POINTED BARK CANOES. 535 



Schrenk furnishes a lilliog-rapli' and of the latter a woodcut, showing 

 a (loldi man at the mouth of the Usuri River sittin^^ in his dml. The 

 former, through its light form and the deck over the bow to keep 

 off the spra.y of the turbid waters, is better adapted to use on the 

 upper streams. The latter, on the contrary, furnishes more room for 

 the fishing and hunting outfit and for the game. The handling of the 

 canoes is precisely the same as that of the dugouts, the otomjo and the 

 (JuUhi. 



The measurements of the Oltscha canoe were 18i feet long, 2i feet 

 broad in the middle, depth 11 inches. In managing these frail and 

 light canoes the Amur-Tungus, Oltscha, Goldi, and other tribes, like 

 their Siberian congeners, develop a skill and dexterity which, at times, 

 in the mad rush of the swollen streams, not seldom recalls the hardi- 

 hood and readiness of the Aleuts in their baidarkas, and is in strong 

 contrast with the clumsiness and prudent foresight of the Giliak at 

 the Amur mouth and on Saghalin Islands. What the snowshoes are 

 in winter the birch-bark canoes are to the Tungus as soon as the 

 waters have thrown off their icy coverings. Their light weight allows 

 also the carrying of them with ease over long portages and in visiting 

 other waters, either in hunts or migrations. Thus the birch -bark canoe 

 furnishes the unique, typical, characteristic conveyance to the hunting, 

 lishing, wandering, hungry Tungus. Also the Birari and the Man- 

 ager have bark canoes of the form and structure of the dsai., but twice 

 as long, while the width is the same. Schrenk saw among the latter 

 an example 35i feet long and only 2 feet 2 inches wide. Such a boat 

 is like the Aleut baidarka with several holes, and more like the great 

 mango. These are propelled with poles or with two or three double 

 paddles, and are worked by men paddling first on one side and then on 

 the other, shooting forward with great velocity. 



The pointed dugouts, as well as the birch-bark canoes, are found also 

 among all the aboriginal tribes of the Upper Amur. Since these are 

 chiefly nomads li^ ing by the chase, who only occasionally go down 

 from their hunting grounds and the Amur tributaries to the main 

 stream in order here to prosecute their fishing, these simple, easily 

 repaired, and, on occasion, readily transported craft, which are also 

 available in rapid as in still water, suffice for all their needs. Not 

 merely the narrow patterns, like the otongo or the c?.s'a^, are thus dif- 

 fused, but also those of large dimensions. In such boats the}^ migrate 

 from winter to summer quarters and back, transporting not only women 

 and children, but a multitude of tools and utensils. 



In the museum of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Peters- 

 burg are three models of pointed canoes, all made of birch bark. 

 Through the kindness of Dr. N. Doubrovinee, secretary, I am able to 



1 Reisen unci Forschungen in AmurlJinde, III, pi. xxxviii, fig. 5, p.' 510. 



