Tetes de Boule Canoes. 



top that was slightly swelled like the handle of a gouge 

 or chisel. The heel was sometimes held in the stem- 

 piece notch with a root lashing. 



The thwarts, spaced equal distances apart, were 

 tenoned into the gunwales as in the old Malecite 

 canoes, and were secured with a peg and lashing 

 through the two holes in the thwart ends. The 

 middle thwart was usually formed with a shoulder, 

 viewed in plan, that started 6 or 7 inches inboard of 

 the inside face of the main gunwale. In form, this 

 thwart usually swelled outward in a straight line from 

 the tenon shoulder, then reduced in a curved line to 

 about the width of the tenon tongue and, finally, 

 increased again in a right-angle cut to the greatest 

 width. From here it was reduced again in a long 

 curve to the canoe's center line. The other thwarts 

 usually had simple ends, wide at the tenon shoulder 

 and reduced in a long curve to a narrow center. In 

 elevation, all the thwarts were thin outboard and 

 thick at the centerline of the canoe. The cross 

 section of the center thwart at the centerline was 

 square or nearly so, the first thwart on each side was 

 rectangular in cross section at the center, and the end 

 thwarts were similar, but very thin. 



The sheathing of the Tetes de Boule canoes was thin, 

 particularly at the ends of the strakes. The bottom 

 was laid with a parallel-sided center strake going 

 in first. This strake was in two lengths in a small 

 canoe and three lengths in a large, the butts over- 



lapping slightly. The rest of the strakes in the bottom 

 were tapered toward the ends of the canoe. At the 

 extremities of the canoe, the narrow ends of the strakes 

 were very thin and overlapped along their edges, the 

 bottom sheathing, when in place, thus following the 

 diamond form of the building frame. The topside 

 sheathing was laid up in short lengths with overlap- 

 ping butts and edges in an irregular plan, those 

 strakes along the bilges being longer than above. 

 Toward the ends of the canoe these strakes were 

 slightly tapered and the edges were very thin. The 

 sheathing ended irregularly, outboard of the head- 

 boards, in narrow butts as in most eastern canoes. 

 The ribs, like the rest of the structure, were very 

 light, usually % to % inch thick and from about 

 1 }4 to 1 % inches wide, depending upon the size of the 

 canoe. A few examples had ribs 2 inches wide, and 

 still fewer had ribs up to 2% inches wide. The spacing 

 was usually close, somewhat more than an inch edge 

 to edge amidships and a little more between the end 

 thwarts and the headboards. The spacing amidships 

 would average perhaps 3% inches, center to center. 

 The ends of the ribs, in the last 2 or 3 inches, were 

 reduced in width very sharply in a hollow, curved 

 taper to }^ to % inch wide, and were usually beveled 

 on the inside edge. The thickness was also reduced 

 by a cut on the inside, so that the ends were chisel- 

 pointed with a short bevel on the inboard side. 

 The rib ends were forced between the main gunwales 



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