The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America

by Tappan Adney; Howard Irving Chapelle

Figure 149

Extinct Forms of Canoes Reconstructed From Old Models, showing variations in the bottom frame construction and the effects of hull form. Dimensions are estimated from the sizes of canoes in the area of each example.

In some bateau variations of the kayak-form canoe, the longitudinals were secured by crosspieces, the ends of which were tenoned into the inside faces of the chine battens. The three inner battens were below the cross pieces. As a result, their bottoms were slightly below the bottom of the chine members, so that in this canoe two chine lines show through the bark cover on each side of the canoe.

From tribe to tribe the method of building the kayak-form canoe varied somewhat, but generally the following procedure was employed. On a smooth, level piece of ground the form of the canoe was staked out in the usual manner, using a building frame, with the stakes sloped outward at the top to match the desired flare of the sides.

Stem and stern posts were shaped of cedar by charring and scraping. The gunwales were made in the same manner and were then lashed at the desired heights on the stakes. Next, the bark cover was formed, usually of two or more sheets sewn together. This was placed inside the stakes and the building frame was forced down on it and weighted with stones. The ends were then trimmed and the sides were gored, sewn, and trimmed to fit the gunwales, to which the bark was laced. The stem and the stern post were then placed and lashed to the gunwales and secured to the bark by lashing, in some instances through holes in the posts. The bark at this stage was usually quite dry and stiff and the gunwales could be freed from the side stakes.

The bottom frame, assembled before other construction had started, was hogged; the middle was placed on a log or block and the ends weighted. Hot water was often applied to set the bottom frame.

Next, the bark cover was thoroughly wetted with boiling water to make it pliable and elastic. The building frame and stones were now removed, the bottom frame was substituted, and its ends fastened or engaged to the heels of the stem and stern posts. The bottom frame was then forced flat and held there by stones. This stretched the bottom bark longitudinally, and increased the sheer slightly toward bow and stern. The hogged bottom frame was known as a "sliding bottom" by some Indians.

The transverse frames, or ribs, had been prebent in the usual manner before assembly began; a few of these were now put in place, the ends being forced under the gunwales between their outer faces and the bark, or into a groove on the underside of the gunwale. This stretched the bark transversely and vertically. Once the bark had been forced into form by this method, the remaining ribs were added, and these now held the hogged bottom down so that the weights or stones could be removed. The canoe was then turned over, the seams gummed, and any tears or rents repaired.

This method of building usually produced a slight hogging in both bottom and in the sheer amidships, but when the canoe was afloat and loaded the light, flexible construction caused the hogging to disappear. The kayak-form canoes of the Dènè tribe appear to be the most highly developed of all in this type.

The decks of many of the kayak-form canoes were made of a triangular sheet of bark cut with the grain of the bark running athwartships, so that it could be held in place by the curl of its edges, which clamped under the outwales, as well as by three lashings. The edges were curled by passing a glowing brand along them. One lashing was around the stem-head and two were at the inboard end of the deck, around inwale and outwale. If the inboard end of the deck was not on a thwart it was stiffened by a batten lashed on top of the deck athwartship, at the deck end, to serve as an exterior deck beam and breakwater in one. If the deck end was on a thwart, a batten might be pegged athwartship on top of the deck; sometimes this batten was rolled in a sheet of bark first. Another method was to use a small sheet of bark tightly rolled, with its free edge tucked under the deck end and secured at the ends of the roll by the deck-gunwale lashings there. Some canoes had their decks lashed over battens for a short distance along the gunwales. In some Mackenzie Basin kayak forms, the end of the deck at the stem-head was protected by a small paddle-or leaf-shaped piece of bark placed under the lashing there and shaped to reach a little over onto the stem piece so as to seal the seam.