ences, it is apparent that the early canoes were much 

 narrower than later ones, in proportion to length, as 

 mentioned earlier. An 18-foot rough-water canoe of 

 the 18th century appears to have had an extreme 

 beam of between 30 and 34 inches and a gunwale 

 beam, measured inside the members, of 24 to 28 

 inches, the depth amidships being about 18 to 20 

 inches. A similar canoe late in the 19th century 

 would have had an extreme beam of nearly 40 inches, 

 a beam inside the gunwales of 33 or 34 inches, and a 

 depth of about 18 inches or less. An early woods 

 canoe, about 14 feet long overall, appears to have had 

 an extreme beam of only 29 inches and a beam inside 

 the gunwales of about 25 or 26 inches. A woods 

 canoe of 1890 was 15 feet long, 36)^ inches extreme 

 beam, and 30 inches inside the gunwales, with the 

 depth amidships about 11 inches. A big-river canoe 

 of this same date was a little over 20 feet in extreme 

 length, 18 feet over the gunwales, 41 inches extreme 

 beam, and 34 inches gunwale width inside, with a 

 depth amidships of about \2% inches. An 18-foot 

 big-river canoe of an earlier time was reported as 

 being 37 inches extreme beam, 30% inches inside the 

 gunwales, and 1 3 inches depth amidships. The maxi- 

 mum size of the rough-water seagoing canoe, in early 

 times, may have been as great as 28 feet but with a 

 narrow beam of roughly 29 or 30 inches over the 

 gunwales, and say 24 inches inside, with a depth 

 amidships as much as 20 or 22 inches due to the 

 strongly hogged sheer there. In modern times, such 

 canoes were rarely over 21 feet in overall length and 

 had a maximum beam of about 42 inches, a beam 

 inside the gunwales of 36 or 37 inches, and a depth 

 amidships of 16 or 17 inches. 



In early colonial times, and well into the 18th cen- 

 tury, apparently, the Micmac type of canoe was used 

 as far south as New England, probably having been 

 brought there by the Micmac war parties aiding the 

 Malecite and the Kennebec in their wars against the 

 English. The canoe in the illustration on page 12 is 

 obviously a Micmac canoe and apparently one used 

 by a war party. As it was brought to England in 1749 

 in the ship America, which was built in Portsmouth, 

 New Hampshire, and probably sailed from there, it 

 seems highly probable that the canoe had been 

 obtained nearby, perhaps in eastern Maine. 



The small woods canoe, most commonly about 12 

 feet long, appears first to have been used by all the 

 Micmac. By the middle of the 1 9th century, however, 

 this type was to be found only in Nova Scotia, owing to 

 the movement of most of the tribe toward the north 



Micmac Rough-Water Canoe fitted for 

 sailing. (Photo W. H. Mechling, 1913.) 



shore in New Brunswick, where their inland naviga- 

 tion was confined to large rivers and the coast. 

 Hence the Micmac in New Brunswick used the big- 

 river model and the seagoing type. The latter was 

 last used in tlie vicinity of the head of Bay Chaleur 

 and was often called the Restigouche canoe, after the 

 Micmac village of that name. It was replaced by a 

 3-board skifT-canoe and finally by a large wooden 

 canoe of the "Peterborough" type with peaked ends 

 and lapstrake planking; some of the latter may still 

 be seen on the Gaspe Peninsula. 



The use of sail in the Micmac canoes cannot be 

 traced prior to the arrival of the white men. The use 

 probably resulted from the influence of Europeans, 

 but it is possible that the prehistoric Indians may 

 have set up a leafy bush in the bow of their canoes to 

 act as a sail with favorable winds. The old Nova 

 Scotia expression "carrying too much bush," meaning 

 over-canvassing a boat, is thought by some to have 

 originated from an Indian practice observed there 

 by the first settlers. In early colonial times, the 

 Micmac used a simple square sail in their canoes and 

 this, by the last decade of the 19th century, was 

 replaced by a spritsail probably inspired by the dory- 

 sail of the fishermen. The Indian rig was unusual 

 in several respects. The sheet, for example, was 

 double-ended; one end was made fast to the clew 

 of the sail and the other to the head of the sprit, so 

 that it served also as a vang. The bight was secured 



65 



