POINTED BARK CANOES OF THE KUTENAI AND AMUR. 



By Otis T. Mason, 

 Curator, Division of Ethnology. 



WITH NOTES ON THE KUTENAI CANOE BY MERIDEN S. HILL. 



INTRODUCTION. " 



Amonj^- the series of models to illustrate the history of navigation 

 gathered in the U. S. National Museiun there is one of a canoe secured 

 a long time ago by Mr. George Gibbs and numbered 641 in the 

 Anthropological Catalogue. Figures of such canoes are given in the 

 Standard Natural History/ Lord's British Columbia," Proceedings of 

 the Royal Societ}^ of Canada,^ and by Julian Ralph.* 



The model in question is not of birch-bark, but of pine-bark {Pinus 

 monticold)^ laid on with the inner or smooth side out. The canoes of 

 this type are all pointed like a monitor, at either end, on or below the 

 water line; that is, they are longest on the line of the keel. When 

 new the}?^ seem to be straight along this line, but, from being loaded 

 in the middle, they sag afterwards, and the pointed ends get turned up 

 through striking the shore in landing. 



Mackenzie mentions the use of spruce-bark in canoe building, but 

 does not speak of the shape. 



A glance at a large collection of American Indian water craft through- 

 out both continents reveals the fact that this pointed type is unique 

 for the Western hemisphere. In the north and east the birch-bark 

 canoes prevail, and farther north the kaiak and the umiak. In the ^vest 

 the dugout is universal and assumes often large size and graceful out- 

 line. But every example of skin boat, bark canoe, and dugout on the 

 Western Hemisphere, excepting the Kutenai canoe, is longer on top 

 and narrower at the bottom, or what would be the keel if any were 

 present. In a few local forms of Canadian bark canoes there is a sug- 

 gestion of a chin at the ends, faintly hinting at kinship with the Kutenai 

 type. Further examination into the water craft of North and South 

 America fails to reveal any such form as that of the Kutenai canoe. 

 The bark boats or " woodskins" of the Amazon and its affluents and 



1 Vol. VI, p. 441. •■> Vol. IX, p. 15, fig. 4. 



'^ Vol. II, p. 178. * Ou Canada's Frontier, p. 293. 



NAT MUS 9'J 36 525 



