Page:The Columbia river , or, Scenes and adventures during a residence of six years on the western side of the Rocky Mountains among various tribes of Indians hitherto unknown (Volume 1).djvu/320

 *rally white cedar, though the fir is sometimes used. The sides are secured by cross bars or round sticks, two or three inches in thickness, which are inserted through holes made just below the gunwales, and made fast with cords. The upper edge of the gunwale itself is about five-eighths of an inch thick, and four or five in breadth; and folds outwards so as to form a kind of rim, which prevents the water from beating into the boat. The bow and stern are about the same height, and each provided with a comb reaching to the bottom of the boat. At each end also are pedestals, formed of the same solid piece, on which are placed strange grotesque figures of men or animals rising sometimes to the height of five feet, and composed of small pieces of wood firmly united, with great ingenuity, by inlaying and mortising, without a spike of any kind. The paddle is usually from four and a half to five feet in length; the handle being thick for one-third of its length, when it widens and is hollowed and thinned on each side of the centre, which forms a sort of rib. When they embark, one Indian sits in the stern and steers with a paddle; the others kneel in pairs in the bottom of the canoe, and sitting on their heels paddle over the gunwale next to them. In this way they ride with