eing applied to the English
canoe, but it seems to me a much more clumsy and much less effective,
because rigid, contrivance than the Eskimo saddle. Inside, under the
deck, as I will show you by and by, I have lighter and shorter paddles
for use when in narrow rivers, but I prefer the long heavy paddle when
traversing great stretches of ocean."

"You don't mean to say you ever go to sea in an eggshell like that!"
exclaimed Nigel in surprise.

"Indeed we do," returned the hermit, "and we are fitted out for longish
voyages and rough weather. Besides, it is not so much of an eggshell as
you suppose. I made it myself, and took care that it should be fit for
the work required of it. The wood of which it is made, although light,
is very tough, and it is lined with a skin of strong canvas which is
fixed to the planks with tar. This makes the craft watertight as well as
strong. The ribs also are very light and close together, and every sixth
rib is larger and stronger than the others and made of tougher wood.
All these ribs are bound together by longitudinal pieces, or laths, of
very tough wood, yet so thin that the whole machine is elastic without
being weak. Besides this, there are two strong oiled-canvas partitions,
which divide the canoe into three water-tight compartments, any two of
which will float it if the third should get filled."

"Is this then the craft in which you intend to voyage?" asked Nigel.

"It is. We shall start in an hour or two. I keep it in this cave because
it is near the landing-place. But come, you will understand things
better when you see us making our arrangements. Of course you understand
how to manage sails of every kind?"

"If I did not it would ill become me to call myself a sailor," returned
our hero.

"That is well, because you will sit in the middle, from which position
the sail is partly managed. I usually sit in the bow to have free range
for the use of my gun, if need be, and Moses steers."

Van der Kemp proceeded down the track as he said this, having, with the
negro, again lifted the canoe on his shoulder.

A few minutes' walk brought them to the beach at the spot where Nigel
had originally landed. Here a quantity of cargo lay on the rocks ready
to be placed in the canoe. There were several small bags of pemmican,
which Van der Kemp had learned to make while travelling on the prairies
of North America among the Red Indians,--for this singular being seemed
to have visited most p