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Algonkin, 2-Fathom Hunter's Canoe, without headboards. Details of building 

 frame, stakes or posts, gauge, and stem. 



with a level bed, a building frame slightly wider than 

 was desired for the finished bottom; the second way 

 was to follow Malecite procedure and elevate slightly 

 the middle of the building bed while employing a 

 building frame the width of the finished bottom. 

 The Algonkin procedure of spreading the gunwales 

 during construction was that employed in the north- 

 west and in the building of the fur-trade canoes, as 

 will be seen. The amount of spread to be given the 

 gunwales also affected the angle, or slope, at which 

 the side stakes were driven on the building bed. 

 Even so, some builders who spread the gunwales 

 a good deal would set the stakes almost vertically, 

 instead of at a slant, as this made sewing the side 

 panels easier, particularly in large canoes and in 

 canoes whose covers were made up of a large number 

 of small pieces of bark. 



The gunwales of the Algonkin canoes were made up 

 of three members — main gunwales, outwales, and 

 caps. The main gunwales, usually of cedar, were 

 rectangular in cross section and bent on the flat. The 



lower outboard corner was bevelled ofi to take the rib 

 ends, as in the Malecite canoes. The gunwales were 

 rather light ranging in the examples found from about 

 1 inch square to 1 by 1 ^g inches, the ends being tapered 

 to a lesser size. The outwales were light battens, 

 rectangular in cross-section, about as deep as the 

 main gunwales and about two-thirds their thickness 

 or less; they tapered in depth toward the ends to 

 % or Yi inch in order to follow the sheer, while the 

 thickness might be constant or only slightly reduced. 

 The caps, which were pegged to the gunwales, were 

 also light and were about equal to the combined 

 width of the main gunwales and outwales and had 

 a depth of about % to }^ inch amidships. At the ends 

 they were tapered in both width and depth, becoming 

 )'i inch wide and % inch deep. The amount of taper 

 in the ends of the gunwale members depended upon 

 the form of sheer; the Algonkin practice in the old 

 form of canoe was to sheer the outwales and caps to 

 the top of the stem, while the gunwales sheered less 

 and met the sides of the stem piece at a lower point. 



118 



