The headboards are now to be made. These are shaped in the form of an elongate-oval from a wide splint of white cedar about 4 inches wide at midlength and ¼ inch thick. The narrow end is first cut off square or nearly so; the bottom end is notched to fit in the notch in the heel of the stem-piece and the top has a small tenon at the centerline that will be fitted into a hole drilled or gouged in the underside of the inner gunwales where they join at the ends. The length of the headboards in the canoe being built is 15¾ inches over all, and when they have been made for each end, they are checked as to width and height to see that they can be fitted. Next, the extreme ends of the canoe between the stem and the headboards are stuffed with dry cedar shavings or dry moss so that the sides stand firm on each side of the bow outboard of the ends of the sheathing, which ends rather unevenly, just outboard of where the headboards will stand. This completed, the headboards are forced into position by first stepping the heel notch in the stem-piece notch and then bending the board by placing one hand against its middle and pulling the top toward the worker. This shortens the height of the board enough so the tenon projecting on its head can be sprung into the small hole under the inner gunwales, where it becomes rigidly fixed. Its sprung shape pushes up the gunwales and makes the side bark of the ends very taut and smooth, while supporting the gunwale ends. Two thin strips about 19 feet long are next split out of white cedar to form the gunwale caps; these are ¼ to ⅜ inch thick, and taper each way from about 2 inches wide in the middle to 1 inch wide at the ends. These are laid along the top of the inner gunwales and fastened down with pegs placed clear of the gunwale lashings. The ends of the strips are usually secured by two or three small lashings; the caps thus formed often stop short of the ends of the inner gunwale members. If the caps are carried right out to the stems, as was the practice of some Malecite builders, the lashings of the outwale are not turned in until after the caps are in place, in which case the bark deck pieces, or flaps, are put in just before the final lashing is made. [Illustration: Figure 45 SIXTH STAGE OF CANOE CONSTRUCTION: canoe has been righted and placed on a grassy or sandy spot. In this stage splints for sheathing (upper left) are fixed in place and held by temporary ribs (lower right) under the gunwales. The bark cover has been completely sewn and the shape of the canoe is set by the temporary ribs. (_Sketch by Adney._)]