Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-04-13
Fn.clna,inn. Of Cnnoelnr.

Fascinations OF Canoeing.
The canoeing season is at hand. Already
the ardent canoeist has brought his canoe ia.
to the parlor, and is vanishing her in hope
Of making her deck shine in rivalry with the
piano, or has filled his private room with
spars and sails aud the various bags, mat
tresses and smaller traps which are the ap-
purtenances Of every cruising canoe. The
man who has never yet owned a canoe, but
who intends to prove his repentance this
summer, is studying the advertisements Of
different canoe builders, each one Of whom
builds the only canoe that is worth having.
Already the cruises for the coming summer
Have been planned with much study of maps
and timetables. At the boat houses of the
canoe clubs, cauoeists gather by twos and
threes, and an occasional captain who does
not feel the cold while warmed by his onthu-
sasm launches his canoes for a short paddle.
Canoeing on the water does not fairly begin
until May, but vast deal of delightful ca
noeing is now in progress on dry land. For,
after all, oanoeists are divided as to which af-
fords the greatest pleasure, actual cruising or
'monkeying"-as scientific men would say
with canoes under the shelter Of your own
roof.
According to the American Oanoeist-a
bright little monthly journal which is the Or
gan of the craft-the American canoe asso.
citation has some 400 members in the United
States and Canada and there are besides at
least 80 canoe clubs, three of which are Ca
madam. The whole number of canoeists on
this continent was lately estimated to be 5000,
but new clubs are forming almost every day,
and by next autumn the 5000 will easily be
1000
Either the birch bark craft of the Amer-
can Indian is not a canoe or the craft of the
civilized canoest is not a canoe. The two
have very little in common. You may pad
die in birch, and you may even cruise in
her but no man can properly pretend to Ca
noe" in birch. The birch is an open boat,
and the canos is decked boat. They are as
far apart as a row-boat and an English
cutter yacht The real progenitor of the
canoe is not the lesky birch, but the seawor-
thy kayak of the Greenlander. In fact the
canoe is only the kayak improved by civil
lied man. That it is not related to the birch
is the first lesson that must be impress 5ed up
on every man who shows a disposition to
learn about canoeing.
Every canoeist has the best canoe in exist
ence. Nevertheless, there are many models
and varieties of canoes. Speaking generally,
these may all be reduced to two classes; tie
padding canoe, of which the Rob Roy is the
type, and the sailing canoe, of which the
Shadow is perhaps the most generally used
III lulo COuulIls DUN carry bhlh huu DOtu
are padded, but the padding canoe usually
though not always-carries less sail than the
sailing canoe and is more easily padded,
since she is smaller and lighter
Fourteen feet is the length Of the great
majority of canoes, though Rob Roys of II
feet and sailing canoes of 1G are not uncom-
mon. A 14-foot Roy Roy ought not to weigh
over 50 pounds, and l4foot Shadow which
weighs over IS pounds is unnecessarily heavy.
Canoes are usually built Of wood, although
cheap canoes can be built of canvas, and GER
tain adyantagas are claimed for those built
of paper
The true object for which the canoe is
built is cruising Hence she is made so light
that she can b. carried around obstacles by
the canoeist, SO strong that she will bear the
rough work of running shallow rapids, SO sea-
worthy that she can brave the rough waters
of large lakes, so commodious that her own
er can sleep on board of her and carry plen-
| ty of stores, and 50 beautiful that every
stranger will admire her and be proud to aid
| the lofty purposes of the csnoeist.
| OF course. if the weight of the canoe is
increased by building her more than IA or 10
feet long, or by providing her with heavy
| center board, or if she is built so light as to
be too weak for the work which may be re-
| quired of her during a cruise, she is fail
ure. No canoe which is not fit for cruising is
true canoe. She may be good sail-boat,
or good padding machine, but she is not
| good canoe.
Canoeists are never tired of talking of the
delights of canoeing. There are those who
unhesitatingly say that the man who has not
canoed has never lived. But pleasant as ca
noeing may be, those who look upon it as
| pleasure-a mere sport-have failed utterly
| to grasp its purpose. Canoeing is an educa-
ton, and as such it should be held in the ut
most reverence.
Where is the best canoeing to be found
| One might as well ask where is the best place
to live. Canoeing on lakes and broad rivers,
where there is room to sail and wind to sail
| with is delightful. With fast and dry ca
noe, equipped with foot-steering gear, the
canoeist can sit back at his ease aud skim
over the water as idly as a woman rocks in
her easy-chair. Or if the breeze is fresh he
has the excitement of sailing with the con-
sciuusuess that little carelessuess or a single
mistake will spill him into the lake. But
there are those who hold that padding ca
noe down narrow stream where the branches
interlock over ones head and give him shade
| at MONDAY is of all kinds of canoeing the
most delicious What glories of scenery
meet the canoeists eyes as he rounds curve
in the river or emerges into some deep and
quiet pool How the murmur of the rapids,
as yet invisible below him, invites him to
brace his nerves to meet them How the
timid birds aud squirrels and other wild crea-
lures gaze at him, floating noiselessly with the
current, and concede that, unlike other men
whom they have seen, he has rightful place
in nature, and belongs to their own brother
hood The lake cruiser has little work to do,
and eau keep reasonably dry but he does
rot see what the wet and hard d-worked cruis-
or on narrow streams sees every hour of the
day.
American canoeists are mostly cruisers,
and they have the opportunity to make long
er cruises than falls to the lot of English ca
noeists. Mr.. Bishops cruise from Troy to
f orida, and the cruise of Messrs. Neide and
Kendall from Lake George to Florida, by way
of the Ohio, the Mississippi and the Gulf,
are the longest canoe cruises on reoord.-N'
y Times