/" fafhom 7f/eJ c^f Bou/f I /^c/n/erj Canoe- 

 lrr?^//7 oyfra// // -iS, I Oi'f/- ^vniva/irs /O '/" " 

 Seam ^^'' , \ //7//e^r gurava/fs ^7' 



Tetes de Boule Hunting Canoe, 2-Fathom, with wide bottom, showing 

 structural details. 



and the bark cover, coming home in the bevel of 

 the lower outboard edge of the main gunwales be- 

 tween the group lashings of the bark cover as in the 

 Malecite canoes. The ribs were not prebent but 

 were placed in the canoe when green, treated with 

 hot water, and then allowed to dry into place. In pre- 

 paring the rib, it was first bent over the knee. It was 

 the custom of some builders to place under the build- 

 ing frame the ribs that were to go near the ends of 

 the canoe, and to mark the point where they would be 

 bent. Sometimes the endmost ribs that were to be 

 "broken" at the centerline to form the V-section were 

 split edgewise. A piece of the inner lamina was then 

 cut out to one side of the center so that the inner 

 laminae would lie flat against each other, and to 

 prevent the inner half from buckling the rib was 

 wrapped with a thong to one side of the "break." 



It does not appear to have been the common prac- 

 tice of the Tetes de Boule to decorate their small 

 canoes, though when building for white men they 

 would decorate if the buyer requested it. 



The paddles used by the Tetes de Boule were some- 

 what like those of the eastern Cree but the blade was 

 slightly wider near the tip than near the handle. The 

 top grip was formed wide and thin, the taper from the 

 lower grip to the upper one often l^eing very long. 

 The paddles were usually of white birch, but maple 

 was used in a few of the examples examined. 



The gunwales, outwales, and caps of the Tetes de 

 Boule canoes were usually of spruce; the ribs and stem 

 pieces, white cedar; the thwarts, white birch; the 

 headboards, white cedar in all but one of the canoes 

 inspected (in this, birch had been used). Jack pine 

 was used also for thwarts, and cedar was sometimes 

 used for the gunwale members; as would be expected, 

 the builders used the materials that were at hand 

 near the building sites. 



Tetes de Boule fur-trade canoes, like those of the 

 eastern Cree, appear to have had no relationship 

 to the smaller tribal types, since they were constructed 

 under supervision of white men. They will be dis- 

 cussed as a group on page 135. 



112 



