A 4-fathom canoe measured 26 feet 8 inches over the tips of the upturned rail caps, and 29 feet 11 inches overall. The beam amidships was 57 inches inside the gunwales and the depth amidships to top of gunwales was 26 inches; the height of the stem was 53 inches. A 3-fathom canoe was 19 feet 2 inches overall, 16 feet 8 inches over the ends of the gunwale caps, 42 inches beam amidships inside of gunwales, the depth of the canoe from bottom to top of gunwale amidships was 19 inches, and the height of the ends was 38 inches. The building frame for this canoe was 15 feet 8 inches long and 27 inches wide. The canoes falling between the even-fathom measurements were often of about the same dimensions as the even-fathom size next below; a 3½-fathom canoe would have nearly the same breadth and depth as a 3-fathom; only the length was increased. The half-fathom rarely measured that--a canoe rated as 3½ fathom was actually only 20 feet 5 inches overall. One express canoe rated 3½ fathoms measured 20 feet 1 inch overall, 18 feet 3 inches over the gunwale caps, 44 inches beam inside gunwales amidships, and 21 inches deep, bottom to top of gunwale cap. The height of the ends was 39 inches. This example will serve to indicate how inexact the fathom classification really was. It should also be noted that the height of the ends varied a good deal in any given range of length, as this dimension was determined not by the length of the canoe but by the judgment and taste of the builder and his tribal form of end. Generally, however, small canoes had relatively higher ends than large canoes, in proportion to length, because, as will be remembered, one function of the end was to hold the upended canoe far enough off the ground to permit the user to seek shelter under it. [Illustration: Figure 134 "REPAIRING THE CANOE." From an oil painting by Hopkins (_Public Archives of Canada photo_).] Extremes of dimension appear to have been rare in fur-trade canoes; none whose length overall exceeded 37 feet have been found in the records, and the maximum beam reported in a _maître canot_ was 80 inches. When canvas replaced birch bark in the fur-trade canoes, the high-ended models disappeared; the canvas freight canoes were commonly of the white man's type having low-peaked ends, or a modified Peterborough type.