137 



perfect ; the only instance, excejit one, among all those discovered in this 

 district. But from the considerable width of this great canoe at the 

 stern, the natives had probably not been able to get a board sufficiently 

 broad to fill up the opening. The savage who fashioned the boat has 

 overcome this difficulty in a very ingenious manner. Two boards have 

 been inserted, and, at the centre where they meet, a vertical incision has 

 been made in each edge all the way down, so as to form a sheath in which 

 a thin sUp of oak about an inch and a-half broad has been neatly intro- 

 duced, and made to draw out when necessary. In this way the seam 

 in the stern, caused by the meeting of the two boards, and through which 

 water would have percolated, has been made completely water tight by 

 the vertical wooden tongue fitting closely over it. There has been a 

 seat across the middle of the canoe, the ends of which rested on two 

 small projections inside left for the purpose on the gunwale when 

 scooping out the boat. The natives have rowed this large canoe, instead 

 of merely iJciddUng her ; for two neat semi-circular knobs or elevations, 

 each resembling a large horse shoe, with the concave facing the bow, 

 have been left uncut on the floor at a convenient distance fi'om the 

 seat, for the rowers to rest their feet against, as a resistance to the pull 

 of the oar. Towards the bow a large semi-circular aperture occurs in 

 the bottom, which has been stopped by an oaken plug, as thick as a 

 man's wrist and nearly a foot long. This plug was found sticking in 

 the hole, and in order that it might not be lost it is perforated by a 

 circular eye, to receive a thong for fastening it to the inside of the 

 boat. It is not unlikely that this large aperture in the bottom was 

 intended for the double purpose of running off, when on shore, the 

 water shipped afloat, and of sinking the canoe when the savages wished 

 to hide her, a practice quite common at the present day among the 

 boatmen on the banks of the Nile. On both sides of this Clyde canoe, 

 near the stern, are a number of well cut circular holes, irregularly 

 placed, the use of which is not very obvious. A loose flat piece of 

 wood about three feet long, also perforated by these circular holes and 

 stopped with wooden plugs, was found inside the canoe, but its use is 

 also doubtful. Altogether this is the finest specimen of the state of 

 maritime art among our savage ancestors probably ever found in 

 Scotland." 



A local paper stated that in one of these canoes there were some 

 remains of oakum. On this point, I requested particular information 

 from Mr. Buchanan, and received from him the following interesting 

 note : — 



" I am quite satisfied that the Editor of the Citizen is mistaken in 



