_Tiller sticks_

• Format: Manuscript
• Language: English
• Subjects: English language > Dialects > Newfoundland and Labrador; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/elrcdne/id/75008

tiller n According to my grandfather, the practice in Cape La Hune was to make all tiller sticks from a dogwood tree. The _tiller_ stick was of course the stick which fitted over the top of the rudder to steer the dory. He has told me several times that he has spent days in the woods looking for a suitable dogwood stick. This custome came from the belief that the cross on which Jesus died was made from a dogwood tree. As I [Reverse] have indicated above dogwood trees were not very common. On that part of the South Coast and were rarely big enough for use as a tiller stick. _Tiller sticks_ were about 2" inches in diameter and about 4' long, the part held in the hand was rounded then the stick was flattened towards the opposite end and then a slot about 4" by 1 1/2" was cut in it to fit over the rudder. The "_privyed_" (i.e.: the best) ones were those with a crook in them on which the arm could be rested comfortably in a slightly curved position. In Fair Island the slot was called a "_slatch_" [PT] [Diagram] DICT. CEN DNE-cit Tree of the cross- dogwood Used I Used I Used I tiller stick, tiller-stick, NEWFOUNDLAND FOLKLORE SURVEY in DNE as C 71-94; reverse found at T_13821