The bark canoes, which the Indians use in this part of the country, are by no means so neatly formed as those made in the country upon, and to the north of, the River St. Lawrence: they are commonly formed of one entire piece of elm bark, taken from the trunk of the tree, which is bound on ribs formed of slender rods of tough wood. There are no ribs, however, at the ends of these canoes, but merely at the middle part, where alone it is that passengers ever sit. It is only the center, indeed, which rests upon the water; the ends are generally raised some feet above the surface, the canoes being of a curved form. They bring them into this shape by cutting, nearly midway between the stem and stern, two deep slits, one on each side, in the back, and by lapping the disjointed edges one over the other. No pains are taken to make the ends of the canoes water tight, since they never touch the water. [Sidenote: INDIAN DEXTERITY.] On first inspection you would imagine, from its miserable appearance, that an elm bark canoe, thus constructed, were not calculated to carry even a single person safely across a smooth piece of water; it is nevertheless a remarkably safe sort of boat, and the Indians will resolutely embark in one of them during very rough weather. They are so light that they ride securely over every wave, and the only precaution necessary in navigating them is to sit steady. I have seen a dozen people go securely in one, which might be easily carried by a single able-bodied man. When an Indian takes his family to any distance in a canoe, the women, the girls, and boys, are furnished each with a paddle, and are kept busily at work; the father of the family gives himself no trouble but in steering the vessel. The Indians that are connected with the traders have now, very generally, laid aside bows and arrows, and seldom take them into their hands, except it be to amuse themselves for a few hours, when they have expended their powder and shot: their boys, however, still use them universally, and some of them shoot with wonderful dexterity. I saw a young Shawnese chief, apparently not more than ten years old, fix three arrows running in the body of a small black squirrel, on the top of a very tall tree, and during an hour or two that I followed him through the woods, he scarcely missed his mark half a dozen times. It is astonishing to see with what accuracy, and at the same time with what readiness, they mark the spot where their arrows fall. They will shoot away a dozen arrows or more, seemingly quite careless about what becomes of them, and as inattentive to the spot where they fall as if they never expected to find them again, yet afterwards they will run and pick them every one up without hesitation. The southern Indians are much more expert at the use of the bow than those near the lakes, as they make much greater use of it.