the headboards, making this the only American type 

 that does not have projecting gunwales at bow and 

 stern. The projection of the gunwales undoubtedly 

 serve a practical purpose in lifting the boat out of 

 water, but obviously this is of minor importance. 

 Probably the real reason for these projections is that 

 they originally made building easier by providing 

 space for a retaining lashing when the gunwales were 

 being bent. As the headboards became wider and 

 the spring of the gunwales, in plan view, became less 

 acute, less strain was put on the lashings of the gun- 

 wales at the headboards, but by then the projecting 

 gunwales and their retaining lashings were being 

 utilized in lashing on the .skin covering at bow and 

 stern. Thus, beginning as a practical solution of a 

 building problem, the projecting gunwales may have 

 eventually become a traditional tribal feature of the 

 umiak in many localities. 



The drawing of an eastern Greenland umiak on 

 page 189 was made from measurements taken off 

 during World War II and checked against di- 

 mensions, photos, and descriptions of boats from the 

 same territory. In general design and in construction 

 this umiak differs little from umiaks of the southwest 

 coast of the same island. The eastern Greenland 

 boats are, on the average, much smaller than those 

 on the southwest coast due to the more severe ice 

 conditions met in the east. Some of the Greenland 

 umiaks have flat bottoms like the Baffin Island boats, 

 but the V-bottom appears to be more common. The 

 chief characteristics of the Greenland umiaks are the 

 slight rake in the bow and stern, the moderate sheer 

 and camber, and the conservative flare of the sides. 

 The drawing shows the important structural details 

 seen in most of the Greenland umiaks. The floor 

 timbers are on edge instead of on the flat as in Alaskan 

 boats and this seems to be characteristic of all eastern 

 umiak construction, as is the arching of the underside 

 of the floors. Another common structural detail 

 is the passing of the risers through the side frames; 

 in some, however, the risers lie in deep notches fash- 

 ioned in the inside of the frames. The eastern 

 Greenland umiaks generally have rather wide head- 

 boards and somewhat more projection to the gunwales. 

 Like the Baffin Island umiaks, the side battens and 

 risers of the Greenland boats are cut short of the 

 posts, but the ends of these members are commonly 

 supported by frames placed very far fore and aft, 

 and often these frames form brace-supports to the 

 headboard, as in the drawing. The headboards 

 of these umiaks are always tenoned over the top of 



the posts. .Some of the Greenland umiaks have 

 curved side frames which cause the side battens to 

 form knuckles in the skin cover. The eastern Green- 

 land umiaks rarely if ever carry sail, but this is 

 common on the western and southwestern coasts, 

 where a squaresail on a yard is popular, with the mast 

 usually well forward. Hans Egede in 1729* found 

 Greenland umiaks fitted with sails of seal intestines 

 and also saw boats about 10 fathoms (60 feet) long; 

 another early writer, Crantz* states that umiaks were 

 commonly 36, 48, and even 54 feet long. In the 

 larger umiaks two side battens were employed. The 

 thongs and brace-frames seen in many Alaskan umiaks 

 do not seem to have been used in eastern waters, 

 the use of bracing-frames from stem or stern post to 

 the gunwales probably serving the purpose, but it is 

 noticeable that pictures of Greenland umiaks pre- 

 served in some European museums show that the 

 hulls have a tendency to twist not seen in Alaskan 

 boats. The old Greenland umiaks were built with 

 lashed joints combined with pegging, or treenailing. 

 In recent times the use of pegging has increased and 

 iron fastenings are now quite common. Rigid 

 fastenings of the peg and metal types are used only 

 in scarphs and in securing the chines and keelson to 

 the floors timbers, as in the modern Alaskan umiaks. 



The Kayak 



The Eskimo hunting boat, the kayak, is more 

 widely employed in the Arctic than the umiak, and 

 its variations in model, construction, and appearance 

 are more distinct and numerous. The kayak is a 

 long, usually narrow, decked canoe and is commonly 

 very well finished. In Alaska a few undecked skin- 

 covered canoes, used in river, are built on kayak 

 proportions, but the model of these is quite different 

 from that of the Alaskan sea-kayaks; the river canoes 

 are V or flat bottomed, much like the Greenland 

 kayaks. A similar kayak-type canoe, flat bottomed 

 but birchbark covered, is used by the Yukon Indians. 

 Undoubtedly a number of such types once existed but 

 most of these became extinct before any attempt 

 was made to preserve models or canoes in museums. 



Few Eskimo tribes are without kayaks, only those 

 living inland or where the sea is rarely open are 

 unacquainted with these hunting craft. In very 

 recent times some tribes have ceased to use kayaks, 



*See bibliography. 



190 



