o frail a structure,
that, were it brought rudely in contact either with the bottom or the
bank, it would be very much damaged, or might go to pieces altogether.
Hence the care with which it is handled. It is dangerous, also, to
stand upright in it, as it is so "crank" that it would easily turn over,
and spill both canoemen and cargo into the water. The voyageurs,
therefore, when once they have got in, remain seated during the whole
passage, shifting about as little as they can help. When landed for the
night, the canoe is always taken out of the water as described. The
bark is of a somewhat spongy nature; and if left in the water for a
length of time, would become soaked and heavy, and would not run so
well. When kept all night, bottom upward, it drips and becomes dryer
and lighter. In the morning, at the commencement of the day's journey,
it sits higher upon the water than in the afternoon and evening, and is
at that time more easily paddled along.

Our voyageurs, having got on shore, first kindled a fire to cook their
supper. This they intended to despatch earlier than usual, so as to
give them the early part of the night for their swan-hunt, which they
expected to finish before midnight. Lucien did the cooking, while
Norman, assisted by Basil and Francois, made his preparations for the
hunt. Francois, who was more interested in the result than any of them,
watched every movement of his cousin. Nothing escaped him.

Norman proceeded as follows:--

He walked off into the woods, accompanied by Francois. After going
about an hundred yards or so, he stopped at the foot of a certain tree.
The tree was a birch--easily distinguished by its smooth, silvery bark.
By means of his sharp hunting-knife he "girdled" this tree near the
ground, and then higher up, so that the length between the two
"girdlings," or circular cuttings, was about four feet. He then made a
longitudinal incision by drawing the point of his knife from one circle
to the other. This done he inserted the blade under the bark, and
peeled it off, as he would have taken the skin from a buffalo. The tree
was a foot in diameter, consequently the bark, when stripped off and
spread flat, was about three feet in width; for you must remember that
the circumference of a circle or a cylinder is always about three times
the length of its diameter, and therefore a tree is three times as much
"_round_" as it is "_through_."

They now returned to the camp-