Historical references to the canoes of the Micmac are frequent in the French records of Canada; it must have been Micmac canoes that Cartier saw in 1534 at Prince Edward Island and in Bay Chaleur. The most complete description of such canoes is in the account of Nicolas Denys, who came to the Micmac country in 1633 and remained there almost continuously until his death at 90, in 1688. His travels during this period took him into Maine as far as the Penobscot and throughout what are now New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. While his descriptions are primarily concerned with the Malecite dress, houses, and hunting and fishing techniques, his notes on birch-bark canoes seem to indicate very clearly that he is describing a hogged-sheer Micmac rough-water canoe. He says, for example, that the length of these canoes was between 3 and 4½ fathoms, the fathom being the French _brasse_, so that they ranged in length from 16 to 24 feet over the gunwales. This gunwale length seems reasonable, since Denys gives the beam as only about 2 English feet, obviously a gunwale measurement in view of the great tumble-home in these canoes. That the Micmac rough-water canoe is the subject of Denys' observations is further indicated by his statement that the depth was such that the gunwales came to the armpits of a man seated on the bottom. This could only be true in a canoe having a hogged sheer in the lengths given, and is, in fact, a slight exaggeration unless the man referred to was of less than average height. The depth would be about 22 English inches, great even for a 24-foot canoe. Denys states that the inside sheathing of these canoes was split from cedar. He also states that the splints were about 4 inches wide, were tapered toward the ends, and ran the full length of the canoe. It is probable that they were butted amidships, as in known examples; this, however, would have been covered by a rib and might not have been noticed. Denys says that the Indians "bent the cedar ribs in half-circles to form ribs and shaped them in the fire." Adney believed this meant by use of hot water. However, this bending could have been done by what was known in 17th-century shipbuilding practice as stoving, in which green lumber was roasted over an open fire until the sap and wood became hot enough to allow a strong bend to be made without breakage. Wood thus treated, when cooled and seasoned somewhat, would hold the set. While it is certain that later Indians knew how to employ hot water, it does not follow that all tribes used this method, particularly in early times.