684 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



When these pieces are properly put together we have the frame- 

 work of a long boat, with a broad, flat bottom, sharp ends, and flar- 

 ing sides, with a good deal of " sheer " to the gunwales that is, 

 with the edge of the boat running up at the bow and stem. To 

 cover this frame they sew together, with an ingenious water-proof 

 double seam, skins of the walrus or the great bearded seaLwhich 

 have been deprived of their hair and dressed with a little of their 

 natural fat, so that they are quite water-proof. 



Skins of the bearded seal make the best boat covers, and six 

 good-sized ones are enough for one boat. When the cover is ready 

 it is thoroughly wet and stretched over the frame, the edges being 

 drawn over the gunwales and laced to the strip which supports 

 the seats. Of course, when the skin dries, it shrinks as tight as a 

 drum. 



To propel these boats they have a square sail, used only with a 

 fair wind, broad-bladed paddles, and ridiculous little narrow oars, 

 which the women pull with great vigor, but to very little pur- 

 pose, never keeping time or stroke. The mast stands on one of the 

 floor timbers nearly amidships, and is held up wholly by four stays, 

 two forward and two aft. When the sail is not in use, mast and 

 all are taken down and laid in the bottom of the boat. In travel- 

 ing along the shore, to save the trouble of paddling, they often 

 harness up three or four dogs and make them trot along the beach, 

 drawing the boat by a long tow-line. 



In these boats they chase the walrus, the white whale, and, 

 most important of all, the great " bowhead " or polar whale, from 

 which come the whale oil and whalebone of commerce. In them, 

 too, they make long journeys along the coast in summer, carry- 

 ing their tents and all their household goods, and sometimes go 

 two or three hundred miles to trade with other Eskimos. 



This boat is in no way exclusively a " woman's boat," as it is 

 in Greenland, though the women use it as well as the men, 

 but it is the boat for general use. Nearly every head of a family, 

 unless he is very poor indeed, owns an umiak. 



In winter the leather cover is removed and put away in a place 

 of safety, and the framework carefully laid up, bottom up, on a 

 special scaffold out of reach of the dogs. 



Though the umiak is not a " woman's boat," the kayak is the 

 man's boat par excellence. The Point-Barrow Eskimos, however, 

 do not use kayaks as much as some others, especially the Green- 

 landers. All the men, however, and most well-grown youths own 

 kayaks of very good model, and can manage these ticklish craft 

 very skillfully, though they can not compete with the Green- 

 landers. 



Kayaks are mostly used during the summer journeys and for 

 pursuing swimming reindeer and wild fowl on the lakes and riv- 



