times. It appears also that these dimensions applied 

 to the canoes of the Great Lakes area and perhaps to 

 the elm-bark canoes of the Iroquois as well. Probably 

 there were canoes as short as 10 feet, used as one-man 

 hunting and fishing boats, and it is plainly evident 

 that canoes between this length and about 24 feet 

 were very common. The evidence in La Salle's 

 time, in the last half of the seventeenth century, must 

 be taken with some caution, as French influence on 

 the size of large canoes may have by then come into 

 play. The comparison between the maximum length 

 of the Iroquois canoes, inferred from the report of 

 Champlain, and that suggested by LaHontan, might 

 indicate this growth. 



Beginning as early as 1660, the colonial government 

 of Canada issued conges or trading licenses. These 

 were first granted to the military officers or their 

 families; later the conges were issued to all approved 

 traders, and the fees were used for pensions of the 

 military personnel. Records of these licenses, pre- 

 served from about 1700, show that three men com- 

 monly made up the crew of a trading canoe in the 

 earliest years, but that by 1725 five men were em- 

 ployed, by 1737 seven men, and by 1747 seven or 

 eight men. However, as LaHontan has stated that 

 in his time three men were sufficient to man a large 

 canoe with cargo, it is evident that the conges ofTer 

 unreliable data and do not necessarily prove that the 

 size of canoes had increased during this period. The 

 increase in the crews may have been brought about 

 by the greater distances travelled, with an increased 

 number of portages or, perhaps, by heavier items of 

 cargo. 



The war canoe does not appear in these early 

 accounts as a special type. According to the tradi- 

 tions of the eastern Micmac and Malecite Indians. 

 their war canoes were only large enough to carry 

 three or four warriors and so must not have exceeded 

 18 feet in length. These were built for speed, narrow 

 and with very sharp ends; the bottom was made as 

 smooth as was possible. Each canoe carried the 

 insignia of each of its warriors, that is, his personal 

 mark or sign. A canoe carrying a war leader had 

 only his personal mark, none for the rest of the crew. 

 It is possible to regard the large canoes of the Iroquois 

 as "war canoes" since they were used in the pursuit 

 of French raiders in LaHontan's time. However, the 

 Iroquois did not build the canoes primarily for war; 

 in early times these fierce tribesmen preferred to take 

 to the warpath in the dead of winter and to raid over- 

 land on snowshoes. In open weather, they used the 



rough, short-lived and quickly built elm-bark canoes 

 to cross streams and lakes or to follow waterways, 

 discarding them when the immediate purpose was ac- 

 complished. Probably it was the French who really 

 produced the bark "war canoes," for they appear to 

 have placed great emphasis on large canoes for use of 

 the military, as indicated by LaHontan's concern with 

 the largest canoes of his time. Perhaps large bark 

 canoes were once used on the Great Lakes for war 

 parties, but, if so, no mention of a special type has 

 been found in the early French accounts. The sparse 

 references suggest that both large and small canoes 

 were used by the war parties but that no special type 

 paralleling the characteristics of the Micmac and 

 Malecite war canoes existed in the West. The huge 

 dugout war canoe of the Indians of the Northwest 

 Coast appears to have had no counterpart in size 

 among the birch or elm bark canoes. 



Except for LaHontan, the early French writers who 

 refer to the use of sail agree that the canoes were quite 

 unfitted for sailing. It is extremely doubtful that the 

 prehistoric Indians using bark canoes were acquainted 

 with sails, though it is possible that the coastal Indians 

 might have set up a bush in the bow to utilize a 

 following wind and thus lighten the labor of paddling. 

 However, once the Indian saw the usefulness of a sail 

 demonstrated by white men, he was quick to adopt it; 

 judging from the LaHontan reference, and the use 

 of sails in canoes must have become well established in 

 some areas by 1685. 



One of the most important elements in the history 

 of the canoe is its early adoption by the French. 

 Champlain was the first to recommend its use by 

 white men. He stated that the bark canoe would be 

 very necessary in trade and exploration, pointing out 

 that in order to penetrate the back country above the 

 rapids at Montreal, during the short summer season, 

 and to come back in time to return to France for the 

 winter (unless the winter was to be spent in Canada) 

 the canoe would have to be used. With it the small 

 and large streams could be navigated safely and the 

 numerous overland carries could be quickly made. 

 Also, of course, Indians could be employed as crews 

 without the need of training them to row. This 

 general argument in favor of the bark canoe remained 

 sound after the desirability of going home to France 

 for the winter had ceased to influence French ideas. 

 The quick expansion of the French fur trade in the 

 early seventeenth century opened up the western 

 country into the Great Lakes area and to the north- 

 ward. It was soon discovered that by using canoes on 



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