198 BUKEAU OF AMEUICAJST ETHNOLOGY I bull. 03 



from iiboiit 12 to 20 feet long (Fitz-Roy, a, 140; Ilyades, (j, 414, 5.20 

 mctei-s; Bove, a, 792; h, 135; d, Arch., 291, 4-6 meters; Lovisato, 

 h, 134, 5-6 meters; Weddell, 163, 12 feet 4 inches; Dabbene, h, 180, 

 4-5 metei-s; cf. Marcel, a, 491, 15-16 and 12-18 feet, Alacalufan 

 canoes; c, 108), wliile those found by de Cordoba among the Alacaluf 

 of the Strait were ordinarily 24-26 and occasionally 30-32 feet long ^ 

 (Vargas Ponce, a, 344; cf. also Pertuiset, 221, 8-10 meters long, and 

 the ' 'large canoes" observed by the UUoa expedition, in Gay, Doc, 

 I, 177). 



While the Fiiegian bark canoe is a fairly well made and seaworthy 

 craft, it would appear on the whole inferior in lines and worlananship 

 to the North American birch bark, to wliich, however, it bears con- 

 siderable resemblance. For comparison with bark canoes from Aus- 

 tralia and Africa see von Luschan, and also N. W. Thomas, Australian 

 canoes and rafts, in Jour. Anthr. inst., London, 1905, xxxv, 56-79. 



Plank boat. — This craft has had an interesting career in the Chonoan 

 and Magellanic Archipelagos. A fairly continuous series of docu- 

 ments, most of them based on first-hand study, enable us to trace 

 pretty clearly its liistory, niigration, and development from the middle 

 of the sixteenth century down to ttie present time. 



At the time of the earliest explorations in the arcJiipelagos south 

 of Chiloe the plank boat was not found south of Taitao Peninsula and 

 Cape Tres Montes. The Ladrillero and Cortes Hojea expedition 

 encountered many groups of natives between the GuK of Peiias and 

 the western mouth of the Strait of Magellan, and all without excep- 

 tion had bark canoes (references supra). The earliest mention of 

 the plank boat is contained in Goicueta's narrative of Cortes Hojea's 

 voyage in 1557-58. On the way back Cortes Hojea found among 

 the Araucanian-speaking natives of Coronados Gulf a great munber 

 C'mucha cantidad") of canoes made of three planks (514). 



Goicueta in the same narrative (518) states that the natives between 

 the Gulf of St. Martin ( = Corcovado Gulf) and Cape Ochabario ( = C. 

 Tres Montes) used the same kind of boats as did the Coronados Gulf 

 Indians. Cortes Hojea did not, it would appear from Goicueta's 

 narrative, encounter anj^ natives in this Chonoan region on his 1557-58 

 expedition; he had, however, accompanied IJUoa in 1553 (489) and 

 nuist have seen plank boats south of Chiloe then. Ulloa encountered 

 at least one party of natives on Taitao Peninsula and probabh^ others 

 elsewhere; and, moreover, Goicueta's narrative is carefully and so- 

 berly written. So we may accept Goicueta's attribution of the plank 

 boat to the Chonos as reasonably dependable. 



Gongora Marmolejo, in nis Historia of 1575 (ch. 58, p. 153), Brouwer 

 after his visit of 1643 (32; An. Jddr., xvi, 34), Father Ovalle in 1646 

 (bk. 8, ch. 21, p. 394), and Father Rosales in. 1674 ca. (a, vol. i, 175), 



1 Presumably Spanish feet of 10.968 inches. 



