a sort of Indian boat or vessel, formed of the trunk of a tree hollowed, and sometimes of several pieces of the bark put together.

Canoes are of various sizes, according to the uses for which they may be designed, or the countries wherein they are formed. The largest are made of the cotton tree; some of them will carry between 20 and 30 headloads of sugar or molasses. Some are made to carry sail; and for this purpose are steeped in water till they become pliant; after which their sides are extended, and strong beams placed between them, on which a deck is afterwards laid that serves to support their sides. The other sorts very rarely carry sail, unless when going before the wind; their sails are made of a sort of short silk gauze or rushes. They are commonly rowed with paddles, which are pieces of light wood somewhat resembling a corn shovel; and, instead of rowing with it horizontally like an oar, they manage it perpendicularly. The smallest canoes are very narrow, having only room for one person in breadth, and seven or eight lengthwise. The rowers, who are generally American savages, are very expert in managing their paddles uniformly, and in balancing the canoes with their bodies; which would be difficult for a stranger to do, how well accustomed forever to the conducing of European boats, because the canoes are extremely light, and liable to be overturned. The American Indians, when they are under the necessity of landing to avoid a water-fall, or of crossing the land from one river to another, carry their canoes on their heads, till they arrive at a place where they can launch them again. This is the general construction of canoes, and method of managing them: but some nations have vessels going under the name of canoes, which differ considerably from the above; as the inhabitants of Greenland, Hudson's bay, Otaheite, &c.