Evening star., 1921-05-01
Naming the Canoe.

TANOES are gliding on the Poto-
mac, the eastern branch and the
| canal 1t is the season Of the gay,
light. swift craft. The thoughts Of
| thousands of men and maidens are
| turning. or have already turned to
| canoeing. Year by year the number
of canoes and canoeists increases and
| it is reasonable that more canoes will
| fit and glide in the home waters OF
Washington this spring than ever be-
fore Old canoes are being repaired
| being launched.
One of the canoeist's problems is the
selection of an appropriate name and
| an Indian name is considered the
proper thing for such an Indian
| vehicle as the canoe. Old canoes may
be renamed and names are to be found
for new ones. Some persons feel that
| been already taken up and used and
| that the list, like the list of apart
ment house names and sleeping car
| names has been about exhausted.
| There are more Indian names In the
neighborhood of Washington than
| there will ever be canoes on the
Potomac river. Up and down the
ent, the Rappahannock, the Yeo-
comico. the Monocacy and the
| Wicomico are creeks. branches. points
| or headlands, villages and marshes
| with names that have come from the
Indians who dwelt there Any good
map of the territory around Wash
ington will probably show a canoeist
the name like that he is feeling for.
An authority on Indian words re-
Gently prepared list of Indian words,
| which appeared to him as being suit
able for canoes. These words were
| not those used by the Potomac In
| dams and cover a wide range OF
Indian nomenclature. In that list ap'
pear Maskeg, which means a marsh
or swamp; Mitasse. which is Indian
which is an Indian word for cradle;
Ouragau, which means a plate of birch
bark; Pagaier. a paddle; Wowaron.
meaning a bullfrog; katayusti or
snow snake. and also such words as
Maskinonge. Opeche. Moccasin. 1ro-
quois. Sacakona, Sachem, Tabague,
Tomahak. Totem. Walamiche. Chip
pewa. Navajo, Cheyenne. Shoshone
and Catahacret.
But in a territory SO rich and fruit
ed Indian names as the Potomac,
Patuxent and Rappahannock valleys,
there is no need for men in quest Of
good canoe name to travel far. TIE
names are at our door.
Our Potomac canoes glory in their
lightness, grace and bright colors.
They are fleeter. and more beautiful
than the canoes which the Maryland
and Virginia Indians padded up and
down our river and its creeks. Their
canoe was rudely made from the
trunk of a tree. They used the stout
straight stem of black walnut oak.
hickory or tulip popular. In some
instances they used cedar. The In
dians hacked down one of these big
trees with stone axes and generally
burned the tree through near the
meeting place of the BOWL and
crown" giving the tree trunk the
approximate length required for the
canoe. Then with fire and stone axes
they followed the log and gave
There is a reproduction OF one OF
the Virginia Indian canoes at the Ma
tional Museum, being a part of the
setting of the group showing Capt.
John Smith and party of whites
trading with Virginia Indians. The
tableau shows two Indian women At
the paddles in this canoe and
brave" is lifting out of the canoe
basket Of corn, while several bushels
of corn. blue ears and white ears,
are scattered in the bottom of the
canoe. Even this corn is said to be
accurately representative Of the corn
which the Indians OF this part Of the
country grew and was obtained by the
artists Of the museum from the IroQuois
Indians Of Canada.