THE UNBEATABLE BATTEAU.

The article discusses batteaus, flat-bottom boats used to navigate the rapids of the St. Lawrence River between Montreal, Quebec and Lake Ontario before the advent of canal travel. The history of the boat's development in the 17th century as a larger replacement for canoes is considered. Accounts about the boats made by Scottish travel writer John Duncan, Scottish physician John Howison, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based scientist and cartographer Lewis Evans, are presented.