A 15-F00T Beothuk Canoe of Newfoundland with 42}2-inch beam, inside 

 measurement, turned on side for use as a camp. It gives headroom clearance 

 of about 3 feet, double that of an 18-foot Maiccitc canoe with high ends. When 

 the ends were not high enough to provide ma.ximum clearance, small upright 

 sticks were lashed to bow and stern. The shape of the gunwales would permit 

 the canoe to be heeled to an angle (more than 35°) which would swamp a 

 canoe of ordinary sheer and depth. {Sketch by Adney.) 



Nearly all observers, Cartwright included, noted 

 the almost perfect V-form cross section of these 

 canoes, with the apexes rounded off slightly and 

 the wings slightly curved. From an interpretation 

 of Cartwright's statements, it appears that after 

 the bark cover had been laced to the gunwales, the 

 latter were forced apart to insert the thwarts, as 

 in some western Indian canoe-building techniques. 

 The three thwarts are described as being about two 

 fingers in width and depth. It is stated that the 

 gunwales were made up of an inner and outer member 

 and all were scarfed in the middle to taper each 

 way toward the ends, the outer member serving as 

 an outwale or guard. Cartwright also states that 

 the inside of the bark cover was "lined" with "sticks" 

 2 or 3 inches broad, cut flat and thin. He refers also 

 to others of the same sort which served as "timbers" 

 so he is describing both the sheathing and the ribs as 

 being 2 or 3 inches wide. He does not say how the 

 thwarts were fitted to the gunwales, how high the 

 ends were, how the ends of the gunwales were formed, 

 nor does he give any details of the sewing used. 

 However, the grave models suggest the form of 

 sewing probably used and the appro.ximate propor- 

 tions of sheer. 



An old settler told James Howley that the Beothuk 

 canoes could be "folded together like a purse." 



Considering the construction required in birch-bark 

 canoes, this is manifestly impossible; perhaps what 

 the settler had seen was a canoe in construction with 

 the bark secured to shaped gunwales, ready for the 

 latter to be sprung apart by thwarts, as in opening a 

 purse. Howley also obtained from a man who had 

 seen Beothuk canoes a sketch which shows a straight 

 keel and peaked ends, confirmed in all respects by 

 the grave models or toys. 



The toy canoes so often referred to here were found 

 by Samuel Coffin in an Indian burial cave on a small 

 island in Pilley's Tickle, Notre Dame Bay (on the 

 east coast of Newfoundland), in 1869. Among the 

 graves in the cave, one of a child, evidently a boy, 

 was found to contain a wooden image of a boy, toy 

 bows and arrows, two toy canoes and a fragment of 

 a third, packages of food, and some red ochre. 

 With one of the canoes was a fragment of a miniature 

 paddle. One of the canoes was 32 inches long, 

 height of ends 8 inches, height of side amidships 



6 inches, straight portion of keel 26 inches and beam 



7 inches, as shown by Howley. 



In Newfoundland there was very fine birch but no 

 cedar. There was, however, excellent spruce which 

 would take the place of cedar. It seems certain, then, 

 that all the framework of the Beothuk canoes was of 

 spruce. It seems likely that they were never built of 



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