SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 2 30 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 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, WASHINGTON, D.C. 1964 — Publications of the United States National Aiuseum 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 Jrom 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 Aiuseum U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1964 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price S6.75 giMTHSOWTSj* iiJUN 2 ^ '"OR ifSRARt^ special acknoivUdgment Is here gratefully made to The Mariners' Museum, Newport NewSj Virginia, under whose auspices was prepared and ivith ivhose cooperation is here published the part of this work based on the Adney papers; also to the late Vilhjalmur Stefansson, for whose Encyclopedia Arctica ivas ivritten 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 RcEjion 58 Micmac 58 Malccitc 70 St. Francis 88 Bcothuk 94 5. Central Canada 99 Eastern Cree 101 TetesdeBouie 107 Altjonkin 113 Ojilnvay 122 Western Cree 132 Fur-trade Canoes 135 6. Northwestern Canada 154 Narrow-Bottom Canoe 155 Kayak-Form Canoe 1 58 Sturgeon-Nose Canoe 168 7. Arctic Skin Boats: by Howard I. Chaprlte 174 The Umiak 181 The Kayak 1 90 8. Temporary Craft 212 Bark Canoes 212 Skin Boats 219 Retrospect 221 Appendix: The Kavak Roll, hyjo/m D. /^nM 223 Bibliography 231 Index 235 Illustrations Figure Page 1 Fur-trade canoe on the Missinaibi River, 1901. {Canadian Geological 2 Survey photo.) 2 Page from a manuscript of 1771, "Observations on Hudsons Bay," by 9 Alexander Graham, Factor. (In archives of Hudson's Bay Com- pany.) 3 Canoes from LaHontan's Xoureaux Voyages . dans I'Amerique septen- 11 Irionale, showing crude representations typical of early writers. 4 Lines of an old birch-bark canoe, probably Micmac, brought to England 12 in 1749 from New England. (From Admiralty Colleclion of Draughts, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.) 5 Ojibway Indian carrying spruce roots, Lac Seul, Ont., 1919. {Canadian 15 Geological Survey photo.) 6 Roll of bark for a hunting canoe. Algonkin Reserve, at Golden Lake, 16 Ont., 1927. 7 Sketch: wood -splitting techniques, cedar and spruce 17 8-19 Sketches of tools: 8, stone axe; 9, stone hammer, wedge, and knife; 17 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, buck- saw. 20 Peeling, rolling, and transporting bark. (Sketches hy Adney.) 25 21 Sketch: Building frame for a large canoe 26 22, 23 Sketches: Effect on canoe bottom of crimping and goring bark . 3() 24 Sketch: Canoe formed by use of gores and panels 31 25 Gunwale ends nailed and wrapped with spruce roots. {Sketch hy 31 Adney.) 26 Gunwales and stakes on building bed, plan view. {Sketch hy 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 hy Adney.) . 35 31 Lines of 2j2'-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 40 locate stakes temporarily on building bed. {Sketch by Adney.) 34 Second stage of canoe construction: bark cover is laid out on the building 41 bed, and the gunwales are in place upon it. {Sketch hy Adney.) Figure Page 35 Photo: Malecite canoe Guilders near Frcdcricton, N.B., using wooden 42 plank building bed. 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 44 from building bed during fifth stage of construction. {Detail sketches by Adney.) 38 Third stage of canoe construction: the bark cover is shaped on the build- 45 ing bed. {Sketch by Adney.) 39 Cross section of canoe on building bed during third ,ukI fourth stages of 46 construction. {Sketch by Adney.) 40 Sketch: Multiple cross section through one side of a canoe on the building 46 bed, at the headboard, middle, first, and second thwarts. 41 Fourth stage of canoe construction: bark cover has Ijccn shaped and all 47 stakes placed. {Sketch by Adney.) 42 Fifth stage of canoe construction: canoe is removed from building bed and 49 set on horses to shape ends and complete sewing. {Sketch by Adney.) 43 Ribs being dried and shajied lor Ojibway canoe. {Canadian Geological 50 Surrey photo.) 44 Sketch: Details of ribs and method of shaping them in pairs 51 45 Si.xth stage of canoe construction: in this stage splints for sheathing 53 (upper left) are fixed in place and held by temporary ribs (lower right) under the gunwales. {Sketch by Adney.) 46 General details of birch-bark canoe construction, in a drawing by Adney. 54 (From Harper's Voung People, supplement, July 29, 1890.) 47 Gunwale construction and thwart or crossbar fastenings, as shown in a 56 sketch by .Adney. (Harper's Tomg People, supplement, July 29, 1890.) 48 "Peter Joe at Work." Drawing by Adney for his article "How an Indian 57 Birch-Bark Canoe is Made." {Harper's Young People, supplement, July 29, 1890.) 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 2,'2-fathoin 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 64 photo.) 55 Micmac Woods canoe, built by Malecite Jim Paul at St. Mary's Reserve 64 in 1911. {Canadian Geological Survey photo.) 56 Micmac rough-water canoe fitted for sailing. {Photo M'. //. Mechling, 65 1913.) 57 Micmac rough-water canoe, Bay Chaleur. {Photo H. V. Henderson, West 66 Bathurst, X.B.) 58 Micmac rough-water sailing canoe, Bay Chaleur. {Canadian Geological 66 Survey photo.) 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. {Ca- 69 nadian Geological Survey photo.) 62 Lines of 2'2-fathom Malecite river canoe, 19th century. Old form with 71 raking ends and much sheer. Figure P".?' 63 Lines of old form of Malecite-Abnaki 2|4-fathoin ocean canoe of the 72 Penobscots in the Peabody Museum, Salem, Mass. 64 Lines of large 3-fathom ocean canoe of the Passamaquoddy porpoise 73 hunters. 65 Lines of old form of Passamaquoddy 2'/^-fathom ocean canoe 74 66 Lines of Malecite racing canoe of 1888, showing V-shaped keel piece be- 75 tween sheathing and bark to form deadrise. 67 Lines of sharp-ended 2!.2-fathom Passamaquoddy hunting canoe, for use 76 on tidal river. 68 Lines of Malecite 2J4-fathom St. Lawrence River canoe, probably a hybrid 77 model. 69 Lines of Malecite 2'2-fathom river canoe of 1 890 from the Riviere du Loup 78 region. 70 Lines of Modern (1895) 2,'.2-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 81 salmon spear. 73 Lines and decoration reconstructed from a very old model of a St. John 81 River ancient woods, or pack, canoe. 74 Lines of last known Passamaquoddy decorated ocean canoe to be built 82 (1898). 75 Drawing: Malecite canoe details and decorations 83 76 Sketches: VVulegessis 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.