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Old Form of Passamacjuoddy 2}^-Fathom Ocean Canoe with characteristic 

 bottom rocker and sheer. This rather small, fast canoe for coastal hunting 

 and fishing was common in the igth century. 



wales had been raised to sheer height. The gunwales 

 were lashed with the Maleclte group lashings, each 

 of four turns through the bark and spaced at 3 to 3)^ 

 inches apart in the midlength and at 2 inches from 

 the end thwarts to the headboards. Two auxiliary 

 lashings were placed over the outwales and caps 

 outboard of the gunwale ends, one about 6 inches 

 beyond the ends of the gunwales and the other against 

 the inboard side of the stem-piece. The end closure 

 was accomplished by the usual spiral lashing passed 

 through the laminated stem pieces. The latter were 

 split (to within about 4 inches of the heel), into six or 

 more laminae that were closely wrapped with bark 

 cord. The headboards were bellied toward the ends 

 to keep the bark cover under tension, and the ends 

 outboard of the headboards were stuffed with shavings 

 or moss. 



A canoe from the Penobscot River, obtained in 1826 

 by the Peabody Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, and 

 described in The American Neptune for October 1948, 

 shows that the Penobscot built their canoes on the 

 old Malecite model. The canoe is apparently a 



coastal type. It has some round in the bottom 

 amidships and V-sections toward the ends; it is 

 18 feet 7 inches long overall, 37}^ inches maximum 

 beam, 15J^ inches deep amidships, and the ends stand 

 26 to 28 inches above the base line, the bow being 

 slightly higher and with more rake than the stern. 

 The rocker takes place within 4 feet of the ends, with 

 the bottom straight for about 8 feet along the mid- 

 length. The bilges amidship are slack, and the re- 

 verse curve to form the tumble-home starts within 

 6 inches of the gunwales (see drawing, p. 72.) 



A much later coastal canoe of the Passamaquoddy, 

 a porpoise- and seal-hunting canoe built in 1873, 

 will also serve to show the old type (see p. 73). 

 This style of canoe was usually built in lengths 

 ranging from 18 to 20 feet overall, the maximum beam 

 was between 25 and 44 inches, and the beam inside 

 the gunwales was between 29}^ and 36 inches. The 

 depth amidships ranged from about 18 to 21 inches, 

 and the height of the ends above the base was from 

 28 or 30 inches to as much as 45 inches. The ribs 

 numbered from 42 to 48 and were 3 inches wide and 



74 



