Long Lake Ojibway Long-Nose Canoe. {Canadian Geological Survey photo.) 



The lashing in the high-ended Ojibway canoes was 

 about the same as that in the Algonkin canoes, but in 

 the long-nose type the workmanship was often coarse. 

 On many of the latter the stems were lashed by use of 

 small groups in which two turns were taken through 

 each of two closely spaced holes in the bark and the 

 connection between the groups was made by a long 

 spiral around the outside of the stem. This pattern 

 was carried down from the stem-head to about the 

 level of the midship sheer height; from there down 

 around the forefoot the lashing consisted of a simple 

 spiral. Another style was to use widely spaced groups 

 made up of two or three turns through a pair of facing 

 holes in the bark, one on each side and inboard of the 

 stem. The turn went around the stem, and the last 

 connected with the next pair of holes below. A few 

 canoes of this style used closely spaced wrapping, as 

 in the high-ended canoes. 



The long-nose Ojibway canoe is surprisingly 

 primitive by comparison with the graceful and well- 

 finished high-ended model built after the Algonkin 

 style. Adney believed that the long-nose type origi- 

 nated with the Sioux Dakotas, before the combined 

 Ojibway and Cree movement forced them out of the 

 forest lands to the west of Lake Superior. He con- 

 sidered it possible that both the Ojibway and Cree 

 adapted the Dakota model, modifying it somewhat to 

 their methods of construction. It is true that the 

 western Cree built a long-nose canoe, but it had less 

 chin than the Ojibway model. On the other hand, 

 the Ojibway prebent ribs in pairs like the eastern 

 Cree, and used spreaders in the end ribs while drying 

 them, in exactly the same manner. A picture taken 



in 1916 shows the gunwales of a Cree long-nose canoe 

 being set; it was laid on the ground and weighted 

 along the midlength by stones laid on boards placed 

 across the longitudinals. The ends had been sheered 

 up and were supported at each end by a thong made 

 fast to the gunwale end and then brought Ovcr a post, 

 or strut, a few feet inboard and made fast to the 

 middle thwart. 



It is unnecessary to detail the construction of the 

 Ojibway canoes, as they employed a building-frame, 

 as the drawings on pages 1 23 to 1 27 show plainly enough 

 the pertinent details of fitting and construction. It is 

 important to observe that the wide variation in model 

 and in construction details of the Ojibway canoes 

 produced a variety of building procedures that in the 

 main were like those of the Algonkin and Cree. 

 Hence the older tribal method of construction cannot 

 now be stated with any accuracy. 



The paddle forms used by the Ojibway groups 

 varied somewhat. Most were made with parallel- 

 sided blades and oval tips. The hand grip at the top 

 of the handle was rectangular and was large in com- 

 parison to the grip of the eastern Cree paddles. A 

 few variations have been noticed; the blade of one was 

 widest at the top, the tip was almost squared off, and 

 the upper hand grip was much as in the factory paddle 

 of today. This paddle, from an unknown locality, 

 was used in 1849. 



As in the case of the Algonkin, the eastern Ojibway 

 built fur-trade canoes under supervision. Though 

 these canoes differed somewhat from those built by 

 the Algonkins, it is now impossible to say whether 



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