is made of
willows bent into the shape of a short and wide skiff, with a flat
bottom. Willows grow upon the banks of almost all the streams on the
prairies, and can be bent into any shape desired. To make a boat with
but one hide, a number of straight willows are cut about an inch in
diameter, the ends sharpened and driven into the ground, forming a
frame-work in the shape of a half egg-shell cut through the
longitudinal axis. Where these rods cross they are firmly secured with
strings. A stout rod is then heated and bent around the frame in such a
position that the edges of the hide, when laid over it and drawn tight,
will just reach it. This rod forms the gunwale, which is secured by
strings to the ribs. Small rods are then wattled in so as to make it
symmetrical and strong. After which the green or soaked hide is thrown
over the edges, sewed to the gunwales, and left to dry. The rods are
then cut off even with the gunwale, and the boat is ready for use.

To build a boat with two or more hides: A stout pole of the desired
length is placed upon the ground for a keel, the ends turned up and
secured by a lariat; willow rods of the required dimensions are then
cut, heated, and bent into the proper shape for knees, after which
their centres are placed at equal distances upon the keel, and firmly
tied with cords. The knees are retained in their proper curvature by
cords around the ends. After a sufficient number of them have been
placed upon the keel, two poles of suitable dimensions are heated, bent
around the ends for a gunwale, and firmly lashed to each knee. Smaller
willows are then interwoven, so as to model the frame.

Green or soaked hides are cut into the proper shape to fit the frame,
and sewed together with buckskin strings; then the frame of the boat is
placed in the middle, the hide drawn up snug around the sides, and
secured with raw-hide thongs to the gunwale. The boat is then turned
bottom upward and left to dry, after which the seams where they have
been sewed are covered with a mixture of melted tallow and pitch: the
craft is now ready for launching.

A boat of this kind is very light and serviceable, but after a while
becomes water-soaked, and should always be turned bottom upward to dry
whenever it is not in the water. Two men can easily build a _bull-boat_
of three hides in two days which will carry ten men with perfect safety.

A small party traveling with a pack train and arriving upon the banks
of