Page:Cathlamet On the Columbia.djvu/34

 always work, and from here the canoe would sometimes split from end to end. Many a tragedy of the sea was due to this inherent weakness, for in these and the Alaskan canoes the Indians traveled the entire coast line of the Pacific, from the mouth of the Columbia northward to Sitka and southward to the California line, and even farther, and old Indians often told of clinging to the broken sides of the canoe when it had split, for hours, and even days, until the surf rolled them ashore.