The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North AmericaChapelle, Howard Irving
History
The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America
Chapelle, Howard Irving
Canoes and canoeing -- North America; Indians of North America -- Boats; Skin boats -- North America
I have made every effort to preserve the results of Adney's
investigations of the individual types in accurate drawings or in the
descriptions in the text. It was necessary to redraw and complete
most of Adney's scale drawings of canoes, for they were prepared for
model-building rather than for publication. Where his drawings were
incomplete, they could be filled in from his scale models and notes.
It must be kept in mind that in drawing plans of primitive craft the
draftsman must inevitably "idealize" the subject somewhat, since a
drawing shows fair curves and straight lines which the primitive
craft do not have in all cases. Also, the inboard profiles are
diagrammatic rather than precise, because, in the necessary reduction
of the full-size canoe to a drawing, this is the only way to show its
"form" in a manner that can be interpreted accurately and that can
be reproduced in a model or full size, as desired. It is necessary
to add that, though most of the Adney plans were measured from
full-size canoes, some were reconstructed from Indian models, builders'
information, or other sources. Thanks to Adney's thorough knowledge of
bark construction, the plans are highly accurate, but there are still
chances for error, and these are discussed where they occur.
Although reconstruction of extinct canoe types is difficult, for the
strange canoes of the Beothuk Indians of Newfoundland Adney appears to
have solved some of the riddles posed by contemporary descriptions and
the few grave models extant (the latter may have been children's toys).
Whether or not his reconstructed canoe is completely accurate cannot be
determined; at least it conforms reasonably well to the descriptions
and models, and Adney's thorough knowledge of Indian craftsmanship
gives weight to his opinions and conclusions. This much can be said:
the resulting canoe would be a practical one and it fulfills very
nearly all descriptions of the type known today.
Adney's papers and drawings dealing with the construction of bark
canoes are most complete and valuable. So complete as to be almost a
set of "how-to-do-it" instructions, they cover everything from the
selection of materials and use of tools to the art of shaping and
building the canoe. An understanding of these building instructions is
essential to any sound examination of the bark canoes of North America,
for they show the limitations of the medium and indicate what was and
what was not reasonable to expect from the finished product.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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