Thursday, November 8, 2012

It's just not possible...

...to leave  yesterday's post "wordless".  There's just too much to tell about it.  One of my students took a trip to South America recently and went to Rapa Nui and Chile all the way down to Patagonia and Tiera del Fuego.  While there, she took the picture from yesterday's Wordless Wednesday post.  I believe it was built by the Yaghan people of Tiera del Fuego. 

The outer part of the hull of the boat is made from bark that has some stringers inside the boat and lashed at the gunwales with sinew.  There were also some thin pieces of wood sprung in the middle of the boat like ribs.

As I understand it, the whole family would go out in the boat.  The wife would be paddling in the back of the boat (Note the two paddles in the picture, laid across the thwarts on either side.)  while the husband was at the front with either a spear (Several are between the paddles...) or a bow and arrows looking for food in the water or on the land.  In the middle of the boat would be the kids - and a fire.  The fire would be made on dirt that was piled on the floor of the boat for cooking. 

Neat, no?

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