Fur-Trade Canoe Stem-Pieces, models made by Adney; i, Algonkin type; 

 2, Iroquois type, Ottawa River, old French; 3, Christopherson's canoes. 



frame at that point was marked on each. After being 

 cut to about the required length and tapered, the 

 ribs were then treated with hot water, and were then 

 usually bent over the knee in pairs, the marks deter- 

 mining where the bending was to be done. In a 

 freight canoe the ribs amidships would be nearly flat 

 across the bottom but in a fast canoe they would be 

 slightly rounded. The parts of the rib nearest the 

 ends were not bent, and thus the rib would appear 

 dish-shaped when in form. Each pair while drying 

 was sometimes held by cords tied across the ends, or 

 the ribs might be inserted in about their proper 

 location in the unfinished canoe and held in place by 

 battens and struts until they took their final set. The 

 ribs at the extreme ends were often "sprung" or 

 "broken" at the centerline to get the V-section required 

 there, particularly in a sharp-ended express canoe. 



The sheathing was about }4-inch thick and was laid 

 according to the tribal practice of the builder; 

 Christopherson appears to have followed the Algonkin 

 practices generally in this as in other building matters 

 at his posts. 



Whereas Malecite practice was to lash the bark 

 cover to both inwale and outwale, in the western type 

 of canoe the cover was lashed to the main gunwale 

 first, owing to the spread gunwales, and the outwale 

 was then pegged to the gunwale and also lashed, the 

 ends being wrapped with figure-eight turns. All gun- 

 wale lashing in fur-trade canoes was in groups. 

 Because of the sheer at the ends, the outwales were 

 split horizontally into four or more laminae, and the 

 splitting extended almost to the end-thwart positions. 

 In a few canoes outwales were omitted or were short 

 and did not extend beyond the end thwarts, but this 



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