Canoes have been part of cultures all over the world, used for commerce and warfare, hunting, fishing, and recreation, and the role they’ve played in the cultures of the past and today cannot be understated. In honor of June 26 as National Canoe Day, we join Russell as he introduces the use and construction of dugout canoes by the Powhatan of Tsenacommach.
The word canoe had generally entered English usage by 1600, and was derived from the Spanish canoa, which had come from the Arawakan canaoua. In Virginia, English settlers and chroniclers such as John Smith and William Strachey recorded a number of Powhatan words used to refer to boats - acomtan, aointan, kayuiose, & quintain; as well as aquointan & quintayne taux to refer to little/small boats and canoes. The English also recorded ahtowvun or cowcacunnenuñ as boat making or “to make a frame or boat”.
The construction of a dugout canoe by the Powhatan would begin with the selection of a tree, which was felled near the water’s edge with the use of stone axes to cut away bark and wood at the base of the tree, and then fire would be set into the deep scar to finish the job of bring the tree down. Once the tree was felled, initial shaping with fire, stone adzes and axes, and oyster shells would create the bow and stern and flatten the bottom of the canoe. The log would then be rolled over and the same tools used to then hollow out and open up the log for the creation of the canoe. These flat bottomed short walled canoes provided great stability and durability in the water.