Coast Salish Dugout
The Canadian Canoe Museum
All rights reserved.
| Object Name: | Coast Salish Dugout |
| Technique: | Dugout |
| Accession Number: | 1977.005.1 |
| Model Name/Number: | n/a |
| School/Style: | Aboriginal |
| Description: | Date Built: Unknown This canoe is a Coastal Salish canoe from Port Madison Reserve, Washington. Distinctive characteristics of this craft include a curved yet low sheer and a deeply notched prow. Salish canoes of this size were more suited as freight and trolling canoes. |
| History of Use: | The Coast Salish peoples inhabit coastal and adjacent areas of British Columbia and Washington State. Here, great rivers, calm estuaries, diverse topographies and climate provide bountiful resources. Their canoes demonstrate their needs, ranging from small clam boats to great ocean-going war canoes. Southern Coast Salish relied primarily on seafood while more northern and interior groups supplemented with land fare (goat, bear, deer and elk). All depended greatly upon salmon. Distributing goods from both sea and interior, they traded smoked fish and fish oil, shells, canoes, metals, goat products, and medicines. Historically, 10 dialects of the central Salishan language were spoken but today Pentlatch is not used. Canoe-building was a sacred art with its own rituals, prayers and practices during the 3-4 week process. Straight-grained, light, waterproof and rot-resistant, giant Western Red Cedar and Sitka Spruce were widely available to Pacific Coast First Nations. Cottonwood was sometimes used on interior rivers where cedar was not available. A tree was felled by burning it at the base, then it was hollowed out by burning and using an adze. Hot water and steam (using fired rocks) and temporary wood braces were used to widen the middle (sometimes 50% wider than the original tree) and to compress and strengthen the ends. This process shortened the log by as much as 15 centimetres and lifted the ends to produce an elegantly curved sheer. Dried dogfish shark skin was used to sand the wood. The hull was "pitched" with heated fir gum and oil, then preserved with whale, seal or fish oil. Often, separately carved bow and stern pieces were fitted later or refitted to new canoes when the old ones were no longer serviceable. Carvers often had signature canoes that could be identified by their workmanship and finish. Decorations were seldom seen on smaller everyday craft but often adorned war canoes( called Munka or "the best") and ceremonial canoes. |
| Number of Components: | 1 |
| Institution: |
The Canadian Canoe Museum
 Facebook-The Canadian Canoe Museum
 Twitter-The Canadian Canoe Museum
 YouTube-The Canadian Canoe Museum
|
| Institution City: | Peterborough |
| Institution Province: | Ontario |
Contact information for this web page
-
To suggest edits or updates to this page, please contact the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) directly.