Voyage of the Paper Canoe A Geographical Journey of 2500 miles, from Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico, during the years 1874-5.   By: Nathaniel H. Bishop (1837-1902)

FREDERICK D. MACY

If thou art borrowed by a friend, Right welcome shall he be To read, to study, not to lend, But to return to me.

Not that imparted knowledge doth Diminish learning's store, But books, I find, when often lent, Return to me no more.

Would readers all this rule obey, For good requite not ill, These hints need not be penn'd that they Its dictates should fulfill.

Read slowly, pause frequently, Think seriously. Keep cleanly, return duly, With the corner of the leaves not turn'd down.

NATHANIEL H. BISHOP'S BOOKS.

FOUR MONTHS IN A SNEAK BOX: A Boat Voyage of Twenty six Hundred Miles down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and along the Gulf of Mexico. With numerous Maps and Illustrations. $2.50.

VOYAGE OF THE PAPER CANOE: A Geographical Journey of Twenty five Hundred Miles from Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico. With numerous Illustrations and Maps, specially prepared for this work Crown 8vo. $2.50.

A THOUSAND MILES' WALK across South America, over the Pampas and the Andes. Illustrated. A new edition. In press.

LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS, BOSTON.

[Illustration: HOME OF THE ALLIGATOR.]

VOYAGE OF THE PAPER CANOE:

A GEOGRAPHICAL JOURNEY OF 2500 MILES, FROM QUEBEC TO THE GULF OF MEXICO, DURING THE YEARS 1874 5.

BY NATHANIEL H. BISHOP,

AUTHOR OF "ONE THOUSAND MILES' WALK ACROSS SOUTH AMERICA," AND CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY, AND OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.

BOSTON: LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS. NEW YORK: CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM. EDINBURGH: DAVID DOUGLAS. 1882.

COPYRIGHT 1878, BY N. H. BISHOP.

UNIVERSITY PRESS: JOHN WILSON & SON CAMBRIDGE.

TO THE SUPERINTENDENT, ASSISTANTS, AIDS, AND ALL EMPLOYÉS OF THE UNITED STATES COAST SURVEY BUREAU, THE "VOYAGE OF THE PAPER CANOE" IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, AS A SLIGHT EVIDENCE OF THE APPRECIATION BY ITS AUTHOR FOR THEIR INTELLIGENT EFFORTS AND SELF DENYING LABORS IN THE SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY, SO PATIENTLY AND SKILFULLY PERFORMED, UNDER MANY DIFFICULTIES AND DANGERS.

INTRODUCTION.

The author left Quebec, Dominion of Canada, July 4, 1874, with a single assistant, in a wooden canoe eighteen feet in length, bound for the Gulf of Mexico. It was his intention to follow the natural and artificial connecting watercourses of the continent in the most direct line southward to the gulf coast of Florida, making portages as seldom as possible, to show how few were the interruptions to a continuous water way for vessels of light draught, from the chilly, foggy, and rocky regions of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the north, to the semi tropical waters of the great Southern Sea, the waves of which beat upon the sandy shores of the southernmost United States. Having proceeded about four hundred miles upon his voyage, the author reached Troy, on the Hudson River, New York state, where for several years E. Waters & Sons had been perfecting the construction of paper boats.