It may be that this drawing was made not from a full- 

 size canoe but from a model, for the proportions are 

 obviously incorrect. This possibility casts some 

 doubt on the picture as evidence of the building 

 practices, for in Indian-built models simplified 

 construction details not used in actual canoe building 

 are often found. 



According to early accounts and the statements of 

 eastern Indians, these emergency canoes were often 

 heavy and unsuitable for portaging. By 1750, at 

 least, the Iroquois were using blanket square-sails in 

 their elm-bark canoes. 



Skin Boats 



Among the other forms of temporary or emergency 

 canoes used by North American Indians, the most 

 widespread was some form of skin boat. These 

 would not require description here were it not for the 

 fact that the Indian skin boats were usually built by 

 bark-canoe methods of construction rather than by 

 methods such as used by the Eskimo. To build their 

 skin boats — kayaks and umiaks — the Eskimo first con- 

 structed a complete framework, and this was then 

 covered with skins sewn to fit. This process of build- 

 ing required a rigid framework capable of not only 

 standing without a skin covering but also of giving 

 both longitudinal and transverse strength sufficient 

 to withstand loading, without the slightest support 

 from the skin covering. Hence, the framework of the 

 Eskimo craft was made with the members rigidly 

 lashed and pegged together. The majority of Indian 

 skin canoes, however, required the covering to hold 

 the framework together, as in a birch-bark canoe. 

 An example is the Malecite skin-covered hunters' 

 canoe. According to available information, the 

 Malecite hunter would leave two or three moose 

 skins on stretchers for use in building a skin canoe in 

 the early spring. Sometimes the hair was removed 

 from the hides and sometimes it was not. Spare 

 time during the winter hunt might be spent in pre- 

 paring the wooden framework, but if this were not 

 done the delay would not be very great. 



The gunwale frame was first made of four small 

 sapling poles roughly scarfed at the butts. From a 

 small sapling a middle thwart was made in the 

 manner of the elm-bark canoe thwarts, the ends 

 tapered enough to allow them to be wrapped around 



the gunwales and secured under the thwart by lash- 

 ings. The ends of the gunwales were merely crossed 

 and lashed. Where end thwarts would be placed, 

 it was usual to use a cross tie made of twisted rawhide 

 or cords of bark fiber. Holes were then drilled at 

 intervals in the underside of the gunwale to take the 

 heads of the ribs. Stem-pieces about 3 feet long were 

 prepared of short saplings and bent to the desired 

 profile; one builder used a full-length keel-piece, 

 instead of the short stem-pieces. The ribs were 

 usually of small saplings that could be bent green 

 without the use of hot water. For sheathing a number 

 of small saplings were also gathered, and from them 

 were made poles in lengths about equal to three- 

 quarters, or a little more, of the intended length of 

 the canoe, which would be determined by the size 

 of the skins available. The average canoe was about 

 12)2 feet long, roughly 40 inches beam, and 14 to 

 19 inches in depth. 



The skins were sewn together lengthwise, lapped 

 about 6 inches or a little less, and secured by a double 

 row of stitching. If the hair had not been removed, it 

 had to be scraped away along the sewn edges. In 

 such a case the hair w-ould usually be on the outside 

 of the finished canoe. Also, before work was started on 

 assembling a canoe, the skins were worked pliable, 

 and tallow and gum were accumulated. 



When an emergency canoe was ready to be 

 assembled a smooth place was prepared; either an 

 open bit of ground or the floor of the hunter's hut, 

 if large enough, might be used. The outlines of 

 the gunwales were fixed by a few stakes temporarily 

 driven around it and then pulled up. The skins 

 were then laid on the bed and the gunwale frame 

 placed on them and weighted with stones. Then 

 the skins were left to dry for awhile until they Ijccamc 

 somewhat stiff; the proper condition was indicated 

 by the curling of the edges. 



When the skin w'as sufficiently stiff, the t(uuwale 

 frame was lifted and temporarily secured to the stakes 

 redriven in the Ijed, the sides of the skin were turned 

 up, the skin was gored, and sometimes the ends of 

 the gunwales were sheered up slightly at the end 

 stakes; this latter was not always done, for in some 

 canoes the sheer was quite flat. 



The skins were now trimmed to the sheer of the 

 gunwales and the edges lashed to these members with 

 rawhide, the gores also having been sewn. Next the 

 stem-pieces were put into place and the stem heads 

 lashed inside the apex formed by the ends of the 

 gunwales. Some ribs were then bent and forced 



219 



