From the early English and French accounts, it is evident that none of the maritime Indians used very large or long war canoes, capable of holding many men. The old war canoes of the Malecite appear to have been either of the coastal or river types as the circumstances of their place of building and use dictated. The slight information available in these accounts suggests that the war canoe did not differ in appearance from the other types of Malecite canoes, and that they were not of greater size. The Malecite appear to have followed the same practices as the Micmac, using for war purposes canoes of standard size and appearance but narrower and built for speed, since a war party sought to travel rapidly to and from its objective in order to surprise the enemy and escape before organized pursuit could be formed. The Malecite placed four warriors in each canoe, two to paddle and two to watch and use weapons while afloat. However, only on rare occasions were bows and arrows used from canoes afloat; most fighting was done on land. Each canoe carried the personal mark of each of the four warriors, apparently one mark on each flap, or _wulegessis_, under the gunwales near the ends. When a war leader was carried however, only his mark was on his canoe. After a successful raid, the Malecite used to race for the last mile or so of the return journey, and the winning canoe was given, as a distinction, some mark or picture, often something humorous such as a caricature of an animal. This practice, however, was not confined to war canoes; in rather recent times it has been noted that such pictures were placed on any canoe that had shown outstanding qualities in racing competition or in exhibitions of skill. When making long canoe trips, the Malecite followed the widespread Indian practice of using the canoe as a shelter at night. When a camping place was reached, the canoe was unloaded, carried ashore, and turned upside down so that the tops of the ends and one gunwale rested on the ground. If the ends were high enough, as in the old Malecite type, one gunwale was raised off the ground far enough to permit a man to crawl under. If, as in the Micmac canoes, the ends were too low to allow this, they were raised off the ground by short forked sticks, with the forks resting against the end thwarts and the upper gunwale and the heels stuck into the earth. The dunnage (provisions or other cargo) was then stowed on the ground under the ends of the canoe and the two men would sleep under a single blanket with their feet pointed in opposite directions, each with his head on a pile of dunnage. If there were too many men aboard to do this, in bad weather a crude shelter was made by resting some poles on the upturned bilge and covering them with sheets of bark; under such a shelter meals could be cooked. [Illustration: Figure 63 OLD FORM OF MALECITE-ABNAKI 2½--FATHOM OCEAN CANOE of the Penobscots. In the Peabody Museum, Salem, Mass.]