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Eskimo Kavak-Form Birch-Bark Canoe From Alaskan Coast, with long 

 forcdcck batten-sewn to the gunwales, no afterdeck, and rigid boUom frame. 



lower '^'ukon and neighboring streams had a short 

 overhang, formed in a curved rake and alike or very 

 nearly so, at bow and stern. On the upper Yukon 

 and adjoining streams the canoes had much rake at 

 both ends, the rake being straight from the bottom 

 outward for some distance, then curving rather 

 markedly. The bow rake was usually greatest, but 

 the stern might be higher by one or two inches. The 

 bottom was without rocker, being straight or even 

 slightly hogged in most of these canoes. The sheer 

 was straight to the point where the rake began, then 

 rose in a easy sweep to the ends. The end decks on 

 the upper Yukon canoes were short, those on lower 

 Yukon canoes were much longer; on the latter the 

 bow deck was nearly a third the length of the canoe, 

 on the former about a fifth. In the Mackenzie Basin, 

 the kayak-form canoes had a moderate rake, curved 

 in profile, at bow and stern and a rather low stem- 

 head; the depth at the stern was noticeably greater 

 than at the bow, and the deck forward was commonly 

 a little less than a fourth the length of the canoe. 

 In these canoes the greatest beam in most cases 

 was abaft midlength, and this was also true of the 

 lower Yukon canoes. On the upper Yukon and 

 in some of these canoes on the lower Mackenzie, the 

 greatest beam was amidships and the depth at bow 

 and stern were equal. 



The variation in depth at bow and stern in some of 

 the kayak-form canoes seems to have been related to 

 the position of the greatest beam; when the beam was 



abaft the midlength, the greatest depth was aft, where- 

 as when the greatest beam was amidships, the depth 

 at the ends was equal. With the beam abaft mid- 

 length, the weight of the paddler trimmed the canoe 

 by the stern somewhat, hence greater depth aft than 

 forward was necessary to make the canoe run easily 

 and turn readily in smooth water. In the sea kayaks 

 of the eastern Eskimo, on the other hand, the depth 

 and the draft were greatest forward, to bring them 

 head to the sea when paddling ceased. The Alaskan 

 sea kayaks were commonly of equal draft at bow and 

 stern or might ha\c a slightly greater draft aft than 

 forward. 



A third variation of the kayak form existed in 

 British Columbia in early times, and apparently was 

 employed by the Beaver, Nahane, and Sekani. It 

 was an undecked bateau-shaped canoe having a 

 fair sheer in a long sweep from end to end, the stem 

 profiles were nearly straight, the ends were raked 

 rather strongly, and the iiow was somewhat higher 

 than the stern. The beam was greatest slightly abaft 

 midlength. It is estimated that canoes of this type, 

 which has long been extinct and now can only be 

 reconstructed from a model, were about 14 feet 8 

 inches long and 30 to 36 inches in beam, and probably 

 were built of both spruce and birch. 



The gunwales of the kayak-form canoes were formed 

 by inwales and outwalcs; no caps were employed. In 

 the Alaskan types and in the extinct British Columbia 

 bateau variation, the gunwale lashings were contin- 



159 



