nd serves
some of the constructional purposes of a keel. The voyageurs,
recognizing this, call it _le maitre_. It is laid on the ends of the
ribs, which are made fast to it. Then the frame is completed by the
three or more cross-bars, which keep the two sides of the gunwale from
spreading apart. After this the birch-bark skin is stretched on the
frame as tightly as possible, turned in over the gunwale, and clamped
on there by the _faux maitre_ or super-gunwale. The two ends, both as
sharp as an ordinary bow, are then sewn together by a sort of
criss-cross fibre lacing, and every hole or seam in the bark is well
gummed with melted rosin. The finishing touches are equally important,
each in its own way. Thin boards are laid in lengthwise, either
between the ribs and the skin or over the ribs, so as to protect the
bark bottom from being injured by the cargo. The ends of the canoe are
reinforced inside by the Indian equivalent for a collision bulkhead.
This bulkhead sometimes rises well above the gunwale and is carved like
a figurehead, which accounts for its voyageur name of _le p'ti'
bonhomme_. A third finishing touch, {23} very common in earlier days,
is the decoration of the outsides of both ends, which used to rise with
a sharp sheer, and sometimes actually curved back. The usual
decorations here were totem signs, generally made of porcupine quills,
dyed in many colours, and serving the original purpose of a coat of
arms.

The familiar shape has never been greatly varied, though some canoes
are built on finer lines for speed, and others on fuller lines for
carrying cargo. But there has always been plenty of variety in size
and material. The smallest canoe would hardly hold two persons, and
could be carried in one hand. The big war canoes would hold more than
twenty well-armed paddlers and required four men to carry them. The
very biggest canoe probably did not exceed forty feet in length, six in
breadth, and two in depth amidships. Fifty men or five tons of cargo
could have been carried in it. But perhaps one quite so large was
never built. When white cedar and birch were not to be had, all sorts
of substitutes were used. Any roots with tough fibres would do for the
sewing, and any light and tough wood served its turn as a more or less
efficient substitute for the white cedar framing. But elm and other
alternative barks {24} were all bad. The elm bark was used inside out,
because the outside was to