A Visit from Mr. Schreiner.

We invited Mr. Schreiner to spend the night with us, and this he did after fording with some difficulty the swift-running river.  In the morning we showed him our quarters, our filter, the roads we had built, the spar bridge across to Kite Island, our surveying instrument and the chart we had made of the vicinity.  He was greatly pleased with our work, and it was then that he gave us an order for the bridge over the gorge.  From that day on he became our staunchest ally, so that when my father and Mr. Van Syckel complained that we were loafing away a lot of time which could be more profitably spent in study or work, Mr. Schreiner stood up for us and declared that our experiences on the island were doing us far more good, both physically and mentally, than any other work that they could conceive of; that before condemning us they should pay us a visit and see how we were employing our time.

The Sailing Canoe.

[Illustration:  Fig. 104.  Stern Post of the Canoe.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 105.  Stem of the Canoe.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 106.  Center Form.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 107.  Bulkheads.]

[Illustration:  Exploring the River in the Indian Canoe.]

Immediately after Mr. Schreiner’s departure we started work on the canoe.  A strip of spruce 1 inch thick, 3 inches wide and 12 feet long served as the keelson.  At the stern a post 1-1/2 inches thick, 3 inches wide and 13 inches high was secured to the keelson with brass screws.  This was braced as indicated in Fig. 104.  At the bow a stem piece was attached to the keelson.  This stem was cut to a somewhat semicircular form, as shown in Fig. 105.  The outer edge was tapered with a draw-knife to a thickness of 1/4 inch and a brace was nailed to the inner edge.  Our next work was to cut out three forms, one of the shape shown in Fig. 106 and two like that shown in Fig. 107.  The first form was set up on the keelson midway between the stem and stern, and the other two were spaced about four feet each side of the center form.  The center form was used only for shaping the frame of the boat, and was not intended to be permanently affixed to the canoe.  Therefore, we fastened it to the keelson very lightly, so that it could be readily removed.  The other two forms, however, were made permanent parts of the frame, serving as bulkheads.  The gunwales were now secured in position.  These were of spruce 3/4 inch thick and 2 inches wide.  The ends were beveled off so as to neatly fit the stem piece and the stern post, to which they were fastened by brass screws.  Then we applied the longitudinal strips, or rib bands, which were of 1/4-inch thick spruce 1 inch wide.  Ten of these bands were used, equally spaced apart on the center form, to which they were lightly tacked; but they were nailed securely to the bulkheads and the stem piece and stern post.  The cross ribs were made of barrel hoops which we