Page:The American Boy's Handy Book edition 1.djvu/144

board, which holds it in the position shown by the diagram. Many other little conveniences may be added, such as a small cooking-stove, book-shelves, gun-racks, etc., but I shall not go into further details, my aim being only to suggest how it may be done, as every boy who is smart enough to build a flat-boat will have his own peculiar ideas about the manner in which it should be fitted up inside. The interior construction depends, in a measure, upon the number of persons who are to occupy the cabin, and whether it is to be used by a party of young naturalists upon a collecting tour, or for fishing and shooting excursions, or simply as a sort of picnic boat for a few days' enjoyment, such as most boys in the country are quite well able to plan and carry out unaided.

Although a rude home-made flat-boat does not possess speed, yet with a square sail rigged on the jack-staff, and with a good wind over the stern, it will make good time; and as this sort of craft draws only a few inches of water, it can float in creeks and inlets where a well-loaded row-boat would drag bottom.

The advantages of a flat-boat consist in the fact that it is a comfortable, cosey little house in which one could spend a month very pleasantly hunting or fishing, or visiting the various points of interest along the shores of the river and inlets, and, whenever the floating home drifts in sight of a pleasant place to stop, all that is necessary is to make fast to the bank, thus escaping the nuisance of moving bag and baggage.

During a cruise the members of the party will have frequent occasion to put in practice all manner of devices for saving labor, and making the hunter as far as possible independent of a mate when, as often happens, two boys cannot be spared from the boat to go foraging together. One of these "wrinkles," as they are termed, is a floating fish-car, adapted for minnows or large fish, which being fastened to the fisherman's