592 BUREiAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOOY I Bull. 137 



Barlowe tells us that native canoes were "made either of Pine or of 

 Pitch trees," and gives us the following short description : 



They burne downe some great tree, or take such as are winde fallen, and 

 putting gumme and roson upon one side thereof, they set fire into it, and when 

 it hath burnt it hollow, they cut out the coale with their shels, and ever where 

 they would burne it deeper or wider they lay on gummes, which burne away 

 the timber, and by this meanes they fashion very fine boates, and such as will 

 transport twentie men. Their oares are like scoopes, and many times they 

 set with long poles, as the depth serveth. (Burrage, 1906, p. 234.) 



Moving to the Chesapeake we find the following account by 

 Strachey, closely paralleling that of Smith: 



These [boats] they call quintans, as the West Indians call their canoes. 

 They make them with one tree, by burning and scraping awaye the coales 

 with stones and shells, tyll they have made them in forme of a trough. Some 

 of them are an ell deepe, and forty or fifty foote in length, and some will 

 transport forty men ; but the most ordinary are smaller, and will ferry ten 

 or twenty, with some luggage, over their broadest rivers. Instead of oares, 

 they use paddles and sticks, which they will rowe faster then we in our barges, 

 (Strachey, 1849, p. 75; Smith, John, Tyler ed., 1907, p. 102.) 



Beverley, while following the other Virginia writers, speaks also 

 from personal experience : 



They bring down a great Tree, by making a small Fire round the Root, and 

 keeping the Flame from running upward, until they burn away so much of the 

 basis, that the least pufC of Wind throws it down. When it is prostrate, they 

 burn it off to what length they would have it, and with their Stone Tomahawks 

 break off all the Barke, which when the Sap runs, will easily strip, and at other 

 times also, if it be well warm'd with Fire. When it is brought to a due 

 length, they raise it upon a Bed to a convenient height for their working, and 

 then begin by gentle Fires to hollow it, and with scrapers rake the Trunk, 

 and turn away the Fire from one place to another, till they have deepen'd 

 the Belly of it to their desire: Thus also they shape the ends, till they have 

 made it a fit Vessel for crossing the Water, and this they call a Canoe, one 

 of which I have seen thirty foot long. (Beverley, 1705, bk. 3, p. 61.) 



Moving to the Siouan country we read, in Lawson's History: 



Of these great trees [cypresses] the pereaugus and canes [canoes?] are 

 scooped and made, whicli sort of vessels are chiefly to pass over the rivers, 

 creeks, and bays, and to transport goods and lumber from one river to another. 

 Some are so large as to carry thirty barrels, though of one entire piece of 

 timber. Others that are split down the bottom and a piece added thereto, 

 will carry eighty or an hundred. Several have gone out of our inlets on the 

 ocean to Virginia, laden with pork and other produce of the country. (Law- 

 son, 1860, p. 162.) 



He adds that "a canoe Avill outlast four boats, and seldom wants 

 repair" (Lawson, 1860, p. 163). 



Their canoes, [says Catesby] are made of pine or tulip trees, which (before 

 they had the use of English tools), they burned hollow, scraping and chipping 

 them with oyster-shells and stone hatchets. (Catesby, 1731-43, vol. 2, p. xi.) 



