CATALOGUE OF THE WATERCRAFT COLLECTION, 33 



The " kaiak " with the single manhole is doubtless the typical origi- 

 nal skin boat of northern North America. There are many kinds of 

 these, showing a varjdng fancy in designers of different localities, 

 though many of them have an intimate relation. AYith one excep- 

 tion, the Greenland kaiaks are substantially all of one type. The 

 skin boat, however, of the most northern inhabitants of Greenland 

 is essentially the same as the boats built by the Eskimo in the Hudson 

 Bay region, notably at Hudson Straits and Ungava Bay. This would 

 seem to indicate that originally the skin boat of eastern North 

 America was of this type and that the more symmetrical and better- 

 finished product, now commonly found on the west coast of Green- 

 land, may in part at least be due to the influence of contact of the 

 natives with white men. 



The kaiak of the Mackenzie River region which, following the 

 coast line, is approximately midway between Davis Strait and 

 western Alaska, combines the flat bottom of the Hudson Bay boat 

 with the pointed ends of the west Greenland type, though the ends 

 rise more abruptly and are more attenuated. 



The kaiaks of extreme northern Alaska — at Point Barrow and ad- 

 jacent regions are substantially of one type, though some have flat 

 bottoms while the majority are round beneath. These are long, 

 narrow, and straight on top with pointed ends, closely resembling 

 in appearance the single-handed racing scull of the white man. 

 Farther down the coast, beginning at St. Michael or vicinity, the 

 kaiak has less length and greater beam, with a sharply ridged deck 

 and larger manhole, and though it varies in details it is substan- 

 tially of one type as far south as skin boats are used. 



In the Aleutian group the skin boat is called a "bidarka." a name 

 derived from the Russians, and applied indiscriminately to canoes 

 with one, two, or three manholes. The single-hole bidarka is essen- 

 tially the same as the single-hole kaiak of the Eskimo south of St. 

 Michael, differing from the latter chiefly in having a cleft bow. 



Some investigators believe that this was the only type used in 

 Alaska when the country was first discovered by the Russians, while 

 others contend that the bidarka with two manholes was a necessity 

 to the Aleut, who, it is stated, could not successfully pursue and 

 capture the sea otter in open water without a double-hole boat in 

 which two men could go. HoweAer this may be, it is generally 

 conceded that the three-hole bidarka is a result of the white man's 

 influence, and was originally built for the transportation of Russian 

 traders along the coast and among the islands where they went to 

 purchase furs. 



The bidarka is in all essential particulars a variety of kaiak, and, 

 with the exception of some having more than one manhole, its 



