The framework of most bark canoes depended upon the gunwale structure to give longitudinal strength to the hull; for this reason the structure was made sufficiently large in cross-section to be rather stiff, or was formed of more than one member. An inner and outer gunwale construction was employed in many bark canoes. The inner member was the strength member and was sometimes square, or nearly so, in cross-section. In some canoes bark was brought up on the outside of this gunwale member, lapped over the top, and lashed over it; in others the bark was lashed to both inner and outer gunwales. The outer gunwale, a rectangular-sectioned batten bent narrow-edge up, was applied like a guard, outside the bark, and was secured by pegs, by the lashings of the bark cover, or by widely spaced lashings. On top of the large inner gunwale and usually extending outward over the outer gunwale, a thin cap, pegged or lashed in the same manner as the outer gunwale, was sometimes added; this was intended to protect the lashing of the bark to the gunwale rather than to add longitudinal strength. The corners of the inner gunwale, or of the single gunwale, were all rounded off to prevent them from cutting the sewing and lashings. The bottom outboard corner was sometimes rounded off more than the other, or beveled, in order to form between the outboard face of the gunwale and the bark a slot into which the heads of the ribs could be forced. An alternate method of accomplishing this was to notch or drill holes in the gunwales for the heads of the ribs. The ends of the gunwales were fashioned in various ways. In some canoes the gunwales were sheered upward at the ends only slightly, the gunwale ends being secured to wide end boards in the stems or extended past them and secured to the stem-pieces. The apparent sheer in the latter might be formed by bending the outer gunwale, or outwale, and the cap (if one existed) to the required curve and then securing the ends to the stem-piece, or to the end boards, as the form of end profile dictated. If either the single gunwale or the outwale or both were sharply sheered, they were split, to a point near the end thwart, into two or four or even more laminations; even the rail cap, which was perhaps half an inch thick, might be split in the same manner to allow a sharp upward sweep at the stems. After being bent, the split members were temporarily wrapped to hold the laminations together. In no bark canoes did the ends of the gunwales curve back on themselves to form a hook just inboard of the bow and stern, despite the numerous pictures that show this feature. The gunwale ends sometimes projected almost perpendicularly upward, slightly above the top of the bow and stern, so that when the canoe was upside down its weight came on these rather than on the sewing of the ends of the craft. [Illustration: Figure 25 GUNWALE ENDS nailed and wrapped with spruce roots. (_Sketch by Adney._)]