Types of canoes on Puget SoundWaterman, T. T. (Thomas Talbot)
History
Types of canoes on Puget Sound
Waterman, T. T. (Thomas Talbot)
Canoes and canoeing; Indians of North America -- Boats; Indians of North America -- History
DIAGRAM SHOWING (_a_) THE SHOVEL-NOSE CANOE USED ON PUGET SOUND, AND
(_b_) THE CANOE USED BY THE YUROK OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA]
has a length of 80 ft. Model _b_ in the diagram is usually made of
fairly good size, in the neighborhood of 22 ft. long; but there is great
variation in specimens. Model _c_ is always small, and model _f_ is
never very large. We have not examined a large enough number of canoes
to make it worth while to publish the measurements taken. The specimens
from which the drawings were made were collected in the immediate
neighborhood of Seattle and are in the Museum of the American Indian,
Heye Foundation.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Diagram showing the outline of the “Alaska”
canoe, used by the Kwakiutl, Tsimshian, and Haida. It is occasionally
seen on Puget sound. (After a diagram in Boas, 1909.)]
An additional type, the great “Alaska” canoe, called by the Salish
_tsaba´xad_, is sometimes seen on the sound. Such canoes came down from
the north, manned usually by Haida from the Queen Charlotte islands, or
by Nootka from the west coast of Vancouver island; occasionally by
people of other tribes. These canoes were not used by the Puget Sound
people, and were looked on with some curiosity. Their outline is shown
in fig. 1 (after Boas).
POINTS OF INTEREST IN THE VARIOUS TYPES
A.--The “WAR CANOE” (αο´τος)
The Songish about Victoria, B. C., have this model, which they call
_a´tqEs_.[11] Its most characteristic features, both there and here,
are a prominent and lofty bow and stern. These consist, on Puget
sound, of separate sections hewn out of cedar and fitted carefully
into their places on the hull. They are fastened there by pegs of
cedar (_st’Δ´stΔd_, the word now applied to nails) and lashings of
twisted cedar withes (_sti´dΔgwΔt)_, and the joint is watertight
without being “pitched” (see Swan, 1868, for the method of fitting).
Artistically, the shape of the prow strongly suggests an anima1’s
head, and gives the canoe (which is exquisite in design) an air of
alertness, as though it were moving of its
[Illustration: WATERMAN--CANOES
PL. III
TWO SUQUAMISH “WAR CANOES” LASHED TOGETHER AND CARRYING A PLATFORM OF
POLES
This device was used in transporting house-planks and for moving large
quantities of effects from one site to another. (Photographed at
Suquamish, Washington, 1913.)]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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