middle, growing narrower towards the two ends. They are very apt to turn
over, in case one does not understand managing them, and are made of birch
bark, strengthened on the inside by little ribs of white cedar, very neatly
arranged; they are so light that a man can easily carry one. Each can carry
a weight equal to that of a pipe. When they want to go overland to a river
where they have business, they carry them with them. From Choueacoet along
the coast as far as the harbor of Tadoussac, they are all alike.


ENDNOTES:

283. Champlain arrived on the shores of America on the 8th of May, 1604,
and left on the 3rd of September, 1607. He had consequently been on
our coast three years, three months, and twenty-five days.

284. _The late King Henry the Great_. Henry IV. died in 1610, and this
introductory passage was obviously written after that event, probably
near the time of the publication of his voyages in 1613.

285. In the preliminary voyage of 1603, Champlain ascended the St. Lawrence
as far as the falls of St. Louis, above Montreal.

286. The contribution by Henry IV. did not probably extend beyond the
monopoly of the fur-trade granted by him in this commission.

287. This, we presume, was the act abrogating the charter of De Monts
granted in 1603.

288. This cape still retains its ancient name, and is situated between
St. Mary's Bay and Placentia Bay.