The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America 30

The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America 30

HYBRID MODEL OF THE NASCAPEE-CREE CANOE, 2-FATHOM, built of spruce or

birch bark, with details of canoes and paddles.]

 

The ends were formed by means of the same technique used for Micmac

canoes; no inside stem-piece was employed and the bark cover was

stiffened by outside battens covered by the lashing. In the Cree

canoes, however, the stem battens were "broken" sharply at the sheer to

form a slightly rounded peak where the end met the gunwale caps. The

"break" in the battens was made by bending them very sharply, so that

they were almost fractured. The Cree practice also differed from that

of the Micmac, although not universally, by passing the lower end of

the stem batten through the bark cover at the point where the stem met

the bottom. The slit thus made was sealed with gum or, more recently,

covered with cloth impregnated with gum. The stems were lashed in

various ways; the most common was a spiral form up to the sheer. Near

the gunwale caps crossed stitches or small, closely spaced wrappings

were also employed. The tops of the battens, forming the peak of the

stem, were brought along under the rail caps, in line with the gunwale

lashings inboard, and secured with a continuous lashing for about 6

inches. In the northern parts of the area under discussion the stem

lashing was often of rawhide.

 

[Illustration: Figure 94

 

EASTERN CREE CROOKED CANOE of rather moderate sheer and rocker.

(_Canadian Pacific Railway Company photo._)]

 

Gunwale caps were wider than the gunwales and thus gave some protection

to the lashing there. The ends of the gunwale caps were heavily tapered

to allow the sharp bends necessary to carry them out on the stems. They

were pegged or nailed to the gunwales, but at the ends were lashed;

usually with two or three small group lashings over and under the stem

battens, below the caps.

 

The most recent canoes had canvas covers instead of bark. Nails, tacks,

and twine for sewing were used; otherwise they were built as the

Indians built birch- and spruce-bark craft, and not as white men built

canvas canoes and boats.

 

The framework of the canoes was usually spruce or larch. Toward the

south and along the St. Lawrence some white cedar was used, and in the

south maple was sometimes used for thwarts. The ribs of the canoes

inspected by Adney were usually about 3 inches wide, and a short taper

brought them to about 2 inches at the ends, where they were cut square

across. They were spaced about 1 inch apart edge-to-edge amidships

and somewhat further apart toward the ends of the canoe. The canoes

usually had an odd number of ribs, as the first was placed under the

thwart amidships. The last three ribs at the ends were "broken" at the

centerline to allow them to take the necessary ~V~-section there; but

the fourth rib from each end was only sharply bent. In some canoes the

heel of the very narrow headboard was stepped on the sheathing against

the endmost rib, in others it was stepped, as in the Micmac canoes, on

a frog which rested against the endmost rib.

 

[Illustration: Figure 95

 

STRAIGHT AND CROOKED CANOES, EASTERN CREE.]

 

In more recent times the sheathing was laid in one of two ways,

according to the preference of the builder, but the existence of the

two styles suggests that each was once a tribal-group method. One

method of shaping the bottom sheathing was to employ a center, or

keelson, piece in two lengths, the butts being overlapped amidships,

parallel-sided except toward the stems, where it was tapered to fit the

~V~-sections rather closely. The next strake outboard was short and

was in the form of a shallow triangle with its base along the middle

portion of the first strakes and about one-third the length of the

bottom. Its apex was under the middle thwart. The next strake outboard

was in two lengths lapped amidships, parallel sided along the arms of

the triangular strake, and snied off at the ends to fit along the sides

of the first strake. Another strake outboard of this was similar in

form and position, but longer. Thus seven strake widths would complete

the bottom sheathing. The side sheathing was narrow and slightly

tapered; each strake in two lengths overlapped slightly amidships.

The ends of the topside sheathing ran well into the ends, in most

canoes, where they apparently served as stiffening. The second method

of sheathing employed parallel-sided strakes throughout, laid side by

side on the bottom, with the ends snied off to fit the form of the bark

bottom. The existence of a model canoe made about 1850 (see p. 91)

supports the theory that the first method was originally the Montagnais

tribal construction and that the more primitive second method was

probably Cree or Nascapee.

 

The ribs were preformed and fitted to the canoe after drying out. They

were bent to the desired shape in pairs and tied with a thong across

the ends to hold their shape while drying. Some builders inserted a

strut inside the bent ribs, parallel to the thong, protecting the

surface of the inner rib by a pad of bark placed under each end of

the strut. The pair of ribs might also be wrapped with a bark cord to

help hold them together. To aid in handling, one pair of ribs might

be nested inside another. As in eastern canoes the ribs under the

gunwales were driven into place. At the ends they were canted toward

the center, so that in the straight-bottom models they stood nearly

perpendicular to the rocker of the bottom there; in the crooked canoe

the ribs were all somewhat canted in this manner.

 

[Illustration: Figure 96

 

MONTAGNAIS CANVAS-COVERED CROOKED CANOE under construction. (_Canadian

Geological Survey photo._)]

 

The paddles used in this area were made with parallel-sided blades, the

end of the blade being almost circular. The handle might be fitted with

a wide grip at the head or it might be pole-ended. It is impossible to

say how early sails were used to propel canoes, but it is probable they

were introduced by the fur traders. Square sails were being used on the

coastal canoes at the time the earliest reference was made to these

canoes, in the 1870's.

 

Little is known about the decorations employed by the eastern Cree. The

Montagnais birch-bark model canoe of about 1850 (see p. 91) has three

small circles placed in a triangular position on the bow and a band

along the bottom of the side panels. The circles and the bands are in

red paint, but may have been intended to represent the dark inner rind

left after scraping the winter bark cover. The use of decoration in

this area after 1850 has not been noted in any available reference.

 

As a rule, the straight-bottom canoes were small, commonly between

12 and 18 feet overall, and the most popular size was 14 to 16 feet

overall. A canoe of this size was usually employed as a hunters' canoe

for forest travel, though it might be used occasionally along the

coasts. These canoes were light and, in this respect, resembled the

Micmac models shown in Chapter 4.

 

The original purpose of the crooked canoe is in question. Those

travelers who saw this canoe in use on the Hudson Bay side of the

Labrador Peninsula believed that it was designed for use in rough,

exposed water. While it would be a desirable form for beach work in

surf, the high ends would make paddling against strong winds very

difficult. On the other hand the Montagnais used the crooked canoe for

river navigation, particularly where rapids were to be run, and for

this work it appears to have been well adapted. The crooked canoe was

commonly built larger than the straight-bottom model, between 16 and

20 feet in length overall, and was a vessel of burden rather than a

hunting canoe. Canoes up to 28 feet in length have been mentioned by

travelers in this area but investigation indicates strongly that these

were not the tribal form but the _canot du nord_, or north canoe of the

Hudson's Bay Company traders.

 

Along the southern borders of their territory and to the westward

the eastern Cree often built and used canoes modeled on those of

their neighbors, the Têtes de Boule and the Ojibway. Hence the tribal

classification does not hold good in these localities. Also, the

eastern Cree were employed by the Hudson's Bay Company as builders of

forms of the _maître canot_ and _canot du nord_ that are unlike their

typical tribal model.

 

 

_Têtes de Boule_

 

The Têtes de Boule, particularly the western bands, were skilled canoe

builders and had long been employed by the Hudson's Bay Company in the

construction of large fur-trade canoes. Apparently made up of bands

of Indians inhabiting lower Quebec, in the basin of the St. Maurice

River and on the Height of Land, these bands had come down to the lower

Ottawa River to trade with the local Algonkin tribe there in early

times. They were known to the Algonkins, who had had some contact with

civilization, as "wild Indians." They also came into close trading

relations with the French colonists, as the Ottawa River was the early

French canoe route between Montreal and Lake Superior. Because they

cut their hair short, unlike the other Indians, these northern bands

were nicknamed "Bull Heads," or "Round Heads," by the French traders,

and the tribesmen soon came to accept this rather than their own

designation of "White Fish People" as the tribal name. In more recent

times, the name has been applied to groups of Indians living in western

Quebec Province, near Lake Barrière and Grand Lake Victoria, but these

do not consider themselves related to the St. Maurice bands.

 

It seems apparent that the canoe models of all these groups had been

altered as a result of long contact with other tribal groups. Although

the St. Maurice and the western bands were apparently not of the same

tribal stock, their relations with the Algonkin may have brought about

the use of a standard model by all.

 

[Illustration: Figure 97

 

FIDDLEHEAD OF SCRAPED BARK on bow and stern of a Montagnais birch-bark

canoe at Seven Islands, Que., 1915.]

 

[Illustration: Figure 98

 

DISK OF COLORED PORCUPINE QUILLS decorating canoe found at Namaquagon,

Que., 1898. Within the 4-inch disk may have been an 8-pointed star.]

 

The Têtes de Boule lived in an area where very superior materials for

birch-bark canoe construction were plentiful. This, with the need for

canoes imposed by the numerous waterways and the demand for canoes

from white traders, made many of the tribesmen expert builders. Their

small canoes, ranging from the 8-to 12-foot hunter's canoes to the

14-to 16-foot family canoes, were very similar in profile to the canoes

of the St. Francis Abnaki. The Têtes de Boule canoes, however, were

commonly narrower on the bottom, and in their construction a building

frame was always used. The Têtes de Boule model was straight along the

bottom for better than half the length and then rose rather quickly

toward the ends. Similarly, the sheer was moderate amidships and

increased toward the ends. The stems showed a chin and were much peaked

at the gunwale ends. Most commonly the midsection had a flat bottom

athwartships and a well-rounded bilge, giving the topsides, near the

gunwale, a very slight outward flare. Some Têtes de Boule canoes had

rather ~V~-section ends in which the endmost rib was "broken" at the

centerline. As a result the lines were sharp and the canoes paddled very easily.