Eyak dugout hunting canoe model made of yellow cedar. Eyak name: ə́x̣ə̀ki.
Donor:
Lillian Barstow
Collection place:
Copper River delta, Copper River, Valdez-Cordova Borough
Verbatim coll. place:
Alaska; Copper River; Copper River delta
Culture or time period:
Eyak
Collector:
Wallace Barstow
Collection date:
unknown
Materials:
Yellow cypress (wood)
Taxon:
Cupressaceae
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Boats and Models (concepts)
Function:
5.7 Objects made for sale, souvenirs, models, and reproductions
Accession date:
1940
Context of use:
Canoes were paddled with the single-bladed crutch-handled paddle (kuvskł) which is much more slender and pointier than Aleut models. A specific steering paddle (qə́t’łáqἑiyá’) was used if the canoe was piloted by one person. Sometimes a stool was built into the canoe to make traveling more comfortable. Dugout canoes could hold up to 16 people and could have sails attached to them, though they typically carried 2-6 people. They are seaworthy despite seeming like they tip over all the time. Canoes could be built by anyone, but only men could paddle. Dugout canoes were made by burning and then scraping the inside of a log, yellow cedar was often the tree of choice. The sides were forcefully shaped by making the wood more pliable with heat in the form of hot rocks and boiling water. However, canoes were mainly used for transportation since it was far more convenient than traveling by land, where there were no trails. They did not travel far up the Copper River, as the waters were too rough. Sometimes salmon were speared from canoes.
Department:
Native US and Canada (except California)
Dimensions:
length 14 inches
Comment:
cf. The Eyak Indians of the Copper River Delta, Birket-Smith Handbook of North American Indians Vol. 7 cf. 2-18871, 2-19117