566 EEPORT-1892. 



Canoes. 



The Kootenays have three names for canoes : tci'Jc'Eno, a canoe made 

 of pine or spruce bark ; sta'tldm, a ' dug-out ' ; ydk'tso'metl, a term for 

 other than dug-out canoes. A steamboat is d'qJciiiJc'd'h'o ydh'tso'metl 

 (' fire canoe '), and a large ferry-boat is called std'tldm. 



The bark canoe of the Kootenays is of peculiar construction. It is 

 made for the most part of white pine (d'qkdm) or spruce (gi'sitslc-d'dl, Picea 

 alba) bark (dqk'wok), with the outer side turned in and chipped off, so as to 

 be fairly smooth. The upper rim, of about 4 or 5 inches in width, is made of 

 birch bark. The Lower Kootenays use the bark of the tree called d'qlcdm 

 to make their canoes. The sewing is done by needles of bone {did), and 

 split roots serve as thread. The pitch (i'dlmvas) used is obtained from 

 several of the coniferse. The boat is much shorter at the top than aloug 

 the keel, and at both ends runs down towards the keel, terminating in 

 sharp points (d'qkd), thus rendering it quite aiuique in appearance. The 

 rim around the top is made of bent strips (dqko'k'yu) of hard wood, and 

 is well secured by lashings of split roots and bark fibre. The edges of 

 these strips cross at the ends. From the ends to the keel run two binding 

 strips (dqku'nwok) for each end of the boat, which are fastened in the 

 same way. The boat, besides being pitched, is often plastered over with 

 a sort of mud (d'mdk). The inside framework consists of longitudinal 

 strips (dqki'kdluk) on the bottoms and along the sides, and the curved 

 strengtheners (dqku'dhnd) running from top to top along the bottom and 



Fig. 4. — Canoe of Lower Kootenay Indians. This drawing is after a model made 

 by Chief Eustan. The model canoe is 22 inches from tip to tip by 4^ inches 

 wide at the centre, and is perfect in its details. 



up the sides. The bark fibres or strips used for tying and lashing the 

 various parts together are called ndpHsu'nad. The thwarts, three or four 

 in number, are called d'qkE. The paddle (dl-i'sin) is generally of cedar ; 

 the blade is called dqkd'm, and the handle dqkd'n. The paddler kneels 

 upon a number of flat pieces of cedar or other similar wood tied together 

 termed gol'nidl. 



These canoes are very ' cranky,' but the Indians can navigate one of them 

 in the wake of a large river steamer with ease. The canoe is anchored 

 by sticking the handle of the paddle into the mud of the shore and tying 

 the boat to it by a string of bark, &c. The Lower Kootenays make very 

 good models of large canoes, reproducing in miniature the features of the 

 original (see fig. 4). 



Houses. 



The houses (d'qkltld'nam) of the Kootenays consisted of a framework 

 of converging poles {aqkits) over which were laid the skins of various 



