CANOE, k;-noo', a light boat designed for propulsion with a paddle or paddles. The term is very commonly used to designate the small vessels used by uncivilized people living near the water. The name is of West Indian origin, the Carib word being cantos. Canoes are built in divers forms and of various materials. The primitive canoes were light frames of wood over which skins or barks of trees were stretched. The most common form was the hollowed tree-trunk; the excavation, before the advent of adequate cutting-tools, being accomplished by means of fire. This form is of wide distribution, being found in Africa, South and Central America, China and the islands of the south Pacific and Indian oceans. In the form known as a "dugout* it is com mon in the United States. Among the island races of the Pacific the stability of the canoe is largely increased by the adoption of an outrigger, which, of varying forms, prevents capsizing on the one side by its weight and leverage, and on the other by its buoyancy. Many of these islanders sew planks together to form their canoes, making the joints water tight by means of gums, etc. Others use double canoes united by a strong platform. Such a vessel is capable of carrying a num ber of persons and a considerable lading. In South America, where large trees are abundant, very large canoes are constructed. The same is true of Africa, where the war-canoes of the native kings carry very large crews. They are often fantastically carved and ornamented.
As stated above, the propelling force of the canoe is usually the paddle, but sails are often used, particularly on sea-going craft.
The Esquimaux canoe is known as a kayak. This consists of a light wooden or bone frame covered with seal-skins sewed together with sinews. The skin covering extends across the top, forming a water-tight deck with but one opening amidships to admit the boatman. A hoop is fitted to this opening, and after the boatman has entered he fastens himself in by means of an apron so that the whole boat is water-tight, and he as it were, part of the craft. So intimate is this union, and so skilful are the Esquimaux in the manage ment of their kayaks, that the boatman can with a twist of his paddle capsize the craft and turn completely around under water, coming up again on the opposite side to that he went over. The paddle is about 10 feet long and double-bladed. The oomiak, or women's boat, is also made of seal-skins sewed over a frame work; but it is of large, even clumsy build, and but for its propulsion by paddles might be classed as a boat rather than as a canoe. It is designed as a transport for women, children and household goods rather than for the chase, for which the kayak is principally used.
The Aleuts build large skin boats, somewhat resembling the Esquimaux oomiak, which are propelled by paddles. Such a boat is known as a bidarkee. Other tribes of the west coast build large canoes of wood, the war-vessels being, like those of Africa, curiously decorated.
A peculiar form of canoe is found in the Kootenai district and on the Columbia River. While most canoes are constructed with the bow and stern either perpendicular or with a flaring overhang, these Kootenai craft are shaped, both at bow and stern, like the ram of a warship. In other words, the greatest length
is along the bottom. These canoes are gener ally about 15 feet long and are constructed with a light framework of cedar covered with spruce or white-pine bark. This bark is cut off in one piece in the spring, when the sap is running, and is turned inside out, bringing the smooth side in contact with the water. The canoes are sewed with rawhide or tendons, and cracks and knot-holes are stopped with resin. Two squaws will make a canoe in four or five days; the chief difficulty being to get the bark off whole and to turn it wrong side out successfully.
The North American Indians have brought the canoe to its highest state of perfection. With the most frail material, birch bark, they construct a craft so light that it may be carried by one man, and yet so strong and buoyant that it will carry a very considerable load. A framework of light but tough wood is covered with sheets of birch hark, which are sewed together, the seams being waterproofed with resinous gums. They are propelled by means of a single-bladed paddle, which is dipped on one side only (a slight twist correcting the tendency to swerve from a straight line), or alternately on either side. The use of the birch-bark canoe by the Indians of the United States is rapidly becoming a ding of the past; but the art of building them has been preserved by their construction as pleasure-craft.
A form of canoe of recent invention is used solely for pleasure. About 1865 John MacGregor, impelled by a love of adventure, sought recreation on the rivers and fjords of Europe as well as on the waters oft and Palestine. He developed his model fromthe Esquimaux kayak, and evolved a clinker-built craft of cedar, about 14 feet long and 2 feet in beam, depth 10 inches to 16 inches, entirely decked over with the exception of a °well' in which the canoeist sits. This is propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle, but a short mast enables the carrying of a sail. In a canoe of this type, which he named the Rob Roy, MacGregor cruised on the Danube, the Jordan, the Nile, the Seine and on Norwegian fjords. From this early model other forms have been evolved, notably the Nautilus and Shadow types. Water-tight compartments en sure permanent buoyancy. Centre-boards counteract leeway when under sail on a wind, The interior space is so arranged as to vide a sleeping-place for the cruiser.
There are many canoe clubs in the United States, England and Canada, and ,the canoe may be seen on all the coastwise and inland waters of those countries, as well as on the continent of Europe. Consult MacGregor, 'A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe' (1866) ; 'The Rob Roy on the Baltic' ; Powell, W. B., 'Canoe Traveling) (1871) ; Alden W. L., 'Canoe and the Flying Proa> (New York 1878) ; Hayward, T. D., 'Camping out with the British Canoe Vaux, C. B., 'Canoe Handling' (New York 1888) ; Stephens, 'Canoe and Boat Building) (New York 1881) ; 'Canoes and Canoeing,' 'Spald ing's Athletic Library) (New York, annually).