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Show TIJJg INDIAN AND, HIS CANOE Whenhered man of the oldtpe wants to construct a canoe, he fells a codartrpe or else seeks a pros'- trate trunk of. the dimensions he fancies. fan-cies. In vOither case he proceeds to cut out a section of the desired length, petals off the bark, and hollows out tho log, leaving a smooth surface upon the.,. -sides jini bottom from end4 to, end. -Next the,, log is turned ovor and theAo.utide fashioned. Tho loggia JipHowed by burning and choppingA fire is built on the top and Is q aorefully watched and so skillfully directed that when the burning is finished the big piece of Umbor kji neatly hollowed, with wonderful won-derful s&mmetiy from bow to stern. The whole concavo surface is loftj,, ho evonly qnd nicely charred that, whon the surface is worked down to , tho sound timber by tho use of a buckhorn adze thore remains but little alteration to be made. The lQg.fs turned over, with the,, hollow side down. A slow fire is employed em-ployed to shapo the exterior and once moo-rthe surface is neatly worked unyi the sound timber appears, ap-pears, v r' Since, ihe.coming of the white man the Indians, have, for the most part, t foiled trees -for their canoes with axes; but in tho old days this was accomplished by burning and by stone implements, the fire being so hand-, led as not, -to injure tho portion r whereof tho canoe was to bo built. "hfptS-fho interior and tho exterior of tHD-iSitioeTiavc boon finished to tho llkingf-Qiji the builder, his next stop is to "streTkh." Without this operation th&QngJt would bo entirely unsea-, Ji'ortKy. To make the canoe seaworthy, sea-worthy, iJLis set level on a firm skU foundation and filled with water. A fire is then built and stones of a red heat ar thrown Into the canoe until the water boils. This boiling is maintained until the walls of tho canoe, which are more than an Inch thick, become as pliable as sole leather lea-ther and capable of being stretched a foot or more beyond their normal width. The builder's attention is now turned to theafljustment of cleverly fitting sticks put in transversely along "tho gunwale," increasing the length' from tho entls to the middle. mid-dle. " By reason of hdfee stretchers a cedar log of, say, two fe"et and a half in diameter will furnish a" canoo of threo or fdur feet in beam. The width of tho catioo varies, of 'course, with tho length. - - Tho sides of the clanoe having been brought to the desired curvature, the water is theV emptied out and tho shell allowedf"to dry thoroughly, but without cracking. The finishing touches consist of a smearing, inside and out, with fish-voll, fish-voll, together with artistic decorations in brilliant ''colors. |