FigurePage
1Fur-trade canoe on the Missinaibi River, 1901. (Canadian Geological Survey photo.)[2]
2Page from a manuscript of 1771, "Observations on Hudsons Bay," by Alexander Graham, Factor. (In archives of Hudson's Bay Company.)[9]
3Canoes from LaHontan's Nouveaux Voyages ... dans l'Amerique septentrionale, showing crude representations typical of early writers.[11]
4Lines of an old birch-bark canoe, probably Micmac, brought to England in 1749 from New England. (From Admiralty Collection of Draughts, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.)[12]
5Ojibway Indian carrying spruce roots, Lac Seul, Ont., 1919. (Canadian Geological Survey photo.)[15]
6Roll of bark for a hunting canoe. Algonkin Reserve, at Golden Lake, Ont., 1927.[16]
7Sketch: wood-splitting techniques, cedar and spruce.[17]
8-19Sketches of tools: 8, stone axe; 9, stone hammer, wedge, and knife; 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, bucksaw.[17]
20Peeling, rolling, and transporting bark. (Sketches by Adney.)[25]
21Sketch: Building frame for a large canoe.[26]
22, 23 Sketches: Effect on canoe bottom of crimping and goring bark.[30]
24Sketch: Canoe formed by use of gores and panels.[31]
25Gunwale ends nailed and wrapped with spruce roots. (Sketch by Adney.)[31]
26Gunwales and stakes on building bed, plan view. (Sketch by Adney.)[32]
27Photo: Gunwale lashings, examples made by Adney.[33]
28Photo: Gunwale-end lashings, examples made by Adney.[33]
29Sketch: Splints arranged in various ways to sheath the bottom of a canoe.[34]
30End details, including construction of stem-pieces. (Sketches by Adney.)[35]
31Lines of 2½-fathom St. John River Malecite canoe.[36]
32Malecite canoe building, 1910. (Canadian Geological Survey photos.)[39]
33First stage of canoe construction: assembled gunwale frame is used to locate stakes temporarily on building bed. (Sketch by Adney.)[40]
34Second stage of canoe construction: bark cover is laid out on the building bed, and the gunwales are in place upon it. (Sketch by Adney.)[41]
35Photo: Malecite canoe builders near Fredericton, N.B., using wooden plank building bed.[42]
36Sketch: Two common styles of root stitching used in bark canoes.[43]
37Comparison of canoe on the building bed and canoe when first removed from building bed during fifth stage of construction. (Detail sketches by Adney.)[44]
38Third stage of canoe construction: the bark cover is shaped on the building bed. (Sketch by Adney.)[45]
39Cross section of canoe on building bed during third and fourth stages of construction. (Sketch by Adney.)[46]
40Sketch: Multiple cross section through one side of a canoe on the building bed, at the headboard, middle, first, and second thwarts.[46]
41Fourth stage of canoe construction: bark cover has been shaped and all stakes placed. (Sketch by Adney.)[47]
42Fifth stage of canoe construction: canoe is removed from building bed and set on horses to shape ends and complete sewing. (Sketch by Adney.)[49]
43Ribs being dried and shaped for Ojibway canoe. (Canadian Geological Survey photo.)[50]
44Sketch: Details of ribs and method of shaping them in pairs.[51]
45Sixth stage of canoe construction: in this stage splints for sheathing (upper left) are fixed in place and held by temporary ribs (lower right) under the gunwales. (Sketch by Adney.)[53]
46General details of birch-bark canoe construction, in a drawing by Adney. (From Harper's Young People, supplement, July 29, 1890.)[54]
47Gunwale construction and thwart or crossbar fastenings, as shown in a sketch by Adney. (Harper's Young People, supplement, July 29, 1890.)[56]
48"Peter Joe at Work." Drawing by Adney for his article "How an Indian Birch-Bark Canoe is Made." (Harper's Young People, supplement, July 29, 1890.)[57]
49Lines of 2-fathom Micmac pack, or woods, canoe.[59]
50Lines of 2-fathom Micmac pack, or woods, canoe.[60]
51Lines of 2-fathom Micmac pack, or woods, canoe.[61]
52Lines of 2½-fathom Micmac big-river canoe.[62]
53Lines of 3-fathom Micmac ocean canoe fitted for sailing.[63]
54Micmac rough-water canoe, Bathurst, N.B. (Canadian Geological Survey photo.)[64]
55Micmac Woods canoe, built by Malecite Jim Paul at St. Mary's Reserve in 1911. (Canadian Geological Survey photo.)[64]
56Micmac rough-water canoe fitted for sailing. (Photo W. H. Mechling, 1913.)[65]
57Micmac rough-water canoe, Bay Chaleur. (Photo H. V. Henderson, West Bathurst, N.B.)[66]
58Micmac rough-water sailing canoe, Bay Chaleur. (Canadian Geological Survey photo.)[66]
59Drawing: Details of Micmac canoes, including mast and sail.[67]
60Micmac canoe, Bathurst, N.B. (Canadian Geological Survey photo.)[68]
61Micmac woman gumming seams of canoe, Bathurst, N.B., 1913. (Canadian Geological Survey photo.)[69]
62Lines of 2½-fathom Malecite river canoe, 19th century. Old form with raking ends and much sheer.[71]
63Lines of old form of Malecite-Abnaki 2½-fathom ocean canoe of the Penobscots in the Peabody Museum, Salem, Mass.[72]
64Lines of large 3-fathom ocean canoe of the Passamaquoddy porpoise hunters.[73]
65Lines of old form of Passamaquoddy 2½-fathom ocean canoe.[74]
66Lines of Malecite racing canoe of 1888, showing V-shaped keel piece between sheathing and bark to form deadrise.[75]
67Lines of sharp-ended 2½-fathom Passamaquoddy hunting canoe, for use on tidal river.[76]
68Lines of Malecite 2½-fathom St. Lawrence River canoe, probably a hybrid model.[77]
69Lines of Malecite 2½-fathom river canoe of 1890 from the Rivière du Loup region.[78]
70Lines of Modern (1895) 2½-fathom Malecite St. John River canoe.[79]
71Drawing: Malecite canoe details, gear, and gunwale decorations.[80]
72Drawing: Malecite canoe details, stem profiles, paddles, sail rig, and salmon spear.[81]
73Lines and decoration reconstructed from a very old model of a St. John River ancient woods, or pack, canoe.[81]
74Lines of last known Passamaquoddy decorated ocean canoe to be built (1898).[82]
75Drawing: Malecite canoe details and decorations.[83]
76Sketches: Wulegessis decorations.[84]-85
77Photo: End decorations, Passamaquoddy canoe.[86]
78Photo: End decorations, Passamaquoddy canoe.[87]
79Photo: Passamaquoddy decorated canoe.[87]
80Lines of 2-fathom St. Francis canoe of about 1865[89]
81Lines of "14-foot" St. Francis canoe of about 1910[90]
82Lines of 2½-fathom low-ended St. Francis canoe.[91]
83Lines of St. Francis-Abnaki canoe for open water, a type that became extinct before 1890. From Adney's drawings of a canoe formerly in the Museum of Natural History.[92]
84Photo: Model of a St. Francis-Abnaki canoe under construction.[93]
85Photo: St. Francis-Abnaki canoe.[93]
86A 15-foot Beothuk canoe of Newfoundland (Sketch by Adney.)[95]
87Lines based on Adney's reconstruction of 15-foot Beothuk canoe.[97]
88Montagnais crooked canoe. (Canadian Geological Survey photo.)[100]
89Birch-bark crooked canoe, Ungava Cree. (Smithsonian Institution photo.)[101]
90Lines of 3-fathom Nascapee canoe, eastern Labrador.[102]
91Lines of 2-fathom Montagnais canoe of southern Labrador and Quebec.[102]
92Lines of 2½-fathom crooked canoe of the Ungava Peninsula.[103]
93Lines of hybrid-model 2-fathom Nascapee canoe.[103]
94Eastern Cree crooked canoe of rather moderate sheer and rocker. (Canadian Pacific Railway Company photo.)[104]
95Photo: Straight and crooked canoes, eastern Cree.[105]
96Montagnais canvas-covered crooked canoe under construction. (Canadian Geological Survey photo.)[106]
97Sketch: Fiddlehead of scraped bark on bow and stern of a Montagnais birch-bark canoe at Seven Islands, Que., 1915.[107]
98Sketch: Disk of colored porcupine quills decorating canoe found at Namaquagon, Que., 1898.[107]
99Fleet of 51 birch-bark canoes of the Têtes de Boule Indians, assembled at the Hudson's Bay Company post, Grand Lake Victoria, Procession Sunday, August 1895. (Photo, Post-Factor L. A. Christopherson.)[108]
100Photo: Têtes de Boule canoe.[109]
101Photo: Têtes de Boule canoes.[110]
102Lines of 1½-fathom Têtes de Boule hunting canoe.[111]
103Lines of 2½-fathom Têtes de Boule canoe, with construction details.[111]
104Lines of 2-fathom Têtes de Boule hunting canoe.[112]
105Photo: Old Algonkin canoe.[113]
106Lines of 2½-fathom old model, Ottawa River, Algonkin canoe.[114]
107Photo: Models made by Adney of Algonkin and Ojibway stem-pieces.[115]
108Lines of light, fast 2-fathom hunting canoe of the old Algonkin model.[116]
109Lines of hybrid 2½- and 2-fathom Algonkin canoes.[117]
110Lines of 2-fathom Algonkin hunter's canoe, without headboards.[118]
111Photo: Algonkin canoe, old type.[119]
112Photo: Algonkin "Wabinaki Chiman"[120]
113Algonkin canoe decorations, Golden Lake, Ont.[121]
114Lines of 2-fathom Ojibway hunter's canoe, built in 1873[123]
115Lines of 3-fathom Ojibway old model rice-harvesting canoe and 2-fathom hunter's canoe.[124]
116Lines of 3-fathom Ojibway freight canoe.[124]
117Lines of 2½-fathom Ojibway, old form, canoe and a 16-foot long-nose Cree-Ojibway canoe.[125]
118Eastern Ojibway canoe, old form. (Canadian Pacific Railway photo.)[126]
119Photo: Ojibway Long-Nose canoe, Rainy Lake District.[126]
120Lines of 2-fathom Ojibway hunter's canoe, 1849 and long-nose Minnesota Ojibway rice-harvesting canoe.[127]
121Photos: Canoe building, Lac Seul, Canada, 1918[128]-129
122Long Lake Ojibway long-nose canoe. (Canadian Geological Survey photo.)[130]
123Photo: Ojibway 19-foot canoe with 13 Indians aboard (1913)[131]
124Lines of 2½-fathom western Cree canoe, Winisk River district, northwest of James Bay.[133]
125Lines of a 6-fathom fur-trade canoe of the early 19th century.[134]
126Inboard profile of a 6-fathom fur-trade canoe, and details of construction, fitting, and decoration.[135]
127Lines of small 3-fathom north canoe of the Têtes de Boule model.[136]
128Photo: Models of fur-trade canoes.[137]
129"Fur-Trade Maître Canot With Passengers." From an oil painting by Hopkins (Public Archives of Canada photo).[138]
130"Bivouac in Expedition in Hudson's Bay Canoe." From an oil painting by Hopkins (Public Archives of Canada photo).[139]
131Ojibway 3-fathom fur-trade canoe, a cargo-carrying type, marked by cut-under end profiles, that was built as late as 1894.[139]
132Lines of a 5-fathom fur-trade canoe, Grand Lake Victoria Post, Hudson's Bay Company.[140]
133"Hudson's Bay Canoe Running the Rapids." From an oil painting by Hopkins (Public Archives of Canada photo).[141]
134"Repairing the Canoe." From an oil painting by Hopkins (Public Archives of Canada photo).[142]
135Lines of a 4½-fathom Hudson's Bay Company "North Canoe," built by Crees near James Bay, mid-19th century.[143]
136Photo: 5-fathom fur-trade canoe from Brunswick House, a Hudson's Bay Company post.[144]
137Fur-trade canoes on the Missinaibi River, 1901. (Canadian Geological Survey photo.)[145]
138Photo: Fur-trade canoe brigade from Christopherson's Hudson's Bay Company post, about 1885.[146]
139Forest rangers, Lake Timagami, Ontario. (Canadian Pacific Railway Company photo.)[147]
140Photo: Models made by Adney of fur-trade canoe stem-pieces.[149]
141Photo: Models by Adney of fur-trade canoe stem-pieces.[151]
142Portaging a 4½-fathom fur-trade canoe, about 1902, near the head of the Ottawa River. (Canadian Pacific Railway Company photo.)[152]
143Decorations, fur-trade canoes (Watercolor sketch by Adney.)[153]
144Lines of 2-fathom Chipewyan hunter's canoe.[155]
145Lines of 2½-fathom Chipewyan and 3-fathom Dogrib cargo, or family, canoes.[156]
146Lines of 3-fathom Slavey and 2½-fathom Algonkin-type Athabascan plank-stem canoes.[157]
147Lines of Eskimo kayak-form birch-bark canoe from Alaskan Coast.[159]
148Lines of Athabascan hunting canoes of the kayak form.[160]
149Lines of extinct forms of Loucheux and bateau-form canoes, reconstructed from old models.[161]
150Lines of kayak-form canoes of the Alaskan Eskimos and Canadian Athabascan Indians.[163]
151Lines of kayak-form canoe of British Columbia and upper Yukon valley.[164]
152Construction of kayak-form canoe of the lower Yukon, showing rigid bottom frame. (Smithsonian Institution photo.)[165]
153Photo: Model of an extinct form of Athabascan type birch-bark canoe, of British Columbia. In Peabody Museum, Harvard University.[167]
154Lines of sturgeon-nose bark canoe of the Kutenai and Shuswap.[169]
155Ojibway canoe construction. (Canadian Geological Survey photos.)[170]-171
156Photo: Indians with canoe at Alert Bay, on Cormorant Island, B. C.[173]
157Eighteenth-century lines drawing of a kayak, from Labrador or southern Baffin Island.[175]
158Western Alaskan umiak with eight women paddling, Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, 1936. (Photo by Henry B. Collins.)[177]
159Western Alaskan umiak being beached, Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, 1936. (Photo by Henry B. Collins.)[177]
160Repairing umiak frame at St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, 1930. (Photo by Henry B. Collins.)[178]
161Eskimo woman splitting walrus hide to make umiak cover, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, 1930. (Photo by Henry B. Collins.)[178]
162Fitting split walrus-hide cover to umiak at St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, 1930. (Photo by Henry B. Collins.)[179]
163Outboard motor installed on umiak, Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, 1936. (Photo by Henry B. Collins.)[179]
164Launching umiak in light surf, Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, 1936. (Photo by Henry B. Collins.)[179]
165Umiaks on racks, in front of village on Little Diomede Island, July 30, 1936. (Photo by Henry B. Collins.)[181]
166Umiak covered with split walrus hide, Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska. (Photo by Henry B. Collins.)[183]
167Lines of small umiak for walrus hunting, west coast of Alaska. 1888-89[184]
168Umiaks near Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, showing walrus hide cover and lacing. (Photo by Henry B. Collins.)[185]
169Lines of umiak, west coast of Alaska, King Island, 1886[186]
170Making the blind seam: two stages of method used by the Eskimo to join skins together.[186]
171Lines of north Alaskan whaling umiak of about 1890[187]
172Lines of Baffin Island umiak, 1885. Drawn from model and detailed measurements of a single boat.[188]
173Lines of east Greenland umiak, drawn from measurements taken off by a U.S. Army officer in 1945.[189]
174Frame of kayak, Nunivak Island, Alaska. (Photo by Henry B. Collins.)[191]
175Frame of kayak at Nunivak Island, Alaska, 1927. (Photo by Henry B. Collins.)[193]
176Lines of Koryak kayak, drawn from damaged kayak in the American Museum of Natural History, 1948.[195]
177Lines of Kodiak Island kayak, 1885, in U.S. National Museum.[196]
178Lines of Aleutian kayak, Unalaska, 1894, in U.S. National Museum.[196]
179Lines of kayak from Russian Siberia, 2-hole Aleutian type, in Washington State Historical Society and Museum. Taken off by John Heath, 1962.[197]
180Lines of Nunivak Island kayak, Alaska, 1889, in U.S. National Museum.[198]
181Lines of King Island kayak, Alaska, 1888, in U.S. National Museum.[198]
182Lines of Norton Sound kayak, Alaska, 1889, in U.S. National Museum.[198]
183Nunivak Island kayak with picture of mythological water monster Palriayuk painted along gunwale. (Photo by Henry B. Collins.)[199]
184Photo: Nunivak Island kayak in U.S. National Museum.[199]
185Western Alaskan kayak, Cape Prince of Wales, 1936. (Photo by Henry B. Collins.)[200]
186Lines of Kotzebue Sound kayak, in Mariners' Museum.[201]
187Lines of Point Barrow kayak, Alaska, 1888, in U.S. National Museum.[201]
188Lines of Mackenzie Delta kayak, in Museum of the American Indian.[201]
189Photo: Kayak from Point Barrow, Alaska, in U.S. National Museum.[202]
190Photo: Cockpit of kayak from Point Barrow.[202]
191Lines of kayak in U.S. National Museum.[203]
192Lines of kayak from Coronation Gulf, Canada.[203]
193Lines of Caribou Eskimo kayak, Canada, in American Museum of Natural History.[203]
194Lines of Netsilik Eskimo kayak, King William Island, Canada, in the American Museum of Natural History.[203]
195Lines of old kayak from vicinity of Southampton Island, Canada.[205]
196Lines of Baffin Island kayak, from Cape Dorset, Canada, in the Museum of the American Indian.[205]
197Lines of kayak from north Labrador, Canada, in the Museum of the American Indian.[207]
198Lines of Labrador kayak, Canada, in the U.S. National Museum.[207]
199Lines of north Greenland kayak, in the Museum of the American Indian.[207]
200Lines of north Greenland kayak, in the Peabody Museum, Salem, Mass.[207]
201Photo: Profile of Greenland kayak from Disko Bay, in the National Museum.[208]
202Photo: Deck of Greenland kayak from Disko Bay.[208]
203Photo: Cockpit of Greenland kayak from Disko Bay.[209]
204Photo: Bow view of Greenland kayak from Disko Bay.[209]
205Lines of northwestern Greenland kayak, in the U.S. National Museum.[210]
206Lines of southwestern Greenland kayak, 1883, in the U.S. National Museum.[210]
207Lines of southwestern Greenland kayak, in the Peabody Museum, Salem, Mass.[210]
208Lines of south Greenland kayak, in the American Museum of Natural History.[211]
209Lines of Malecite and Iroquois temporary canoes.[214]
210Photo: Model of hickory-bark canoe under construction, in the Mariner's Museum.[217]
211Sketch: Detail of thwart used in Malecite temporary spruce-bark canoe.[217]
212Iroquois temporary elm-bark canoe, after a drawing of 1849.[218]
213Large moosehide canoe of upper Gravel River, Mackenzie valley. (Photo, George M. Douglas.)[221]
214Sketch: Standard Greenland roll.[224]
215Sketch: Critical stage of a capsize recovery.[225]
216Sketch: Hand positions used with the standard Greenland roll.[226]
217Sketch: Kayak rescue, bow-grab method.[226]
218Sketch: Kayak rescue, paddle-grab method.[226]
219Preparing for demonstration of Eskimo roll, Igdlorssuit, West Greenland. (Photo by Kenneth Taylor.)[227]
220Getting aboard kayak. (Photo by Kenneth Taylor.)[228]
221Fully capsized kayak. (Photo by Kenneth Taylor.)[228]
222Emerging from roll. (Photo by Kenneth Taylor.)[229]
223Emerging from roll. (Photo by Kenneth Taylor.)[229]
224Righting the kayak. (Photo by Kenneth Taylor.)[229]

The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America

INTRODUCTION

Figure 1

Fur-Trade Canoe on the Missinaibi River, 1901. (Canadian Geological Survey photo.)