stems is shown together with the outside stem battens and lashing; the
ends of the outwales are apparently under the cord and perhaps under
the stem battens. The stem batten is in one piece sharply bent under
the stems in ~U~-form. The end lashing shown seems to be in groups and
the bottom, for a little distance inboard of the stems, is also shown
as lashed. Three thwarts are shown. It may be that this drawing was
made not from a full-size canoe but from a model, for the proportions
are obviously incorrect. This possibility casts some doubt on the
picture as evidence of the building practices, for in Indian-built
models simplified construction details not used in actual canoe
building are often found.
According to early accounts and the statements of eastern Indians,
these emergency canoes were often heavy and unsuitable for portaging.
By 1750, at least, the Iroquois were using blanket square-sails in
their elm-bark canoes.
_Skin Boats_
Among the other forms of temporary or emergency canoes used by North
American Indians, the most widespread was some form of skin boat.
These would not require description here were it not for the fact
that the Indian skin boats were usually built by bark-canoe methods
of construction rather than by methods such as used by the Eskimo. To
build their skin boats--kayaks and umiaks--the Eskimo first constructed
a complete framework, and this was then covered with skins sewn to fit.
This process of building required a rigid framework capable of not only
standing without a skin covering but also of giving both longitudinal
and transverse strength sufficient to withstand loading, without the
slightest support from the skin covering. Hence, the framework of
the Eskimo craft was made with the members rigidly lashed and pegged
together. The majority of Indian skin canoes, however, required the
covering to hold the framework together, as in a birch-bark canoe.
An example is the Malecite skin-covered hunters' canoe. According to
available information, the Malecite hunter would leave two or three
moose skins on stretchers for use in building a skin canoe in the early
spring. Sometimes the hair was removed from the hides and sometimes it
was not. Spare time during the winter hunt might be spent in preparing
the wooden framework, but if this were not done the delay would not be
very great.
The gunwale frame was first made of four small sapling poles roughly
scarfed at the butts. From a small sapling a middle thwart was made
in the manner of the elm-bark canoe thwarts, the ends tapered enough
to allow them to be wrapped around the gunwales and secured under
the thwart by lashings. The ends of the gunwales were merely crossed
and lashed. Where end thwarts would be placed, it was usual to use a
cross tie made of twisted rawhide or cords of bark fiber. Holes were
then drilled at intervals in the underside of the gunwale to take the
heads of the ribs. Stem-pieces about 3 feet long were prepared of
short saplings and bent to the desired profile; one builder used a
full-length keel-piece, instead of the short stem-pieces. The ribs were
usually of small saplings that could be bent green without the use of
hot water. For sheathing a number of small saplings were also gathered,
and from them were made poles in lengths about equal to three-quarters,
or a little more, of the intended length of the canoe, which would be
determined by the size of the skins available. The average canoe was
about 12½ feet long, roughly 40 inches beam, and 14 to 19 inches in
depth.
The skins were sewn together lengthwise, lapped about 6 inches or a
little less, and secured by a double row of stitching. If the hair had
not been removed, it had to be scraped away along the sewn edges. In
such a case the hair would usually be on the outside of the finished
canoe. Also, before work was started on assembling a canoe, the skins
were worked pliable, and tallow and gum were accumulated.
When an emergency canoe was ready to be assembled a smooth place was
prepared; either an open bit of ground or the floor of the hunter's
hut, if large enough, might be used. The outlines of the gunwales were
fixed by a few stakes temporarily driven around it and then pulled
up. The skins were then laid on the bed and the gunwale frame placed
on them and weighted with stones. Then the skins were left to dry for
awhile until they became somewhat stiff; the proper condition was
indicated by the curling of the edges.
When the skin was sufficiently stiff, the gunwale frame was lifted and
temporarily secured to the stakes redriven in the bed, the sides of the
skin were turned up, the skin was gored, and sometimes the ends of the
gunwales were sheered up slightly at the end stakes; this latter was
not always done, for in some canoes the sheer was quite flat.
The skins were now trimmed to the sheer of the gunwales and the edges
lashed to these members with rawhide, the gores also having been
sewn. Next the stem-pieces were put into place and the stem heads
lashed inside the apex formed by the ends of the gunwales. Some ribs
were then bent and forced down on the stiff skin cover, the rib ends
being worked into the holes prepared for them on the underside of the
gunwales. These ribs usually stood approximately square to the curve,
or rocker, of the bottom. Now the skin could be trimmed to the stem
profiles and sewn. The stitching was usually done so as to be outside
the stem-pieces, with an occasional turn going around inside them to
help hold the structure in place. Some builders first put in the stems
temporarily and then trimmed the skins to match; after this was done
the stem-pieces were removed to allow easy sewing. When they were
replaced and secured permanently, a few more stitches were added along
the stems to secure the woodwork.
The next step was to sheath the canoe inside with the small poles;
these were placed a few inches apart transversely and their ends worked
under the most inboard of the ribs on the stem-pieces, then held in
place, while the necessary adjustments were made, by a few temporary
ribs. Then the ribs were forced into place, one by one, each prebent to
the desired section, just as in birch-bark canoe construction. In this
final shaping, the skin cover might have to be wetted again to soften
the material and to allow stretching. The seams were then payed with
gum or tallow, and the canoe was ready for launching.
The description is for canoes of minimum finish; builders often used
split and shaped gunwales, split ribs, and splint sheathing if these
could be prepared during the winter. The construction of a skin canoe
was not a specialized process in which a hunter consistently built
this one type; the selection was determined by natural conditions.
If he were to come out of the woods too early in the spring to make
the construction of a spruce-bark canoe easy, then he would resort to
skin construction; the statements of old Malecite hunters leads to the
conclusion that as emergency craft they used spruce-bark canoes most
often.
Perhaps the most primitive of the skin boats built by the North
American Indian was the so-called bull-boat of the Plains Indians.
These were not canoes but coracles--bowl-shaped and suitable only for
use on streams, where ferrying would be the main requirement. The boats
were covered with buffalo-hides and their framework was usually made of
the willow shoots found along the streams. The framework followed, to
some extent at least, the basketwork principle, a circular gunwale or
rim being used. The ribs were set in two groups, half at right angles
to the other half in very irregular fashion. This construction formed
a sort of rough grating in the bottom. The ribs were lashed together
with rawhide and apparently the craft was built up on the skin as were
the Malecite skin canoes. Battens in circular form were used on the
sides to fair the cover. The form of the bull-boat varied somewhat
among individual builders; sometimes it assumed almost a dish shape
with shallow flaring sides, but more commonly the sides were nearly
upright; the bottom was always flat, or nearly so. These bull-boats
appear always to have been small. Judging by the examples preserved,
a bull-boat 5 feet over the rim or gunwale, or made of more than one
skin, was extremely rare, and most examples are nearer 4 feet and
built on a single skin. Many were too small to carry a person; these
were intended to be loaded with cargo to be kept dry and towed by a
swimmer. When they were large enough to be paddled, the paddler worked
over the "bow," as in a coracle. Probably all the Plains Indians living
near streams once used the bull-boat, but existing records show only
the Mandan, Omaha, Kansas, Hidatsa, and Assiniboin to have used it.
The Blackfoot (Siksika) and Dakota are said to have used some kind of
a skin boat in which their tepee poles were employed as a temporary
frame, but nothing is recorded of their form.
The use of spruce bark as a building material in the Northwest and
throughout the extreme northern range of the birch-bark canoe has been
discussed in earlier chapters (pp. 155 to 158). In these areas, the
emergency canoe was usually built of caribou skin. On the Alaskan coast
seal skin may also have been used, but generally it was used for the
permanent kayak-type canoe and not for a hastily built temporary craft.
The caribou-skin canoe was also built as a permanent type, in either
kayak form or somewhat on the model of the spruce-or birch-bark canoe
of the area. However, although references to temporary craft covered
with caribou skin exist in early accounts of the fur trade, there is
no record of their form or details of their construction. Early in the
present century some of the Indians of the Mackenzie River country
built skin canoes much like the modern canvas-covered freight canoes.
Also, some of these skin canoes were built so that they resembled York
boats or the whaleboats of the white man. No observer has described the
methods used to construct the emergency canoe of the Northwest; we do
not know whether they resemble those used in the Indian bark canoe or
in the Eskimo skin boat.
_Retrospect_
In view of the inclusion of skin boats in this discussion of bark
canoes, it may be well to emphasize again the fact that the North
American Indian's method of constructing bark canoes and of temporary
skin canoes was on an entirely different principle than that used by
the Eskimo in building their skin boats. This is even true of the
kayak-form bark canoes of the Northwest, despite their superficial
similarity in design and proportions to the Eskimo skin kayak.
As has been stated, the Eskimo construction required a rigid frame,
with all members fastened together with lashings and pegs, the skin
cover being merely the watertight envelope and not a strength member.
This system of construction marks primitive skin-boat design in most
parts of the world. The Indian bark construction, on the other hand,
did not have a rigid frame, and all but a few of the structural members
were held in place by pressure alone: the sheathing was held against
the bark cover by pressure of the ribs; the stem-pieces, in most cases,
were held in place by pressure of the ribs, gunwale sheering, or
headboards. In fact without the bark cover in place, the greater part
of the wooden structure of the bark canoe would collapse. Not only was
the bark cover the fundamental basis of construction, it was to a great
extent a strength member, though by clever design the loading of the
bark was minimized.
This fundamental difference in construction must be recognized in
comparisons of Eskimo and North American Indian watercraft. Here, too,
it might be observed that one should view with skepticism any claim
that widespread similarity of certain structural practices is evidence
of some ancient connection between types of canoes. In most cases
these similarities were imposed by the working characteristics of the
materials employed. Similarly, limitations in materials available for
construction have their effect upon building techniques.
The practice of employing pressure members in bark-canoe construction,
particularly where birch bark was employed, was the result of the need
to stretch this material by gentle and widespread pressure, whereas the
skin cover could be stretched by the concentrated pull of stitching
alone, or by force applied in a small area. Bark canoes built in areas
where skin-kayak construction is carried on nearby show a greater
rigidity of structure. Thus, in the lower Yukon Valley in Alaska the
bottom frame of the canoes built there was a rigidly constructed unit,
even though the side longitudinals were held in place by rib pressure
alone. And it is reasonable to theorize that the Malecite, who through
habit still employed bark-canoe construction practices in building
their skin craft, would have eventually come to the Eskimo method of
construction had conditions required them to use skins exclusively.
[Illustration: Figure 213
LARGE MOOSE-HIDE CANOE of upper Gravel River, Mackenzie valley.
(_Photo, George M. Douglas._)]
_Appendix_
The Kayak Roll _John D. Heath_
The most extraordinary feat of kayak handling is the ability to right
the craft after a capsize. This maneuver, called "rolling," is usually
practiced by capsizing on one side and recovering on the other. Under
emergency conditions, a kayaker will recover on whichever side is
more convenient. When rolling, a kayaker wears a waterproof jacket
having long sleeves and a hood. The waist, face, and wrist openings
are fitted with drawstrings, so that when the waist opening is fitted
over the cockpit rim, the kayak and kayaker become a waterproof unit.
Thus equipped, the kayak is the most seaworthy craft of its size, this
quality being limited only by the skill and stamina of the kayaker.
The art of kayak rolling was highly developed in Alaska and Greenland.
Eskimos in both of these regions depended upon seal hunting by kayak
as a major part of their economy, hence the ability to roll was an
important means of survival. Very little detailed information exists
regarding Alaskan kayakers, but the Greenlanders have been the object
of intensive study by ethnographers and explorers. The earliest
detailed record of rolling was that of David Crantz, a European
missionary, who in 1767 enumerated ten methods of rolling in his
_History of Greenland_.[7] His description follows.
[7] See bibliography.
1. The Greenlander lays himself first on one side, then on the
other, with his body flat upon the water, (to imitate the case of
one who is nearly, but not quite overset) and keeps the balance
with his _pautik_ or oar, so that he raises himself again.
2. He overturns himself quite, so that his head hangs perpendicular
underwater; in this dreadful posture he gives himself a swing with
a stroke of his paddle, and raises himself aloft again on which
side he will.
These are the most common cases of misfortune, which frequently
occur in storms and high waves; but they still suppose that the
Greenlander retains the advantage of his _pautik_ in his hand, and
is disentangled from the seal-leather strap. But it may easily
happen in the seal-fishery, that the man becomes entangled with
the string, so that he either cannot rightly use the _pautik_, or
that he loses it entirely. Therefore they must be prepared for this
casualty. With this view
3. They run one end of the _pautik_ under one of the cross-strings
of the kajak, (to imitate its being entangled) overset, and
scrabble up again by means of the artful motion of the other end of
the _pautik_.
4. They hold one end of it in their mouth, and yet move the other
end with their hand, so as to rear themselves upright again.
5. They lay the _pautik_ behind their neck, and hold it there with
both hands, or,
6. Hold it fast behind their back; so overturn, and by stirring it
with both their hands behind them, without bringing it before, rise
and recover.
7. They lay it across one shoulder, take hold of it with one hand
before, and the other behind their back, and thus emerge from the
deep.
These exercises are of service in cases where the _pautik_ is
entangled with the string; but because they may also quite lose it,
in which the greatest danger lies, therefore,
8. Another exercise is, to run the _pautik_ through the water under
the kajak, hold it fast on both sides with their face lying on the
kajak, in this position overturn, and rise again by moving the oar
_secundum artem_ on the top of the water from beneath. This is of
service when they lose the oar during the oversetting, and yet see
it swimming over them, to learn to manage it with both hands from
below.
9. They let the oar go, turn themselves head down, reach their hand
after it, and from the surface pull it down to them, and so rebound
up.
10. But if they can't possibly reach it, they take either the
hand-board off from the harpoon, or a knife, and try by the force
of these, or even splashing the water with the palm of their hand,
to swing themselves above water; but this seldom succeeds.
[Illustration: Figure 214
THE STANDARD GREENLAND ROLL
The solid lines represent the starting position for a clockwise
roll (disregard the phantom lines until later). The paddle is held
blade-on-edge along the starboard gunwale, with one end near the right
hip, and the other end toward the bow. The kayaker leans forward and
faces slightly to starboard. His left forearm is against, or near, the
foredeck, and his left hand reaches across the starboard gunwale to
grasp the paddle near, but short of, the middle. The right hand holds
the paddle near the end, about even with the hip. The palms of both
hands pass over the paddle, so that the knuckles are outboard. The
kayaker takes a deep breath, leans to starboard and capsizes.
(Now turn the page upside down)]
[Illustration: Figure 214
The same lines which represented the starting position now represent
a fish-eye view of the fully capsized position. The phantom lines
represent the upright position, or goal. To right himself, the kayaker--
(1) Flicks his wrists to swing his knuckles toward his face, thus
causing the outboard edge of the paddle to assume a slight planing
angle (not shown) with the water surface. The remaining steps
constitute one continuous movement, to be done as quickly as possible.
(2) With his hips and right hand serving as pivot points, he sweeps his
forward paddle blade, and his torso, outward in a 90-degree planing arc
on the water surface, as shown from position (1) to (3), while pulling
down on his left hand and pushing up on his right, thus lifting himself
to the surface.
(3) Completes the roll by flicking his wrists to flatten the blade
angle, then sharply increasing his opposing hand pressures, thus
raising himself in a chinning attitude as the paddle blade sinks and is
drawn inward. The roll is now completed.] Since Crantz's time, various
authors have described kayak rolling. At least 30 methods of rolling
have been known in Greenland. There are possibly many more, because the
variations and combinations are numerous.
[Illustration: Figure 215
THE CRITICAL STAGE OF A CAPSIZE RECOVERY
The start (solid lines) and finish (phantom lines) of a planing sweep
are shown head-on. Success is almost certain if the kayaker has
surfaced by the time he has completed the 90-degree sweep. Some minor
refinements of rolling are apparent. The left forearm is shown right
against the foredeck (a convenient means of orientation), the leading
shoulder is nearer the surface (to gain lift when the torso is swung
outward), and the hips right the kayak as far as possible while the
torso is still partly submerged (to avoid having to lift torso and
kayak at the same time).]
Although kayaking as a sport first became popular in the 1860's, it was
not until the 1920's that the value of learning to roll began to be
fully realized by the recreational kayaker. Interest has grown steadily
since that time, and rolling instruction has been included as a regular
part of many club training courses. A preliminary step in mastering
the roll consists of using the paddle to prevent a capsize, by turning
the blade parallel to the water surface and pressing down sharply on
the side toward which the kayak is capsizing, while exerting an upward
pressure with the other hand. This produces a rotary movement which
restores the kayak to an even keel. Recreational canoeists call this
maneuver a "paddle brace."
Most kayak rolls are based upon one or more of three basic movements.
These are the paddle brace, the "sculling" stroke, from which lift
is obtained by moving the paddle back and forth through a small arc
with the leading edge of the blade at a slight planing angle, and the
"sweep," from which lift is obtained by sweeping the blade through a
large arc at a slight planing angle. The method of rolling shown in the
sketches is the standard Greenland roll, so called because it is the
most common roll encountered in Greenland. A slightly modified version
of this roll is called by recreational canoeists the Pawlata roll in
honor of the European who introduced it to them. Many skillful kayakers
could not roll, and sometimes a highly skilled roller would fail to
recover. Such men could be rescued by their companions by either of
two common methods. One method was executed by placing the bow of the
rescue craft within reach of the capsized paddler's hand, so that he
could pull himself up by a one-handed chinning motion. The other method
was executed by bringing the rescue kayak alongside the capsized kayak
so that the two craft were parallel and about two feet apart. The
rescuer then laid his paddle across both craft and holding it with
one hand, reached down and grabbed the capsized paddler's arm. He then
pulled him up between the two kayaks. This method enabled an enfeebled
or unconscious kayaker to be rescued.
[Illustration: Figure 216
Hand positions used with the standard roll:
(1) The extended paddle position is the common method, and it gives
maximum leverage. It is similar to the "Pawlata Roll" position used by
recreational kayakers.
(2) The normal paddling position is more convenient, but gives less
leverage. This is called the "Screw Stroke" position.
(3-6) Difficult trick positions demonstrated by Enoch Nielsen of
Igdlorssuit, West Greenland, to Kenneth Taylor, a Scottish canoeist, in
1959.]
[Illustration: Figure 217
Kayak rescue, bow-grab method]
[Illustration: Figure 218
Kayak rescue, paddle-grab method]
Both of the above methods of rescue were completed with the capsized
victim still in his craft. This prevented his kayak from swamping and
also protected him from exposure, since his waterproof kayak jacket
remained tied to the cockpit hoop. Little detailed information has
been recorded on the methods of rolling known outside of Greenland,
but there are many photographs of Bering Strait kayakers rolling with
the single bladed paddle. A study of Alaskan rolling methods is now in
progress, and it is hoped that much information can be recovered and
preserved.
[Illustration: Figure 219
PREPARING FOR DEMONSTRATION. Jonas Malakiasen puts on his tuvilik (a
waterproof kayak jacket, pronounced in English "tooey-leek"). When
it is fastened tightly about his face, wrists, and the cockpit hoop,
he can capsize without getting water in the kayak. Igdlorssuit, West
Greenland, summer 1959. (_Photo by Kenneth Taylor._)]
[Illustration: Figure 220
GETTING ABOARD. Enoch Nielsen, best kayak roller in the village of
Igdlorssuit, West Greenland, wriggles into his kayak on the beach
before embarking on a kayak rolling exhibition. Note that he is leaving
the harpoon line stand and gun bag in place. (_Photo by Kenneth
Taylor._)]
[Illustration: Figure 221
PAUSING ON SURFACE. Kayaker supports himself on the surface of the
water by a sculling stroke before starting the roll. Note that Enoch
Nielsen's body is twisted so that his shoulders are parallel with the
surface, thus submerging as much of the body as possible in order to
gain buoyancy. (_Photo by Kenneth Taylor._)]
[Illustration: Figure 222