68 BULLETIN 139, UNITED STATES NATION^VL MUSEUM 



finally sank; no doubt it will some day be dug out of the river gravels 

 and preserved as an Indian relic. 



Not less in skill than any other tribes in the world with regard to 

 the working of great timbers are those tribes living on the northwest 

 coast of America. They not only handle fire for the gross work, but 

 use it as a tool for finishings. They determine the tliickness of the 

 skin of the canoe by driving in wooden pegs of the required length 

 from the outside, and burn the wood deep enough to expose the head 

 of the peg. 



Marchand says of the Tchinkitanay (Athapascan) of western Can- 

 ada, that" In constructing a canoe the ancient method of undermin- 

 ing its foot by means of fire is pursued. It is by the assistance of 

 this same agent that they contrive to hollow it out; it is also with 

 this instrument, which is docile in their hands, and the action of 

 wliich they know how to direct and regulate, that they fashion the 

 tree on the outside so as to give it the form the best calculated for 

 being supported by the water and for dividing the fluid by either of 

 its extremities indifl'erently * * * fire has the property of hard- 

 ening the wood to which it has been applied, consequently of procur- 

 ing it greater density and of rendering it more impervious to water 

 It can not be doubted that they have discovered in fire this property 

 of rendering wood more compact, and of prolonging its duration 

 when it is to be exposed to moisture, since when they make a point 

 to a stake which they intend to be driven into the ground they take 

 great care to harden, by means of fire, all the part that is to be 

 buried."^* 



Jewett says of the Indians of Nutka Sound that they excavate 

 trees by means of chisels and smooth the bottom and sides by burn- 

 ing in order to remove any splinters. Tliis is often repeated as the 

 canoe gets rough. ^^ 



Turner, referring to the fire-hollowed canoes of- New Caledonia, 

 says : 



" They had only stone edge tools formerly. They felled their trees 

 by a slow fire close to the ground; took four days to do it. Burned 

 off the branches also, and if for a canoe or house post, the length of 

 log required. If for a canoe they cut a hole in the surface of the log, 

 kindled a small fire, and burned down and along, carefully drop, drop, 

 dropping water all around to confine the fire to a given spot; and in 

 this way they hollowed out their logs for the largest canoes. *^ 



The Nutka Indians, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, secured 

 the requisite flare to their canoes excavated from logs by filling them 

 with water and throwing in hot stones, the heat softening the wood 



'* Etienne Marchand's Voyage, London, 1801, vol. 1, p. 348. 

 •6 Jewett's Narrative of 1803, New York, 1816, p. 71. 

 •8 George Turner. Samoa, London, 1884, p. 343. 



