File:Bulletin - United States National Museum (1964) (19887044493).jpg

Title: Bulletin - United States National Museum
Identifier: bulletinunitedst2301964unit (find matches)
Year: 1877 (1870s)
Authors: United States National Museum; Smithsonian Institution; United States. Dept. of the Interior
Subjects: Science
Publisher: Washington : Smithsonian Institution Press, (etc. ); for sale by the Supt. of Docs. , U. S. Govt Print. Off.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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Fur-Trade Canoe Stem-Piecks, models made by Adney: i, 'I'ctcs dc Boule type; 2, Ojibway form; 3, old Algonkin form. with the initials of the Company, H.B.C., said to mean "Here Before Christ" by disrespectful clerks. Many posts used such figures as the jackfish, loon, deer, wolf, or bear, on the bow. The rayed circular devices appear to have been long popular and were said to have been introduced by the French. There is no record of any device being officially required in any district but the cassettes of certain districts were marked with distinctive devices at one time; Norway House used a deer's head with antlers, Saskatchewan two bufTalo, Cumberland a bear. Red River a grass- hopper, and Manitoba a crocus. During Christopherson's long service he knew the canoes built in his vicinity at such nearby building posts as Lake Abitibi, Lake Waswanipi, and Kipewa, in western Quebec; and Lake Timagami (Bear Island), Matachewan on Montreal River, Matagama (west of Sudbury), and Missinaibi, in nearby Ontario. These were but a few of the building posts, of course, for canoes were built at numerous posts to the west and northward. When portaged, the large canoes might be carried right side up or upside down, the former being more usual method. The canot du nord was often light enough to be carried by two paddlers, one under each end, with the canoe right side up and steadied by a cord tied to the ofTside gunwale and held in the carrier's hand. The mailre canot required four men to carry it. Various methods were used. One was to lash carrying sticks across the gunwales near the ends and to carry the canoe right side up with a man on the end of each stick. Another way was for the men to distribute themselves along the bottom of the canoe, near the ends, and to use steadying cords. Or the canoe might be carried upside down with the men carrying it by placing one shoulder under the gunwales 151

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