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Show 238 BASIS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [ 1500 frame- work of poles, and though a clumsy, unwieldy craft, was a great aid in ferrying the Indians across such wide streams as the Missouri. v The dugouts are charapteristic of the northwest Pacific and southeast Atlantic coasts, but reached their highest development in the former region. While difficult for the uninitiated to manage, and of no use where portages are frequent, the Indian skilled in their navigation can handle them with surprising ease and quickness. ^ \ ^ h e universal means of propulsion is the paddle. \ Oars were probably known to the Eskimo alone of all American peoplesfand the culture of that race is constantly under tfie suspicion of having been affected by contact with Europeans. * Sails of woven cedar bark from five to ten feet square were in common use along the north Pacific coast,- where sea navigation was common and the wind could be utilized to great advantage. These primitive sails seem to have been used only with fair winds, as there was no device for shifting them after they had once been set. The great obstacles to inland canoe navigation, the portages, have been discussed in an earlier chapter. 1 We need only emphasize once more the great importance of the Indian carrying- places in marking out the lines along which communication took place between the tribes and subsequent population tended to flow. 1 See above, chap. ii. |