Next morning they were awake at an early hour. There was still enough
of the tongues and grouse left, along with some ribs of the antelope, to
breakfast the party; and then all four set out to bring the flesh of
Basil's buffaloes into camp. This they accomplished, after making
several journeys. It was their intention to dry the meat over the fire,
so that it might keep for future use. For this purpose the flesh was
removed from the bones, and after being cut into thin slices and strips,
was hung up on poles at some distance from the blaze. Nothing more
could be done, but wait until it became sufficiently parched by the
heat.
While this process was going on our voyageurs collected around the fire,
and entered into a consultation about what was best to be done. At
first they thought of going back to the Red River settlement, and
obtaining another canoe, as well as a fresh stock of provisions and
implements. But they all believed that getting back would be a toilsome
and difficult matter. There was a large lake and several extensive
marshes on the route, and these would have to be got round, making the
journey a very long one indeed. It would take them days to perform it
on foot, and nothing is more discouraging on a journey than to be forced
by some accident to what is called "taking the back-track." All of them
acknowledged this, but what else could they do? It is true there was a
post of the Hudson's Bay Company at the northern end of Lake Winnipeg.
This post was called Norway House. How were they to reach that afoot?
To walk around the borders of the lake would be a distance of more than
four hundred miles. There would be numerous rivers to cross, as well as
swamps and pathless forests to be threaded. Such a journey would occupy
a month or more, and at Norway House they would still be as it were only
at the beginning of the great journey on which they had set out.
Moreover, Norway House lay entirely out of their way. Cumberland
House--another trading post upon the River Saskatchewan--was the next
point where they had intended to rest themselves, after leaving the Red
River settlements. To reach Cumberland House _afoot_ would be equally
difficult, as it, too, lay at the distance of hundreds of miles, with
lakes, and rivers, and marshes, intervening. What, then, could they do?
"Let us _not_ go back," cried Francois, ever ready with a bold advice;
"let us make a boat, and keep on, say I."
"Ha! Francois," rejoined Basil, "it's easy to say `make a boat;' how is
that to be done, I pray?"
"Why, what's to hinder us to hew a log, and make a dugout? We have
still got the axe, and two hatchets left."
Norman asked what Francois meant by a dugout. The phrase was new to
him.
"A canoe," replied Francois, "hollowed out of a tree. They are
sometimes called `dugouts' on the Mississippi, especially when they are
roughly made. One of them, I think, would carry all four of us well
enough. Don't you think so, Luce?"
"Why, yes," answered the student; "a large one might: but I fear there
are no trees about here of sufficient size. We are not among the great
timber of the Mississippi bottom, you must remember."
"How large a tree would it require?" asked Norman, who knew but little
of this kind of craft.
"Three feet in diameter, at least," replied Lucien; "and it should be of
that thickness for a length of nearly twenty feet. A less one would not
carry four of us."
"Then I am sure enough," responded Norman, "that we won't find such
timber here. I have seen no tree of that size either yesterday, or
while we were out this morning."
"Nor I," added Basil.
"I don't believe there's one," said Lucien.
"If we were in Louisiana," rejoined Francois, "I could find fifty
canoe-trees by walking as many yards. Why, I never saw such
insignificant timber as this here."
"You'll see smaller timber than this, Cousin Frank, before we reach the
end of our voyage."
This remark was made by Norman, who knew that, as they proceeded
northward, the trees would be found decreasing in size until they would
appear like garden shrubbery.
"But come," continued he, "if we can't build a craft to carry us from
_one_ tree, perhaps we can do it out of _three_."
"With three!" echoed Francois. "I should like to see a canoe made from
three trees! Is it a raft you mean, Cousin Norman?"
"No," responded the other; "a canoe, and one that will serve us for the
rest of our voyage."
All three--Basil, Lucien, and Francois--looked to their cousin for an
explanation.
"You would rather not go back up the river?" he inquired, glancing from
one to the other.
"We wish to go on--all of us," answered Basil, speaking for his brothers
as well.
"Very well," assented the young fur-trader; "I think it is better as you
wish it. Out of these trees I can build a boat that will carry us. It
will take us some days to do it, and some time to find the timber, but I
am tolerably certain it is to be found in these woods. To do the job
properly I want three kinds; two of them I can see from where I sit; the
third I expect will be got in the hills we saw this morning."
As Norman spoke he pointed to two trees that grew among many others not
far from the spot. These trees were of very different kinds, as was
easily told by their leaves and bark. The nearer and more conspicuous
of them at once excited the curiosity of the three Southerners. Lucien
recognised it from its botanical description. Even Basil and Francois,
though they had never seen it, as it is not to be found in the hot clime
of Louisiana, knew it from the accounts given of it by travellers. The
tree was the celebrated "canoe-birch," or, as Lucien named it,
"paper-birch" (_Betula papyracea_), celebrated as the tree out of whose
bark those beautiful canoes are made that carry thousands of Indians
over the interior lakes and rivers of North America; out of whose bark
whole tribes of these people fashion their bowls, their pails, and their
baskets; with which they cover their tents, and from which they even
make their soup-kettles and boiling-pots! This, then, was the
canoe-birch-tree, so much talked of, and so valuable to the poor Indians
who inhabit the cold regions where it grows.
Our young Southerners contemplated the tree with feelings of interest
and curiosity. They saw that it was about sixty feet high, and somewhat
more than a foot in diameter. Its leaves were nearly cordate, or
heart-shaped, and of a very dark-green colour; but that which rendered
it most conspicuous among the other trees of the forest was the shining
white or silver-coloured bark that covered its trunk, and its numerous
slender branches. This bark is only white externally. When you have
cut through the epidermis you find it of a reddish tinge, very thick,
and capable of being divided into several layers. The wood of the tree
makes excellent fuel, and is also often used for articles of furniture.
It has a close, shining grain, and is strong enough for ordinary
implements; but if exposed to the weather will decay rapidly.
The "canoe-birch" is not the only species of these trees found in North
America. The genus _Betula_ (so called from the Celtic word _batu_,
which means birch) has at least half-a-dozen other known representatives
in these parts. There is the "white birch" (_Betula populifolia_), a
worthless tree of some twenty feet in height, and less than six inches
diameter. The bark of this species is useless, and its wood, which is
soft and white, is unfit even for fuel. It grows, however, in the
poorest soil. Next there is a species called the "cherry-birch"
(_Betula lento_), so named from the resemblance of its bark to the
common cherry-tree. It is also called "sweet birch," because its young
twigs, when crushed, give out a pleasant aromatic odour. Sometimes the
name of "black birch" is given to this species. It is a tree of fifty
or sixty feet in height, and its wood is much used in cabinet-work, as
it is close-grained, of a beautiful reddish colour, and susceptible of a
high polish.
The "yellow birch" is a tree of the same size, and is so called from the
colour of its epidermis. It is likewise used in cabinet-work, though it
is not considered equal in quality to the cherry-birch. Its leaves and
twigs have also an aromatic smell when bruised, not so strong, however,
as the last-mentioned. The wood makes excellent fuel, and is much used
for that purpose in some of the large cities of America. The bark, too,
is excellent for tanning--almost equal to that of the oak.
The "red birch" is still another species, which takes its name from the
reddish hue of its bark. This is equal in size to the canoe-birch,
often growing seventy feet high, with a trunk of nearly three feet
diameter. Its branches are long, slender, and pendulous; and it is from
the twigs of this species that most of the "birch-brooms" used in
America are made.
Still another species of American birches is the "dwarf birch" (_Betula
nana_), so called from its diminutive size, which is that of a shrub,
only eighteen inches or two feet in height. It usually grows in very
cold or mountainous regions, and is the smallest of these interesting
trees.
This information regarding the birches of America was given by Lucien to
his brothers, not at that time, but shortly afterward, when the three
were engaged in felling one of these trees. Just then other matters
occupied them, and they had only glanced, first at the canoe-birch and
then at the other tree which Norman had pointed out. The latter was of
a different genus. It belonged to the order _Coniferae_, or
cone-bearing trees, as was evident from the cone-shaped fruits that hung
upon its branches, as well as from its needle-like evergreen leaves.
The cone-bearing trees of America are divided by botanists into three
great sub-orders--the _Pines_, the _Cypresses_, and the _Yews_. Each of
these includes several genera. By the "pine tribe" is meant all those
trees known commonly by the names pine, spruce, fir, and larch; while
the _Cupressinae_, or cypress tribe, are the cypress proper, the cedars,
the arbour-vitae, and the junipers. The yew tribe has fewer genera or
species; but the trees in America known as yews and hemlocks--of which
there are several varieties--belong to it.
Of the pine tribe a great number of species exist throughout the North
American Continent. The late explorations on the western slope of the
Rocky Mountains, and in the countries bordering on the Pacific, have
brought to light a score of species hitherto unknown to the botanist.
Many of these are trees of a singular and valuable kind. Several
species found in the mountains of North Mexico, and throughout those
desert regions where hardly any other vegetation exists, have edible
seeds upon which whole tribes of Indians subsist for many months in the
year. The Spanish Americans call them _pinon_ trees, but there are
several species of them in different districts. The Indians parch the
seeds, and sometimes pound them into a coarse meal, from which they bake
a very palatable bread. This bread is often rendered more savoury by
mixing the meal with dried "prairie crickets," a species of coleopterous
insects--that is, insects with a crustaceous or shell-like covering over
their wings--which are common in the desert wilds where these Indians
dwell. Some prairie travellers have pronounced this singular mixture
equal to the "best pound-cake."
The "Lambert pine," so called from the botanist of that name, is found
in Oregon and California, and may be justly considered one of the
wonders of the world. Three hundred feet is not an uncommon height for
this vegetable giant; and its cones have been seen of eighteen inches in
length, hanging like sugar-loaves from its high branches! The wonderful
"palo Colorado" of California is another giant of the pine tribe. It
also grows above three hundred feet high, with a diameter of sixteen
feet! Then there is the "red pine," of eighty feet high, much used for
the decks and masts of ships; the "pitch-pine" (_Pinus rigida_), a
smaller tree, esteemed for its fuel, and furnishing most of the firewood
used in some of the American cities. From this species the strong
burning "knots" are obtained. There is the "white pine" (_Pinus
strobus_), valuable for its timber. This is one of the largest and best
known of the pines. It often attains a height of an hundred and fifty
feet, and a large proportion of those planks so well-known to the
carpenter are sawed from its trunk. In the State of New York alone no
less than 700,000,000 feet of timber are annually obtained from trees of
this species, which, by calculation, must exhaust every year the
enormous amount of 70,000 acres of forest! Of course, at this rate the
pine-forests of New York State must soon be entirely destroyed.
In addition, there is the "yellow pine," a tree of sixty feet high, much
used in flooring houses; and the beautiful "balsam fir," used as an
ornamental evergreen both in Europe and America, and from which is
obtained the well-known medicine--the "Canada balsam." This tree, in
favourable situations, attains the height of sixty feet; while upon the
cold summits of mountains it is often seen rising only a few inches from
the surface. The "hemlock spruce" (_Pinus Canadensis_), is another
species, the bark of which is used in tanning. It is inferior to the
oak, though the leather made by it is of excellent quality. The "black"
or "double spruce" (_Pinus nigra_), is that species from the twigs of
which is extracted the essence that gives its peculiar flavour to the
well-known "_spruce beer_." Besides these, at least a dozen new species
have lately been discovered on the interior mountains of Mexico--all of
them more or less possessing valuable properties.
The pines cannot be termed trees of the tropics, yet do they grow in
southern and warm countries. In the Carolinas, tar and turpentine,
products of the pine, are two staple articles of exportation; and even
under the equator itself, the high mountains are covered with
pine-forests. But the pine is more especially the tree of a northern
_sylva_. As you approach the Arctic circle, it becomes the
characteristic tree. There it appears in extensive forests, lending
their picturesque shelter to the snowy desolation of the earth. One
species of pine is the very last tree that disappears as the traveller,
in approaching the pole, takes his leave of the limits of vegetation.
This species is the "white spruce" (_Pinus alba_), the very one which,
along with the birch-tree, had been pointed out by Norman to his
companions.
It was a tree not over thirty or forty feet high, with a trunk of less
than a foot in thickness, and of a brownish colour. Its leaves or
"needles" were about an inch in length, very slender and acute, and of a
bluish green tint. The cones upon it, which at that season were young,
were of a pale green. When ripe, however, they become rusty-brown, and
are nearly two inches in length.
What use Norman would make of this tree in building his canoe, neither
Basil nor Francois knew. Lucien only guessed at it. Francois asked the
question, by saying that he supposed the "timbers" were to come out of
it.
"No," said Norman, "for that I want still another sort. If I can't find
that sort, however, I can manage to do without it, but not so well."
"What other sort?" demanded Francois.
"I want some cedar-wood," replied the other.
"Ah! that's for the timbers," said Francois; "I am sure of it. The
cedar-wood is lighter than any other, and, I dare say, would answer
admirably for ribs and other timbers."
"You are right this time, Frank--it is considered the best for that
purpose."
"You think there are cedar-trees on the hills we saw this morning?" said
Francois, addressing his Canadian cousin.
"I think so. I noticed something like them."
"And I, too, observed a dark foliage," said Lucien, "which looked like
the cedar. If anywhere in this neighbourhood, we shall find them there.
They usually grow upon rocky, sterile hills, such as those appear to
be--that is their proper situation."
"The question," remarked Basil, "ought to be settled at once. We have
made up our mind to the building of a canoe, and I think we should lose
no time in getting ready the materials. Suppose we all set out for the
hills."
"Agreed--agreed!" shouted the others with one voice; and then
shouldering their guns, and taking the axe along, all four set out for
the hills. On reaching these, the object of their search was at once
discovered. The tops of all the hills--dry, barren ridges they were--
were covered with a thick grove of the red cedar (_Juniperus
viginiana_). The trees were easily distinguished by the numerous
branches spreading horizontally, and thickly covered with short
dark-green needles, giving them that sombre, shady appearance, that
makes them the favourite haunt of many species of owls. Their beautiful
reddish wood was well-known to all the party, as it is to almost every
one in the civilised world. Everybody who has seen or used a black-lead
pencil must know what the wood of the red cedar is like--for it is in
this the black-lead is usually incased. In all parts of America, where
this tree grows in plenty, it is employed for posts and fence-rails, as
it is one of the most durable woods in existence. It is a great
favourite also for kindling fires, as it catches quickly, and blazes up
in a few seconds, so as to ignite the heavier logs of other timbers,
such as the oak and the pine.
The red cedar usually attains a height of about thirty to forty feet,
but in favourable situations it grows still larger. The soil which it
loves best is of a stony, and often sterile character, and dry barren
hill-tops are frequently covered with cedars, while the more moist and
fertile valleys between possess a _sylva_ of a far different character.
There is a variety of the red cedar, which trails upon the ground like a
creeping plant, its branches even taking root again. This is rather a
small bush than a tree, and is often seen hanging down the face of
inaccessible cliffs. It is known among botanists as the _Juniperus
prostrata_.
"Now," said Norman, after examining a few of the cedar-trees, "we have
here all that's wanted to make our canoe. We need lose no more time,
but go to work at once!"
"Very well," replied the three brothers, "we are ready to assist you,--
tell us what to do."
"In the first place," said the other, "I think we had better change our
camp to this spot, as I see all the different kinds of trees here, and
much better ones than those near the river. There," continued he,
pointing to a piece of moist ground in the valley,--"there are some
journeys if we go back and bring our meat to this place at once."
To this they all of course agreed, and started back to their first camp.
They soon returned with the meat and other things, and having chosen a
clean spot under a large-spreading cedar-tree, they kindled a new fire
and made their camp by it--that is, they strung up the provisions, hung
their horns and pouches upon the branches around, and rested their guns
against the trees. They had no tent to pitch, but that is not necessary
to constitute a camp. In the phraseology of the American hunter,
wherever you kindle your fire or spend the night is a "camp."