The rail caps were also rectangular in cross section, but often they had the outboard upper edge rounded off or beveled. The caps were pegged at 1-foot intervals to the main gunwales, but at the ends they could only be lashed to the outwale, as both outwales and caps were so sharply upswept at the ends that they stood almost vertically. The ends were squared off and stood a little above the top of the stems, so that when the canoe was placed upside down as a shelter for the paddlers and packers it rested upon these members rather than on the sewing of the bark cover on the tops of the stems, as was usual with all the high-ended Algonkin and Ojibway canoes. The stem-pieces and headboards were assembled into single units, as shown on pages 149 and 151, before being installed during construction. The stem-pieces were of white cedar, about four fingers deep fore-and-aft and laminated, and about ¾ to 1¼ inches wide, depending upon the size of the canoe and the judgment of the builder. In Christopherson's area the stem-piece was relatively short, the head coming up and around and ending at a point far enough under the rail-cap ends for it to be securely lashed to these members and to the outwale ends. It was bent by use of hot water and the laminae were secured by wrapping the stem piece with fine twine. The stem was stiffened by stepping the headboard on its heel in the usual manner, and the two were held in the required position by two horizontal struts, the outboard ends of which were lashed to the sides of the stem piece well up above the heel; the inboard ends were pegged at the sides of the headboard, in notches, or were passed through the headboards in slots and the strut ends secured with wedges athwartships on the inboard face of the headboard. The result was a rigid and strong end-frame. More complicated bending was employed at some posts, where the building of fur-trade canoes followed Algonkin or Ojibway practices. In these, as has been mentioned, the stem-pieces were brought down and around under the stem-head to the back or inboard edge of the stem-piece and lashed, then brought inboard horizontally to end in a hole in the headboard, between struts placed as in the Christopherson-built canoes. Another method was to bring the stem-piece around the stem head and down and around outboard to the inboard face of the stem, where the end was split and each half lashed to the sides of the stem-piece. In this case there was a lashing between stem-piece and the headboard, placed where the reverse was made, inboard and below the top of the stem, well up on the headboard. The heel of the headboard and stem-piece were pegged together.