ts for a string.

He found a piece of twine, which he thought would be long enough, but,
on trial, it appeared that it would not reach quite to the water.
Forester then tied it to the end of his cane, and allowed Marco to take
the cane, and hold it over the side of the vessel; and by this means he
succeeded in reaching the water, and wetting the end of the string. He
could, after all, succeed in wetting only a small part of the string,
for it was drawn along so rapidly by the motion of the boat, that it
skipped upon the surface of the water without sinking in.

At length, however, after he had got the end a little wetted, he drew it
up and put it in his mouth.

"How does it taste?" said Forester.

The question was hardly necessary, for the _faces_ which Marco made
showed sufficiently plain that the water was bitter and salt.

"Yes, it is salt," said he. Then, suddenly casting his eye upon a long
dark-looking substance, which just then came floating by, he called out,

"Why, Forester, what is that?"

"A log," said Forester.

The log was round and straight, and the ends were square. The log glided
rapidly by, and soon disappeared.

"It is a pine log," said Forester. "There are vast forests of pine trees
in this state. They cut down the trees, and then cut the trunks into
pieces of moderate length, and draw them on the snow to the rivers.
Then, in the spring, the waters rise and float the logs down. This is
one of these logs floating down. Sometimes the river is quite full of
them."

"Where do they go?" asked Marco.

"Oh, men stop them all along the river, and put them into booms, and
then fasten them together in rafts."

"How do they fasten them together?" asked Marco.

"They drive a pin into the middle of each log, and then extend a rope
along, fastening it to each pin. In this manner, the rope holds the logs
together, and they form a long raft. When they catch the logs in booms,
they afterwards form them into rafts, and so float them down the river
to the mills, where they are to be sawed."

"Can men stand upon the rafts?" said Marco.

"Yes," replied Forester, "very well."

"They make a floor of boards, I suppose," said Marco.

"No," replied Forester; "they stand directly upon the logs."

"I should think the logs would sink under them," replied Marco, "or at
least roll about."

"They sink a little," replied Forester; "just about as much as the bulk
of the man who stands upon them."

"I don't kn