Mapping the Pacific Coast

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.