According to Durham (1960, p. 48), the Nootkan [Westcoast] boat builders supplied many of the Southern regions with canoes in much the same way as the Haida supplied the North. Perhaps not as fast as the Haida canoes, the Nootkan vessels had a larger storage capacity. Considering their length, they were extremely sturdy and particularly well suited to their use on the outer coast. The almost vertical sterns and raked bows of both of these models are characteristic of the Nootkan design. What the prow image represented is not clear. Durham writes: "The head of a Nootkan canoe was carved in a form that is more easily depicted than described. Although this time-hallowed form clearly suggested an animal head...., all tribes denied that it was intentionally zoomorphic. The appropriate parts were, however, known as the ears and nose (1960, p. 49)."