Part 37

No. 89246 [539], Fig. 340, is the paddle which belongs to the kaiak just described. It is 7 feet long. The shaft joining the blades is elliptical in section, with its greatest width at right angles to the plane of the blades so to present the greatest resistance to the strain of paddling. The shape of the blade, with rounded tip and thin rounded edges is admirably adapted to give the blade a clean entry into the water. The whole is very neatly and smoothly made, and the blades are painted with red ocher. This is a much more effective paddle than those used by the Greenlanders and other eastern Eskimo, the blades of which, probably from the scarcity of wood[N430] are very narrow, not exceeding 4 inches in width. In Greenland and Labrador, also, the blades are square at the ends like those of ordinary oars, and are usually edged with bone to prevent them from splitting. The absence of this bone edging on the paddles from Point Barrow perhaps indicates that they are meant for summer use only and not for working among the ice. In accordance with the general custom in northwestern America, the double-bladed paddle (páutĭñ) is used only when great speed is desired, as in chasing game. It is handled in the usual way, being grasped with both hands near the middle, and dipped alternately on opposite sides. For ordinary traveling they use a single-bladed paddle (áñun), of the same shape as those used in the umiak but usually somewhat smaller, of which we neglected to procure a specimen. With this they make a few strokes on one side, till the boat begins to sheer, then shift it over and make a few strokes, on the other side. They do this with very great skill, getting considerable speed, and making a remarkably straight wake. The use of this single paddle appears to be universal along the coast of Alaska, from Point Barrow southward, and it is also used at the Mackenzie and Anderson rivers, as shown by the models collected by MacFarlane in that region. It is, however, unknown among the eastern Eskimo about whom we have any definite information on the subject, namely, the Greenlanders, the people of Baffin Land, Hudson Strait, and Labrador.[N431]

[Footnote N430: It is a curious fact, however, that the narrowest kaiak paddles I have ever seen belonged to some Eskimo that I saw in 1876, at Rigolette, Labrador, who lived in a region sufficiently well wooded to furnish them with lumber for a small schooner, which they had built.]

[Footnote N431: For information concerning the last two regions I am indebted to Mr. L. M. Turner; for the others to the standard authorities.]

Curiously enough the Greenlanders had a superstition of a sort of malevolent spirits called kajariak, who were “kayakmen of an extraordinary size, who always seem to be met with at a distance from land beyond the usual hunting grounds. They were skilled in the arts of sorcery, particularly in the way of raising storms and bringing bad weather. Like the umiarissat [other fabulous beings], _they use one-bladed paddles_, like those of the Indians.”[N432] This tradition either refers back to a time when the ancestors of the Greenlanders used the single paddle or to occasional and perhaps hostile meetings between eastern and western Eskimo.

[Footnote N432: Rink, Tales and Traditions, p. 47. See also p. 374 for a story of the meeting of a Greenlander with one of these beings.]

Though the kaiak is essentially the same wherever used, it differs considerably in size and external appearance in different localties. The kaiak of the Greenlanders is perhaps the best-known model, as it has been figured and described by many authors. It is quite as light and sharp as the Point Barrow model, but has a flat floor, the bilge being angular instead of rounded, and it has considerably more sheer to the deck, the stem and stern being prolonged into long curved points, which project above the water, and are often shod with bone or ivory. The coaming of the cockpit also is level, or only slightly raised forward. The kaiaks used in Baffin Land, Hudson Straits, and Labrador are of a very similar model, but larger and heavier, having the projecting points at the bow and stern rather shorter and less sharp, and the coaming of the cockpit somewhat more raised forward. Both of these forms are represented by specimens and numerous models in the museum collections. I have seen one flat-floored kaiak at Point Barrow. It belonged to a youth and was very narrow and light.

The kaiak in use at Fury and Hecla Straits, as described by Capt. Lyon[N433] and Capt. Parry[N434] is of a somewhat different model, approaching that used at the Anderson River. It is a large kaiak 25 feet long, with the bow and stern sharp and considerably more bent up than in the Greenland kaiaks, but round-bottomed, like the western kaiaks. The deck is flat, with the cockpit coaming somewhat raised forward.[N435]

[Footnote N433: Journal, p. 233.]

[Footnote N434: Second voyage, p. 506, and pls. opposite pp. 274 and 508.]

[Footnote N435: There is quite a discrepancy in regard to this between Capt. Lyon’s description referred to above and the two plates drawn by him in Parry’s second voyage. In his journal he speaks of the coaming of the cockpit being about 9 inches higher forward than it is aft, while from his figures the difference does not appear to be more than 3 or 4 inches.]

In the kaiaks used at the Anderson and Mackenzie rivers, as shown by the models in the National Museum, the bending up of the stem and stern posts is carried to an extreme, so that they make an angle of about 130° with the level of the deck. The bottom is round and the cockpit nearly level, but sufficient room for the knees and feet is obtained by arching not only the deck beams just forward of the cockpit, but all of them from stem to stern, so that the deck slopes away to each side like the roof of a house. At Point Barrow, as already described, the deck beams are arched only just forward of the cockpit, and the stem and stern are not prolonged. This appears to be the prevailing form of canoe at least as far south as Kotzebue Sound and is sometimes used by the Malemiut of Norton Sound. At Port Clarence the heavy, large kaiak, so common from Norton Sound southward, appears to be in use from Nordenskiöld’s description, as he speaks of the kaiaks holding two persons, sitting back to back in the cockpit.[N436] The kaiaks of the southwestern Eskimo are, as far as I have been able to learn, large and heavy, with level coamings, with the deck quite steeply arched fore and aft, and with bow and stern usually of some peculiar shape, as shown by models in the Museum. See also Dall’s figure (Alaska, p. 15.)[N437]

[Footnote N436: Vega, vol. 2, p. 228.]

[Footnote N437: I have confined myself in the above comparison simply to the kaiaks used by undoubted Eskimo. I find merely casual references to the kaiaks used on the Siberian coast by the Asiatic Eskimo and their companions the Sedentary Chuckchis, while a discussion of the canoes of the Aleuts would carry me beyond the limits of the present work.]

While the kaiak, however, differs so much in external appearance in different localities, it is probable that in structure it is everywhere essentially the same. Only two writers have given a detailed description of the frame of a kaiak, and these are from widely distant localities, Iglulik and western Greenland, both still more widely distant from Point Barrow, and yet both give essentially the same component parts as are to be found at Point Barrow, namely, two comparatively stout gunwales running from stem to stern, braced with transverse deckbeams,[N438] seven streaks running fore and aft along the bottom, knees, or ribs in the form of hoops, and a hoop for the coaming, bound together with whalebone or sinew.[N439]

[Footnote N438: Since the above was written Boas has published a detailed description of the central kaiaks, in which he says there are only four streaks besides the keel (Central Eskimo, p. 486).]

[Footnote N439: Dr. Kane’s description, though the best that we have of the flat-bottomed Greenland kaiak and accompanied by diagrams, is unfortunately vague in some important respects. It is in brief as follows: “The skeleton consists of three longitudinal strips of wood on each side * * * stretching from end to end. * * * The upper of these, the gunwale * * * is somewhat stouter than the others. The bottom is framed by three similar longitudinal strips. These are crossed by other strips or hoops, which perform the office of knees and ribs. They are placed at a distance of not more than 8 to 10 inches from one another. Wherever the parts of this framework meet or cross they are bound together with reindeer tendon very artistically. * * * The _pah_ or manhole * * * has a rim or lip secured upon the gunwale and rising a couple of inches above the deck.” (First Grinnell Exp., p. 477.) It will be seen that he does not mention any deck beams, which would be very necessary to keep the gunwales spread apart. They are shown, however, on Crantz’s crude section of a kaiak frame. (History of Greenland, vol. 1, pl. vii), and are evidently mortised into the gunwale, as at Point Barrow. Crantz also (op. cit., p. 150) speaks of the use of whalebone for fastening the frame together.

Capt. Lyon’s description of the round-bottomed kaiak used at Fury and Hecla Straits (Journal, p. 233) is much more explicit. He describes the frame as consisting of a gunwale on each side 4 or 5 inches wide in the middle and three-fourths inch thick, tapering at each end, sixty-four hoop-shaped ribs (on a canoe 25 feet long), seven slight rods outside of the ribs, twenty-two deck-beams, and a batten running fore and aft, and a hoop round the cockpit. These large kaiaks weigh 50 or 60 pounds. There is a very good figure of the Point Barrow kaiak, paddled with a single paddle, in Smyth’s view of Nuwŭk (Beechey’s Voyage, pl. opposite p. 307).]

The double-bladed paddle is almost exclusively an Eskimo contrivance. The only other hyperborean race, besides the Aleuts, who use it, are the Yukagirs, who employ it in their narrow dugout canoes on the River Kolyma in Siberia.[N440] Double-bladed paddles have also been observed in the Malay Archipelago.

[Footnote N440: Wrangell, Narrative of an Expedition, etc., p. 161, footnote.]

Fig. 341, (No. 56561 [224] from Utkiavwiñ) is a very neatly made model of a kaiak, 13.3 inches long. It is quite accurate in all its details, but has only five streaks on the bottom, and its width and depth are about twice what they should be in proportion to the length. The frame is lashed together with fine sinew and covered with seal entrail. The paddle is also out of proportion. Many similar neatly finished models were made for sale. The natives are so skillful in making them that it is possible that they are in the habit of making them for the children to play with. I do not, however, recollect ever seeing a child with one.

_Umiaks and fittings._--The large skin-covered open boat, essentially the same in model as that employed by almost all Eskimo, as well as the Aleuts and some Siberian races, is the chief means of conveyance by water, for traveling, hunting, and fishing. Though the women do a great share of the work of navigating the boat when a single family or a small party is making a journey, it is by no means considered as a woman’s boat, as appears to be the case among the Greenlanders and eastern Eskimo generally.[N441] On the contrary, women are not admitted into the regularly organized whaling crews, unless the umialik can not procure men enough, and in the “scratch” crews assembled for walrus hunting or sealing there are usually at least as many men as women, and the men work as hard as the women. I do not, however, recollect that I ever saw a man pull an oar in the umiak. They appear always to use paddles alone. This is interesting in connection with the Greenland custom mentioned by Egede in the continuation of the passage just quoted: “And when they first set out for the whale fishing, the men sit in a very negligent posture, with their faces turned towards the prow, pulling with their little ordinary paddle; but the women sit in the ordinary way, with their faces towards the stern, rowing with long oars.”

[Footnote N441: For example: “For they think it unbecoming a man to row such a boat, unless great necessity requires it.” Egede, Greenland, p. 111. “It would be a scandal for a man to meddle, except the greatest necessity compels him to lend a hand.” Crantz, vol. 1, p. 149.]

We were unable to bring home any specimen of these boats on account of their size, but Fig. 342, from a photograph by Lieut. Ray, will give a good idea of the framework. These boats vary considerably in size, but are usually very nearly the dimensions of an ordinary whaleboat--that is, about 30 feet in length, with a beam of 5 or 6 feet and a depth of about 2½ feet. The boat resembles very much in model the American fisherman’s dory, having a narrow flat bottom, sharp at both ends, with flaring sides, and considerable rake at stem and stern. Both floor and rail have a strong sheer, fore and aft, and the gunwales extend beyond the stem so as to meet at the bow. Both stem and stern are sharp nearly to the rail, where they flare out and are cut off square. These boats are exceedingly light and buoyant, and capable of considerable speed when fully manned. They are very “quick” in their motion and quite crank till they get down to their bearings, but beyond that appear to be very stiff.

I never heard of one being capsized, though the natives move about aboard of them with perfect freedom. The frame is neatly made of pieces of driftwood, which it usually takes a considerable time to accumulate.[N442]

[Footnote N442: Part of the description of the umiak frame is taken from the model (No. 56563 [225]), as the writer not only had few opportunities for careful examination of these canoes, but unfortunately did not realize at the time the importance of detail.]

A stout square timber, of perhaps 3 inches scantling, runs along the middle of the bottom forming a keel or keelson. This of necessity is usually made of several pieces of wood scarfed together and fastened with treenails and whalebone lashings. At each end it is fastened in the same way to the stem and sternpost, which are both of the same shape, broad and flat above or inside, but beveled off to a keel outside, and curving up in a knee, at the same time tapering off to the point where the bow (or stern) begins to flare. Here it is mortised into the under side of a trapezoidal block of wood, widest and thickest on the inboard end, and concaved off on the under face, to a thin edge outboard. It is held on by a transverse lashing passing through holes in the end of the post and the thickest part of the block. Along each side of the bottom, at what would be the bilge of a round bottom boat, runs a stout streak, thinner and wider than the keelson and set up edgewise. These are spread apart amidships, but bent together fore and aft so as to be scarfed into the stem and sternpost (see diagram, Fig. 343_a_).

On the model they are fastened here with treenails, and this is probably also the case on the large canoes. They are spread apart by cross pieces or floor timbers, flat rather broad boards laid across the keelson with their ends mortised into the bilge streaks. These are longest amidships and decrease regularly in length fore and aft. There were fifteen of them on Nikawáalu’s umiak. On the model they are pegged to the keelson and bilge streaks. The ribs are straight, slender, square timbers, eighteen on each side (on Nikawáalu’s umiak; the canoe photographed has fifteen). These are all of the same length, but fitted obliquely to the outer edge of the bilge-streaks in such a way (see diagram, Fig. 343_b_) that those amidships slant considerably outward while the others become gradually more and more erect fore and aft, thus producing the sheer in the lines. To these ribs, inside, a little below the middle of each, is fastened a streak on each side, of about the dimensions of the bilge streak, running from stem to stern, and the gunwales are fitted into the notched ends of the ribs, where they are secured by lashings of whalebone. These on Nikawáalu’s umiak were each a single round pole about 2 inches in diameter. Such long pieces of wood as this were probably obtained by trade from the Nunatañmeun. These extend about 2½ or 3 feet beyond the stem, to which they are fastened on each side by whalebone lashings, and meet at a sharp angle, being lashed together with whalebone. On the model, this lashing passes through holes in both gunwales and round underneath. The gunwales are fastened to the sternpost in the same way as to the stem, in both cases resting on the upper surface of the block so as to form a low rail, but project only 5 or 6 inches.

Between the post and the last pair of long ribs at each end are two pairs of short ribs running only from the gunwale to the inside streak. The frame is still further strengthened by an outside streak between the bilge streak and the inside streak, and Nikawáalu’s canoe had an extra streak of “half-round” willow outside of the latter. The thwarts rest on the inside streak and are secured by whalebone lashings. The block or head of the stern-post serves as a high seat for the steersman. Crantz’s[N443] description and diagram show that the frame of the Greenland umiak consists of essentially the same timbers, lacking only the two outside streaks.

[Footnote N443: History of Greenland, vol. 1, p. 148, and pl. vi.]

The cover is made of the skins of the larger marine animals. Walrus hide is often used and sometimes the skin of the polar bear, which makes a beautifully white cover, but the skin of the bearded seal is preferred, the people from Point Barrow sometimes making journeys to Wainwright Inlet in search of such skins, which are dressed with their oil in them in the manner already referred to. We were informed that six of these skins were required to cover one umiak. They are put together in the same way as the skins for the kaiak and sewed with the same seam. The edges of the cover are stretched over the gunwale, and laced to the inside streak with a stout thong, which passes through holes in the edge of the cover. At stem and stern the cover is laced with a separate thong to a stout transverse lashing of thong running from gunwale to gunwale close to the edge of the posthead.

The cover is removed in the winter and stowed away on the cache frame or some other safe place (Mûñialu, when preparing to start for the spring deer hunt in 1883, carefully buried his boat cover in a snowbank) out of reach of the dogs, and the frame is placed bottom upwards on a staging 4 or 5 feet from the ground.

When they are ready to refit the canoe for the spring whaling, a hole is cut in the sea ice close to the shore, and the cover immersed in the sea water for several days to soften it, the hole being covered with slabs of snow to keep it from freezing up. Crantz[N444] mentions a similar custom in Greenland. After removing the hair from the boat-skins “they lay them in salt water for some days to soften them again, and so cover the women’s boats and kajaks with them.” When not in use, the umiak is drawn up on the beach and usually laid bottom upward with the gear, spears, etc., underneath it, but sometimes propped up on one gunwale to make a shelter against the wind. This is a common practice in the camp at Pernyû, where there is usually at least one boat set up edgewise, sheltered by which the men sit to whittle and gossip.

[Footnote N444: Vol. 1, p. 167.]

In the whaling camp at Imêkpûñ in 1883, the boats which were not ready to go out to the open water were laid up bottom up with one end resting on a sled set up on its side and the other supported by a block of snow. They do not appear to be in the habit of using the canoe for a tent, as is said to be the custom among the more southern natives,[N445] as they always carry a tent with them on their journeys. The umiak is propelled by paddles, oars, and a sail, and in smooth weather when the shore is clear of ice by “tracking” along the beach with men and dogs, one person at least always remaining on board to steer with a paddle at the stern.

[Footnote N445: See Kotzebue’s Voyage, etc., vol. 1, p. 216.]

The sail, which they are only able to use with a free wind, is square, narrow, and rather high, and is nowadays always made of drilling. Dark blue drilling appeared to be the most popular sort at the time of our visit. The head of the sail is laced to a light yard, and hoisted to the masthead by a halyard through a hole in the latter. The mast is a stout square pole 10 or 12 feet long and is set up well forward of amidships, without a step, the square butt resting against a bottom board, and held up by two forestays and two backstays, running from the masthead to the inside streak. All the rigging, stays, halyards, towing line, etc., are made of stout thong. The Greenlanders set up the mast in the bow of the umiak--as a sailor would say, “in the very eyes of her,”[N446] but as far as I can learn the Western Eskimo all set it up as at Point Barrow.

[Footnote N446: This is also the custom among the Central Eskimo. (See Boas “Central Eskimo,” p. 528, Fig. 481.)]

The oars are very clumsily made with very narrow blades not over 3 inches broad. They are about 7 feet long and somewhat enlarged at the loom. Instead of resting in rowlocks, they are secured by two long loops of thong as in the diagram Fig. 344. To keep the oar from chafing the skin on the gunwale, they lash to the latter a long plate of bone. No. 89696 [1197] from Utkiavwĭñ is one of these plates. Two of these oars are commonly used in an umiak, one forward and one aft, and the women row with great vigor, swinging well from the hips, but do not keep stroke. The use of oars is so unusual among savages that it would be natural to suppose that these people had adopted the custom from the whites. If this be the case, the custom reached them long ago, and through very indirect channels.

When Thomas Simpson, in 1837, bought an umiak from some Point Barrow natives at Dease Inlet, he bought with it “four of their slender oars, which they used as tent poles, besides a couple of paddles; fitted the oars with lashings, and arranged our strange vessel so well that the ladies were in raptures, declaring us to be genuine Esquimaux, and not poor white men.”[N447] The custom, moreover, appears to be widespread since Lyon speaks of seeing in 1821, “two very clumsy oars with flat blades, pulled by women,” in the umiaks at Hudson Strait.[N448] It was practiced at a still earlier date in Greenland.[N449]

[Footnote N447: Narrative, p. 148.]

[Footnote N448: Journal, p. 30. Compare also Chappell, “Hudson Bay,” p. 57.]

[Footnote N449: See Egedo, Greenland, p. 111.]