Fur-Trade Canoe Stem-Piecks, models made by Adney: i, 'I'ctcs dc Boule 

 type; 2, Ojibway form; 3, old Algonkin form. 



with the initials of the Company, H.B.C., said to 

 mean "Here Before Christ" by disrespectful clerks. 

 Many posts used such figures as the jackfish, loon, 

 deer, wolf, or bear, on the bow. The rayed circular 

 devices appear to have been long popular and were 

 said to have been introduced by the French. There 

 is no record of any device being officially required 

 in any district but the cassettes of certain districts were 

 marked with distinctive devices at one time; Norway 

 House used a deer's head with antlers, Saskatchewan 

 two bufTalo, Cumberland a bear. Red River a grass- 

 hopper, and Manitoba a crocus. 



During Christopherson's long service he knew the 

 canoes built in his vicinity at such nearby building 

 posts as Lake Abitibi, Lake Waswanipi, and Kipewa, 

 in western Quebec; and Lake Timagami (Bear 

 Island), Matachewan on Montreal River, Matagama 

 (west of Sudbury), and Missinaibi, in nearby 



Ontario. These were but a few of the building posts, 

 of course, for canoes were built at numerous posts to 

 the west and northward. 



When portaged, the large canoes might be carried 

 right side up or upside down, the former being more 

 usual method. The canot du nord was often light 

 enough to be carried by two paddlers, one under each 

 end, with the canoe right side up and steadied by 

 a cord tied to the ofTside gunwale and held in the 

 carrier's hand. The mailre canot required four men 

 to carry it. Various methods were used. One was to 

 lash carrying sticks across the gunwales near the ends 

 and to carry the canoe right side up with a man on the 

 end of each stick. Another way was for the men to 

 distribute themselves along the bottom of the canoe, 

 near the ends, and to use steadying cords. Or the 

 canoe might be carried upside down with the men 

 carrying it by placing one shoulder under the gunwales 



151 



