154 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 59 



borrowed from their northern neighbors. But we are not at all 

 confined to this Beothuk hypothesis. 



The question is mainly one of convenience as to material. The 

 Indian takes what is best adapted to his purpose within the limits 

 of what he can get. In Venezuela and the St. Lawrence basin and 

 near one tributary of the Amazon * he used bark (of the bullet tree, 

 the elm tree, the black birch and perhaps others) ; in Newfoundland 

 he sometimes used " animal hides " ; at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy 

 he now most often uses water-proof fabric ; but for temperate America 

 generally the old-time typical canoe was the " dug-out," hollowed and 

 shaped from a tree-trunk and heavy but durable. Something lighter 

 was needed for the northern portages in the region torn by the 

 glaciers, and there only the canoe-birch offered itself, with the elm 

 as a poor substitute when the former was not plentiful; also, going 

 northward, the size of tree trunks lessened until at last a canoe could 

 not be hollowed and carved but must be put together as a frame and 

 covering. 



The word " canoe " on the Chesapeake still means primarily a 

 vessel made from one or more tree-trunks. They are often large, often 

 swift and graceful under sail, besides being the most unsinkable craft 

 afloat ; and " canoe-regattas " in this sense have been held annually 

 off Talbot County for many years. 



This was almost as exclusively the case in southern New England, 

 where canoe-birch trees of good size were rare, if existent, and there 

 was little or no need for portages. Verrazano was visited at Narra- 

 gansett Bay by Indians in dugouts only, and describes them ; 

 Champlain tells us just how they were manufactured farther north. 

 Thus far, following the general trend of these arguments, I have 

 compared one kind of frame-boat with another, but it is most likely 

 that the boats which were paddled into Hop had no need of any frame 

 or any covering, although their dark and water-polished sides might 

 resemble smooth bark or smooth hide. Their material of course 

 would be really more akin to the fireplace brands or dark wooden 

 "coals," with which in the distance they are compared by the saga. 

 But in truth our Norsemen would trouble themselves little about the 

 details of such matters. The furs for sale and the unusual weapons 

 were far more interesting. 



Naturally, emphasis has been laid on the latter ; which were near 

 bringing destruction on the colony, and which surprise us yet. 



Slings have long been considered by many a non-Indian weapon ; 



1 A. R. Wallace : Narrative of Travels on the Amazon, p. 358. 



