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Indian Scout Talks: A Guide for Boy Scouts and Camp Fire Girls, a non-fiction book by Charles Alexander Eastman |
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Chapter 7. How To Make And Handle Indian Canoes |
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_ CHAPTER VII. HOW TO MAKE AND HANDLE INDIAN CANOES There are several different kinds of canoes made by Indians, of which the birch-bark canoe is the most generally available. The skin boats of the Esquimaux are larger and are skilfully made, but we are considering here only the handiwork of our own Indians. The Plains Indians formerly used the buffalo-skin boat, called “bull-boat,” but this is at best an emergency vessel, constructed only when they were forced to cross a river too deep to ford and too wide to swim. It can scarcely be called a boat and might be termed a raft of skins, for it cannot be paddled like the true canoe. It is probably the crudest form of native craft. The bull-boat is made upon a framework of willow withes roughly woven into an oblong shape, using long poles for the bottom to give the necessary firmness. Over this frame rawhides are stretched, and sewed with sinew. The seams are smeared with tallow or gum. Two or three long strings are attached to the front end. Having loaded the unwieldy vessel to its full capacity with household goods and children, one or two persons would stand in it with long poles to shove, while two or three others swam ahead, pulling it by the ropes, and sometimes others pushed from behind. The bull-boat was easily capsized, therefore every precaution was taken against accident to the precious cargo. As soon as the stream was crossed, it was taken apart, and the materials put to other uses. The dugout is much used where birch-bark is not obtainable. The tree, preferably basswood, cottonwood, or soft maple, is selected with care, the trunk cut the proper length, twelve to sixteen feet, roughly shaped externally, and then hollowed out with much pains. Some of these boats are very serviceable, and many Indians think them swifter as well as more durable than the birch canoe; but it is not safe for a novice to undertake to handle one. It is very graceful in the hands of an expert Indian canoeist, but in some respects still retains the characteristics of a log in water. After the introduction of modern tools, the dugout became common throughout the Indian country, while the forest Indian alone still clung to the bark canoe. The white trapper, hunter, and explorer readily adopted the convenient dugout, but it has almost disappeared with these avocations; yet the boy hunter or camper who has the requisite patience can easily make his own. The Indian makes his dugout by first hewing it roughly into the shape of a boat, then making crosswise cuts inside of the trunk about a foot apart and splitting the wood lengthwise between these cuts until well hollowed out. After this he uses a small pickaxe to cut still deeper, until the walls are from four to six inches in thickness; finally he smooths the surface with a chisel. On the outside the final work is done with the draw-knife or ordinary knife. Bone knives and sharp clam-shells were used in primitive times. Fire may be used to dry and polish. Our Indian leaves his canoe to season sufficiently after making and before he launches it. He oils it instead of painting, as he has no paint. His paddles are shaped from any kind of light wood; always two in number, in order that he may have an extra one on hand. The bark canoe requires more skill and labor to make, and is much more ornamental. In the first place, you need just the right kind of bark, and for this you must search through the woods. You must unbark many trees to obtain sheets of uniform thickness and elasticity, sound, and of the proper length and width. You will then temper and season them by laying them smoothly on the ground atop of one another, for some days or even weeks, every alternate one cross-grained, and weighted with stones or logs. Some bark is brittle and cracks easily, and this must be discarded. In early spring when the sap runs is the best time to gather bark. The next thing is to secure the materials for your framework. The wood used is the swamp or white cedar. The Indian cuts down slender, limbless ones and splits them into convenient lengths, then whittles them flat, like boards, about two to four inches wide, and seasons them before they are fully finished. The longest are used for bracing the canoe lengthwise, usually four to six on the bottom and two to three on each side, beside the rim. The shorter ones are laid crosswise for the ribs, a foot or more apart, tapering to either end. The crosspieces are four in number. The Indian does not use these for seats, but sits in the bottom of the canoe. His canoe is from twelve to sixteen feet long, and somewhat wider than the one the white man makes. After collecting and preparing your material, drive stakes into the ground a foot apart in the exact shape of a canoe, and within this arrange your ribs and braces in the proper order, and tie them firmly together with the long, pliable roots of the swamp cedar or fir-tree. Sometimes strips of the inner layer of basswood bark are used for this purpose. When the frame of the canoe is complete, remove it, and lay the pieces of birch-bark, cut to the pattern and partially sewed together, within the pegged-out space. Allow a little for seams and fitting. Now lay the frame upon the covering, turn the latter up and fit it smoothly, as a dress is fitted to the manikin. An awl is used for making holes, and the dried cedar roots for sewing the bark. Turn the upper edges inward over the rim and sew them closely over and over. Lastly, take out, invert, and caulk all the seams well with boiling pitch outside, and inside with sturgeon blubber or glue made by boiling horn or rawhide. Now your canoe is finished except for the decoration, which may consist of figures drawn with the awl on the soft bark, or of paintings on bow and stern. The conventionalized figure of some water-fowl or fish, such as the swan, loon, or sturgeon, forms an appropriate emblem, and may also serve to name your craft. _ |
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