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which are inserted through holes made just below the gunwale, and made fixst 

 with cords. The upper edge of the gunwale itself is about five-eighths of an 

 inch thick, and four or five in breadth, and folds outward, so as to form a kind 

 of rim, which prevents the water from beating into the boat. At each end, also, 

 are pedestals, formed of the same solid piece, on which are placed strange, 

 grotesque figures of men and animals, rising sometimes to the height of five 

 feet, and composed of small pieces of wood, firmly united, with great inge- 

 nuity, by inlaying and mortising, without a spike of any kind. The pad- 

 dle is usually from four feet and a half to five feet in length, the handle 

 being thick for one-third its length, when it widens and is hollowed and 

 thinned on each side of the center, which forms a sort of rib. When tliey 

 embark, one Indian sits in the stern and steers with a paddle, the others 

 kneel in pairs in the bottom of the canoe, and, sitting on their heels, paddle 

 over the gunwale next to them. In this way, they ride with safety the 

 highest waves, and venture, without the least concern, in seas where other 

 boats could not live an instant. They sit quietly and paddle with no other 

 movement, except when any large wave throws the boat on her side, and 

 to the eye of the spectator she seems lost ; the man to windward then 

 steadies her by throwing his body toward the upper side, and sinking his 

 paddle deep into the wave, appears to catch the water, and force it under 

 the boat, whicli the same stroke pushes on Avith great velocity. In the 

 management of these canoes, the women are equally expert with the men; 

 for, in the smaller boats, which contain four oarsmen, the helm is generally 

 given to the female. As soon as they land, the canoe is generally hauled 

 on shore, unless she be very heavily laden ; but, ii t night, the load is uni- 

 versally discharged, and the canoe brought on shore. 



"Our admiration of their skill in these curious constructions was increased 

 by observing the very inadequate inqjlements with which they are made. 

 These Indians possess very few axes, and the only tool employed in their 

 building, from felling of the tree to the delicate workmanship of the images, 

 is a chisel made of an old file, about an inch and a half in widtli. Even of 

 this, too, they have not learned the management, for the chisel is sometimes 

 fixed in a large block of wood, and, being lield in the right hand, the block 

 is pushed with the left without the aid of a mallet. But under all these dis- 



