t idea. Assisted by his father, Mr. Elisha
Waters, the enterprise was commenced "by taking a wooden shell, thirteen
inches wide and thirty feet long, as a mould, and covering the entire
surface of its bottom and sides with small sheets of strong Manila
paper, glued together, and superposed on each other, so that the joints
of one layer were covered by the middle of the sheet immediately above,
until a sheet of paper had been formed one-sixteenth of an inch in
thickness. The fabric thus constructed, after being carefully dried, was
removed from the mould and fitted up with a suitable frame, consisting
of a lower keelson, two inwales, the bulkhead; in short, all the usual
parts of the frame of a wooden shell, except the timbers, or ribs, of
which none were used--the extreme stiffness of the skin rendering them
unnecessary. Its surface was then carefully water-proofed with suitable
varnishes, and the work was completed. Trials proved that, rude as was
this first attempt compared with the elegant craft now turned out from
paper, it had marked merits, among which were, its remarkable stiffness,
the symmetry of the hull with respect to its long axis, and the
smoothness of the water-surface."

A gentleman, who possesses excellent judgment and long experience in all
that relates to paper boats, furnishes me with the following valuable
information, which I feel sure will interest the reader.

"The process of building the paper shell-boat is as follows: The
dimensions of the boat having been determined upon, the first
step is to construct a wooden model, or form, an exact
fac-simile of the desired boat, on which to mould the paper
skin. For this purpose the lines of the boat are carefully drawn
out of the full size, and from the drawings thus made the model
is prepared. It is built of layers of well-seasoned pine,
securely fastened together to form one solid mass; which, after
having been laid up of the general outline required, is
carefully worked off, until its surface, which is made perfectly
smooth, exactly conforms to the selected lines, and its beam,
depth, and length are those of the given boat. During the
process of its construction, suitable rabbets are cut to receive
the lower keelson, the two inwales, and the bow and stern
deadwoods, which, being put in position, are worked off so that
their surfaces are flush with that of the model, and forming, as