I will describe our canoes, which were light, elegant, and wonderfully strong, considering the materials of which they were formed.  They were constructed of the bark of the white birch-tree.  This had been peeled from the tree in large sheets, which were bent over a slender frame of cedar ribs, confined by gunwales, and kept apart by thin bars of the same wood.  The ends were alike, forming wedge-like points, and turned over from the extremities towards the centre so as to look somewhat like the handle of a violin.  The sheets of bark were then fastened round the gunwales by wattap, and sewn together with the same materials at the joinings.  These were afterwards covered by a coat of pine pitch, called gum.  The seats for the paddlers were made by suspending a strip of board with cords from the gunwales in such a manner that they did not press against the sides of the canoe.  At the second cross-bar from the bow a hole was cut for a mast, so that a sail could be hoisted when the wind proved favourable.  Each canoe carried a quantity of spare bark, wattap, gum, a pan for heating the gum, and some smaller articles necessary for repairs.  The canoes were about eighteen feet long, yet so light that two men could carry one with ease a considerable distance when we had to make a "portage."  A "portage," I should say, is the term used when a canoe has to be carried over the land, in consequence of any obstruction in the river, such as rapids, falls, or shallows.