Mo/eci/f Mooje-hie/r Canoe 

 /3' lo' /oncf , -#/ beam, ^6 ' de/i^/' 



JJf/n Jfo/r-J/e^c oi// 



Malecite and Iroquois Temporary Canoes. The Iroquois 3-fathom elm- 

 bark canoe, below, is designed to carry ten to twelve warriors. 



of saplings for the gunwales would cause an uneven 

 sheer, and its amount must have been small; the high, 

 graceful ends seen in some birch-bark canoes did not 

 exist in the Iroquois model. The rocker of the bottom 

 profile was not a fair curve, but was angular, made 

 of straight lines breaking under the folds, or "crimps," 

 in the bark cover at the gunwales. The amount of 

 bark in each crimp and the location of the crimps 

 fore-and-aft would determine the shape of the bottom 

 profile and the amount of rocker, as well as the flatness 

 of the bottom athwartships in the midbody. It 

 appears that two crimps to the side were employed 

 in most of these canoes, but perhaps more, say four 

 to a side, might have been employed in a very large 

 canoe. The tendency in forming these canoes must 

 have been toward an almost semicircular midsection, 

 a condition which would have produced an unstable 

 craft if not checked. 



The early French writers agree that the canoes of 

 Iroquois war parties were sluggish under paddle. 

 This was due to the fact that the hull form of these 

 canoes was not good for speed, and also because the 



bulges at the bottom of the crimps caused them to 

 be markedly unfair at and near the waterline. This 

 handicap in their canoes may have been an induce- 

 ment for the Iroquois to waylay their victims at 

 portages when the travellers were usually spread 

 out and easily cut down while burdened with goods. 

 The Algonkin tribes countered by moving in very 

 large numbers when within striking distance of 

 Iroquois raiders. Hence there were very few recorded 

 instances of battles in canoes; these took place only 

 when sudden meetings occurred without preparation 

 on either side, such as when war parties surprised 

 canoemen in narrow waters. The shortcomings of 

 their canoes did not seriously affect the deadliness 

 of the Iroquois warriors, for their usual practice 

 was to raid in winter, when they could travel rapidly 

 on snowshoes and surprise their enemies in winter 

 camps wholly unprepared for defense, a most pleasing 

 prospect for the attacking warrior. 



It would be a mistake, however, to assume that 

 these factors made the Iroquois poor canoemen; the 

 French repeatedly stated that they were capable in 



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