ends of the canoes most used in the fur trade, on the 

 other hand, were said to have resuhed from the neces- 

 sity of employing the canoe as a shelter. When the 

 canoe was turned upside down on the ground, with 

 one gunwale and the tops of the high ends supporting 

 it, there was enough headroom under the canoe to 

 permit its use as a shelter without the addition of any 

 temporary structure. The desirability of this char- 

 acteristic in the fur-trade canoe can be explained by 

 the fact that the crew travelled as many hours as 

 possible each day, and rested for only a very short 

 period, so that rapid erection of shelter lenghtened 

 both the periods of travel and of rest. 



Yet these practical considerations do not always 

 explain the end-forms found in bark canoes. Canoes 

 with relatively high ends were used in open waters, 

 and similar canoes were portaged extensively. Pos- 

 sibly the Indian's consciousness of tribal distinctions 

 led him to retain some feature, such as height of the 

 end-forms, as a means of tribal recognition, even 

 though practical considerations required its suppres- 

 sion to some degree. 



The profile of the gunwales also varied a good 

 deal among tribal types. Most bark canoes, because 

 of the raised end-forms, showed a short, sharp up- 

 sweep of the sheer close to the bow and stern. Some 

 showed a marked hump, or upward sweep, amidships 

 which made the sheer profile follow somewhat the 

 form of a cupid's bow. Many types had a straight, 

 or nearly straight, sheer; others had an orthodox 

 sheer, with the lowest part nearly amidships. 



The bottom profiles of bark canoes showed varying 

 degrees of curvature. In some the bottom was straight 

 for most of its length, with a slight rise toward the 

 ends. In others the bottom showed a marked curva- 

 ture over its full length, and in a few the bottom was 

 practically straight between the points at which the 

 stems were formed. Some northwestern types had a 

 slightly hogged bottom, but in these the wooden 

 framework was unusually flexible, so that the bottom 

 became straight, or even a little rockered when the 

 canoe was afloat and manned. 



The practical reasons for these bottom forms are 

 not clear. For canoes used in rapid streams or in 

 exposed waters where high winds were to be met 

 many Indians preferred bottoms that were straight. 

 Others in these same conditions preferred them rockered 

 to varying degrees. It is possible that rocker may be 

 desirable in canoes that must be run ashore end-on 

 in surf. Of course, a strongly rockered bottom per- 

 mits quick turning; this may have been appreciated 



bs' some tribal groups. Still other Indians appear to 

 have believed that a canoe with a slightly rockered 

 bottom could be paddled more easily than one having 

 a perfectly straight bottom. 



The midsections of bark canoes varied somewhat in 

 form within a single tribal type, because the method 

 of construction did not give absolute control of the 

 sectional shape during the building, but, on the whole, 

 the shape followed tribal custom, being modified 

 only to meet use requirements. Perhaps the two 

 most common midsection shapes were the U-form, 

 with the bottom somewhat flattened, and the dish- 

 shape, having rather straight, flaring sides combined 

 with a narrow, flat, or nearly flat bottom. Some 

 eastern canoes showed marked tumble-home in the 

 topside above the bilge; often they had a wide and 

 rather flat rounded bottom, with a short, hard turn 

 in the bilge. A few eastern canoes, used mainly in 

 open waters along the coast, had bottoms with 

 deadrise — that is, a shallow V-form, the apex of the 

 V being much rounded; the V-bottom, of course, 

 would have aided in steering the canoe in strong 

 winds. One type of canoe with this rising bottom 

 had tumble-home topsides, but another, used under 

 severe conditions, had a midsection that was an 

 almost perfect V, the apex being rounded but with 

 so little curvature in the arms that no bilge could be 

 seen. 



Generally speaking, the eastern canoes had a rather 

 well rounded bottom with a high turn of the bilge 

 and some tumble-home above, though they might 

 have a flatter form when built for shallow-water use 

 or for increased carrying capacity. A canoe built 

 for speed, however, might be very round on the 

 bottom, and it might or might not have some tumble- 

 home in the topside. In the West, a flat bottom with 

 flaring topsides predominated; fast canoes there had 

 a very narrow, flat bottom with some flare, the width 

 of the bottom and the amount of flare being increased 

 to give greater capacity on a shallow draft. Some 

 canoes in the Northwest had a skiff-form flat bottom 

 and flaring sides, with the chine rounded off sharply. 



The form of the sections near the ends of a canoe 

 are controlled to a great extent by the form of mid- 

 section. In canoes having flat bottoms combined 

 with flaring sides this form was usually carried to 

 the ends, where it became a rather sharp V, giving 

 fine lines for speed when the canoe was light, and only 

 moderately increased resistance when it was loaded. 

 Among eastern canoes having tumble-home topsides, 

 the midsection form could be carried to the ends, 



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