plate 37


After comte de La Pérouse
Canoe of Port des Français and Frame of a Canoe found at Port des Français

Paris
1797

These two engravings are from an English publication of La Pérouse’s journal and Atlas. They illustrate two canoes of different construction as observed in present-day Lituya Bay (north of Icy Strait in southeast Alaska), which was named Port des Français by La Pérouse. The top engraving illustrates a typical northwest-coast dugout canoe; the lower engraving shows an unusual, large-framed canoe with its sealskin cover shown alongside. Both show native costumes of the day, including the conical hats of tightly woven cedar-root bark.