When the rafts reach their destination, the lumber is sold, and the men share the proceeds according to the nature of their stake in the enterprise. This share is one entire year’s earnings, and the final disposal of the timber is therefore a matter of importance. The men then set out on foot to return to the interior, and as the distance they have to travel is sometimes three or four hundred miles, and the summer warmth has arrived, the journey is generally a fatiguing one. The men are not all fellow-labourers in an equal degree, for--as in almost every other kind of commercial enterprise--there must be some one to act as a capitalist, to feed the labourers while they are employed, or others who will supply necessaries in advance. There are storekeepers who purchase an annual supply of provisions, clothing, implements, &c., and retail them out to the lumberers on credit, to be paid for when the sales are effected in the spring, and when the mill-owner has been enabled to pay the wages of the men who felled, transported, and sawed the timber. If any unforeseen accident prevents the raft from reaching the shipping port in a saleable state, or if any other mishap occurs, the whole community share the loss. The lumberers are among the roughest and rudest of the Canadian and American population: for their occupation takes them so little among the haunts of commercial or cultivated men, that they are only a few shades superior to the American Indians--in some points far beneath them. Miscellaneous kinds of Timber. Deal so completely takes precedence of all other timber in house-building, that a very slight notice of other varieties will suffice. _Beech_ is partially employed in ship-building for the keel and timbers near it; but it is not at all employed, in civil architecture. The principal use made of this wood is in the construction of machines, mill-work, lock-gates, &c., and for handles to tools; it is also a good wood for the turner, being of a close grain. It will not, however, bear alternations of moisture and dryness, and is liable to be attacked by worms, so that it is not extensively employed. _Chestnut_ belongs to the same tribe as the beech, but although a valuable wood, it is now little, if ever, used. Formerly it was extensively so, and the roofs of several ancient buildings were constructed of it. From some experiments, indeed, it seems to be as durable as oak itself. _Ash_ is the wood for the wheelwright and the maker of agricultural implements; it is one of the most valuable of all timber trees, combining great strength with elasticity and lightness; it, however, splits easily. Ash is not used either by the shipwright or the common carpenter. _Elm_ is a coarse-grained wood, but strong and durable, it does not work readily, and is therefore but little used. It is, however, employed for certain parts of ships, and for making casks, chests, coffins, posts for mill-work, and a few other purposes.