The canoes which are used in races are made of birch bark, and are almost always of small size—so small, indeed, that a man can easily carry his canoe on his head from his house to the water’s edge, and then launch it without assistance. Mr. Catlin gives a very animated description of a canoe race, the competitors being accompanied by large canoes, full of their respective friends, who yell encouragements to the antagonists, fire guns in the air, and render the scene a singularly exciting one, even to a stranger.
Toward the right hand of the [illustration] which depicts the canoe race, on the following page, the reader may see a curious mode of propelling canoes, which is often adopted when there is no necessity for speed and the wind is favorable. The man who acts as “bow” stands up in the front of the canoe, extends a robe or a blanket in his two hands, and then he presses the two other corners at the bottom of the boat with his feet. The robe thus becomes an extemporized sail, of which the man is the mast. In this manner a canoe is often carried for a considerable distance, to the great relief of the paddlers.
An European would instantly upset the fragile canoe if he tried to stand erect in it; but the natives are absolutely perfect masters of their little vessels, and seem to move about in them as easily and firmly as if on dry land. They will load a canoe within an inch and a half of the water’s edge, and paddle it for a whole day, without dreaming of danger. And an accomplished canoe man will take a fish spear in his hand, place a foot on each gunwale of the boat, and, propelled by a friend in the stern of the boat, dart down rapids, spearing fish as he shoots along, hauling the struggling fish out of the water, and shaking them into the boat behind him.
(1.) CANOE RACE.
(See [page 1326].)
(2.) ESQUIMAUX DWELLINGS.
(See [page 1335].)
Among most Indian tribes, when mourning for the death of relatives, the women are required to cut their hair entirely off, and the period of mourning is until it has grown to its former length. As long tresses are so highly valued by most of the tribes this is no small sacrifice. But long hair being of much more importance to the men they cut off only a lock or two, to indicate grief or affliction for their departed kindred.
There is a game which has in it somewhat of a religious aspect. On the border of the Great Pipe-stone Quarry a solitary rock rises from the plain. It resembles a large pillar, being only a few feet in diameter, though more than thirty feet in height. It is situated within a short distance from the edge of the precipice, and the Indians who come to procure red stone for their pipes often try to leap upon it and back again. The mere leap to the rock is comparatively easy, but there are two terrible dangers which threaten the leaper. In the first place, the small, flat surface of the rock is so polished and smooth, that if the leaper should exert too much power, he must slip off, and be killed on the sharp rocks below. Should he retain his foot-hold he has still a difficult task in regaining the spot whence he sprang, as he can take no run, and the slippery surface of the rock affords but a slight fulcrum from which he can take his spring.