There Were Seventy-Three Hoops Of Thin Cedar
And A Layer Of Slender Laths Of The Same Wood Within The Frame.
These
feeble vessels of bark will carry twenty-five pieces of goods, each
weighing ninety pounds exclusive of the necessary provision and baggage
for the crew of five or six men, amounting in the whole to about three
thousand three hundred pounds' weight.
This great lading they annually
carry between the depots and the posts in the interior; and it rarely
happens that any accidents occur if they be managed by experienced bowmen
and steersmen, on whose skill the safety of the canoe entirely depends in
the rapids and difficult places. When a total portage is made these two
men carry the canoe, and they often run with it though its weight is
estimated at about three hundred pounds exclusive of the poles and oars
which are occasionally left in where the distance is short.
On the 5th we made an excursion for the purpose of trying our canoe. A
heavy gale came on in the evening which caused a great swell in the lake
and in crossing the waves we had the satisfaction to find that our
birchen vessel proved an excellent sea-boat.
July 7.
This morning some men and their families, who had been sent off to search
for Indians with whom they intended to pass the summer, returned to the
fort in consequence of a serious accident having befallen their canoe in
the Red Deer River; when they were in the act of hauling up a strong
rapid the line broke, the canoe was overturned, and two of the party
narrowly escaped drowning; fortunately the women and children happened to
be on shore or in all probability they would have perished in the
confusion of the scene.
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