Songhai Sewn Boat

Songhai stitched boat. Bow is to the left. (Click any image to enlarge.)

Living in the semiarid Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert, the Songhai people of Mali have limited access to native timber for boatbuilding. But with the Niger River running through their land, boats are an economic necessity. The solution was this narrow canoe built of small pieces of palm wood sewn or stitched together with cord made from palm fiber. Boats like this were used from Lake Debo, near Timbuktu, to Ansongo, near Niger.

A Songhai boat being built or repaired.

Typical lengths were between 6 and 7.5 meters; beams about 3/4 meter, and depth less than 50 cm. The traditional wood was from the dourmier or dum-palm, but other woods have been pressed into use more recently as they became available. Holes were through-bored near all plank edges. Seams and stitch holes were sealed with bourgou grass caulking. One thwart near the stern provided a seat for the boatman, and in some cases one to three additional seats were added. These would also have contributed to the boat's strength.

The center thwart/brace in the foreground boat appears to pass through the sides of the hull. In the background boat, the rear cross-brace is clearly lashed to the top of the gunwale, while the seat-thwart appears to be below it, as in the plans at top.

The boats were used for fishing and general transport, but around the city of Gao their primary use was the transportation of rice from the paddies to the villages for threshing. Propulsion was by both paddle and pole, depending upon the river's depth.

Stitching detail, with grass caulking captured between the stitches.

Around Gao, rice is harvested in December and January. Consequently, the boats  generally underwent maintenance during October and November. This involved tightening or restitching and recaulking the seams.

West of Lake Debo and south of Ansongo, a different kind of sewn boat was used. Called the Kole-Kole, this boat was two half-dugouts, sewn together along a central seam. This boat was preferred in its indigenous regions due to the presence of suitable trees for this type of construction.

All information and images are from "A note on a sewn canoe in use at Gao, the Republic of Mali," by Timothy Insoll, in The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (1993) 22.4: 345-350. This information is now two decades old, and I do not know if these boats are still in use.