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Hybrid Algonkin Canoes: Eastern 2;i-falhom (above) and northeastern 

 2-fathom adaptation, with sketches of stems used in each. 



bark cover turned up along the sides, the stakes were 

 again driven in their holes. The cover was then 

 pieced out with side panels as necessary and gored, 

 and longitudinal strips of wood were set in place 

 by means of the clamp pieces, about as in Malecite 

 construction. The gunwales were then placed on 

 the posts, which had been set to the required sheer, 

 and the bark trimmed and fitted to them. The 

 old method was to lash the bark to the main gun- 

 wale members and to peg on the outwales at in- 

 tervals of about a foot. In earlier times most build- 

 ers inserted along the gunwales an extra reinforcing 

 strip of bark extending a little below the outwales, 

 as in the St. Francis canoes, but in the nailed-and- 

 tacked bark canoes built during the decadent period 

 this was sometimes omitted. 



Mortises for the thwarts \\ere next cut and the 

 middle thwart was forced into place, after the spall 

 there had been removed. This required that the 

 gunwales be spread slightly, thus increasing the 

 amount of sheer somewhat. Much judgment was 



needed to do this correctly. The increase in the 

 sheer lifted the ends slightly and put some rocker in 

 the bottom toward the ends. The building frame was 

 lifted out before the rest of the thwarts were placed; 

 usually it was taken apart in the process. In forming 

 the ends of the bark cover, the two sides were held 

 together by a clothespin-like device made of two 

 short, fiat sticks lashed together. 



Increasing the beam at the gunwales by fitting 

 the thwarts after the bark cover had been secured to 

 the gunwales not only increased the sheer but de- 

 creased the depth of the canoe amidships as established 

 by the posts placed under the gunwales in setting up. 

 In order to retain the required sheer and the desired 

 depth of side, the gunwales had been sheered up at the 

 ends while being shaped, and had also been treated 

 with hot water and hogged upward amidships by 

 being staked out to dry into shape. The spreading of 

 the gunwales tended to lift the ends of the bottom line, 

 a condition that was controlled in two ways: the 

 usual one apparently was to employ, in combination 



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