East Greenland Umiak, drawn from measurements taken off by a U.S. Army 

 officer in 1945. 



gunwale ends lengthened by pieces shaped \ery much 

 like the projecting gunwales of the Malay prah. 

 Some show extreme rake at the bow like that of 

 the Koryak umiak but without the rounded gun- 

 wale ends. It is impossible to estimate how far the 

 western Alaska umiak model has been aflected by 

 the early Russian traders in this area, but it is 

 quite certain that the use of oars can be traced to 

 this influence. The full-sized umiaks, and models 

 and photographs, from the Bering Strait area give 

 no real clues to the possible parentage or direction 

 of spread of the Alaskan umiak types. Occasional 

 details in fittings or construction, such as the gun- 

 wale extensions mentioned, seem to duplicate details 

 in primitive Asiatic craft, but the evidence is too 

 scanty to allow a hypothesis based on design and con- 

 struction alone. 



No models or photographs have been found of the 

 extinct types of umiaks once used in the northern 

 part of Hudson Bay and the sketches of early ex- 

 plorers are too crude to allow useful discussion. 

 From such slight evidence it is impossible to say 

 whether the umiaks in this area were of the western 

 or eastern type. 



The drawing of a Baffin Island umiak on page 188 

 is based on measured dimensions of a single boat and 

 upon a small model in the U.S. National Museum. 

 This model conforms in most respects with the 

 drawings and sketches made by Boas.* The umiak 

 is a small one, 24 feet 7% inches long, 5 feet 8% inches 



' See bibliography. 



extreme beam, 3 feet 10 inches wide o\er the chines, 

 and 1 foot 10(2 inches deep. These measurements 

 show that the bottom of this type of umiak is wider 

 than that of western types. The ijottom is flat, and 

 sheer and camber are both slight. The stem and 

 stern are practically uptight and are not formed of 

 knees; rather, they are made by fitting the post into 

 the keelson with an open tenon. Instead of the 

 carved block headboards .seen in the Alaskan umiaks, 

 the Baffin Island Ijoat has very wide headboards, and 

 these are tenoned over the posts as in the Asiatic 

 Koryak umiaks. The details of the rest of the framing 

 are not dissimilar from those of the Alaskan umiaks, 

 except that the Baffin Island uiniak does not employ 

 any short frames in the end of the hull. The frame- 

 work is rather heavy and the square-ended appearance 

 of this class of umiak makes it appear more clumsy 

 than is actually the case. The side battens and risers 

 stop short of the posts, and the risers used in this 

 umiak are notched into the side frames, whereas in 

 the Alaskan umiak only the lashings of the riser are 

 let into the frames. The Bafiin Island umiaks carry 

 a square sail lashed to a yard, and the mast is placed 

 right up in the eyes of the boat. Boas shows that 

 some of these umiaks have rudders hung on metal 

 pintles and gudgeons, a result of the influence of the 

 white traders, whalers, and sealers who had operated 

 in these waters long before Boas made his investiga- 

 tions. The umiak is rowed in the usual manner, 

 using thong loops as tholes, and is usually steered 

 with an oar or long paddle. 



The ends of the gunwales of the Baffin Island 

 umiak are cut off a little inside the forward edges of 



189 



