Model Racing Canoe

This object appears to be a model of a racing canoe. Anthropologist William Elmendorf notes that: “Most fathers made play canoes for their young sons. Boys played with these in the water from the age of four or five. According to HA [A Twana man] the device was ‘useful to teach kids how to paddle and how to manage a canoe’ (Elmendorf 1960:227).”

woodworking; canoes

Carved model canoe (part a) with nine wooden paddles (parts b-j). The canoe is long and narrow with twenty wooden dividers inside. The ends of the canoe are raised; the stern ends in a black triangle while the bow ends in tiny black overhanging triangle. The inside of the canoe is gray. The outside of the canoe is gray with a yellow stripe along the sides and the ends and bottom painted black. The paddles are yellow with a gray diamond on the blade.