by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER ELEVEN.
THREE CURIOUS TREES.
Next morning they were awake at an early hour. There was still enoughof the tongues and grouse left, along with some ribs of the antelope, tobreakfast the party; and then all four set out to bring the flesh ofBasil's buffaloes into camp. This they accomplished, after makingseveral journeys. It was their intention to dry the meat over the fire,so that it might keep for future use. For this purpose the flesh wasremoved from the bones, and after being cut into thin slices and strips,was hung up on poles at some distance from the blaze. Nothing morecould be done, but wait until it became sufficiently parched by theheat.
While this process was going on our voyageurs collected around the fire,and entered into a consultation about what was best to be done. Atfirst they thought of going back to the Red River settlement, andobtaining another canoe, as well as a fresh stock of provisions andimplements. But they all believed that getting back would be a toilsomeand difficult matter. There was a large lake and several extensivemarshes on the route, and these would have to be got round, making thejourney a very long one indeed. It would take them days to perform iton foot, and nothing is more discouraging on a journey than to be forcedby some accident to what is called "taking the back-track." All of themacknowledged this, but what else could they do? It is true there was apost of the Hudson's Bay Company at the northern end of Lake Winnipeg.This post was called Norway House. How were they to reach that afoot?To walk around the borders of the lake would be a distance of more thanfour hundred miles. There would be numerous rivers to cross, as well asswamps and pathless forests to be threaded. Such a journey would occupya month or more, and at Norway House they would still be as it were onlyat the beginning of the great journey on which they had set out.Moreover, Norway House lay entirely out of their way. CumberlandHouse--another trading post upon the River Saskatchewan--was the nextpoint where they had intended to rest themselves, after leaving the RedRiver settlements. To reach Cumberland House _afoot_ would be equallydifficult, as it, too, lay at the distance of hundreds of miles, withlakes, and rivers, and marshes, intervening. What, then, could they do?
"Let us _not_ go back," cried Francois, ever ready with a bold advice;"let us make a boat, and keep on, say I."
"Ha! Francois," rejoined Basil, "it's easy to say `make a boat;' how isthat to be done, I pray?"
"Why, what's to hinder us to hew a log, and make a dugout? We havestill got the axe, and two hatchets left."
Norman asked what Francois meant by a dugout. The phrase was new tohim.
"A canoe," replied Francois, "hollowed out of a tree. They aresometimes called `dugouts' on the Mississippi, especially when they areroughly made. One of them, I think, would carry all four of us wellenough. Don't you think so, Luce?"
"Why, yes," answered the student; "a large one might: but I fear thereare no trees about here of sufficient size. We are not among the greattimber of the Mississippi bottom, you must remember."
"How large a tree would it require?" asked Norman, who knew but littleof this kind of craft.
"Three feet in diameter, at least," replied Lucien; "and it should be ofthat thickness for a length of nearly twenty feet. A less one would notcarry four of us."
"Then I am sure enough," responded Norman, "that we won't find suchtimber here. I have seen no tree of that size either yesterday, orwhile we were out this morning."
"Nor I," added Basil.
"I don't believe there's one," said Lucien.
"If we were in Louisiana," rejoined Francois, "I could find fiftycanoe-trees by walking as many yards. Why, I never saw suchinsignificant timber as this here."
"You'll see smaller timber than this, Cousin Frank, before we reach theend of our voyage."
This remark was made by Norman, who knew that, as they proceedednorthward, the trees would be found decreasing in size until they wouldappear like garden shrubbery.
"But come," continued he, "if we can't build a craft to carry us from_one_ tree, perhaps we can do it out of _three_."
"With three!" echoed Francois. "I should like to see a canoe made fromthree trees! Is it a raft you mean, Cousin Norman?"
"No," responded the other; "a canoe, and one that will serve us for therest of our voyage."
All three--Basil, Lucien, and Francois--looked to their cousin for anexplanation.
"You would rather not go back up the river?" he inquired, glancing fromone to the other.
"We wish to go on--all of us," answered Basil, speaking for his brothersas well.
"Very well," assented the young fur-trader; "I think it is better as youwish it. Out of these trees I can build a boat that will carry us. Itwill take us some days to do it, and some time to find the timber, but Iam tolerably certain it is to be found in these woods. To do the jobproperly I want three kinds; two of them I can see from where I sit; thethird I expect will be got in the hills we saw this morning."
As Norman spoke he pointed to two trees that grew among many others notfar from the spot. These trees were of very different kinds, as waseasily told by their leaves and bark. The nearer and more conspicuousof them at once excited the curiosity of the three Southerners. Lucienrecognised it from its botanical description. Even Basil and Francois,though they had never seen it, as it is not to be found in the hot climeof Louisiana, knew it from the accounts given of it by travellers. Thetree was the celebrated "canoe-birch," or, as Lucien named it,"paper-birch" (_Betula papyracea_), celebrated as the tree out of whosebark those beautiful canoes are made that carry thousands of Indiansover the interior lakes and rivers of North America; out of whose barkwhole tribes of these people fashion their bowls, their pails, and theirbaskets; with which they cover their tents, and from which they evenmake their soup-kettles and boiling-pots! This, then, was thecanoe-birch-tree, so much talked of, and so valuable to the poor Indianswho inhabit the cold regions where it grows.
Our young Southerners contemplated the tree with feelings of interestand curiosity. They saw that it was about sixty feet high, and somewhatmore than a foot in diameter. Its leaves were nearly cordate, orheart-shaped, and of a very dark-green colour; but that which renderedit most conspicuous among the other trees of the forest was the shiningwhite or silver-coloured bark that covered its trunk, and its numerousslender branches. This bark is only white externally. When you havecut through the epidermis you find it of a reddish tinge, very thick,and capable of being divided into several layers. The wood of the treemakes excellent fuel, and is also often used for articles of furniture.It has a close, shining grain, and is strong enough for ordinaryimplements; but if exposed to the weather will decay rapidly.
The "canoe-birch" is not the only species of these trees found in NorthAmerica. The genus _Betula_ (so called from the Celtic word _batu_,which means birch) has at least half-a-dozen other known representativesin these parts. There is the "white birch" (_Betula populifolia_), aworthless tree of some twenty feet in height, and less than six inchesdiameter. The bark of this species is useless, and its wood, which issoft and white, is unfit even for fuel. It grows, however, in thepoorest soil. Next there is a species called the "cherry-birch"(_Betula lento_), so named from the resemblance of its bark to thecommon cherry-tree. It is also called "sweet birch," because its youngtwigs, when crushed, give out a pleasant aromatic odour. Sometimes thename of "black birch" is given to this species. It is a tree of fiftyor sixty feet in height, and its wood is much used in cabinet-work, asit is close-grained, of a beautiful reddish colour, and susceptible of ahigh polish.
The "yellow birch" is a tree of the same size, and is so called from thecolour of its epidermis. It is likewise used in cabinet-work, though itis not considered equal in quality to the cherry-birch. Its leaves andtwigs have also an aromatic smell when bruised, not so strong, however,as the last-mentioned. The wood makes excellent fuel, and is much usedfor that purpose in some of the large cities of America. The bark, too,is excellent for tanning--almost equal to that of the
oak.
The "red birch" is still another species, which takes its name from thereddish hue of its bark. This is equal in size to the canoe-birch,often growing seventy feet high, with a trunk of nearly three feetdiameter. Its branches are long, slender, and pendulous; and it is fromthe twigs of this species that most of the "birch-brooms" used inAmerica are made.
Still another species of American birches is the "dwarf birch" (_Betulanana_), so called from its diminutive size, which is that of a shrub,only eighteen inches or two feet in height. It usually grows in verycold or mountainous regions, and is the smallest of these interestingtrees.
This information regarding the birches of America was given by Lucien tohis brothers, not at that time, but shortly afterward, when the threewere engaged in felling one of these trees. Just then other mattersoccupied them, and they had only glanced, first at the canoe-birch andthen at the other tree which Norman had pointed out. The latter was ofa different genus. It belonged to the order _Coniferae_, orcone-bearing trees, as was evident from the cone-shaped fruits that hungupon its branches, as well as from its needle-like evergreen leaves.
The cone-bearing trees of America are divided by botanists into threegreat sub-orders--the _Pines_, the _Cypresses_, and the _Yews_. Each ofthese includes several genera. By the "pine tribe" is meant all thosetrees known commonly by the names pine, spruce, fir, and larch; whilethe _Cupressinae_, or cypress tribe, are the cypress proper, the cedars,the arbour-vitae, and the junipers. The yew tribe has fewer genera orspecies; but the trees in America known as yews and hemlocks--of whichthere are several varieties--belong to it.
Of the pine tribe a great number of species exist throughout the NorthAmerican Continent. The late explorations on the western slope of theRocky Mountains, and in the countries bordering on the Pacific, havebrought to light a score of species hitherto unknown to the botanist.Many of these are trees of a singular and valuable kind. Severalspecies found in the mountains of North Mexico, and throughout thosedesert regions where hardly any other vegetation exists, have edibleseeds upon which whole tribes of Indians subsist for many months in theyear. The Spanish Americans call them _pinon_ trees, but there areseveral species of them in different districts. The Indians parch theseeds, and sometimes pound them into a coarse meal, from which they bakea very palatable bread. This bread is often rendered more savoury bymixing the meal with dried "prairie crickets," a species of coleopterousinsects--that is, insects with a crustaceous or shell-like covering overtheir wings--which are common in the desert wilds where these Indiansdwell. Some prairie travellers have pronounced this singular mixtureequal to the "best pound-cake."
The "Lambert pine," so called from the botanist of that name, is foundin Oregon and California, and may be justly considered one of thewonders of the world. Three hundred feet is not an uncommon height forthis vegetable giant; and its cones have been seen of eighteen inches inlength, hanging like sugar-loaves from its high branches! The wonderful"palo Colorado" of California is another giant of the pine tribe. Italso grows above three hundred feet high, with a diameter of sixteenfeet! Then there is the "red pine," of eighty feet high, much used forthe decks and masts of ships; the "pitch-pine" (_Pinus rigida_), asmaller tree, esteemed for its fuel, and furnishing most of the firewoodused in some of the American cities. From this species the strongburning "knots" are obtained. There is the "white pine" (_Pinusstrobus_), valuable for its timber. This is one of the largest and bestknown of the pines. It often attains a height of an hundred and fiftyfeet, and a large proportion of those planks so well-known to thecarpenter are sawed from its trunk. In the State of New York alone noless than 700,000,000 feet of timber are annually obtained from trees ofthis species, which, by calculation, must exhaust every year theenormous amount of 70,000 acres of forest! Of course, at this rate thepine-forests of New York State must soon be entirely destroyed.
In addition, there is the "yellow pine," a tree of sixty feet high, muchused in flooring houses; and the beautiful "balsam fir," used as anornamental evergreen both in Europe and America, and from which isobtained the well-known medicine--the "Canada balsam." This tree, infavourable situations, attains the height of sixty feet; while upon thecold summits of mountains it is often seen rising only a few inches fromthe surface. The "hemlock spruce" (_Pinus Canadensis_), is anotherspecies, the bark of which is used in tanning. It is inferior to theoak, though the leather made by it is of excellent quality. The "black"or "double spruce" (_Pinus nigra_), is that species from the twigs ofwhich is extracted the essence that gives its peculiar flavour to thewell-known "_spruce beer_." Besides these, at least a dozen new specieshave lately been discovered on the interior mountains of Mexico--all ofthem more or less possessing valuable properties.
The pines cannot be termed trees of the tropics, yet do they grow insouthern and warm countries. In the Carolinas, tar and turpentine,products of the pine, are two staple articles of exportation; and evenunder the equator itself, the high mountains are covered withpine-forests. But the pine is more especially the tree of a northern_sylva_. As you approach the Arctic circle, it becomes thecharacteristic tree. There it appears in extensive forests, lendingtheir picturesque shelter to the snowy desolation of the earth. Onespecies of pine is the very last tree that disappears as the traveller,in approaching the pole, takes his leave of the limits of vegetation.This species is the "white spruce" (_Pinus alba_), the very one which,along with the birch-tree, had been pointed out by Norman to hiscompanions.
It was a tree not over thirty or forty feet high, with a trunk of lessthan a foot in thickness, and of a brownish colour. Its leaves or"needles" were about an inch in length, very slender and acute, and of abluish green tint. The cones upon it, which at that season were young,were of a pale green. When ripe, however, they become rusty-brown, andare nearly two inches in length.
What use Norman would make of this tree in building his canoe, neitherBasil nor Francois knew. Lucien only guessed at it. Francois asked thequestion, by saying that he supposed the "timbers" were to come out ofit.
"No," said Norman, "for that I want still another sort. If I can't findthat sort, however, I can manage to do without it, but not so well."
"What other sort?" demanded Francois.
"I want some cedar-wood," replied the other.
"Ah! that's for the timbers," said Francois; "I am sure of it. Thecedar-wood is lighter than any other, and, I dare say, would answeradmirably for ribs and other timbers."
"You are right this time, Frank--it is considered the best for thatpurpose."
"You think there are cedar-trees on the hills we saw this morning?" saidFrancois, addressing his Canadian cousin.
"I think so. I noticed something like them."
"And I, too, observed a dark foliage," said Lucien, "which looked likethe cedar. If anywhere in this neighbourhood, we shall find them there.They usually grow upon rocky, sterile hills, such as those appear tobe--that is their proper situation."
"The question," remarked Basil, "ought to be settled at once. We havemade up our mind to the building of a canoe, and I think we should loseno time in getting ready the materials. Suppose we all set out for thehills."
"Agreed--agreed!" shouted the others with one voice; and thenshouldering their guns, and taking the axe along, all four set out forthe hills. On reaching these, the object of their search was at oncediscovered. The tops of all the hills--dry, barren ridges they were--were covered with a thick grove of the red cedar (_Juniperusviginiana_). The trees were easily distinguished by the numerousbranches spreading horizontally, and thickly covered with shortdark-green needles, giving them that sombre, shady appearance, thatmakes them the favourite haunt of many species of owls. Their beautifulreddish wood was well-known to all the party, as it is to almost everyone in the civilised world. Everybody who has seen or used a black-leadpencil must know what the wood of the red cedar is like--for it is inthis the black-lead is usually incased. In all parts of America, wherethis tree grows in
plenty, it is employed for posts and fence-rails, asit is one of the most durable woods in existence. It is a greatfavourite also for kindling fires, as it catches quickly, and blazes upin a few seconds, so as to ignite the heavier logs of other timbers,such as the oak and the pine.
The red cedar usually attains a height of about thirty to forty feet,but in favourable situations it grows still larger. The soil which itloves best is of a stony, and often sterile character, and dry barrenhill-tops are frequently covered with cedars, while the more moist andfertile valleys between possess a _sylva_ of a far different character.There is a variety of the red cedar, which trails upon the ground like acreeping plant, its branches even taking root again. This is rather asmall bush than a tree, and is often seen hanging down the face ofinaccessible cliffs. It is known among botanists as the _Juniperusprostrata_.
"Now," said Norman, after examining a few of the cedar-trees, "we havehere all that's wanted to make our canoe. We need lose no more time,but go to work at once!"
"Very well," replied the three brothers, "we are ready to assist you,--tell us what to do."
"In the first place," said the other, "I think we had better change ourcamp to this spot, as I see all the different kinds of trees here, andmuch better ones than those near the river. There," continued he,pointing to a piece of moist ground in the valley,--"there are somejourneys if we go back and bring our meat to this place at once."
To this they all of course agreed, and started back to their first camp.They soon returned with the meat and other things, and having chosen aclean spot under a large-spreading cedar-tree, they kindled a new fireand made their camp by it--that is, they strung up the provisions, hungtheir horns and pouches upon the branches around, and rested their gunsagainst the trees. They had no tent to pitch, but that is not necessaryto constitute a camp. In the phraseology of the American hunter,wherever you kindle your fire or spend the night is a "camp."