Fig. 17.—Coracle.
I also give sketches of other types of crafts. And now for a parting word of advice: whatever type of canoe you select, I hope you will be able to produce one that will pass the examination when your parents and others hold a survey; and in view of this do your work well and carefully, or you had better leave it alone. In any case, do not canoe unless you can swim. A canoeist, particularly when racing, thinks nothing of an upset, which to an accomplished hand is merely the loss of a few minutes, when, the canoe righted and the owner once more in charge, the prize is still held in view. This, to a non-swimmer, might mean, however, loss of life. Speaking from my own experience, I can assure you that I should not now be writing this if I had been unable to swim, and in no case should canoeing or boating be indulged in by those who have not mastered that necessary and simple art. To the swimmer an upset is in most instances simply an annoyance, but to a non-swimmer it may mean a fatal accident.
CHAPTER XXVI.—HOW TO BUILD A PUNT.
By the Rev. Harry Jones, M.A.
Some years ago I wanted a cheap, strong punt for use in a large pond of some ten or twelve acres, and went to two or three regular boat-builders to ask the price of such an article. It varied from some sixteen shillings to a pound per foot. Now, as I needed something long enough to be rowed, or bear propulsion, with some steadiness, of course, and, moreover, to carry a good load, I perceived that nothing much less in length than about sixteen feet would answer my purpose.
The cost of this amounted to more than I was inclined to pay to a professed boat-builder, and so I put on my considering cap to see whether I could not escape the charges of an expert and yet realise my punt.
I determined to employ an intelligent country carpenter, who had never been in a shipyard in his life, and who, being wholly unacquainted with the structure of a boat, would be likely to follow out my directions without any bias of his own, yet take the whole credit of the result to himself.
We fixed on deal—good red, not white deal—for the wood of our boat, though my carpenter agreed with me that elm would have been better and teak best, for this latter does not split in the sun. Elm, however, is generally cut into lengths of only 12 ft. or 13 ft., which allows for the measure of two coffins, which are mostly made of this tree. Teak my friend had never seen. The worst of this is its original cost, and also, when a boat has to be built for inland waters, the expense of its carriage by rail from the neighbourhood of some coast ship-yard.