a sufficient number of axes and a good stout saw, one large plane, and
a few strong chisels, with plenty of nails. As may be expected, we
proved to be very awkward carpenters. Mr. Lacosse was perhaps the
handiest, and Malcolm not much inferior to him, until the latter
unfortunately received a severe cut with a chisel, extending in a
transverse line along the joint of the forefinger of the left hand. I
strapped up the wound, but the rough work soon tore away the diaculum:
no bad consequences, however, ensued. The wound, in spite of the hard
treatment which it received, closed and healed by the first
intention--proving the healthy habit of body engendered by temperance
and constant exercise in the open air.

In building our cradles, or "gold canoes," as the Indians called them,
we found that to mortice the planks into each other was a feat of
carpentering far above our skill, particularly as we had no mortice
chisels. We were therefore obliged to adopt the ruder experiment of
making the boards overlap each other by about an inch, nailing them
firmly together in that position. As, however, the inequality of
surface at the bottom of the cradle, produced by the mode of building,
would have materially impeded our operations, we strained some pieces
of tarred canvas, which we fortunately possessed amongst our tent
cloths, over the bottoms, thus rendering the surface even, and suited
to our purpose. By the time we had got so far with our undertaking, we
fell sufficiently tired to give over work for the night. We had
laboured unceasingly at them, pausing only to swallow a hasty meal, and
stuck by our hammers and chisels till dusk. We were up early the next
morning, and toiled away to get the cradles completed, as we were
constantly seeing proofs of the great advantages of these machines. We
fixed a wicker sieve over the head, by means of a couple of transverse
bars, and then set about to construct the working Apparatus, which we