OE EED INDIANS OF NEWFOUNDLAND. 137 



delicate aud unsteady barks are by uo means calculated. A canoe of fourteen feet long 

 is about four feet wide iu the middle.' 



Fig. 2. Bed Indian Canoe, with a section midships, from a sketch by John Cartwright. 



Mr. CartvAa'ight has given us a small drawing of one of these canoes, which we repro- 

 duce. (Fig. 2.) Each tribe of Indians has its own pattern of canoe, as well as of snowshoes 

 and other articles. The difference is generally a matter of fancy, but where it is important 

 we will generally find that it has been adopted to suit the difference of circumstances. 

 Thus among the Crées in the West, where their navigation is largely of rivers in which 

 are many rapids, their canoes are constructed with a high prow, serving to prevent the 

 taking in of water to which they would be liable in such cases. But among the Micmacs 

 and other eastern tribes, where their navigation is principally on the even surface of 

 rivers and harbours, their canoes have their gunwales continued sti'aight or with a gentle 

 sweep from end to end The Beothik canoe resembled the Crée in having the prow 

 rising upward, but it rose much higher aud narrowed to a point, instead of curving back- 

 ward, as with the latter. I have uo doubt that this form would render it less liable to 

 ship a sea, while the construction of the hull, when properly ballasted, would increase its 

 capacity as a sailing craft among the rough waters of the Newfoundland coast. But the 

 V shaped hull is something singular. So far as I am aware, nothing is to be found like 

 it among the tribes in northern America. With them I believe the universal practice is 

 to have their canoes with bottoms either flat or slightly convex. But from its greater 

 depth this would take a greater hold of the water. 



As to sails archœologists are disposed to regard the aborigines of America as ignorant 

 of their use. I have seen it stated that the Peruvians were the only people of America 

 who used them. To me it seems impossible to believe that tril>es iu whom the powers of 

 observation were so carefirlly cultivated, who were so acquainted with the powers of 

 nature around them, and who felt the force of the wind every day, should never have 

 thought of employing this mode of propulsion. There is evidence that the Micmacs used 

 a bush in their canoes for the purpose," and Cartwright was not likely to be misinformed 

 in his statement regarding the Beothiks using a mast and sail. At all events G-eorge 

 Cartwright describes them as most expert in the management of their canoes. Their sea- 

 manship was evinced by their visiting Funk Island, a small and low-lying island forty 

 miles from the nearest point of land. This island was long distinguished for the number 

 of birds that frequented it. According to Mr. C. the Beothiks visited it once or twice a 



' Mr. Cormack measured one and found it twenty-two feet long. A family in Notre Dame Bay who bad a 

 good deal to do with the Red Indians informed Mr. Lloyd that the thwarts could be taken out and the two sides 

 brought together like a cocked hat. This would be for convenience in carrying them. Even according to Cart- 

 wright's description this is possible, but we think it very doubtful. 



■■^ Hence the proverb common in Nova Scotia, particularly among the young, "too much bush fora small 

 canoe." 



Sec. II, 1891. 18. 



