All seams are now payed with gum on the inside of the bark while this can still be done without interference from the sheathing or those parts of the structure remaining to be installed. The Malecites used only spruce gum tempered with animal fat. The gum, heated until it is sufficiently soft to pour like heavy syrup, is spread with a small wooden paddle or spoon, and is then worked into the seam and smoothed by rubbing with the thumb dipped in water to prevent the gum from sticking and burning. It is first worked into the ends, between the bark and each side of the stem-pieces, particularly near the heel below the waterline. When the crevices are filled, a piece of bark (in later times a piece of cloth was used) wide enough to cover the gum alongside is well smeared with warm gum and pressed down along the inside of the stem-pieces. On each seam, at gores, and on side panels a thin narrow strip of bark is smeared with gum and pressed over the seam after the latter had been well payed. The bark is now carefully scrutinized for small splits, holes, or thin spots since these can be easily patched from the inside at this stage of construction. In fitting bark strips and in gumming, great care is taken to obtain a flat surface; the edges of the strips inside are faired to the inside face of the bark by smearing gum along the edges. The canoe is now ready to be sheathed and ribbed out. The sheathing for this canoe has been split in advance out of clear white cedar in splints about 5 to 9 feet long, 3 to 4¼ inches wide, and ⅛ inch thick. The butts of each piece have been whittled to a feather edge, the bevel extending back about 2 inches. Also, some pieces of basket ash have been split out of saplings for temporary ribs to hold the sheathing in place. A total of 50 or more ribs in five lengths, the longest about 5 feet, have been made up from white cedar heartwood and bent to the desired shape. In deciding the rough lengths of the ribs, the builder can resort to various methods. He can prebend ribs in pairs to a number of arbitrarily chosen shapes: the first set of six pairs to the desired midsection form; a second set of five pairs to the form of the section between the middle and first pair of thwarts; a third, of five pairs, to the section at the first thwarts each way from the middle; a fourth, of four pairs, to the section between the end and the first pair of thwarts each way from the middle; a fifth, of three pairs, to the section at the end thwarts; and a sixth, of two or three pairs, for the section at or near the headboards. This makes from 50 to 52 frames in a canoe measuring 18 or 19 feet overall.