prolonged thaw in winter, particularly one accompanied by rain, or as
soon as the sap in the trees had begun to flow in early spring. If this
was not possible, "winter" bark, as described on page 14, was used as
long as it was obtainable. Only dire necessity forced the Indian to use
bark of a poor quality. Fall peeling, after the first frosts, was also
practiced in some areas. The work on the tree was done from stages made
of small trees whose branches could be used in climbing, or from rough
ladders constructed of short rungs lashed to two poles. When steel axes
and hatchets were available the tree could be felled, provided care was
taken to have it fall on poles laid on the ground to prevent damage
to the bark in the fall and to keep the trunk high enough to allow it
to be peeled. Felling permitted use of hot water to heat the bark,
and thus made peeling possible in colder weather than would permit
stripping a standing tree. Felling by burning, however, sometimes
resulted in an uncontrolled fall in which the bark could be damaged.
Whether stone or steel knives were used, the bark was cut in the same
manner, with the blade held at an angle to make a slashing cut; holding
a sharp knife upright, so as to cut square to the surface of the bark,
makes the tool stick and jump, and a ragged cut results. A stone or
steel axe blade could also very readily be used in cutting bark; with
such tools, it was customary to tap the head with a maul to make the
cut. It was necessary to make only the longitudinal cut on the trunk of
the birch tree, as the bark would split around the tree with the grain
at the ends of this cut. Spruce and other barks, however, required both
vertical and horizontal cuts.
Once the vertical cut was made to the desired length, one edge of the
bark was carefully pried away from the wood with the blade of a knife.
Then the removal of the bark could proceed more rapidly. Instead of
starting the bark with a knife blade, some Indians used a small stick,
one end of which was slightly bent and made into a chisel shape about
three-quarters of an inch wide. This was used to pry the bark away, not
only along the edge of the vertical cut, but throughout the operation
of peeling. Another tool, useful in obtaining "winter" bark, which was
difficult to strip from the tree, was a piece of dry, thick birch bark,
about a foot square, with one edge cut in a slight round and beveled to
a sharp edge. The beveled side was inserted beneath the bark and rocked
on its curved cutting edge, thus separating the bark from the wood with
less danger of splitting the bark. Spruce and other barks were removed
from the tree with the same tools.
After the bark had been removed from the tree, it was handled with
great care to avoid splitting it along the grain. Even in quite warm
weather, the bark was usually heated slightly with a bark torch to make
it flexible; sometimes hot water was applied if the inner rind was not
to be used for decoration. Then the sheets were rolled up tightly in
the direction of growth of the tree. This made a roll convenient for
transporting and also helped to prevent the bark from curling. If the
bark was not to be used immediately, it was carefully submerged in
water so that it would not dry out before it was fitted to the canoe.
Spruce and other resinous barks, which could not be stored, were used
as soon as possible after they were stripped from the tree, the rough
exterior surface being removed by scraping.
Roots for "sewing" were also gathered, split, and rolled up, then
placed in water so they would remain flexible. Sometimes they were
boiled as well, just before being used.
The spruce gum was gathered and tempered. Before metal kettles and
frying pans became available to the Indians, it was heated in a number
of ways. One method was to heat it in a wooden trough with hot stones.
As the spruce gum melted easily, great temperature was not required.
Stone and pottery containers were also used. Another method was to boil
water in a bark container and drop in the spruce gum, which melted and
floated on top of the water in such a consistency that it could be
skimmed off with a bark spoon or dipper. Chips and dirt were skimmed
off the hot gum with a strip of bark or a flat stick.
[Illustration: Figure 20
PEELING, ROLLING, AND TRANSPORTING bark for use in canoe construction.
(_Sketches by Adney._)]
Tempering, done after the gum was melted, consisted of adding animal
fat and a little finely powdered charcoal. The mixture was then tested
by dipping a strip of bark into it and then into cold water. The strip
was bent to see if it cracked the spruce gum; if it did, too much
tempering material had been added and more gum was required. If no
cracking occurred, the gum on the strip was held in the hand for a few
moments to see if it became tacky or could be rubbed off the strip; if
either occurred, more tempering was needed. The method of tempering
had many variations. One was to remelt the gum a number of times; this
darkened it and made it harder. Red ochre or vermillion were sometimes
added, often together with charcoal made from the willow. Instead of
spruce gum, in some areas, pine resin was used, tempered with tallow
and sometimes charcoal. The Indians in the East sometimes used remelted
spruce gum to which a little tallow had been added, making a light
brown or almost transparent mixture. Most tribal groups used gum that
was black, or nearly so.
For repair work, when melted spruce gum could not be procured in the
usual manner, hard globules and flakes of gum scraped from a fallen
spruce tree were used. These could not be easily melted, so they were
first chewed thoroughly until soft; then the gum was spread over a
seam. This type of gum would not stick well unless it were smoothed
with a glowing stick, and hence was used only in emergencies.
It is believed that before steel tools were available birch-bark canoes
were commonly built of a number of sheets of bark rather than, as quite
often occurred in later times, of only one or two sheets. The greater
number of sheets in the early canoes resulted from the difficulty in
obtaining large sheets from a standing tree. Comparison of surviving
birch-bark canoes suggests that those built of a number of sheets
would have contained the better bark, as large sheets often included
bark taken from low on the trunk, and this, as has been mentioned, is
usually of poorer quality than that higher on the trunk.
It is known that the early Indians carried on some trade in bark canoe
building materials, as they did in stone for weapons and tools. Areas
in which some materials were scarce or of poor quality might thus
obtain replacements from more fortunate areas. Fine quality bark,
"sewing" roots, and good spruce gum had trade value, and these items
were sold by some of the early fur traders. Paint does not appear to
have been used on early canoes, except, in some instances, on the
woodwork. This use occurred mostly in the East, particularly among the
Beothuks in Newfoundland. Paint was apparently not used on birch bark
until it was introduced by white men in the fur trade.
Summary
It will be seen that the Indian gathered all materials and prepared
them for use with only a few simple tools, most of which could be
manufactured at the building site and discarded after the work was
completed. The only other tools he usually brought to the scene were
those he normally required in his everyday existence in the forest.
Some instruments used in canoe building, however, might be preserved;
these were the measuring sticks on which were marked, by notches,
certain measurements to be used in shaping a canoe. Also, some Indians
used a building frame that shaped the bottom in plan view. These are
best described when the actual building methods are examined.
[Illustration: Figure 21
BUILDING FRAME FOR A LARGE CANOE. Dotted lines show change in shape
is caused by omitting crossbars or by using short bars in ends. Note
lashing at ends and method of fastening thwart with a thong.]
_Chapter Three_
FORM AND CONSTRUCTION
Classification of the types of bark canoes built by the Indians is not
a simple matter. Perhaps the most practical way is to employ the tribal
designation, such as Cree canoe, Micmac canoe, accepting as a criterion
the distinctive general appearance of the canoes used by each tribe. It
must be emphasized, however, that this method of classification does
not indicate the model, or "lines," employed. Both the model and the
size of bark canoes were extensively affected by the requirements of
use: lake, coastal, or river navigation; smooth, rough, or fast-running
water; transportation of a hunter, a family, or cargo; the conditions
and length of portages; and the permanence of construction desired.
Canoes of various models, sizes, methods of construction, or decoration
might be found within the limits of a single tribal classification.
Also, within a given area, there might be apparent similarity in
model among the canoes of two or three tribal groups. However, a
classification based on geographical areas has been found to be
impractical, because the movements of tribal groups in search of new
hunting grounds tend to make tribal boundaries difficult to define.
_Form_
The canoes of some tribal groups appear to be hybrids, representing an
intermingling of types as a result of some past contact between tribes.
Those of other groups are of like model, form, and even appearance,
possibly owing to like conditions of employment. The effects of a
similarity in use requirements upon inventiveness is seen in the
applications for modern patent rights, where two or more applications
can cover almost exactly the same device without the slightest evidence
of contact between the applicants; there is no logical reason to
suppose the same condition cannot apply to primitive peoples, even
though their processes of invention might be very slow or relatively
rare in occurrence.
The effects of migration of tribes upon their canoe forms can only be
studied with respect to those comparatively recent times for which
records and observations are available. From the limited information
at hand it appears that the Indian, when he moved to an area where use
requirements and materials available for building differed from those
to which he had been accustomed, was often forced to modify the model,
form, size, and construction of his canoe. In some instances this seems
to have resulted in the adoption of another tribal form.
The distinctive feature that usually identifies the tribal
classification of a bark canoe is the profile of the ends, although
sometimes the profile of the gunwale, or sheer, and even of the
bottom, is also involved. The bow and stern of many bark canoes were
as near alike in profile as the method of construction would permit;
nevertheless some types had distinct bow and and stern forms. Among
tribes the form of the ends of the canoes varied considerably; some
were low and unimpressive, others were high and often graceful.
Obviously practical reasons can be found for certain tribal variations.
In some areas, the low ends appear to ensue from the use of the canoe
in open water, where the wind resistance of a high end would make
paddling laborious. In others the low ends appear to result from the
canoe being commonly employed in small streams where overhanging
branches would obstruct passage. Portage conditions may likewise have
been a factor; low ends would pass through brush more easily than high.
Types used where rapids were to be run often had ends higher than the
gunwales to prevent the canoe from shipping water over the bow. The
high, distinctive ends of the canoes most used in the fur trade,
on the other hand, were said to have resulted from the necessity of
employing the canoe as a shelter. When the canoe was turned upside
down on the ground, with one gunwale and the tops of the high ends
supporting it, there was enough headroom under the canoe to permit
its use as a shelter without the addition of any temporary structure.
The desirability of this characteristic in the fur-trade canoe can be
explained by the fact that the crew travelled as many hours as possible
each day, and rested for only a very short period, so that rapid
erection of shelter lengthened both the periods of travel and of rest.
Yet these practical considerations do not always explain the end-forms
found in bark canoes. Canoes with relatively high ends were used in
open waters, and similar canoes were portaged extensively. Possibly
the Indian's consciousness of tribal distinctions led him to retain
some feature, such as height of the end-forms, as a means of tribal
recognition, even though practical considerations required its
suppression to some degree.
The profile of the gunwales also varied a good deal among tribal types.
Most bark canoes, because of the raised end-forms, showed a short,
sharp upsweep of the sheer close to the bow and stern. Some showed a
marked hump, or upward sweep, amidships which made the sheer profile
follow somewhat the form of a cupid's bow. Many types had a straight,
or nearly straight, sheer; others had an orthodox sheer, with the
lowest part nearly amidships.
The bottom profiles of bark canoes showed varying degrees of curvature.
In some the bottom was straight for most of its length, with a slight
rise toward the ends. In others the bottom showed a marked curvature
over its full length, and in a few the bottom was practically straight
between the points at which the stems were formed. Some northwestern
types had a slightly hogged bottom, but in these the wooden framework
was unusually flexible, so that the bottom became straight, or even a
little rockered when the canoe was afloat and manned.
The practical reasons for these bottom forms are not clear. For canoes
used in rapid streams or in exposed waters where high winds were to
be met many Indians preferred bottoms that were straight. Others in
these same conditions preferred them rockered to varying degrees. It
is possible that rocker may be desirable in canoes that must be run
ashore end-on in surf. Of course, a strongly rockered bottom permits
quick turning; this may have been appreciated by some tribal groups.
Still other Indians appear to have believed that a canoe with a
slightly rockered bottom could be paddled more easily than one having a
perfectly straight bottom.
The midsections of bark canoes varied somewhat in form within a single
tribal type, because the method of construction did not give absolute
control of the sectional shape during the building, but, on the whole,
the shape followed tribal custom, being modified only to meet use
requirements. Perhaps the two most common midsection shapes were the
~U~-form, with the bottom somewhat flattened, and the dish-shape,
having rather straight, flaring sides combined with a narrow, flat,
or nearly flat bottom. Some eastern canoes showed marked tumble-home
in the topside above the bilge; often they had a wide and rather flat
rounded bottom, with a short, hard turn in the bilge. A few eastern
canoes, used mainly in open waters along the coast, had bottoms with
deadrise--that is, a shallow ~V~-form, the apex of the ~V~ being much
rounded; the ~V~-bottom, of course, would have aided in steering the
canoe in strong winds. One type of canoe with this rising bottom had
tumble-home topsides, but another, used under severe conditions, had a
midsection that was an almost perfect ~V~, the apex being rounded but
with so little curvature in the arms that no bilge could be seen.
Generally speaking, the eastern canoes had a rather well rounded bottom
with a high turn of the bilge and some tumble-home above, though they
might have a flatter form when built for shallow-water use or for
increased carrying capacity. A canoe built for speed, however, might
be very round on the bottom, and it might or might not have some
tumble-home in the topside. In the West, a flat bottom with flaring
topsides predominated; fast canoes there had a very narrow, flat bottom
with some flare, the width of the bottom and the amount of flare being
increased to give greater capacity on a shallow draft. Some canoes in
the Northwest had a skiff-form flat bottom and flaring sides, with the
chine rounded off sharply.
The form of the sections near the ends of a canoe are controlled to a
great extent by the form of midsection. In canoes having flat bottoms
combined with flaring sides this form was usually carried to the ends,
where it became a rather sharp ~V~, giving fine lines for speed when
the canoe was light, and only moderately increased resistance when
it was loaded. Among eastern canoes having tumble-home topsides, the
midsection form could be carried to the ends, gradually becoming
sharper in canoes having "chin" in the profiles of the ends; in canoes
having no chin, the sections necessarily took a pointed oval form close
to the ends. A few canoes having flaring sides and chin ends showed a
similar change in form. In all, however, the bow and stern showed a
tendency toward fullness near the waterline.
Canoes with a strongly ~U~-shaped midsection commonly carried this form
to the ends, with increasing sharpness in the round of the ~U~. The
~U~-form predominated in the end-sections of eastern canoes, of course,
though a few showed a ~V~-form, as must be expected. The fairing of
the end sections into the end profiles appears to have controlled this
matter. The outline of the gunwales, in plan view, also influenced the
form of the end-sections and of the level lines there. Some canoes,
when viewed from above, showed a pinched-in form at the ends, this was
caused by the construction of the gunwales or by the projection of
the end-profile forms beyond the ends of the true structural gunwale
members. Such canoes would have a very strong hollow in the level lines
projected through their hull-form below the gunwales, and this could
have been accentuated by any strong chin in the bow and stern shapes.
On the other hand, many canoes showed no hollow, and the level lines
were straight for some distance inboard of the ends, or were slightly
convex. Full, convex level lines will appear below the waterline in
canoes having a strongly rockered bottom.
It should be noted that the Indians were aware that very sharp-ended
canoes usually were fast under paddle; hence they employed this
characteristic in any canoe where high speed was desired. However,
the degree of sharpness in the gunwales and at the level lines is not
always the same at both ends, though the variation is sometimes too
slight to be detected without careful measurement; it may at times have
been accidental, but in many cases it appears to have been intentional.
Some eastern canoes having their greatest width, or beam, on the
gunwales at midlength had finer level lines aft than forward,
apparently to produce trim by the stern when afloat and manned. This
made them steer well in rough water. Some northwestern canoes had their
greatest beam abaft the midlength, giving them a long, sharp bow; the
run was sometimes formed by sweeping up the bottom aft to a shallow
stern, as well as by the double-ended form of the canoe. Despite a
general similarity in the form of the ends, in some canoes the bow
was marked by its greater height, in others, by the manner in which
the bark was lapped at the seams, or by the manner of decoration. In
a few with ends exactly alike the bow was indicated by the fitting
of the thwarts such as, for example, by placing at the forward end a
particular style of thwart, intended to hold the torch used in spearing
fish at night, or to support a mast and sail.
In examining the lines, or model, of a bark canoe, the limitations
imposed upon the builder by the characteristics of bark must be
considered. The degree of flexibility, the run of the grain, and the
toughness and elasticity of the bark used all influenced the form
of canoes. The marked chin in the ends of some canoes, for example,
resulted from an effort to offset the tendency of birch bark to split
when a row of stitches lay in the same line of grain. The curved chin
profile allowed the stitching to cross a number of lines of grain.
Sometimes this tendency was avoided by incorporating battens into the
coarse stitching; this style of sewing was particularly useful in
piecing out birch bark for width in a canoe, where the sewing had to be
in line with the grain. The Indians also employed alternating short and
long stitching in some form for the same purpose. Spruce bark, as used
in canoes in the extreme North and Northwest, could be sewn in much the
same manner as birch bark, but with due regard for the longitudinal
grain of the spruce bark.
The joining of two pieces of bark by root sewing or lacing, combined
with the use of spruce gum to obtain watertightness, formed a seam that
could be readily damaged by abrasion from launching the canoe, from
pulling it ashore, or from grounding it accidentally. For this reason,
seams below the waterline were kept at a minimum and were never placed
along the longitudinal centerline of the bottom, where they would
have formed a sharp apex to both the ~V~-shaped midsection and to the
deadrise bottom form. Likewise, a seam was not used in forming the
rocker of the bottom. Though seams had to be used to join the bark at
bow and stern, the form of the canoe allowed the seams to be greatly
strengthened and protected there.
The restrictions on form imposed by barks such as elm, chestnut, and
hickory were very great. These barks, which are not as elastic as birch
bark, were sometimes employed in a single large sheet. The sheets were
not joined for length; canoes of this material were often formed by
crimping, or lap folding, rather than by cutting out gores and then
sewing the edges together. The characteristics of these barks can
readily be demonstrated with a sheet of paper: such a sheet can be
made into a crude canoe-form by bending it lengthwise and joining the
ends, but it will be obvious that the midsection takes a very unstable
~U~-form. By forcing the ends inward to give a ram, or chin, effect
to bow and stern, a somewhat flatter bottom can be obtained in the
midsection. By crimping or folding the paper gore-fashion near each
end of the canoe-form at the gunwale edge, some rocker is created in
the bottom and the width of the gunwales is increased near the ends,
giving more capacity. But without the crimping along the gunwale, when
the midsection form is flattened on the bottom, the latter tends to
hog. Many of these bark canoes utilized both the rams ends and crimping
to obtain a more useful form. However, while a sheet of birch bark
could be crimped or gored into a scow-form canoe such as the Asiatic
birch-bark canoe, no example of this form from North America is known.
On this continent all bark canoes were sharp at both ends, i.e.,
double-ended, although a number of North American dugouts were scow-(or
punt-) shaped.
[Illustration: Figure 22
CANOE formed (a) without crimping or goring sides, showing hogged
bottom; and (b) with ram ends to reduce hogging of bottom.]
[Illustration: Figure 23
CANOE formed (a) by crimping sides, showing rockered bottom line, and
(b) by simple gores in sides. The same effects are obtained by making
bark cover of three pieces: sides and bottom.]
Birch bark gave much more freedom in the selection of form simply
because it could be joined together in small odd-sized sheets to shape
a hull, and because it was elastic enough to allow some "moulding"
by pressure of the framework employed. Birch bark could be gored, or
slashed, and rejoined without resort to folding or crimping; thus it
permitted a smooth exterior surface to be achieved. The toughness of
the bark was sufficient to allow some sewing in line with the grain,
to add to the width of a sheet, if the proper technique were employed
(this was also true to a lesser extent of spruce bark).
[Illustration: Figure 24
CANOE FORMED by use of gores and panels.]