Umiak CIovkrf.d With Split VVai ri's Hidk, Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska. 

 The framework can be seen tliniugh the translucent hide cover. (P/iolo by 

 Henry B. Collins.) 



The Asiatic Chukchi umiak is somewhat similar to 

 that used on the American coast but with less beam 

 in proportion to its length and less flare to the sides. 

 The skin cover is of bearded seal. Bogoras measured 

 an example and found her 35 feet 9 inches long, 

 4 feet 6 inches wide amidships, 2 feet 6 inches wide 

 on the bottom over the chines. (An Alaskan umiak 

 measured 34 feet 9 inches long, 8 feet 2 inches wide 

 at gunwales and 2 feet 8 inches over the chines.) 

 The Chukchi also use a very small hunting umiak, 

 15 to 18 feet long and having two or three thwarts, 

 much like the small hunting umiaks once used in the 

 Aleutians. The larger Chukchi umiaks have rectan- 

 gular sails set on a pole mast; some boats carry a 

 square topsail. The sails are lashed to their yards 

 and the lower sail, or "course," is controlled by sheets 

 and braces. The topsail, when used, has braces 

 only. The sails were formerly of reindeer skins, but 

 now drill is used. These umiaks were formerly pad- 

 dled, as indicated by their narrow beam, but since 

 the advent of the white man oars have come into use, 

 and it is quite certain that the topsail also is the result 

 of white man's influence, if not the whole rig. 



In stormy weather some of these umiaks and also 

 some of those in Alaska employ weather cloths, 18 or 

 20 inches high above the gunwales, rai.sed on short 

 stanchions lashed to the hull frames. The ends of 

 the stanchions are inserted in slits in the top of the 

 weather cloth, and \n fair weather the cloths are 

 folded down inside the gunwale out of the wa>-. .Mso 



in some of these .Asiatic and Alaskan umiaks, inflated 

 floats, of seal skin, are lashed to the gunwales to 

 prevent capsizing in a heavy sea. 



The .Alaskan umiaks varied much in size but are 

 rather similar in form. The small hunting umiaks 

 used by the Aleuts are about 18 feet long, while the 

 large cargo carrying umiaks range up to about 40 feet 

 long, so far as available records show. They are 

 marked by heavily flared sides and often have a 

 rather strong sheer; a few, however, are rather 

 straight on the gunwales. Nearly all existing models 

 and boats were built since 1880; and no information 

 is now available on the forms and dimensions of earlier 

 craft. 



On page 184 is a drawing of a small umiak, used in 

 walrus hunting, from the Alaskan coast in the neigh- 

 borhood of the .Aleutians. In the U.S. National 

 Museum are the remains of a similar boat obtained 

 in 1888 from Northern Alaska. This type of small 

 umiak is also employed in fishing and is rather 

 widely used as a passage boat for short voyages along 

 shore. These craft, propelled by paddles, are pri- 

 marily fast, handy hunting canoes rather than boats 

 for migration or cargo-carrying. For this reason 

 they are quite sharp-ended and shallow\ The con- 

 struction of this example will serve to illustrate the 

 methods common to this type. 



The umiak shown is 20 feet 8}^ inches over the 

 headboards, 4 feet 9'^ inches extreme beam and 

 1 7% niches depth — apparently an average-sized boat 

 of her class. The width of the bottom over the chine 



183 



