It was to obtain such a fulcrum for their sweeps that the builders constructed the sterns in this peculiar way. The method which they use to get such a fulcrum is by bending or twisting the stern of the boat to one side which gives the whole boat when viewed from behind a twisted appearance. They accomplish this by raising the gunwale on the left side of the boat. at quite an angle, commencing at a point six or eight Chinese crowd.—Huge but perfectly orderly this side is about two feet lower than that of the other side and the stern hoards are nailed—slantingly between these two points. This gives them a fulcrum in the centre of the boat at a point some ten fect or more from the water on the larger boats. This long sweep is managed by a man who stands on a platform. one plank in width, built over the centre of the boat and extending from side to side and about five feet above the mat covering of the boat. As he stands there on that shaky platform, some fifteen feet above the water, one wonders how he is able to hang on in swift water when the boat rocks, not to say anything about steering the boat. The other sweep used ye much shorter than the one mentioned. It is fastened on the turned side of the boat at a point several feet below the other sweep and is worked from the floor of the boat and is used in still water.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.