[Fig 1 and fig 2 sketch of boat and pattern].

Canoe of Three Planks.—­A swift, safe, and graceful little boat, with a sharp stem and stern, and with a bottom that curves upwards at both ends, can be made out of three planks.  The sketch, fig. 1, is a foreshortened view of the boat, and the diagram, fig. 2, shows the shape of the planks from which it is made.  The thwart or seat shown in fig. 1 is important in giving the proper inclination to the sides of the boat, for, without it, they would tend to collapse; and the bottom would be less curved at either end.  If the reader will take the trouble to trace fig. 2 on a stout card, to cut it out in a single piece (cutting only half through the cardboard where the planks touch), and to fasten it into shape with pieces of gummed paper, he will understand the architecture of the boat more easily than from any description.  If he wishes to build a boat he had best proceed to make as large a model in pasteboard as his materials admit, and to cut the planks to scale, according to the pattern of his model.  The grace of the boat depends on the cut of its planks, just as much as the elegance of a dress does on that of its cloth.  These three-plank canoes are in frequent use in Norway.  Bark may be used instead of planks.  If the canoe be built of five planks instead of three, a second narrow side-plank being added above each gunwale, the section of the canoe is decidedly improved.

Inflatable India-rubber Boats are an invention that has proved invaluable to travellers:  they have been used in all quarters of the globe, and are found to stand every climate.  A full-sized one weighs only 40 lbs.  They have done especial service in Arctic exploration; the waters of the Great Salt Lake, in the Mormon country, were first explored and navigated with one by Fremont; they were also employed by Dr. Livingstone on the rivers of South Africa.  They stand a wonderful amount of wear and tear; but, as boats, they are inferior to native canoes, as they are very slow in the water:  it is, indeed, impossible to paddle them against a moderate head-wind.  For the general purposes of travellers, I should be inclined to recommend as small a macintosh-boat as can be constructed; just sufficient for one, or at the most for two, persons; such as the cloaks that are made inflatable, and convertible into boats.  A traveller wants a portable boat, chiefly as means to cross over to a village for help, or to carry his valuables across a river, while the heavy things are risked at a ford; or for shooting, fishing, or surveying.  Now a very small boat, weighing about ten pounds, would do as well for all these purposes as a large one, and would be far more portable.

It is perfectly easy to get into a macintosh-boat, after having been capsized out of it into deep water.