FURTHER STAY IN FRIEDRICHSTHAL. 193 



ones some fresh "Angmaksatten " early the next day, and 

 they kept theu' word. Two great tubs of fish arrived the 

 next morning, and prepared by the careful hand of our 

 hostess came on table for breakfast. AYe did them 

 justice, for they were excellent. 



To-day, too, some canoes came to visit us ; and amongst 

 our sailors were soon some to be found, who wished to 

 try a voyage in these light craft, which certainly for an 

 unpractised man are very difiicult to manage. The 

 reader, unversed in the customs and usages of the 

 Greenlanders, must know that they have two different 

 sorts of boats, the " Kajak," and the "Umiak." The 

 Kajak, or canoe, is about eighteen feet long, very narrow 

 and low, the thin ribs of which are covered with seal's 

 leather. In the middle of this skin- covered boat is a 

 circular opening, large enough for the body of a man. 

 Here sits the paddler. He must sit with his legs stretched 

 out straight before him, to keep his balance, and work his 

 way forward by means of the double stroke of the paddle. 

 On the deck before him the Greenlander has his hunting 

 tackle, bird and seal harpoons, lances and slings, and on 

 a particular table some rolled up harpoon-thongs made of 

 seal-skin. Behind him the canoe bears, besides provi- 

 sions and booty, an inflated seal-skin, which, attached to 

 the harpoon, prevents the seal just shot from sinking. 



The canoe is the men's exclusive vehicle; boys of 

 twelve years' old have their canoes, and make good practice 

 with them. It is in any case their chief possession, and 

 is as important to them as the flint is to our hunter. In 

 the community of the Moravian missionaries, where 

 the native poor are recognized as a class, the men 

 and children receive a canoe fitted up as a means of 







