118 J. C. SCHULTZ ON THE 



kind of work are a small saw, a chisel which when fastened to a wooden handle serves him 

 for a hatchet, a small gimlet and a sharp pointed knife ; as soon as the skeleton of the hoat 

 is completed the woman covers it with thick seals' leather still soft from the dressing, and 

 calks the interstices with old hard fat, so that these hoats are mnch less leaky than many 

 wooden ones, the seams swelling in the water, hut they require recovering almost every 

 year ; they are rowed hy the women, commonly four at a time^ while one takes the helm, 

 at the head of the boat. Till European sail cloth could be had, they spread a sail ol gutskins 

 sewed together, six feet high and nine feet broad. Rich Eskimo near trading stations often 

 make their sails of white linen striped with red, but their boats can only sail witli the wind 

 on the quarter or astern and even then cannot keep pace with an European boat ; they have, 

 however, this advantage, that from their lightness and shape they can make headway faster 

 with their oars in contrary winds or a calm. In these boats they undertake voyages of 

 many hundred miles along the coast, with their tents, dogs aiul all their goods, carrying 

 besides ten to twenty persons. The men, however, keep them company in kayacks, break- 

 ing the torce of the waves when they run high, and in case of necessity holding the sides of 

 the boat in equilibrium with their hands. Thej' usuall}' travel thus thirtj' miles a day and 

 in their nightly encampments on the shore they uidoad the boat, turn it upside down and 

 cover it with stones to secure it from the violence of the wind or a sudden rise of the tide 

 and if tlie state of the weather prevents their travelling by sea six or eight of them carry the 

 boat overland on their heads to more navigable waters. Europeans have sometimes built 

 boats on their model and find them on many occasions for arctic progress more serviceable 

 than their own heavy ones. 



The small canoe or kayack is, however, the Eskimo boat j}ar excellence, and much 

 more care is taken in making it, for the owner's life depends upon it in many cases, and from 

 the nature of his avocations it has become almost a part of the Eskimo himself and he 

 seems, as indeed he is, perfectly at home and in his element in it. It is generally about 

 eighteen feet long, and shaped like a weaver's shuttle, with the ends turned up. At the 

 middle it is about eighteen inches broad, and is scarcely a foot in depth ; like the woman's 

 boat, it is constructed of long, slender laths, with cross hoops secured with whalebone, and 

 is covered with seal leather. Both ends are capped with bone, on account of the friction to 

 which they are subjected among the rocks. In the middle of the skin covering of the 

 kayack is a round hole with a raised ring of wood or bone, in which the Eskimo squats down 

 on a soft fur, the ring or combing reaching up to his hips, and he tucks his water dress — 

 the seal coat — so tightly about him that no water can enter the boat ; this water coat is 

 also fastened close around his neck and arms with bone buttons. The harpoon dart is 

 strapped to the kayack at his side, and before him lies the coiled-up line, and behind him is 

 the bladder. He grasps with both hands the middle of his paddle, which is made of solid 

 wood, tipped with metal, and with bone along the sides, and swings it with rapid and 

 regular strokes. Thus equipped he sets out to hunt seals or sea fowl, looking as proud 

 almost as though he was the commander of the largest man-of-war. 



An Eskimo in his kayack is indeed an object of admiration to those who see him in 

 rough weather, and his sea dress, shining with rows of white bone buttons, gives him a 

 splendid appearance. He attains great speed in this boat, and when doing duty as a despatch 

 boat — carrying letters — will make forty-five to fifty miles a day. He dreads no storm, 

 and as long as a ship can carry her top-sails he braves the largest billows, darting over them 



