TRUE REPLICA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 243, 13 October 1936, Page 9

TRUE REPLICA.

FINE INDIAN CANOE.

BIRCH BARK AND CEDAR. MUSEUM ACQUISITION. Swift and graceful in its lines, and extremely light in weight, a canoe made true to type by a North American Indian has arrived at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, and will be displayed soon in the section to which it belongs. It will surely become the envy of youthful male visitors who look upon it. The canoe comes from Golden Lake, Ontario, where an Indian, Mathew Bernard, devotes his time to making true replicas of the craft his people used for centuries, supplying them to museums and enthusiasts in all parts of the world. In this example the maker has preserved the materials and methods that have for many years now been supplanted by the less natural products of contact with other civilisations. The frame of the craft is covered with sections of birch bark, sewn across the woodwork with lashings of split spruce roots and sealed with wood gum. Lining the bark are thin wafers of cedar-wood, while closely-placed ribs of the same material give the canoe strength and shape. Only lashings and wooden pesrs have been used to make necessary joins. It is the sewing of the bark which gives this type of craft distinction, Closely associated with canoes such as this is the romantic story of the expjoration and development of Canada. The extreme lightness of the craft more than compensated for its comparative frailty, since one man could carry it on his shoulders over several miles of portage. It was inclined to be "cranky" in the water —easily capsized if unskilfully handled, but its sensitive answer to the use of the paddle made it invaluable for running rapids. Repairs were simply effected —bark, roots and gum were all that was needed. The early fur traders adopted it immediately, and for nearly a century it played an important part in the opening up of the country.