetrated his body. He received, besides, three 
or four bad knife-wounds in his back, and he was 
literally dripping blood from head to foot. 
This tragedy had an almost comic sequel. 
After all danger had passed, a sheriff appeared 
on the scene, who placed, not the mob-leader, 
but the federal officer, under arrest. Harkins 
left a guard over the three men whom he had 
shot, and submitted to arrest, but demanded that 
he be taken to the farmhouse where he had left 
his horse. This the sheriff actually refused to 
permit, although Harkins was evidently past all 
possibility of continuing far afoot. Disgusted 
at such imbecility, the deputy stalked away from 
the sheriff, leaving the latter with his mouth 
open, and utterly obsessed. 
A short distance up the road, Harkins met a 
countryman mounted on a sorry old mule. 
“Loan me that mule for half an hour,” he re¬ 
quested; “you see, I can walk no further.” But 
the fellow, scared out of his wits by the spec¬ 
tacle of a man in such desperate plight, refused 
to accommodate him. 
“Get. down off that mule, or I’ll break your 
neck!” 
The mule changed riders. 
>J« H* ^ ifc 
When the story was finished, I asked Mr. 
Harkins if it was true, as the reading public 
generally believes, that moonshiners nowadays 
prefer death to capture. “Do they shoot a 
revenue officer at sight?” 
The answer was terse: 
“They used to shoot; nowadays they run.”* 
Horace Kephart. 
Meulin, N. C. • 
^Probably there are few men now living who can read 
their own obituaries in a Government report. If Mr. 
Harkins, however, will turn to House Executive Docu¬ 
ment, V ol. 19, part 1, of the 47th Congress, first session, 
he will find in the "List of Officers of the U. S. Internal 
Revenue Service Killed and W ounded, 1862-81,” the fol¬ 
lowing entry. “Deputy Marshal Harkins, 6th District, 
N. C. Killed February, 1877.” 
Building a Birch Ba.rk Canoe. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I am sending to you by this mail photographs 
of Micmac Indians building canoes on the Wild 
Cat Reservation in Queens county, Nova Scotia. 
I believe that only a small proportion of per¬ 
sons who have used birch canoes have a fair 
general idea of how they are made. 
The builder first secures his bark, and this 
itself requires experience and good judgment or 
all the work will be in vain as it is not every 
big'birch tree with smooth bark lhat will yield 
the desired article. Next the gunwales are 
dressed and the ends fastened together, and cross¬ 
bars put in place. Then come the ribs; they 
are fashioned front fir splits and whittled into 
proper shape with a crooked knife. Taking, one 
for the exact midships of the canoe, the two 
ends are drawn nearly together, near enough to 
leave them the width of the canoe in the widest part, 
and tied there. Into this bowed-rib another is bent 
and fitted, and another and so on till the end is 
reached. Another midrib is prepared in the same 
way and filled in like manner as the first.’ These 
are well soaked before being bent and they are 
left to dry, when they will retain the shape as 
they were bent. Meantime a slightly dishing 
place is prepared on the ground, and upon it 
is laid lengthwise the gunwales and cross bars 
tightly fastened together. All around this frame 
stout stakes are driven deep in the earth, about 
one foot apart, and left to stand above ground 
about two feet. The gunwale frame is then re¬ 
moved ; and the bark, now all in one piece, sewed 
with spruce roots, is snugly stowed away into 
the space surrounded by the stakes, and there 
arranged nearly as possible into the required 
shape, fitted tightly against the dishing ground 
to give it the proper upward curve of the :- 
tremeties on the bottom. The frame is • 
placed with the edge of the bar' 
side of it next the stakes. Th 
wales, already securely lashed 
fast to two stakes, one on each 
height from the ground, and on 
bar is hung a stone of sufficient 
the frame into a graceful curve. : 
the bark are then tacked to the gunwale, and a 
thin wooden ribbon is nailed the entire length 
to the gunwale, and on the top of them both 
another thin ribbon is nailed. Once they were 
all sewed with roots, for nails and metal tools 
were not to be had for love or money. 
The next step is to line the whole inside with 
thin strips of fir that have been dressed smooth 
with the knife. They are to be held firmly in 
place by the ribs with which a beginning is made 
by placing the ends of the middle rib under the 
gunwale and against the bark, and then forcing 
by hand the lower part as tightly as possible 
into place; but even then it will remain slanting. 
The next rib is placed in like position, and 
so on with them all till both ends are reached. 
By the use of a bit of wood and a hammer the 
ri’be are, by slightly tapping them one after 
another, driven into a perpendicular position, and 
thus the bark is stretched tightly over them and 
takes the desired shape. If at any place the 
bark is unyielding, and the rib is prevented from 
going into proper place, this portion is treated 
with the application of a warm stone to the re¬ 
bellious spot, when the desired result is soon 
secured. This is done, as a matter of course, 
after the canoe is taken from the stakes when 
it must be made water tight by the application 
of pitch on the seams over which narrow strips 
of cotton are placed. At each end are fitted 
heads of thin boards beyond the last pair of ribs, 
and behind them the space is stuffed tightly with 
dry shavings to prevent the bark from shrinking 
inwards. If there is a suspicious place that looks 
like a crack, it is tested bv placing the mouth 
over it and sucking; if air comes through, a 
little oitch will be the remedy. 
This in brief is the manner of making the birch 
canoe. There are great differences among the 
builders; some of them are born mechanics and 
have an eye for a good model, and have a pains¬ 
taking desire,to make a “thing of beauty, that 
if not a “joy forever” will at least gladden some 
owners while she lasts. To have seen one made 
before tools of metal were in the hands of red 
men would have been an interesting performance. 
R. R. McLeod. 
Brookfiei d, N. S. 
CAMP SUPPLIES. 
The camp supplies, to be complete, should include 
Borden’s Eagle Brand Condensed Milk, Peerless Evap¬ 
orated Cream and Borden’s Malted Milk, all of which 
contain substantial nourishment in compact form, and 
upply every milk req r«nt.— Adv. 
Tarpon of Nova Scotia. 
A press despatch from Harrigan Cove, N. S., 
dated Oct. 29, says: 
“Prof. Jlince, Canadian Commissioner of Fish¬ 
eries, announced to-day that a large fish recently 
caught by local fishermen off here was a fine 
tarpon. The tarpon’s haunts are on the Florida 
and Mexican coasts, and, so far as known here, 
its appearance in northern waters has never been 
previously recorded. 
“The staff of the Canadian Biological Station 
during the last four or five years has obtained a 
large number of fishes native to southern waters, 
which fact, coupled with the discovery of the 
tarpon, is believed by the government experts 
to strengthen the theory that changes are taking 
place in the course of currents in the Atlantic 
Ocean.” 
The statement that the tarpon has neve- be¬ 
fore been known in northern waters is, of course 
erroneous. As will be remembered the New 
York Aquarium last summer had two living- 
tarpon captured near this city, and as we then 
pointed out, the fish had been taken on the 
coast of Massachusetts. The present case, how¬ 
ever, is, we believe, the northernmost record for 
the species. 
More Treasure. 
T he search for the treasure of the Spanish 
Armada galleon Florencia has been proceeding 
vigorously in Tobermory Bay, Scotland, for a 
fortnight, and the salvors are encouraged daily 
by their finds. During the week they have come 
across part of the rigging of the sunken ship. 
Among many interesting relics brought up were 
two Stone cannon-balls, 6 / inches in diameter, 
one iron shot of about two inches diameter, and 
a blunderbus, with an inch bore. The divers have 
come across large quantities of wood in all direc¬ 
tions and other unmistakable signs that they are 
close on the hull of the Florencia.—London 
Yachtsman. 
[This is one of the fleet of vessels spoken of 
in that fine tale of adventure, “Westward Ho!” 
Ed.] 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly. 
