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
MACKENZIE DELTA KAYAK, in Museum of the American Indian, Heye
Foundation.] The design is marked by a very narrow flat bottom or a
wide keel combined with the ~V~-bottom. These boats are well-built
and are light and graceful. The wide keel is formed by a thick plank
keelson which narrows at bow and stern and is bent up to form the stem
and stern. The chine pieces run fore and aft and are lashed to the
stem and stern thus formed. The gunwales are about ¾ by 1⅛ inches. The
frames are about ¼ by ⅝ inch bent in a strongly ~U~-shaped form, with
their ends tenoned into the bottom of the gunwales. The keelson is
only about ⅜ inch thick and the chines are rather wide thin battens;
about ⁵⁄₁₆ by 1¼ inch. Some kayaks have an additional batten in the
sides above the chines. The deck is slightly ridged for nearly the
length of the boat. The stem and stern are carried up above the sheer
to form prominent posts; some builders carry them higher than shown.
The construction is neat and light and the boat is very easily paddled.
Its narrow beam makes it somewhat treacherous, however, in unskilled
hands. A double-bladed paddle is generally used with this kayak. While
the form appears to vary little among individuals of this class, the
construction varies, particularly in the number and dimensions of the
longitudinals. Frames are spaced rather consistently 5 to 6 inches
apart.
[Illustration: Figure 189
KAYAK FROM POINT BARROW, Alaska, in U.S. National Museum (USNM 57773).
Collected by Capt. M. A. Healy, U.S. Revenue Steamer _Bear_, 1888.
(_Smithsonian photo_ MNH-399-A.)]
[Illustration: Figure 190
COCKPIT OF KAYAK from Point Barrow (USNM 57773), showing method of
lashing skin cover to manhole. (_Smithsonian photo_ MNH-399.)]
[Illustration: Figure 191
KAYAK IN U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM (USNM 160325) cataloged as from Mackenzie
River area, 1885, but apparently an eastern kayak of unidentified
origin.]
[Illustration: Figure 192
CORONATION GULF KAYAK, Canada, partially reconstructed from a damaged
privately owned kayak (now destroyed).]
[Illustration: Figure 193
CARIBOU ESKIMO KAYAK, Canada, in American Museum of Natural History.]
[Illustration: Figure 194
NETSILIK ESKIMO KAYAK, King William Island, Canada, in the American
Museum of Natural History.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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