Algonkin 



The Algonkins were a tribe residing on the Ottawa 

 River and its tributaries, in what are now the prov- 

 inces of Quebec and Ontario, when the Frencii first 

 met them. They appear to have been a large and 

 powerful tribe and were apparently competent 

 builders and users of birch-bark canoes. They were 

 not the same tribe as the Ottawa, who controlled the 

 Lake Huron end of the canoe route Ijetwecn Montreal 

 and Lake Superior, by way of the Ottawa River. 

 These Ottawa were related to the Ojibway tribe and 

 received their name from the French, who gave the 

 name Outaouais, or "Ottaway," to all Indians, except 

 the Hurons, who came from the west i)y way of the 

 Ottawa. The Algonkins, because of their location, 

 were much influenced by the French fur trade. 

 Early in the 18th century they intermingled with 

 certain Iroquois whom they allowed to settle with 

 them, near Montreal, at the Lake of Two Mountains, 

 later Oka. Thence they gradually spread out and 

 lost tribal unity, until only small groups were left. 

 These lived on the Golden Lake Algonkin Reserve, 

 Bonshere River, Ontario; at Oka, Quebec; and else- 

 where in western Quebec and eastern Ontario. It is 

 possible that they were the first to build fur-trade 

 canoes for the French, but evidence to support .such a 

 claim with any certainty is lacking. 



Due to intermixing with other tribal groups and to 

 the influence of the fur trade, in which they were long 



employed as canoe men and builders, the Algonkins 

 no longer used a single tribal model of canoe. How- 

 ever, one of their models, which had high ends 

 resembling those of the large fur-trade canoe, may 

 have been the tribal type from which the fur-trade 

 canoe was dcsclopcd, as will be seen. 



The high-ended model, the oldest form known to 

 ha\c been used by this tribe, was narrow-bottomed, 

 with flaring sides. The canoes seen were built with 

 careful workmanship and in the old manner, without 

 iron fastenings. They were light and easily paddled, 

 yet would carry a heavy load. The ends were sharp at 

 the line of flotation. The bottom was straight to a 

 point near the ends, where it lifted somewhat. The 

 sheer was rather straight over the middle portion of 

 the canoe, then lifted slightly until close to the 

 stem, where it rose sharply, becoming almost perpen- 

 dicular at the ends of the rail caps. The midsection 

 was slightly rounded across the liottom, with a well- 

 rounded bilge and a gently flaring topside. The cross- 

 section became V-shaped clo.se to the headboards. 

 The most marked feature in the appearance of this 

 canoe was the profile of the ends. The stem line, 

 beginning with a slight angle where it joined the 

 bottom, bent outward in a gentle curve, reaching the 

 perpendicular at a point a little more than half the 

 height of the end, and from there it tumbled home 

 slightly. In most of the canoes examined the top of 

 the stem then rounded inboard in a quick, hard curve, 

 usually almost half a circle, so that the stem was 

 turned downward as it joined the outwale and gun- 



Old Alconki.n C.\noe. 



113 



