DISTRIBUTION OF THE VARIOUS TYPES

A situation with many points of interest exists in regard to the distribution of these forms of canoes. For example, on Puget sound we have the six types of dugout canoes, which have been described; in northern California we have only one. The question at once suggests itself, How far southward along the Pacific coast does the use of six types of canoes extend? And, again, as we travel southward, do all six of the Puget Sound types disappear from use at once, being replaced by new types of craft, or are certain of these Puget Sound types more widely distributed than the others? The last question, I think, is the more easily answered. The single type which is used on Klamath river and on Humboldt bay in northern California is probably a modification of one of the types used on Puget sound—the “shovel-nose” model described above (pl. I, d). The appended diagram (pl. II) shows these two craft side by side. There seems to be in a general way a marked similarity in these canoes. They are both dugouts, of a “square-ended” type, and in each case the model has reached a high degree of refinement. There is a skilful “pinching-in” of the lines of the craft toward the ends, and also a very graceful “lift” of the bottom at bow and stern. It may be asserted from experience that both craft are very light and easily handled. The California canoe has no gunwale-strips,[16] and, moreover, it has in the stern some foot-braces and a seat, hewn in one piece with the hull, which are absent in the Puget Sound boat. The California boat, on the other hand, has no thwarts. The most striking difference, however, is that the bow and the stern of the California craft are crowned up into a peak, and the bow is further graced with a removable carven ornament, shaped like an inverted V. These differences seem superficial and underneath them the present writers see almost identical lines in the two vessels.

So much for the general resemblance. The facts of distribution make the idea of relationship much more plausible. It is worthy of remark that in California south of Humboldt bay there are no dugout canoes at all. Northward, however, dugouts are in use among all tribes as far as Puget sound. Moreover, in the case of some, at least, of the intervening tribes the shovel-nose or square-ended type of dugout occurs. This is true of the tribes about Klamath lake, for instance, as shown by a specimen of their canoes collected by Dr Barrett, now in the Museum of the University of California. Information on this point is unsatisfactory, for in this intervening area few observers have taken the pains to note in detail what kinds of canoes were used. This is true of much of Oregon, even on the coast. Vancouver says of the Indians of Port Orford that “their canoes, calculated to carry about eight people, were rudely wrought out of a single tree; their shape much resembled a butche1’s tray, and seemed very unfit for a sea voyage or any distant expedition.”[17] This seems almost certainly to indicate that he saw craft of a shovel-nose type. We can find few other statements on this matter in the literature. On Columbia river, as shown by the statements of Boas,[18] on the coast of Washington as illustrated by the photographs of Curtis,[19] on Puget sound and northward to an unknown distance, as observed by the present writers, shovel-nose canoes are in general use. The bare facts, as we have them, seem to be most readily explained on the assumption that one type of dugout canoe, of wide distribution on the North Pacific, has spread also as far south as the Yurok and neighboring tribes in northern California. The increased complexity of the design as found among the Yurok and their neighbors, as shown especially in the ornamentation, is possibly explainable by the fact that these tribes exhibit a distinctly higher culture in many respects than do their neighbors to the south, the east, or the north. For some reason, in the region about the mouth of Klamath river a secondary center of high culture has developed. It is not unlikely that this has produced the peculiar traits of their canoe.

It is noticeable also that there seems to be a gradual modification of all types of canoes as we move southward toward California. On Puget sound, five canoes out of six show a lift in the gunwales toward bow and stern. On the coast south of the Straits of Juan de Fuca, as shown by the photographs of Curtis,[20] canoes other than the shovel-nose have an abrupt “raise” at the prow, but amidships and at the stern they are “flush,” the gunwales forming a straight horizontal line. Apparently this arrangement might be considered as an approach to the California type of canoe, where the gunwales are perfectly flat, without any lift at either end.

If our inference is correct, it is apparent that, as we travel southward from Columbia river, five of the North Pacific types become modified and finally cease to be used. It has not been possible to find any evidence in the literature that indicates the point where the distribution of any of these models ceases.

The use of dugout canoes extends, of course, up the rivers which flow toward the Northwest coast. Thus the Wishram at the falls of the Columbia use the “Chinook” model described in the present paper, and other dugout models besides. George Gibbs stated that the shovel-nose type is the only one used on the Columbia above The Dalles.[21] Curtis has one picture of a dugout canoe used by the Nez Percés.[22] It is of the shovel-nose type (though shockingly clumsy, heavy, and ill-made—merely a log roughly shaped and somewhat hollowed out). Chamberlain states[23] that the Kootenay have a dugout type of craft, of what shape we do not know. It seems to be impossible to trace in detail the distribution of the shovel-nose in this direction on the basis of any material now in print. We may speak with certainty, therefore, only of the region immediately about Seattle, where the present authors have had a chance to make observations. In this vicinity the only type of canoe used on the upper courses of the streams is the shovel-nose.

Concerning the distribution, in a northerly direction, of these types of canoes, little can be said at the present time. As remarked above, the Kwakiutl use in place of the αο´τχς, a great sea-going canoe of somewhat different and more complicated model, and much more elaborately ornamented.

The evolution of canoes probably took place among the people somewhat northward of Puget Sound peoples, whose general level of culture is higher. Going southward from the Kwakiutl, say, canoes are steadily less and less specialized, until we come to the tribes of northern California with their one model. South of the California tribes just mentioned, these influences are not apparent at all. Concerning the canoes of the coast north of the Kwakiutl, we can get at the present time no information. It is not known whether several types are in use, or only one. The pictures of Curtis, which might tell the story, are not nearly so useful as they are in other cases, since he photographed very few canoes in this area; possibly because he found so much else to picture.