le thickness of bark formed the sides, but at the bottom we placed
some long strips to serve as bottom-boards, which rested on the ribs.

The bark had to be sewn on also to all the ribs, though this did not
require the same number of stitches as used at the gunwale. We all
worked away at it till some progress had been made, when Robin took
charge of the gum-pot, he having previously concocted a quantity of
pitch from the pine trees. This had to be thickened by boiling, and the
joinings were luted with it, thus rendering the canoe perfectly
water-tight.

The seats were formed by suspending strips of bark with cords from the
gunwales in such a manner that they did not press against the sides of
the canoe. Our canoe was only about twelve feet long, but was
sufficiently large to carry us four. I have seen such canoes
thirty-five feet in length, and six feet in width at the widest part,
tapering gradually towards the bow and stern, which are brought to a
wedge-like point, and turned over from the extremities towards the
centre so as to resemble, in some degree, the head of a violin.

These large canoes are calculated to carry sixty packages of skins
weighing ninety pounds each, and provisions amounting to one thousand
pounds' weight. They are paddled by eight men, each of whom has a bag
weighing forty pounds.

Every canoe also carries a quantity of bark, wattap, gum, and pine for
heating the gum, an axe, and some small articles necessary for repairing
her. The weight altogether is probably not under four tons. The eight
men can paddle her across a lake, in calm weather, at the rate of about
four miles an hour; and four can carry her across portages. Altogether,
for making voyages in this region, no vessel has been constructed in any
way to equal the birch-bark canoe, such as I have described. Ours was
very different, being much smaller; and the work, though pretty strong,
was not as neat as that performed by Indians.

Robin, who was fond of quizzing--a trick he had learned from the
redskins--declared that she would prove lopsided, at which Martin, her
architect, was very indignant.

"She'll swim as straight and steady as a duck," he answered.

"We shall see," cried Robin; "the proof of the pudding will be in the
eating. However, if she does float a little crooked she'll manage to
get to the end of her voyage somehow or other, and we can lay her up at
Fort Ross as a specimen of our ingenuity."

While buildi