Australian Bark Canoe. 



BY WM. T. BRIGHAM. 



It was my good fortune during my last visit to Australia (Jan- 

 uary, 1904) to find a specimen of the bark canoe made by the natives 

 of the north coast. The blackfellows of Australia are not industri- 

 ous, and their produdlious are usually much in the nature of make- 

 shifts. Neither are they a seafaring race, and their boats do not show 

 the results of long use or experience. Still the}^ had along the coast 

 many rivers to cross when not all could swim, and the floods of the 

 country sometimes converted broad plains into temporary lakes, 

 so there was need of some simple craft as ferry. Several forms of 

 these rude boats, made for present use and seldom very durable, 

 have been described, but the one in this Museum (Fig. i) differs 

 from any I have seen or that have been described or figured. The 

 nearest to it is the one figured by Spencer and Gillen,' but that is 

 a much more elaborate canoe, 17 ft. long and with a beam of 2 ft., 

 capable of carrj-ing a number of persons. Besides the authors re- 

 ferred to R. Brough Smyth^ has described and figured several 

 forms ; one of thick bark where the ends could not be brought 

 together but were closed by walls of clay : another of more flexible 

 bark where the ends were crumpled together and tied with a stout 

 cord, the sides being kept apart by stretchers. The one under 

 consideration is a little more elaborate than either of these last and 

 conforms more nearly to our ideas of a canoe. It is a single piece 

 of bark (^Eucalyptus rostrata was preferred) bent and sewed firmly 

 together at the ends, the stem being pointed, the stern more blunt. 

 The gunwale is formed on each side by a tough mangrove stick to 

 which the edge of the bark is attached by sewing over and over 

 with strips of reed. These sticks are tied together at the bow and 

 there project slightly ; they extend to within a few inches of the 

 stern and thus allow the bark to spread slightly there. Where a 

 split along the grain of the bark occurred a suture was made over 

 a stick well paid with gum, and gum was also used to calk the 

 end seams. The tendency to spread was checked by bindings of 

 a rattan-like material. The dimensions of this tiny canoe are, 



1 The Northern Tribes of Central Australia, London, 1904, p. 680. 



2 Aborigines of Victoria, I, p. 407. 



Occasional Papers B. P. B. M., Vol. II., No. 3.-3. ( 33 ) 



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