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176 Ojibway Canoe

[Five Images]

Plates of bark.

Frame for forming the Canoe

2 1 2 of 1 4 of 2 Guides for setting gunwale.

Plate and frame preparatory to forming the Canoe.

Plate folded preparatory to setting the ribs (Haupt del).

With the return of summer the Ojibway takes to his birch bark canoe. and resorts to the spawning beds of the fish that swam the lakes and rivers. Not every indian who can needs a canoe we read in the Song of Hiawatha of the [?] Maker and his radiant daughter who captured the heart of the hero. and as it was true that all indians could not make canoes so they do not all build canoes The art of making a canoe is depicted in the accompanying sketches which the writer noted in the field. In the spring of the year the canoe builder set out to find birch and searches for a birch tree "Betula papyracea". of sufficient girth for his purpose and bark sufficiently free from flaws and cracks. Making a longitudinal cut in the bark as long as possible the thin pliant yet tough bark is pealed [sic] off. and their plates are then sewed together. side by side. the edge of one plate over lapping another and they are so placed that the lines of cleavage are parallel. The plates are sewed with long narrow strip cut from the root of the "Jack" or White Pine "Pinus Strotus" (I) These trees send out latteral [sic] roots which run along the surface of the ground only a few inches beneath the surface and are easily pulled up. when cut into strips they form a very tough and [?] [?] exceedly [sic] pliant cord. The outer layer of the [?] are considered best. with this thread then the plates are secured and a plate of bark is obtained for the covering of the canoe. A frame is made of strips of cedar. "Thuja occidentalis". "Aruncum Arbor Vitae". tied or pegged together in the form of an elongated elipse. this is the guide for forming the sides. In addition a set of six