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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
[Illustration: BULLETIN 230
WASHINGTON, D. C.
1964]
Museum of History and Technology
THE BARK CANOES AND SKIN BOATS OF NORTH AMERICA
EDWIN TAPPAN ADNEY and HOWARD I. CHAPELLE
Curator of Transportation
B031222CA
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.
1964
Publications of the United States National Museum
The scholarly and scientific publications of the United States National
Museum include two series, _Proceedings of the United States National
Museum_ and _United States National Museum Bulletin_.
In these series the Museum publishes original articles and
monographs dealing with the collections and work of its constituent
museums--The Museum of Natural History and the Museum of History
and Technology--setting forth newly acquired facts in the fields of
Anthropology, Biology, History, Geology, and Technology. Copies of each
publication are distributed to libraries, to cultural and scientific
organizations, and to specialists and others interested in the
different subjects.
The _Proceedings_, begun in 1878, are intended for the publication, in
separate form, of shorter papers from the Museum of Natural History.
These are gathered in volumes, octavo in size, with the publication
date of each paper recorded in the table of contents of the volume.
In the _Bulletin_ series, the first of which was issued in 1875,
appear longer, separate publications consisting of monographs
(occasionally in several parts) and volumes in which are collected
works on related subjects. _Bulletins_ are either octavo or quarto
in size, depending on the needs of the presentation. Since 1902
papers relating to the botanical collections of the Museum of Natural
History have been published in the _Bulletin_ series under the heading
_Contributions from the United States National Herbarium_, and since
1959, in _Bulletins_ titled "Contributions from the Museum of History
and Technology," have been gathered shorter papers relating to the
collections and research of that Museum.
This work, the result of cooperation with the Mariners' Museum, the
Stefansson Library, the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation,
and the American Museum of Natural History, forms number 230 of the
_Bulletin_ series.
FRANK A. TAYLOR
_Director, United States National Museum_
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON: 1964
* * * * *
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents,
U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, D.C. 20402--Price $6.75
_Special acknowledgment_
_Is here gratefully made to The Mariners' Museum, Newport News,
Virginia, under whose auspices was prepared and with whose cooperation
is here published the part of this work based on the Adney papers; also
to the late Vilhjalmur Stefansson, for whose_ ENCYCLOPEDIA ARCTICA _was
written the chapter on Arctic skin boats._
_Contents_
_Page_
Introduction 1
1. Early History 7
2. Materials and Tools 14
3. Form and Construction 27
Form 27
Construction 36
4. Eastern Maritime Region 58
Micmac 58
Malecite 70
St. Francis 88
Beothuk 94
5. Central Canada 99
Eastern Cree 101
Têtes de Boule 107
Algonkin 113
Ojibway 122
Western Cree 132
Fur-trade Canoes 135
6. Northwestern Canada 154
Narrow-Bottom Canoe 155
Kayak-Form Canoe 158
Sturgeon-Nose Canoe 168
7. Arctic Skin Boats: by _Howard I. Chapelle_ 174
The Umiak 181
The Kayak 190
8. Temporary Craft 212
Bark Canoes 212
Skin Boats 219
Retrospect 221
Appendix: The Kayak Roll, by _John D. Heath_ 223
Bibliography 231
Index 235
_Illustrations_
_Figure_ _Page_
1 Fur-trade canoe on the Missinaibi River, 1901. (_Canadian
Geological Survey photo._) 2
2 Page from a manuscript of 1771, "Observations on Hudsons
Bay," by Alexander Graham, Factor. (In archives of Hudson's
Bay Company.) 9
3 Canoes from LaHontan's _Nouveaux Voyages ... dans l'Amerique
septentrionale_, showing crude representations typical of
early writers. 11
4 Lines of an old birch-bark canoe, probably Micmac, brought to
England in 1749 from New England. (_From Admiralty Collection
of Draughts, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich._) 12
5 Ojibway Indian carrying spruce roots, Lac Seul, Ont., 1919.
(_Canadian Geological Survey photo._) 15
6 Roll of bark for a hunting canoe. Algonkin Reserve, at Golden
Lake, Ont., 1927. 16
7 Sketch: wood-splitting techniques, cedar and spruce. 17
8-19 Sketches of tools: 8, stone axe; 9, stone hammer, wedge, and
knife; 10, mauls and driving sticks; 11, stone scraper; 12,
bow drill; 13, modern Hudson Bay axe; 14, steel fur-trade
tomahawk; 15, steel canoe awls; 16, crooked knives; 17, froe;
18, shaving horse; 19, bucksaw. 17
20 Peeling, rolling, and transporting bark. (_Sketches by
Adney._) 25
21 Sketch: Building frame for a large canoe. 26
22, 23 Sketches: Effect on canoe bottom of crimping and goring
bark. 30
24 Sketch: Canoe formed by use of gores and panels. 31
25 Gunwale ends nailed and wrapped with spruce roots. (_Sketch
by Adney._) 31
26 Gunwales and stakes on building bed, plan view. (_Sketch by
Adney._) 32
27 Photo: Gunwale lashings, examples made by Adney. 33
28 Photo: Gunwale-end lashings, examples made by Adney. 33
29 Sketch: Splints arranged in various ways to sheath the bottom
of a canoe. 34
30 End details, including construction of stem-pieces.
(_Sketches by Adney._) 35
31 Lines of 2½-fathom St. John River Malecite canoe. 36
32 Malecite canoe building, 1910. (Canadian Geological Survey
photos.) 39
33 First stage of canoe construction: assembled gunwale frame is
used to locate stakes temporarily on building bed. (_Sketch
by Adney._) 40
34 Second stage of canoe construction: bark cover is laid out on
the building bed, and the gunwales are in place upon it.
(_Sketch by Adney._) 41
35 Photo: Malecite canoe builders near Fredericton, N.B., using
wooden plank building bed. 42
36 Sketch: Two common styles of root stitching used in bark
canoes. 43
37 Comparison of canoe on the building bed and canoe when first
removed from building bed during fifth stage of construction.
(_Detail sketches by Adney._) 44
38 Third stage of canoe construction: the bark cover is shaped
on the building bed. (_Sketch by Adney._) 45
39 Cross section of canoe on building bed during third and
fourth stages of construction. (_Sketch by Adney._) 46
40 Sketch: Multiple cross section through one side of a canoe on
the building bed, at the headboard, middle, first, and second
thwarts. 46
41 Fourth stage of canoe construction: bark cover has been
shaped and all stakes placed. (_Sketch by Adney._) 47
42 Fifth stage of canoe construction: canoe is removed from
building bed and set on horses to shape ends and complete
sewing. (_Sketch by Adney._) 49
43 Ribs being dried and shaped for Ojibway canoe. (_Canadian
Geological Survey photo._) 50
44 Sketch: Details of ribs and method of shaping them in pairs. 51
45 Sixth stage of canoe construction: in this stage splints for
sheathing (upper left) are fixed in place and held by
temporary ribs (lower right) under the gunwales. (_Sketch by
Adney._) 53
46 General details of birch-bark canoe construction, in a
drawing by Adney. (From _Harper's Young People_, supplement,
July 29, 1890.) 54
47 Gunwale construction and thwart or crossbar fastenings, as
shown in a sketch by Adney. (_Harper's Young People_,
supplement, July 29, 1890.) 56
48 "Peter Joe at Work." Drawing by Adney for his article "How an
Indian Birch-Bark Canoe is Made." (_Harper's Young People_,
supplement, July 29, 1890.) 57
49 Lines of 2-fathom Micmac pack, or woods, canoe. 59
50 Lines of 2-fathom Micmac pack, or woods, canoe. 60
51 Lines of 2-fathom Micmac pack, or woods, canoe. 61
52 Lines of 2½-fathom Micmac big-river canoe. 62
53 Lines of 3-fathom Micmac ocean canoe fitted for sailing. 63
54 Micmac rough-water canoe, Bathurst, N.B. (_Canadian
Geological Survey photo._) 64
55 Micmac Woods canoe, built by Malecite Jim Paul at St. Mary's
Reserve in 1911. (_Canadian Geological Survey photo._) 64
56 Micmac rough-water canoe fitted for sailing. (_Photo W. H.
Mechling, 1913._) 65
57 Micmac rough-water canoe, Bay Chaleur. (_Photo H. V.
Henderson, West Bathurst, N.B._) 66
58 Micmac rough-water sailing canoe, Bay Chaleur. (_Canadian
Geological Survey photo._) 66
59 Drawing: Details of Micmac canoes, including mast and sail. 67
60 Micmac canoe, Bathurst, N.B. (_Canadian Geological Survey
photo._) 68
61 Micmac woman gumming seams of canoe, Bathurst, N.B., 1913.
(_Canadian Geological Survey photo._) 69
62 Lines of 2½-fathom Malecite river canoe, 19th century. Old
form with raking ends and much sheer. 71
63 Lines of old form of Malecite-Abnaki 2½-fathom ocean canoe of
the Penobscots in the Peabody Museum, Salem, Mass. 72
64 Lines of large 3-fathom ocean canoe of the Passamaquoddy
porpoise hunters. 73
65 Lines of old form of Passamaquoddy 2½-fathom ocean canoe. 74
66 Lines of Malecite racing canoe of 1888, showing ~V~-shaped keel
piece between sheathing and bark to form deadrise. 75
67 Lines of sharp-ended 2½-fathom Passamaquoddy hunting canoe,
for use on tidal river. 76
68 Lines of Malecite 2½-fathom St. Lawrence River canoe,
probably a hybrid model. 77
69 Lines of Malecite 2½-fathom river canoe of 1890 from the
Rivière du Loup region. 78
70 Lines of Modern (1895) 2½-fathom Malecite St. John River
canoe. 79
71 Drawing: Malecite canoe details, gear, and gunwale
decorations. 80
72 Drawing: Malecite canoe details, stem profiles, paddles, sail
rig, and salmon spear. 81
73 Lines and decoration reconstructed from a very old model of a
St. John River ancient woods, or pack, canoe. 81
74 Lines of last known Passamaquoddy decorated ocean canoe to be
built (1898). 82
75 Drawing: Malecite canoe details and decorations. 83
76 Sketches: Wulegessis decorations. 84-85
77 Photo: End decorations, Passamaquoddy canoe. 86
78 Photo: End decorations, Passamaquoddy canoe. 87
79 Photo: Passamaquoddy decorated canoe. 87
80 Lines of 2-fathom St. Francis canoe of about 1865 89
81 Lines of "14-foot" St. Francis canoe of about 191090
82 Lines of 2½-fathom low-ended St. Francis canoe. 91
83 Lines of St. Francis-Abnaki canoe for open water, a type that
became extinct before 1890. From Adney's drawings of a canoe
formerly in the Museum of Natural History. 92
84 Photo: Model of a St. Francis-Abnaki canoe under construction. 93
85 Photo: St. Francis-Abnaki canoe. 93
86 A 15-foot Beothuk canoe of Newfoundland (_Sketch by Adney._) 95
87 Lines based on Adney's reconstruction of 15-foot Beothuk
canoe. 97
88 Montagnais crooked canoe. (_Canadian Geological Survey
photo._) 100
89 Birch-bark crooked canoe, Ungava Cree. (_Smithsonian
Institution photo._) 101
90 Lines of 3-fathom Nascapee canoe, eastern Labrador. 102
91 Lines of 2-fathom Montagnais canoe of southern Labrador and
Quebec. 102
92 Lines of 2½-fathom crooked canoe of the Ungava Peninsula. 103
93 Lines of hybrid-model 2-fathom Nascapee canoe. 103
94 Eastern Cree crooked canoe of rather moderate sheer and
rocker. (_Canadian Pacific Railway Company photo._) 104
95 Photo: Straight and crooked canoes, eastern Cree. 105
96 Montagnais canvas-covered crooked canoe under construction.
(_Canadian Geological Survey photo._) 106
97 Sketch: Fiddlehead of scraped bark on bow and stern of a
Montagnais birch-bark canoe at Seven Islands, Que., 1915. 107
98 Sketch: Disk of colored porcupine quills decorating canoe
found at Namaquagon, Que., 1898. 107
99 Fleet of 51 birch-bark canoes of the Têtes de Boule Indians,
assembled at the Hudson's Bay Company post, Grand Lake
Victoria, Procession Sunday, August 1895. (_Photo,
Post-Factor L. A. Christopherson._) 108
100 Photo: Têtes de Boule canoe. 109
101 Photo: Têtes de Boule canoes. 110
102 Lines of 1½-fathom Têtes de Boule hunting canoe. 111
103 Lines of 2½-fathom Têtes de Boule canoe, with construction
details. 111
104 Lines of 2-fathom Têtes de Boule hunting canoe. 112
105 Photo: Old Algonkin canoe. 113
106 Lines of 2½-fathom old model, Ottawa River, Algonkin canoe. 114
107 Photo: Models made by Adney of Algonkin and Ojibway
stem-pieces. 115
108 Lines of light, fast 2-fathom hunting canoe of the old
Algonkin model. 116
109 Lines of hybrid 2½- and 2-fathom Algonkin canoes. 117
110 Lines of 2-fathom Algonkin hunter's canoe, without headboards. 118
111 Photo: Algonkin canoe, old type. 119
112 Photo: Algonkin "Wabinaki Chiman" 120
113 Algonkin canoe decorations, Golden Lake, Ont. 121
114 Lines of 2-fathom Ojibway hunter's canoe, built in 1873 123
115 Lines of 3-fathom Ojibway old model rice-harvesting canoe and
2-fathom hunter's canoe. 124
116 Lines of 3-fathom Ojibway freight canoe. 124
117 Lines of 2½-fathom Ojibway, old form, canoe and a 16-foot
long-nose Cree-Ojibway canoe. 125
118 Eastern Ojibway canoe, old form. (_Canadian Pacific Railway
photo._) 126
119 Photo: Ojibway Long-Nose canoe, Rainy Lake District. 126
120 Lines of 2-fathom Ojibway hunter's canoe, 1849 and long-nose
Minnesota Ojibway rice-harvesting canoe. 127
121 Photos: Canoe building, Lac Seul, Canada, 1918 128-129
122 Long Lake Ojibway long-nose canoe. (_Canadian Geological
Survey photo._) 130
123 Photo: Ojibway 19-foot canoe with 13 Indians aboard (1913) 131
124 Lines of 2½-fathom western Cree canoe, Winisk River district,
northwest of James Bay. 133
125 Lines of a 6-fathom fur-trade canoe of the early 19th century. 134
126 Inboard profile of a 6-fathom fur-trade canoe, and details of
construction, fitting, and decoration. 135
127 Lines of small 3-fathom north canoe of the Têtes de Boule
model. 136
128 Photo: Models of fur-trade canoes. 137
129 "Fur-Trade Maître Canot With Passengers." From an oil
painting by Hopkins (_Public Archives of Canada photo_). 138
130 "Bivouac in Expedition in Hudson's Bay Canoe." From an oil
painting by Hopkins (_Public Archives of Canada photo_). 139
131 Ojibway 3-fathom fur-trade canoe, a cargo-carrying type,
marked by cut-under end profiles, that was built as late as
1894. 139
132 Lines of a 5-fathom fur-trade canoe, Grand Lake Victoria
Post, Hudson's Bay Company. 140
133 "Hudson's Bay Canoe Running the Rapids." From an oil painting
by Hopkins (_Public Archives of Canada photo_). 141
134 "Repairing the Canoe." From an oil painting by Hopkins
(_Public Archives of Canada photo_). 142
135 Lines of a 4½-fathom Hudson's Bay Company "North Canoe,"
built by Crees near James Bay, mid-19th century. 143
136 Photo: 5-fathom fur-trade canoe from Brunswick House, a
Hudson's Bay Company post. 144
137 Fur-trade canoes on the Missinaibi River, 1901. (_Canadian
Geological Survey photo._) 145
138 Photo: Fur-trade canoe brigade from Christopherson's Hudson's
Bay Company post, about 1885. 146
139 Forest rangers, Lake Timagami, Ontario. (_Canadian Pacific
Railway Company photo._) 147
140 Photo: Models made by Adney of fur-trade canoe stem-pieces. 149
141 Photo: Models by Adney of fur-trade canoe stem-pieces. 151
142 Portaging a 4½-fathom fur-trade canoe, about 1902, near the
head of the Ottawa River. (_Canadian Pacific Railway Company
photo._) 152
143 Decorations, fur-trade canoes (_Watercolor sketch by Adney._) 153
144 Lines of 2-fathom Chipewyan hunter's canoe. 155
145 Lines of 2½-fathom Chipewyan and 3-fathom Dogrib cargo, or
family, canoes. 156
146 Lines of 3-fathom Slavey and 2½-fathom Algonkin-type
Athabascan plank-stem canoes. 157
147 Lines of Eskimo kayak-form birch-bark canoe from Alaskan
Coast. 159
148 Lines of Athabascan hunting canoes of the kayak form. 160
149 Lines of extinct forms of Loucheux and bateau-form canoes,
reconstructed from old models. 161
150 Lines of kayak-form canoes of the Alaskan Eskimos and
Canadian Athabascan Indians. 163
151 Lines of kayak-form canoe of British Columbia and upper Yukon
valley. 164
152 Construction of kayak-form canoe of the lower Yukon, showing
rigid bottom frame. (_Smithsonian Institution photo._) 165
153 Photo: Model of an extinct form of Athabascan type birch-bark
canoe, of British Columbia. In Peabody Museum, Harvard
University. 167
154 Lines of sturgeon-nose bark canoe of the Kutenai and Shuswap. 169
155 Ojibway canoe construction. (_Canadian Geological Survey
photos._) 170-171
156 Photo: Indians with canoe at Alert Bay, on Cormorant Island,
B. C. 173
157 Eighteenth-century lines drawing of a kayak, from Labrador or
southern Baffin Island. 175
158 Western Alaskan umiak with eight women paddling, Cape Prince
of Wales, Alaska, 1936. (_Photo by Henry B. Collins._) 177
159 Western Alaskan umiak being beached, Cape Prince of Wales,
Alaska, 1936. (_Photo by Henry B. Collins._) 177
160 Repairing umiak frame at St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, 1930.
(_Photo by Henry B. Collins._) 178
161 Eskimo woman splitting walrus hide to make umiak cover, St.
Lawrence Island, Alaska, 1930. (_Photo by Henry B. Collins._)
178
162 Fitting split walrus-hide cover to umiak at St. Lawrence
Island, Alaska, 1930. (_Photo by Henry B. Collins._) 179
163 Outboard motor installed on umiak, Cape Prince of Wales,
Alaska, 1936. (_Photo by Henry B. Collins._) 179
164 Launching umiak in light surf, Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska,
1936. (_Photo by Henry B. Collins._) 179
165 Umiaks on racks, in front of village on Little Diomede
Island, July 30, 1936. (_Photo by Henry B. Collins._) 181
166 Umiak covered with split walrus hide, Cape Prince of Wales,
Alaska. (_Photo by Henry B. Collins._) 183
167 Lines of small umiak for walrus hunting, west coast of
Alaska. 1888-89 184
168 Umiaks near Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, showing walrus hide
cover and lacing. (_Photo by Henry B. Collins._) 185
169 Lines of umiak, west coast of Alaska, King Island, 1886 186
170 Making the blind seam: two stages of method used by the
Eskimo to join skins together. 186
171 Lines of north Alaskan whaling umiak of about 1890 187
172 Lines of Baffin Island umiak, 1885. Drawn from model and
detailed measurements of a single boat. 188
173 Lines of east Greenland umiak, drawn from measurements taken
off by a U.S. Army officer in 1945. 189
174 Frame of kayak, Nunivak Island, Alaska. (_Photo by Henry B.
Collins._) 191
175 Frame of kayak at Nunivak Island, Alaska, 1927. (_Photo by
Henry B. Collins._) 193
176 Lines of Koryak kayak, drawn from damaged kayak in the
American Museum of Natural History, 1948. 195
177 Lines of Kodiak Island kayak, 1885, in U.S. National Museum. 196
178 Lines of Aleutian kayak, Unalaska, 1894, in U.S. National
Museum. 196
179 Lines of kayak from Russian Siberia, 2-hole Aleutian type, in
Washington State Historical Society and Museum. Taken off by
John Heath, 1962. 197
180 Lines of Nunivak Island kayak, Alaska, 1889, in U.S. National
Museum. 198
181 Lines of King Island kayak, Alaska, 1888, in U.S. National
Museum. 198
182 Lines of Norton Sound kayak, Alaska, 1889, in U.S. National
Museum. 198
183 Nunivak Island kayak with picture of mythological water
monster Palriayuk painted along gunwale. (_Photo by Henry B.
Collins._) 199
184 Photo: Nunivak Island kayak in U.S. National Museum. 199
185 Western Alaskan kayak, Cape Prince of Wales, 1936. (_Photo by
Henry B. Collins._) 200
186 Lines of Kotzebue Sound kayak, in Mariners' Museum. 201
187 Lines of Point Barrow kayak, Alaska, 1888, in U.S. National
Museum. 201
188 Lines of Mackenzie Delta kayak, in Museum of the American
Indian. 201
189 Photo: Kayak from Point Barrow, Alaska, in U.S. National
Museum. 202
190 Photo: Cockpit of kayak from Point Barrow. 202
191 Lines of kayak in U.S. National Museum. 203
192 Lines of kayak from Coronation Gulf, Canada. 203
193 Lines of Caribou Eskimo kayak, Canada, in American Museum of
Natural History. 203
194 Lines of Netsilik Eskimo kayak, King William Island, Canada,
in the American Museum of Natural History. 203
195 Lines of old kayak from vicinity of Southampton Island,
Canada. 205
196 Lines of Baffin Island kayak, from Cape Dorset, Canada, in
the Museum of the American Indian. 205
197 Lines of kayak from north Labrador, Canada, in the Museum of
the American Indian. 207
198 Lines of Labrador kayak, Canada, in the U.S. National Museum. 207
199 Lines of north Greenland kayak, in the Museum of the American
Indian. 207
200 Lines of north Greenland kayak, in the Peabody Museum, Salem,
Mass. 207
201 Photo: Profile of Greenland kayak from Disko Bay, in the
National Museum. 208
202 Photo: Deck of Greenland kayak from Disko Bay. 208
203 Photo: Cockpit of Greenland kayak from Disko Bay. 209
204 Photo: Bow view of Greenland kayak from Disko Bay. 209
205 Lines of northwestern Greenland kayak, in the U.S. National
Museum. 210
206 Lines of southwestern Greenland kayak, 1883, in the U.S.
National Museum. 210
207 Lines of southwestern Greenland kayak, in the Peabody Museum,
Salem, Mass. 210
208 Lines of south Greenland kayak, in the American Museum of
Natural History. 211
209 Lines of Malecite and Iroquois temporary canoes. 214
210 Photo: Model of hickory-bark canoe under construction, in the
Mariner's Museum. 217
211 Sketch: Detail of thwart used in Malecite temporary
spruce-bark canoe. 217
212 Iroquois temporary elm-bark canoe, after a drawing of 1849. 218
213 Large moosehide canoe of upper Gravel River, Mackenzie
valley. (_Photo, George M. Douglas._) 221
214 Sketch: Standard Greenland roll. 224
215 Sketch: Critical stage of a capsize recovery. 225
216 Sketch: Hand positions used with the standard Greenland roll. 226
217 Sketch: Kayak rescue, bow-grab method. 226
218 Sketch: Kayak rescue, paddle-grab method. 226
219 Preparing for demonstration of Eskimo roll, Igdlorssuit, West
Greenland. (_Photo by Kenneth Taylor._) 227
220 Getting aboard kayak. (_Photo by Kenneth Taylor._) 228
221 Fully capsized kayak. (_Photo by Kenneth Taylor._) 228
222 Emerging from roll. (_Photo by Kenneth Taylor._) 229
223 Emerging from roll. (_Photo by Kenneth Taylor._) 229
224 Righting the kayak. (_Photo by Kenneth Taylor._) 229
_The
Bark Canoes and Skin Boats
of
North America_
INTRODUCTION
[Illustration: Figure 1
FUR-TRADE CANOE ON THE MISSINAIBI RIVER, 1901. (_Canadian Geological
Survey photo._)]
The bark canoes of the North American Indians, particularly those of
birch bark, were among the most highly developed of manually propelled
primitive watercraft. Built with Stone Age tools from materials
available in the areas of their use, their design, size, and appearance
were varied so as to create boats suitable to the many and different
requirements of their users. The great skill exhibited in their design
and construction shows that a long period of development must have
taken place before they became known to white men.
The Indian bark canoes were most efficient watercraft for use in
forest travel; they were capable of being propelled easily with a
single-bladed paddle. This allowed the paddler, unlike the oarsman,
to face the direction of travel, a necessity in obstructed or shoal
waters and in fast-moving streams. The canoes, being light, could be
carried overland for long distances, even where trails were rough or
nonexistent. Yet they could carry heavy loads in shallow water and
could be repaired in the forest without special tools.
Bark canoes were designed for various conditions: some for use in
rapid streams, some for quiet waters, some for the open waters of
lakes, some for use along the coast. Most were intended for portage in
overland transportation as well. They were built in a variety of sizes,
from small one-man hunting and fishing canoes to canoes large enough
to carry a ton of cargo and a crew, or a war-party, or one or more
families moving to new habitations. Some canoes were designed so that
they could be used, turned bottom up, for shelter ashore.
The superior qualities of the bark canoes of North America are
indicated by the white man's unqualified adoption of the craft. Almost
as soon as he arrived in North America, the white man learned to use
the canoe, without alteration, for wilderness travel. Much later,
when the original materials used in building were no longer readily
available, canvas was substituted for bark, and nails for the lashings
and sewing; but as long as manual propulsion was used, the basic
models of the bark canoes were retained. Indeed, the models and the
proportions used in many of these old bark canoes are retained in the
canoes used today in the wildernesses of northern Canada and Alaska,
and the same styles may be seen in the canoes used for pleasure in the
summer resorts of Europe and America. The bark canoe of North America
shares with the Eskimo kayak the distinction of being one of the few
primitive craft of which the basic models are retained in the boats of
civilized man.
It may seem strange, then, that the literature on American bark canoes
is so limited. Many possible explanations for this might be offered.
One is that the art of bark canoe building died early, as the Indians
came into contact with the whites, before there was any attempt fully
to record Indian culture. The bark canoe is fragile compared to the
dugout. The latter might last hundreds of years submerged in a bog, but
the bark canoe will not last more than a few decades. It is difficult,
in fact, to preserve bark canoes in museums, for as they age and the
bark becomes brittle, they are easily damaged in moving and handling.
Some small models made by Indians are preserved, but, like most models
made by primitive men, these are not to any scale and do not show
with equal accuracy all parts of the canoes they represent. They are,
therefore, of value only when full-sized canoes of the same type are
available for comparison, but this is too rarely the case with the
American Indian bark canoes. Today the builders who might have added to
our knowledge are long dead.
It might be said fairly that those who had the best opportunities to
observe, including many whose profession it was to record the culture
of primitive man, showed little interest in watercraft and have left
us only the most meager descriptions. Even when the watercraft of the
primitive man had obviously played a large part in his culture, we
rarely find a record complete enough to allow the same accuracy of
reproduction that obtains, say, for his art, his dress, or his pottery.
Once lost, the information on primitive watercraft cannot, as a rule,
be recovered.
However, as far as the bark canoes of North America are concerned,
there was another factor. The student who became sufficiently
interested to begin research soon discovered that one man was devoting
his lifetime to the study of these craft; that, in a field with few
documentary records and fewer artifacts, he had had opportunities for
detailed examination not open to younger men; and that it was widely
expected that this man would eventually publish his findings. Hence
many, who might otherwise have carried on some research and writing,
turned to other subjects. Practically, then, the whole field had been
left to Edwin Tappan Adney.
Born at Athens, Ohio, in 1868, Edwin Tappan Adney was the son of
Professor H. H. Adney, formerly a colonel in a volunteer regiment in
the Civil War but then on the faculty of Ohio University. His mother
was Ruth Shaw Adney. Edwin Tappan Adney did not receive a college
education, but he managed to pursue three years' study of art with
The Art Students' League of New York. Apparently he was interested in
ornithology as well as in art, and spent much time in New York museums,
where he met Ernest Thompson Seton and other naturalists. Being unable
to afford more study in art school, he went on what was intended to be
a short vacation, in 1887, to Woodstock, New Brunswick. There he became
interested in the woods-life of Peter Joe, a Malecite Indian who lived
in a temporary camp nearby. This life so interested the 19-year-old
Ohioan that he turned toward the career of an artist-craftsman,
recording outdoor scenes of the wilderness in pictures.
He undertook to learn the handicrafts of the Indian, in order to
picture him and his works correctly, and lengthened his stay. In 1889,
Adney and Peter Joe each built a birch-bark canoe, Adney following and
recording every step the Indian made during construction. The result
Adney published, with sketches, in _Harper's Young People_ magazine,
July 29, 1890, and, in a later version, in _Outing_, May 1900. These,
so far as is known, are the earliest detailed descriptions of a
birch-bark canoe, with instructions for building one. Daniel Beard
considered them the best, and with Adney's permission used the material
in his _Boating Book for Boys_.
In 1897, Adney went to the Klondike as an artist and special
correspondent for _Harper's Weekly_ and _The London Chronicle_, to
report on the gold-rush. He also wrote a book on his experience,
_Klondike Stampede_, published in 1900. In 1899 he married Minnie Bell
Sharp, of Woodstock, but by 1900 Adney was again in the Northwest,
this time as special correspondent for _Colliers_ magazine at Nome,
Alaska, during the gold-rush of that year. On his return to New
York, Adney engaged in illustrating outdoor scenes and also lectured
for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. In 1908
he contributed to a Harper's Outdoor Book for Boys. From New York
he removed to Montreal and became a citizen of Canada, entering the
Canadian Army as a Lieutenant of Engineers in 1916. He was assigned
to the construction of training models and was on the staff of the
Military College, mustering out in 1919. He then made his home in
Montreal, engaging in painting and illustrating. From his early years
in Woodstock he had made a hobby of the study of birch-bark canoes, and
while in Montreal he became honorary consultant to the Museum of McGill
University, dealing with Indian lore. By 1925 Adney had assembled a
great deal of material and, to clarify his ideas, he began construction
of scale models of each type of canoe, carrying on a very extensive
correspondence with Indians, factors and other employees (retired and
active) of the Hudson's Bay Company, and with government agents on the
Indian Reservations. He also made a number of expeditions to interview
Indians. Possessing linguistic ability in Malecite, he was much
interested in all the Indian languages; this helped him in his canoe
studies.
Owing to personal and financial misfortunes, he and his wife (then
blind) returned in the early 1930's to her family homestead in
Woodstock, where Mrs. Adney died in 1937. Adney continued his work
under the greatest difficulties, including ill-health, until his death,
October 10, 1950. He did not succeed in completing his research and had
not organized his collection of papers and notes for publication when
he died.
Through the farsightedness of Frederick Hill, then director of The
Mariners' Museum, Newport News, Virginia, Adney had, ten years before
his death, deposited in the museum over a hundred of his models and a
portion of his papers. After his death his son Glenn Adney cooperated
in placing in The Mariners' Museum the remaining papers dealing with
bark canoes, thus completing the "Adney Collection."
Frederick Hill's appreciation of the scope and value of the collection
prompted him to seek my assistance in organizing this material with a
view to publication. Though the Adney papers were apparently complete
and were found, upon careful examination, to contain an immense amount
of valuable information, they were in a highly chaotic state. At the
request of The Mariners' Museum, I have assembled the pertinent papers
and have compiled from Adney's research notes as complete a description
as I could of bark canoes, their history, construction, decoration and
use. I had long been interested in the primitive watercraft of the
Americas, but I was one of those who had discontinued research on bark
canoes upon learning of Adney's work. The little I had accomplished
dealt almost entirely with the canoes of Alaska and British Columbia;
from these I had turned to dugouts and to the skin boats of the Eskimo.
Therefore I have faced with much diffidence the task of assembling and
preparing the Adney papers for publication, particularly since it was
not always clear what Adney had finally decided about certain matters
pertaining to canoes. His notes were seldom arranged in a sequence that
would enable the reader to decide which, of a number of solutions or
opinions given, were Adney's final ones.
Adney's interest in canoes, as canoes, was very great, but his interest
in anthropology led him to form many opinions about pre-Columbian
migrations of Indian tribes and about the significance of the
decorations used in some canoes. His papers contain considerable
discussion of these matters, but they are in such state that only an
ethnologist could edit and evaluate them. In addition, my own studies
lead me to conclude that the mere examination of watercraft alone is
insufficient evidence upon which to base opinions as far-reaching as
those of Adney. Therefore I have not attempted to present in this
work any of Adney's theories regarding the origin or ethnological
significance of the canoes discussed. I have followed the same practice
with those Adney papers which concern Indian language, some of which
relate to individual tribal canoe types and are contained in the canoe
material. (Most of his papers on linguistics are now in The Peabody
Museum, Salem, Massachusetts.)
The strength and weaknesses of Adney's work, as shown in his papers,
drawings, and models, seem to me to be fully apparent. That part
dealing with the eastern Indians, with whom he had long personal
contact, is by far the most voluminous and, perhaps, the most accurate.
The canoes used by Indians west of the St. Lawrence as far as the
western end of the Great Lakes and northward to the west side of
Hudsons Bay are, with a few exceptions, covered in somewhat less
detail, but the material nonetheless appears ample for our purpose. The
canoes used in the Canadian Northwest, except those from the vicinity
of Great Slave Lake, and in Alaska were less well described. It appears
that Adney had relatively little opportunity to examine closely the
canoes used in Alaska, during his visit there in 1900, and that he
later was unable to visit those American museums having collections
that would have helped him with regard to these areas. As a result, I
have found it desirable to add my own material on these areas, drawn
largely from the collections of American museums and from my notes on
construction details.
An important part of Adney's work deals with the large canoes used in
the fur trade. Very little beyond the barest of descriptions has been
published and, with but few exceptions, contemporary paintings and
drawings of these canoes are obviously faulty. Adney was fortunate
enough to have been able to begin his research on these canoes while
there were men alive who had built and used them. As a result he
obtained information that would have been lost within, at most, the
span of a decade. His interest was doubly keen, fortunately, for Adney
not only was interested in the canoes as such, he also valued the
information for its aid in painting historical scenes. As a result,
there is hardly a question concerning fur trade canoes, whether of
model, construction, decoration, or use, that is not answered in his
material.
I have made every effort to preserve the results of Adney's
investigations of the individual types in accurate drawings or in the
descriptions in the text. It was necessary to redraw and complete
most of Adney's scale drawings of canoes, for they were prepared for
model-building rather than for publication. Where his drawings were
incomplete, they could be filled in from his scale models and notes.
It must be kept in mind that in drawing plans of primitive craft the
draftsman must inevitably "idealize" the subject somewhat, since a
drawing shows fair curves and straight lines which the primitive
craft do not have in all cases. Also, the inboard profiles are
diagrammatic rather than precise, because, in the necessary reduction
of the full-size canoe to a drawing, this is the only way to show its
"form" in a manner that can be interpreted accurately and that can
be reproduced in a model or full size, as desired. It is necessary
to add that, though most of the Adney plans were measured from
full-size canoes, some were reconstructed from Indian models, builders'
information, or other sources. Thanks to Adney's thorough knowledge of
bark construction, the plans are highly accurate, but there are still
chances for error, and these are discussed where they occur.
Although reconstruction of extinct canoe types is difficult, for the
strange canoes of the Beothuk Indians of Newfoundland Adney appears to
have solved some of the riddles posed by contemporary descriptions and
the few grave models extant (the latter may have been children's toys).
Whether or not his reconstructed canoe is completely accurate cannot be
determined; at least it conforms reasonably well to the descriptions
and models, and Adney's thorough knowledge of Indian craftsmanship
gives weight to his opinions and conclusions. This much can be said:
the resulting canoe would be a practical one and it fulfills very
nearly all descriptions of the type known today.
Adney's papers and drawings dealing with the construction of bark
canoes are most complete and valuable. So complete as to be almost a
set of "how-to-do-it" instructions, they cover everything from the
selection of materials and use of tools to the art of shaping and
building the canoe. An understanding of these building instructions is
essential to any sound examination of the bark canoes of North America,
for they show the limitations of the medium and indicate what was and
what was not reasonable to expect from the finished product.
In working on Adney's papers, it became obvious that this publication
could not be limited to birch-bark canoes, since canoes built of other
barks and even some covered with skins appear in the birch bark areas.
Because of this, and to explain the technical differences between these
and the birch canoes, skin-covered canoes have been included. I have
also appended a chapter on Eskimo skin boats and kayaks. This material
I had originally prepared for inclusion in the _Encyclopedia Arctica_,
publication of which was cancelled after one volume had appeared. As
a result, the present work now covers the native craft, exclusive of
dugouts, of all North America north of Mexico.
In my opinion the value of the information gathered by Edwin Tappan
Adney is well worth the effort that has been expended to bring it to
its present form, and any merit that attaches to it belongs largely to
Adney himself, whose long and painstaking research, carried on under
severe personal difficulties, is the foundation of this study.
HOWARD IRVING CHAPELLE
_Curator of Transportation,
Museum of History and Technology_
_Chapter One_
EARLY HISTORY
The development of bark canoes in North America before the arrival of
the white men cannot satisfactorily be traced. Unlike the dugout, the
bark canoe is too perishable to survive in recognizable form buried in
a bog or submerged in water, so we have little or no visual evidence of
very great age upon which to base sound assumptions.
Records of bark canoes, contained in the reports of the early white
explorers of North America, are woefully lacking in detail, but they
at least give grounds for believing that the bark canoes even then
were highly developed, and were the product of a very long period of
existence and improvement prior to the first appearance of Europeans.
The Europeans were most impressed by the fact that the canoes were
built of bark reinforced by a light wooden frame. The speed with
which they could be propelled by the Indians also caused amazement,
as did their light weight and marked strength, combined with a great
load-carrying capacity in shallow water. It is remarkable, however,
that although bark canoes apparently aroused so much admiration among
Europeans, so little of accurate and complete information appears in
their writings.
With two notable exceptions, to be discussed later, early explorers,
churchmen, travellers, and writers were generally content merely to
mention the number of persons in a canoe. The first published account
of variations in existing forms of the American bark canoe does not
occur until 1724, and the first known illustration of a bark canoe
accurate enough to indicate its tribal designation appeared only two
years earlier. This fact makes any detailed examination of the early
books dealing with North America quite unprofitable as far as precise
information on bark canoes is concerned.
The first known reference by a Frenchman to the bark canoe is that of
Jacques Cartier, who reported that he saw two bark canoes in 1535; he
said the two carried a total of 17 men. Champlain was the first to
record any definite dimensions of the bark canoes; he wrote that in
1603 he saw, near what is now Quebec, bark canoes 8 to 9 paces long
and 1½ paces wide, and he added that they might transport as much as
a pipe of wine yet were light enough to be carried easily by one man.
If a pace is taken as about 30 inches, then the canoes would have
been between 20 and 23 feet long, between 40 and 50 inches beam and
capable of carrying about half a ton, English measurements. These were
apparently Algonkin canoes. Champlain was impressed by the speed of
the bark canoes; he reported that his fully manned longboat was passed
by two canoes, each with two paddlers. As will be seen, he was perhaps
primarily responsible for the rapid adoption of bark canoes by the
early French in Canada.
The first English reference that has been found is in the records of
Captain George Weymouth's voyage. He and his crew in 1603 saw bark
canoes to the westward of Penobscot Bay, on what is now the coast of
Maine. The English were impressed, just as Champlain had been, by
the speed with which canoes having but three or four paddlers could
pass his ship's boat manned with four oarsmen. Weymouth also speaks
admiringly of the fine workmanship shown in the structure of the canoes.
When Champlain attacked the Iroquois, on what is now Lake Champlain,
he found that these Indians had "oak" bark (more probably elm) canoes
capable of carrying 10, 15, and 18 men. This would indicate that the
maximum size of the Iroquois canoes was about 30 to 33 feet long. The
illustrations in his published account indicate canoes about 30 feet
long; but early illustrations of this kind were too often the product
of the artist's imagination, just as were the delineations of the
animals and plants of North America.
As an example of what may be deduced from other early French accounts,
Champlain in 1615, with a companion and 12 Indians, embarked at La
Chine in two bark canoes for a trip to the Great Lakes. He stated
that the two canoes, with men and baggage aboard, were over-crowded.
Taking one of these canoes as having 7 men and baggage aboard, it seems
apparent that it was not much larger than the largest of the canoes
Champlain had seen in 1603 on the St. Lawrence. But in 1672, Louis
Joliet and Father Jacques Marquette traveled in two canoes, carrying
a total of 5 French and 25 Indians--say 14 in one canoe and 16 in the
other. These canoes, then, must have been at least 28 feet long over
the gunwales, exclusive of the round of the ends, or about 30 feet
overall. The Chevalier Henri de Tonti, one of La Salle's officers,
mentions a canoe carrying 30 men--probably 14 paddlers on each side, a
steersman, and a passenger or officer. Such a capacity might indicate
a canoe about 40 feet over the gunwales, though this seems very long
indeed; it is more probable that the canoe would be about 36 feet long.
Another of La Salle's officers, Baron de LaHontan, gave the first
reasonably complete account that has been found of the size and
character of a birch-bark canoe. This was written at Montreal June 29,
1684. After stating that he had seen at least a hundred bark canoes in
his journeys, he said that birch-bark canoes ranged in length from 10
to 28 _pieds_ and were capable of carrying from 2 to 14 persons. The
largest, when carrying cargo, might be handled by three men and could
carry 2,000 pounds of freight (20 quintals). These large canoes were
safe and never upset. They were built of bark peeled in the winter; hot
water was thrown on the bark to make it pliable, so that it could be
rolled up after it was removed from the tree. The canoes were built of
more than one piece of bark as a rule.
The large canoes, he reports, were 28 _pieds_ long, 4½ _pieds_ wide and
20 _pouces_ deep, top of gunwale to top of frames on bottom. The last
indicates "inside" measurement; in this the length would be over the
gunwales, not overall, and the beam inside the gunwales, not extreme.
He also says the canoes had a lining or sheathing of cedar "splints"
or plank and, inside this, cedar ribs or frames. The bark was the
thickness of an _écu_ (this coin, a crown, was a little less than ⅛
inch thick), the sheathing the thickness of two _écus_, and the ribs of
three. The ends of the ribs were pointed and these were seated in holes
in the underside of the gunwales. There were 8 crosspieces (thwarts)
between the gunwales (note: such a canoe would commonly have 9 thwarts;
LaHontan may have erred here).
The canoes were convenient, he says, because of their great lightness
and shallow draft, but they were easily damaged. Hence they had to be
loaded and unloaded afloat and usually required repairs to the bark
covers at the end of each day. They had to be staked down at night,
so that a strong wind might not damage or blow them away; but this
light weight permitted them to be carried with ease by two men, one at
each end, and this suited them for use on the rivers of Canada, where
rapids and falls made carrying frequently necessary. These canoes were
of no value on the Lakes, LaHontan states, as they could not be used
in windy weather; though in good weather they might cross lakes and
might go four or five leagues on open water. The canoes carried small
sails, but these could be used only with fair winds of moderate force.
The paddlers might kneel, sit, or stand to paddle and pole the canoes.
The paddle blade was 20 _pouces_ long, 6 wide, and 4 _lignes_ thick;
the handle was of the diameter of a pigeon's egg and three _pieds_
long. The paddlers also had a "setting pole," to pole the canoes in
shoal water. The canoes were alike at both ends and cost 80 _écus_
(LaHontan's cost 90), and would last not more than five or six years.
The foregoing is but a condensed extract of LaHontan's lively account.
In translating LaHontan's measurements a _pied_ is taken as 12.79
inches, a _pouce_ as about 1⅛ inches. The French fathom, or _brasse_,
as used in colonial Canada, was the length from finger-tip to
finger-tip of the arms outstretched and so varied, but may be roughly
estimated as about 64 inches; this was the "fathom" used later in
classing fur-trade canoes for length. In English measurements his
large canoe would have been about 30 feet long over the gunwales and,
perhaps, almost 33 feet overall, 57½ inches beam inside the gunwales,
or about 60 inches extreme beam. The depth inside would be 21 or 21¾
inches bottom to top of gunwale amidships. LaHontan also described the
elm-bark canoes of the Iroquois as being large and wide enough to carry
30 paddlers, 15 on a side, sitting or standing. Here again a canoe
about 40 feet long is indicated. He said that these elm-bark canoes
were crude, heavy and slow, with low sides, so that once he and his men
reached an open lake, he no longer feared pursuit by the Iroquois in
these craft.