The construction is in the usual manner. The rocker of the bottom is 2 inches. The ribs are wider amidships than near the ends. The outwale is rounded on the outboard face so that the cap is slightly narrower than the thickness of inner gunwale and outwale combined. The headboard is rather unusual, however, as it is not bellied but stands straight and vertical. The lashing at the upper portion of the stems is the crossed stitch, below it is spiral. The gunwale groups are made up of six passes through the bark, and the spaces between groups are about 2½ inches. The side panels are sewn with the harness stitch. The canoe is 16 feet long overall and 14 feet 5 inches inside the gunwales; the extreme beam amidships is 37 inches and inside the gunwales 32 inches. The depth amidships is about 13 inches and the height of the ends 25 inches, with 2 inches of rocker at the headboards. This canoe, retaining the high ends, marks the transition from the old form to the new. A later canoe built on the St. Lawrence about 1890, probably near Rivière de Loup, is shown above. It is 16 feet 11 inches long overall, the beam over the gunwales is 33½ inches and inside it is 31 inches, the curve of the bilge being carried up to the gunwales. The bottom is flat for only a short width. The depth amidships is 11½ inches and the height of the ends is 20 inches, with 1 inch of rocker in the last two feet of length. The sheer is a long fair sweep without any quick upward lift near the ends. The headboards are very narrow and belly only very slightly toward the ends. The end profile illustrates the short radii and straight line form that marked many of the last Malecite birch-bark canoes of the St. Lawrence Valley. It is possible that the end-form was copied from the white man's St. Lawrence skiff, which usually had ends that were straight and nearly vertical, with a sharp turn into the keel. [Illustration: Figure 70 MODERN (1895) MALECITE 2½-FATHOM ST. JOHN RIVER CANOE, with low ends and moderate sheer, developed late in the 19th century.] Since a Malecite canoe of the form having rounded low ends was the subject used to describe the construction of a birch-bark canoe in Chapter 3 (see p. 36), there is no need to discuss all the details here. There was some variety in the sewing and lashing used in Malecite canoes; the combination of cross and spiral stitches in the ends and the use of a batten and the over-and-over stitch in the side panels are, of course, very common in these canoes. The occasional use of other stitches in the side panels and even in the gores would probably be normal, since individual preferences in such details were not controlled by a narrow tribal practice.