Umiaks on Racks, in front of village on Little Diomede Islar 

 {P/iolo by Henry B. Collins.) 



July 311, 193I), 



sequently the designs of these craft have gone through 

 numerous changes since the first of the types were 

 placed in American museums. It is noticeable that, 

 among other changes, the amount of freeboard of 

 umiaks has been altered as their owners met new 

 conditions imposed by longer voyages, heavier 

 cargo, and the outboard motor. The high-sided 

 umiak, while suited for heavy loads and very sea- 

 worthy, was almost impossible to paddle or even row 

 against a strong gale. When this condition had 

 to be met, the freeboard and flare were reduced to 

 minimize the windage. In recent years umiaks have 

 appeared with round bottoms to give greater speed 

 under paddle, the resulting boat being an enlarged 

 kayak in construction. These changes to meet 

 differing use requirements are not necessarily basic 

 improvements, for they result in the sacrifice of some 

 of the other qualities of the type. Nevertheless, 

 they indicate the fluid state of primitive boat design 

 in the Arctic, a condition that has been accentuated 

 in most areas by the increasing influence of white 

 men, their boats and their motors. 



The Umiak 



The uiniak was undoubtedly more widely em- 

 ployed by the Eskimo before the coming of the white 

 man than existing records indicate. It was a type 

 of boat most necessary for family migration by sea, 

 and with it the early Eskimos could establish them- 

 selves on islands far from the mainland and could 

 cross large bodies of water. From some areas where 

 early explorers mention having seen the type, the 

 umiak has disappeared; this suggests the possibility 

 that tribes now unacquainted with the umiak had 

 at some time in the past reached a location where 

 such a boat was no longer necessary. 



The umiak was common in open waters and was 

 found from Kodiak Island through the Aleutians and 

 north and eastward along the west and north coast of 

 Alaska to the mouth of the Mackenzie River. On the 

 Siberian coast, opposite Alaska and for a short distance 

 westward, the umiak was also employed. From the 

 Mackenzie eastward to Hudson Bay the umiak has 



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