Beam 

 Oep/f7 



^o^r//> J /a/hom Canoe 



/nf/c/e ^gt/n^v'a/ej -^3 



Athabascan Cargo or Family Canoes With Bent Stem Pieces, Chipewyan 

 2'^-fathom (top) and Dogrib 3-fathom. These canoes were covered with 

 spruce or birch bark. 



the outwale was omitted and the lashing was contin- 

 uous; these canoes usually had laminated bent stem- 

 pieces and their stem lashing was identical with that 

 of the Algonkin-Ojibway fur-trade canoes. This 

 departure, it is reasonable to assume, was the result 

 of outside influence on the Athabascan technique. 

 When the stem-piece was of thin plank, the bark was 

 usually fastened to it by multiple turns of two thongs 

 passed, one from each side, through the bark and 

 through holes bored in the stem. 



The end profile varied with the tribe of the Ijuildcr. 

 Chipewyan canoes had a very long end profile 

 fore-and-aft; the heel was angular, and the outline 

 of the stem then swept forward in an easy curve to 

 a height about two-thirds the depth of the canoe 

 amidships, then began to tumble in a little, the curve 

 becoming gradually sharper until the head was 

 reached. The stem-head in its fore-and-aft length 

 was almost one third the height of the ends and was 



roughly parallel to the bottom of the canoe directly 

 beneath it. Because of the rocker of the bottom, 

 the after end of the head was thus lower than the fore 

 end. The sheer was fair'-d up f) (he after end of the 

 hca-J in a shf)rt. qaick r ir\c. L'su.iliy the nutwales 

 were cut off short of this point, but in some canoes they 

 were brought up along with the inwales to the stem- 

 head. Wedges were used in making up the gunwale- 

 end lashings in both the Chipewyan and Dogrilj 

 canoes; these served to tighten the lashings and 

 formed a sort of breasthook. In a few examples of the 

 Athabascan type, the stem-pieces were of cedar root 

 without lamination; this use of the roots enabled 

 the angular form of the plank-on-edge stems to be 

 retained. It cannot be determined whether the root 

 stem-pieces were part of the old Athabascan tech- 

 nique or were an importation from the western Cree. 

 The lashing in these canoes followed the forms used 

 in the fur-trade canoes — long-and-short turns in 



156 



