Original - North Central Michigan College Library

THE VOYAGE TO MACKINACinland navigation from Montrealto Michilimackinac may be performedeither by the way of Lakes Ontario andErie, or by the river Des Outaouais, LakeNipisingue, and the river Des Francais, 7 foras well by one as the other of these routeswe are carried to Lake Huron. The second isthe shortest and that which is usually pursuedby the canoes employed in the Indian trade.The canoes which I provided for my undertakingwere, as is usual, five fathoms and a halfin length and four feet and a half in their extremebreadth, and formed of birch-tree barka quarter of an inch in thickness. The barkis lined with small splints of cedar-wood; andthe vessel is further strengthened with ribsof the same wood, of which the two ends arefastened to the gunwales; several bars, ratherthan seats, are also laid across the canoe, fromgunwale to gunwale. The small roots of thespruce tree afford the wattap, with whichthe bark is sewed; and the gum of the pinetree supplies the place of tar and oakum.Bark, some spare wattap, and gum are always7The Ottawa River, Lake Nipissing and FrenchRiver.Editor.