The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America 43

The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America 43

CONSTRUCTION OF KAYAK-FORM CANOE of the lower Yukon, showing rigid

bottom frame. (_Smithsonian Institution photo._)]

 

The kayak-form canoes of the lower Yukon and neighboring streams all

appear to have been small canoes "tailored" to their owner's weight

and height: 14 to 15 feet in overall length, 2 to 2¼ feet wide, and

10 to 12 inches deep. The bottom frame was from 12 to 14 inches wide

amidships.

 

The kayak-form canoes of the upper Yukon Valley and those used in

northern British Columbia and in Yukon Territory had ends with a

long rake that came up in a straight line from an angular break at

the bottom line to the height of the sheer amidships or thereabouts;

there a gradual upward curve continued to the stem-head. The stern was

2 inches or so higher than the bow, and the rake of the latter was

usually about an equal distance longer than that of the stern. The

sheer was nearly straight, with only about 2 inches of sag from the

heel of the stem to that of the stern. Beyond the heels, the sheer

lifted in a fair sweep, becoming sharper toward the ends, where the

broadened inwales were secured on top of the stem and stern pieces.

There was no rocker in the bottom, and some examples showed as much

as ⅜ inch of hog amidships. The bottom was flat athwartships and the

almost straight sides flared a good deal. The turn of the bilge was on

a very small radius and in some canoes appeared angular. The bow deck

was usually just under one-fifth the length of the canoe. Most of the

canoes did not have a stern deck, at least on the Yukon headwaters,

but on those that did, it was about one-ninth the length of the canoe.

The greatest beam was abaft amidships and the canoe was usually about

1½ inches deeper at the heel of the sternpost than at the heel of the

stem. In plan, the ends (at gunwale and bottom frame) were convex; the

gunwale ends alone might appear slightly hollow close to the posts in

some examples. The canoes in Alaska and British Columbia and at the

headwaters of the Yukon had a rigid bottom structure, with the splint

spreaders usually numbering five.

 

The 1-man hunting canoes were commonly 18 to 19 feet long, 24 to 27

inches beam, and usually 10 to 11 inches deep amidships. The single

example of a family or cargo kayak-form that has been measured from

this area was 20 feet 1 inch overall and 30¼ inches beam over the

gunwales. It was 18 inches wide on the bottom frame, 13 inches deep

amidships, 14 inches deep at heel of stem, and 16 inches at heel of

stem-post. Height of the stem was 29 inches, of the stern 30½ inches,

the after rake was 38 inches, and the fore rake 40½ inches. The canoe

had no decks and was rather sharp-ended.

 

The kayak-form canoe of the Athabascan Loucheux had a rigid

bottom-frame; the bottom was flat athwartships and it had no

fore-and-aft rocker. The sides were flaring and slightly curved. Both

ends were alike, and the canoe was unusual in having only five thwarts,

with one amidships. The stem was short in rake and curved; the stem

profile came out of the bottom line in a fair, quick curve which became

vertical at a height of little more than two-thirds the depth amidships

of the canoe. The height of the stem was almost twice the midship

depth. Between the end thwarts the sheer was straight, thence it swept

upward in a gradually sharpening curve to the inboard stems; the inwale

ends stood vertical on the face of the stem, with their ends brought

to the top of the stem-head. The stem-pieces were of unusually thick

plank, with the head broadened and the cutwater part outside the bark

cover sharpened until near the head, where it gradually became as wide

as inboard. The gunwales were lashed with continuous turns, as in the

Alaskan canoes. In plan, the gunwales and bottom frame were full-ended

and convex. These canoes were decked equally at both ends. The deck

extended inboard far enough to just cover the end thwart, to which,

in the example seen, it was lashed with four simple in-and-out passes

of rawhide thong. The chine-pieces of the bottom were lashed to the

sides of the stem-pieces. The covering was birch bark. Two battens on

each side were employed with the usual six longitudinals in the bottom

frame. These canoes were well-built and their ends resemble those of

the seagoing kayaks used at the mouth of the Mackenzie, but these

for at least the last 70 years of their use were round-bottomed. The

Loucheux canoes were small, usually about 15 feet long, 30 inches wide,

and about 12 inches deep amidships.

 

The Chipewyan kayak-form canoe was of loose-batten bottom frame

construction, with its beam well aft of amidships. Its bottom was

slightly rounded athwartships, with a slight rocker fore-and-aft;

the sides flared outward and were nearly straight; and the turn of

the bilge was almost angular. The bow and stern were of the same

general shape; the end profile came out of the bottom line with a

quick hard curve and then fell outboard in a long sweep that gradually

straightened near the head. The rakes were short, however, and the

stem was noticeably lower than the stern, the difference being as much

as 6 inches in some canoes. The sheer was nearly straight to the end

thwarts and thence it curved up in an easy sweep to the ends of the

canoe. The canoes were markedly deeper at the stern than at the bow;

the difference being as much as 1½ inches in some examples.

 

This kayak-form was very sharp-ended; the gunwales in plan often showed

a slight hollow and the chine members came to the posts in an almost

straight ~V~. As a result, the end ribs were often intentionally

"broken" to form a narrow-based, angular ~U~. In some Eskimo-built

kayak forms, a similar result in hull section was obtained in the

endmost frames by stepping short struts in splits, or tenons, on

top of the chine members and on the underside of the main gunwales.

This construction was occasionally found in some of the lower Yukon

kayak forms. The Chipewyan kayak forms were decked at both ends. The

fore deck was slightly more than one-fourth the length of the canoe

and extended inboard to the second thwart; the after deck was about

one-tenth, and came inboard to the end thwart. No breakwater batten

or bark was employed. There were two battens on the sides, above the

bilges.

 

The gunwale wrappings were in groups. The bark cover was not folded

over the top of the inner gunwale but, as usual in the Northwest

canoes, was trimmed evenly with the top of the inwale and outwale.

Reinforcing bark along the gunwales extended downward about 1½ inches

below the bottom of the outwales amidships and about 1 inch at the

ends. Of the bottom longitudinals, the keel and chine-pieces were

roughly rectangular in cross-section, laid on the flat, and the

intermediate two battens were round; the ends of the keel piece were

merely butted against the stems, no lashing being used. The stem piece

was thick plank and was sharpened outside the bark cover to form a

cutwater. The stem lashing was of the usual two-thong form, and a

batten was used in the longitudinal seams of the bark cover. The

thwarts, six in number, were tenoned through both inwale and outwale

and pegged between them. No thwart lashings were used. The decks often

were not lashed into place, being held only by the curling of the edges

of the bark sheets.

 

This canoe was a very good one; it was light and was fitted to the

owner's build. In size it would be between 12 and 14 feet long and 20

and 24 inches wide over the gunwales, and the width of bottom over the

chine members amidships would be 11 to 12 inches. The greatest beam

would occur 7 to 8¼ feet abaft the stem. The depth at heel of stem

would be 8½ to 9½ inches and at heel of stern, 10 to 11 inches. The

amount of bottom rocker would be between ¾ and 1 inch, with its low

point about amidships. The cover was usually birch bark, but sometimes

spruce bark was used.

 

[Illustration: Figure 153

 

MODEL OF AN EXTINCT FORM OF BIRCH-BARK CANOE, Athabascan type, of

British Columbia. In Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge,

Mass.; entered in the museum catalog as of 1849.]

 

Another kayak-form canoe of unknown tribal designation from the

Mackenzie Basin was 13 feet 3 inches long, 27 inches beam over the

gunwales, 8½ inches deep amidships, 8¾ inches deep at heel of stem, 10

inches deep at the aftermost thwart, and with about ⅜ inch of rocker in

the forebody, none in the afterbody. The greatest beam occurred 7 feet

2 inches from the stem. The width amidships of the bottom framework of

loose longitudinals was 13 inches. The length of the rake foreward was

12 inches and aft, 12 inches. The fore deck extended inboard to the

second thwart, where a roll of bark formed a breakwater. The after deck

extended inboard to the aftermost thwart. Between the end thwarts the

sheer was practically straight; at the ends it rose gently, becoming

almost a straight line as it came to the stem and stern, and without

the usual upward hook in the ends of the gunwales.

 

This was a very light and well-built canoe with a birch-bark cover, a

slightly rounded bottom athwartships, slack bilge, and flaring sides

showing some curve in cross-section. The ends were rather sharp, the

gunwales coming in to them almost straight, in plan, as did the chine

members. The stem and stern pieces were of wide plank sharpened along

their outboard edge outside the bark cover, for their whole height,

to form cutwaters. The stem and stern profiles were about the same as

those of the Chipewyan canoes.

 

An old model in the Peabody Museum of an undecked kayak-form canoe of

Athabascan construction represents a high-ended canoe having ends with

a slight rake and a straight cutwater. This form of canoe has long been

extinct, and no description of an actual canoe of the form exists.

Judging by the model it had a very narrow flat-bottom and rounded

flaring sides.

 

The extinct bateau variant has already been described (pp. 159-161);

it might be considered a primitive form of the kayak-form bark canoes,

were it not that no intermediate type, between the bateau and the later

and highly developed bark kayak-form, has been found; as a result, any

such statement can be no more than speculation.

 

 

_Sturgeon-Nose Canoe_

 

In southern British Columbia and in northern Washington, the ram-ended

or sturgeon-nose canoes were built. These were the canoes of the

Kutenai, also spelled "Kootenay," and of the Salish tribal groups.

Used on rivers and lakes, they were constructed of the bark of birch,

spruce, fir, white pine, or balsam, whichever was available at the

building site. Wherever possible a panel of birch bark was worked in

along the whole length of the gunwales. The hull form of these canoes

varied somewhat, perhaps by decision of the builder, or perhaps by

local tribal custom. The ends were formed with a marked "ram," the stem

profiles running down and out to the "nose" in a straight or nearly

straight line. In some examples the stem profiles were in a hollow

curve, starting down from the gunwales rather steeply and then curving

outward more gently to the nose. Most examples had a bottom that was

straight or slightly hogged, while those with the hollow curve in

the ram often had a slight rocker. It is believed that the intention

was always to have the bottom straight but that in construction the

center of the canoe lifted somewhat, thus showing a slight hog in the

bottom line. The effects of loading and use on the light and flexible

structure of these canoes would cause the bottom to rocker and the

outboard ends to lift, thus causing the hollow in the ram profiles.

These effects of loading are confirmed by tests with models of this form of canoe.