Voyage of The Paper Canoe | Page 3

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Voyage of the Paper Canoe, N. H. Bishop, 1878 This Etext prepared by
Charles Hall [email protected]

Voyage of the Paper Canoe, by N. H. Bishop, 1878

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. 1878.
TO THE SUPERINTENDENT. ASSISTANTS, AIDS, AND ALL
EMPLOYEES 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 PERFORMING,
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.
The advantages in using a boat of only fifty-eight pounds weight, the

strength and durability of which had been well and satisfactorily tested,
could not be questioned, and the author dismissed his assistant, and
"paddled his own canoe" about two thousand miles to the end of the
journey. Though frequently lost in the labyrinth of creeks and marshes
which skirt the southern coast of his country, the author's difficulties
were greatly lessened by the use of the valuable and elaborate charts of
the United States Coast Survey Bureau, to the faithful executers of
which he desires to give unqualified and grateful praise.
To an unknown wanderer among the creeks, rivers, and sounds of the
coast, the courteous treatment of the Southern people was most
gratifying. The author can only add to this expression an extract from
his reply to the address of the Mayor of St. Mary's, Georgia, which city
honored him with an ovation and presentation of flags after the
completion of his voyage:
"Since my little paper canoe entered southern waters upon her
geographical errand, -- from the capes of the Delaware to your
beautiful St. Mary's, -- I have been deeply sensible of the value of
Southern hospitality. The oystermen and fishermen living along the
lonely beaches of the eastern shore of Maryland and Virginia; the
surfmen and lighthouse keepers of Albemarle, Pamplico, and Core
sounds, in North Carolina; the ground-nut planters who inhabit the
uplands that skirt the network of creeks, marshes, ponds, and sounds
from Bogue Inlet to Cape Fear; the piny-woods people, lumbermen,
and turpentine distillers on the little bluffs that jut into the fastnesses of
the great swamps of the crooked Waccamaw River; the representatives
of the once powerful rice-planting aristocracy of the Santee and Peedee
rivers; the colored men of the beautiful sea-islands along the coast of
Georgia; The Floridians living between the St. Mary's River and the
Suwanee -- the wild river of song; the islanders on the Gulf of Mexico
where I terminated my long journey; -- all have contributed to make the
'Voyage of