On the Malecite canoe, the sides are pieced out in one to three panels rather than in one long, narrow panel on each side. The panel for the midlength requires the greatest strength and is usually lapped inside the bottom bark. The latter is first trimmed straight along its edge, and the panel inserted behind it with a couple of inches of lap. Then the two pieces of bark are sewn together over a halved-root batten with an over-and-over stitch. (Other tribes used some form of the harness stitch, or a similar style, allowing great strength.) The middle panel does not extend much beyond the ends of the first pair of thwarts on each side of the middle. The next panels toward the ends are lapped outside the bottom bark and are sewn with the back-stitch. Then, if still another panel is required at each end, this too is lapped outside and is sewn in the lap with an in-and-out stitch. The ends of the panels are usually sewn with an over-and-over stitch that runs square with the seam outside and diagonally to it inside the bark. (The harness stitch was used here by some tribes, as were many forms of the cross-stitch.) The ends of the canoe and the gores have already been sewn during an earlier stage of the building process.
Once the sides are pieced out, the bark is ready to be turned up and around the gunwale frame and clamped perpendicularly. To effect this, small stakes are made by halving saplings, so that each half is about a half inch thick. The butt of each half is cut chisel-shaped, with the bevel on the flat side; the rounded face is smoothed off, and it may be tapered toward the head of the stake. Between two of the slashes a length of bark is now brought up against the outer stakes; against the bark the small, inside stake is placed with the round face of the chisel-pointed butt wedged against the outer face of the gunwale. The top is then levered against the outside stake, so that the flat face of each clamps the bark in place. The top of the inner stake is then bound to the outer.
Figure 39
Cross Section of canoe on building bed during third stage of construction (above) and fourth stage. (Sketch by Adney.)
In setting the inside stakes, care is taken that their points do not pierce the bark. No inside stakes are required at the ends, as here the outside stakes are so close together in opposing pairs as to hold the bark in a sharp fold along the centerline of the cover. This of course is also true of the stakes beyond the ends of the gunwales.
After a few lengths of bark have been thus secured, they are faired between the stakes by inserting thin strips of split sapling, or battens of wood or root, along each side of the bark, under the inside and outside stakes. These battens are placed about halfway up the upturned bark. Some builders used long wooden battens, as this gave a very fair side when enough lengths were secured upright; others got the same results with short battens, the ends of which were overlapped between a pair of stakes on each side.
Figure 40
Multiple Cross Section through one side of a canoe on the building bed: at the headboard, middle, first, and second thwarts. Gunwale is raised and supported on sheering posts set under thwarts. Crown of the building bed is shown by varying heights of bottoms of the four sections.