fitted. They consist of two white cedar battens about 

 19% feet long, perhaps 1 inch wide, and }^ inch thick. 

 The face that will be the outboard side is usually 

 somewhat rounded, as are all the corners, and the 

 corner that will be on the inside and bottom of each 

 batten when it is in place is somewhat beveled. The 

 outwales are placed between the bark and the outside 

 stakes, the inside stakes being removed one by one as 

 this is done. The removal of the inside stakes 

 allows room for the outwale to be inserted in their 

 place, between the outside stakes and the inner gun- 

 wale face, and it allows the bark to be brought against 

 the outside face of the inner gunwales. In the process 

 of fitting the outwales, the battens along the sides may 

 have to be removed and replaced, or shifted, and the 

 cross-ties of each pair of outside stakes may require 

 adjustment. Beginning at midlength, the outwale is 

 pegged through the bark cover to the inner gunwales 

 at intervals of 6 to 9 inches. The pegging is not 

 carried much beyond the end thwarts in any canoe 

 and could not be in canoes having laminated gunwales 

 near the ends. 



The Malecite canoe has bark covers over the ends 

 cf the inner gunwales, and these are now fitted so that 

 they can be passed under the outwales and clamped in 

 place. The ends of the outwales are forced inside the 

 stakes at and beyond the ends of the gunwales, assum- 

 ing a pinched-in appearance there, and they may 

 reach a few inches beyond the ends of the bark cover; 

 they will be cut and shaped to the length of the finished 

 canoe later. 



The outwale pegs are made by splitting from a balk 

 of birch, larch, or fir roughly squared dowels about }4 

 inch square and 6 to 9 inches long. Each dowe) is 

 then tapered and rounded each way from the middle 

 to form two shanks that are between % and ^(e inch in 

 diameter over 2 to 3 inches of length. The ends may 

 be sharpened by fire. The dowels are then cut in two, 

 providing a pair of pegs with large heads. These are 

 driven in holes drilled through the outwales, bark 

 cover, and gunwales, and when well home, the pro- 

 truding ends are cut off flush. Toward the ends of 

 the gunwales, the spaces between the pegs increase, 

 and at the extreme ends, the outwale will be lashed to 

 the gunwale by widely spaced groupings of root strand. 

 These are usually temporary, as the final lashing of 

 the bark to the gunwales will secure the outwales. 



After the outwales are secured in place, the bark 

 is fastened to the assembled gunwales with group 

 lashings. In the Malecite canoe being built, these 

 are independent, each giouping consisting of eight 



to ten complete turns of the root strand. The inter- 

 vals between, roughly 2 inches, are usually spaced by 

 means of a special measuring-stick to insure evenness. 

 Before the lashing is actually begun, however, the 

 excess bark standing above the gunwales is cut away. 

 The bark either is trimmed flush with the top of the 

 gunwale, or enough is left for a flap that will fully 

 cover the top of the inner gunwale, to be turned down 

 under the lashing. The latter method, the stronger, 

 was used by many builders. In making the turns in 

 the group lashings, two or three turns may be taken 

 through a single hole in the bark; the Malecites did 

 this to avoid having the holes too close together. The 

 result is that the group when seen from outboard 

 appears as a W-form, with only two or three holes in 

 the bark for an entire group. Care is taken to lay up 

 the turns over the gunwales neatly, turn against 

 turn without open spacing or overlaps and crossings. 



When this is completed, the ends of the thwarts 

 can be lashed, the strand passing through the holes 

 in the shoulders, around the two gunwale :nembers, 

 and through one or two holes in the bark cover. The 

 groupings for the bark cover are spaced so that these 

 lashings do not overlap them, and thus the lashings 

 serve a dual purpose. 



Next, the gores are usually sewn and the ends of 

 the side panels closed. To do this, the temporary 

 side battens outside the bark are removed. Since 

 this is a Malecite canoe, the gores are sewn edge-to- 

 edge with an over-and-over stitch, the strand crossing 

 the seam square outside and diagonally inside. When 

 these seams and those renaaining in the upper panels 

 are sewn, the rather stiff bark holds the shape formed 

 on the building bed to a remarkable degree. 



The canoe can now be raised from the building 

 bed. To set it up at a most convenient working 

 height, the weights are first removed from the gun- 

 wales and the remaining stakes are pulled up. The 

 canoe is then lifted from its bed and turned upside 

 down over a couple of logs, or crude horses. Tradi- 

 tionally, logs or sapling were rested across two pairs 

 of boulders or the logs were tied between two pairs of 

 trees at convenient distances apart. More recently, 

 horses, formed by sticking four legs into auger holes 

 drilled in the bottom of a 4-foot length of timber, 

 were used. After the canoe is on its supports the 

 ends are ready to be closed in. 



The stem-pieces customarily used by the Malecite 

 builder are formed from two clear white cedar billets 

 a full 36 inches long and in the rough nearly \}i 

 inches square. The billets are first shaped so thr>t 



48 



