When a large supply of timber has been thus cut down, and the winter is so far advanced that snow lies on the ground, preparations are made for conveying the timber to some stream or river which flows down to a commercial port. On the banks of such streams saw-mills worked by water-power are erected, and these are employed for cutting up such of the “lumber” as is to be sold in the form of planks. The conveyance to the saw-mills and the operation of sawing occupy together the entire winter season. When snow is on the ground, a stout pair of oxen can drag a log from the forest to the saw-mill; and this method of transport is almost universally adopted, very few horses being employed in this way. Sometimes the saw-mills are constructed in a small creek near the forest, but in other cases they are lower down, on the banks of larger streams; and in this latter case the logs are floated down the smaller streams till they arrive at the larger one, where a dam or barrier is placed across the stream to prevent them from floating beyond the precincts of the saw-mill. The saws are circular in shape. Many of the mills have but one saw in operation; others have groups of parallel saws capable of cutting the log into eight or ten planks at once. Some of the smaller mills are built in so rude and rough a manner, that their cost does not exceed 30_l._ or 40_l._; but if the mill lasts as long as the supply of timber in the neighbourhood, that is deemed sufficient, and a new mill is built when it is found advantageous to shift the quarters farther inland. A small mill with one saw, worked for twenty-four hours, will cut up three or four thousand superficial feet of timber. Men are employed to roll the logs along the gangways to a platform, and place them in a proper position to be acted on by the saw.