November, 1917 
FOREST AND STREAM 
519 
The number and length of the portages 
on any canoe route, and the kind of trail 
that leads over them, are important mat¬ 
ters to consider in canoe traveling. A 
man, in giving information about any jour¬ 
ney, will enter into most minute particu¬ 
lars about them. He will say, “you go up 
such-and-such a river,” and he will tell 
you all about it,—where there are strong 
rapids, where it is very shallow, where 
there are deep still reaches in which the 
paddle can be used, and where you must 
pole, and so forth. Then he will tell you 
how you come to some violent rapid or 
fall that necessitates a “portage,” and ex¬ 
plain exactly how to strike into the eddy, 
and shove your canoe into the bank at a 
certain place, and take her out there, and 
how.long the “portage” is; whether the 
trail is good or bad, or no trail at all; and 
so on with every “portage" on the route. 
Carrying canoes and baggage across the 
“portage” is arduous work. A birch-bark 
canoe must be treated delicately, for it is 
a very fragile creature. You allow it to 
ground very carefully, step out into the 
water, take out all the bales, boxes, pots, 
pans, bedding, rifles, etc., and lift up the 
canoe bodily, and turn her upside down 
for a few minutes to drain the water out. 
The Indian then turns her over, grasps the 
middle thwart with both hands, and with 
a sudden twist of the wrists heaves her 
up in the air, and deposits her upside down 
on his shoulders, and walks off with his 
burden. An ordinary-sized Mic-Mac or 
Melicite canoe, such as one man can easily 
carry, weighs about seventy or eighty 
six hundred or seven hundred pounds. 
T HE impedimenta are carried in this 
manner: A blanket, doubled to a suit¬ 
able size, is laid upon the ground; 
you take your portage-strap, or tump-line, 
as it is sometimes called, which is com¬ 
posed of strips of webbing or some such 
material, and is about twelve feet long, a 
length of about two feet in the center be¬ 
ing made of a piece of broad, soft leather; 
you lay your line on the blanket so that 
the leather part projects and folds the 
edges of the blanket over either portion 
of the strap. You then pile up the articles 
to be carried in the center, double the 
blanket over them, and by hauling upon 
the two parts of the strap bring the blanket 
together at either side, so that nothing can 
fall out. You then cut a skewer of wood, 
stick it through the blanket in the center, 
securely knot the strap at either end, and 
your pack is made. You have a compact 
bundle, with the leather portion of the 
portage-strap projecting like a loop, which 
is passed over the head and shoulders, and 
the pack is carried on the back by means 
of the loop which passes across the chest. 
If the pack is very heavy, and the distance 
long, it is usual to make an additional 
band out of a handkerchief or something 
of that kind, to attach it to the bundle, and 
