May, 1919] 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



31 



certain adjoining tribes, such as the Aleuts and the 

 western or northwestern Dene, is invariably sharply- 

 pointed or lance-shaped and has almost invariably a 

 T-shaped grip. 



British Columbian influence in this respect seems 

 observable eastward as far as the Slaves and the 

 Chipewyans, who have the paddle obtusely-pointed. 

 WINTER transportation. 



A conveyance of the type represented by the 

 canoe, which is suitable mostly for summer, natur- 

 ally supposes a corresponding winter contrivance, 

 especially for the northern part of our range. That 

 this was, or is, actually the case is suggested by the 

 close correspondence of the dog and sledge or 

 toboggan area with that of the canoe (Eskimo Atha- 

 bascan and Algonkian). The exceptions to this are 

 found principally on the West Coast, where con- 

 ditions are favorable to water transportation through- 



Dugouts seem to have been used to a limited 

 extent by the Ojibwa and by the Menominee, a 

 tribe living in northern Michigan and Wisconsin, 

 and fairly closely related to the Sauk, Fox and 

 Kickapoo. This usage may also have been induced 

 by a scarcity of the ordinary material, which is 

 birch-bark. 



The eastern dugout region seems fairly continuous 

 southward from among the tribes mentioned, and 

 would probably be contained very largely by the 

 southern half of the Eastern Woodlands area, to 

 which we might no doubt add the eastern half of 

 the south-eastern area. 



The canoe in common use on the lower Mis- 

 sissippi is a dugout, called "pirogue" by the French. 

 The bow of this canoe is broad and sloping. The 

 average measurement is forty feet by three in width, 

 with a thickness of about three inches. A canoe 



Saulti^'aux Indian inscrtinir ribs. 



out most of the year; on the Plains, where the 

 travois replaced the sledge or toboggan, and canoeing 

 was of relatively slight importance ; and in the 

 southern part of the Eastern Woodlands, where the 

 snowfall is comparatively light. 



THE DUGOUT. 



The dugout, in most cases a rather crude canoe 

 made by charring and hollowing-out a log ,also has 

 quite a wide distribution and is found, as already 

 noted, in many regions where a more advanced type 

 of canoe is also used. 



Among the Iroquois, who were noted as in- 

 different canoe-makers, it was quite extensively em- 

 ployed, and is still used for the navigation of small 

 streams for trapping and other such purposes. The 

 scarcity of better materials may have been a factor 

 in its popularity. The favorite Iroquois material is 

 pine. 



of this size will carry twelve persons. The material 

 is usually some light or buoyant wood. A craft 

 called by the same name is still to be found in the 

 old "Acadian" region of eastern Canada. The 

 material used is white pine. A black walnut dug- 

 out is used on the Arkansas. Besides a dugout, the 

 Chitimacha of the lower Mississippi manufacture an 

 elm-bark canoe. 



Bushnell, in speaking of the Choctaw of Bayou 

 Lacomb, Louisiana, states that '"dugouts were em- 

 ployed on the creeks and bayous, but evidently only 

 to a small extent." The Creoles at present make 

 dugouts eight or twelve feet in length from logs of 

 black gum.'- 



Those in use among the Creeks (a Muskhogean 

 tribe related to the Choctaw) were made of cypress 



i-'Rushnell. D. I., jr.. "The Choctaw of Bayou 

 Lacomb. Louisiana," Bulletin 48, Bureau of Amer 

 Etlinology, p. 18. 



