^ foMom A/kh>oc m/mJi'ar '/iiei- Canw 



MicMAC 2-Fathom Pack, or Woods, Canoe for woods travel with light loads, 

 used by the Nova Scotia Micmacs. 



curve might occur at the point where the profile was 

 started in the bottom, at which point there might be 

 a short, hard curve. 



The form of the sheer Hne of the Micmac canoes 

 apparently varied with the model: the woods canoe 

 had the usual curved sheer with the point of lowest 

 freeboard about amidships, the big river canoe had 

 either a nearly straight sheer or one very slightly 

 hogged, while the open-water canoe had a strongly 

 hogged sheer in which the midship portion was often 

 as much as 3 or 4 inches above that just inboard of the 

 ends. However, there is a possibility that, at one time, 

 the sheer of all Micmac canoes was more or less 

 hogged. The little that is known of the war canoes of 

 colonial times indicate that they had the strongly 

 hogged sheer that now marks the open-water model, 

 through it is also known that some of these were 

 really of the big-river model, which in later times had 

 usually no more than a vestige of the hogged sheer. 



The hull-forms of the Micmac canoes were marked 

 in the topsides by a strong tumble-home, carried the 

 full length of the hull, that gave these canoes more 

 beam below than at the gunwale. The form of the 



midsection varied with the model; the woods canoe 

 usually had a rather flat bottom athwartships, the 

 big river canoe a slightly rounded bottom, and the 

 open water canoe either a well-rounded bottom or 

 one in the form of a slightly rounded V. The fore- 

 and-aft rocker in the bottom was always moderate, 

 usually occurring in the last few feet near the ends; 

 however, many of the canoes were straight along the 

 bottom. This condition will be again referred to in 

 discussing the building beds used in this type. The 

 ends were usually fine-lined; in plan view the gun- 

 wales came into the ends in straight or slightly hollow 

 lines. The level lines below the gunwales might also 

 be straight as they came into the ends, but were 

 commonly somewhat hollow; a few examples show 

 marked hollowness there. Predominantly, the Mic- 

 mac canoes were very sharp in the ends and paddled 

 swiftly. Early Micmac canoes seem to have been 

 narrower than more recent examples, which are 

 usually rather broad as compared to the types used 

 h\ some other tribes. 



Structurally, the Micmac canoes were distinguished 

 by the construction of the ends and by their light 



59 



