182 



Morten P. Porsild. 



the way, the hunter can rid himself of it by pushing the talutarfik down 

 with the end of his paddle. Then he picks it up, takes it to pieces, 

 and stows it out of the way. If he wishes it put on in open water 

 it is put together and the lance point is inserted into the rear edge 

 of the talutarfik; he can then pull it in over the bow of the kayak, 

 and the jerk which is necessary to pull the lance point out is suffi- 

 cient to fix the piece of wood. 



The shooting screen on the kayak has necessitated a new alteration 

 of the latter, viz: the drift rudder, {aqûta, 13). It consists of a small 

 piece of wood, 20 — 30 cm. long the form of which is clearly shown in 

 the figure (Fig. 32). Originally it was simply tied round the stern of the 

 kayak, but the above mentioned family Geisler here made a small 

 improvement by cutting a couple of incisions in the keel timber of 

 the kayak, before the skin was drawn on. When, during the process 

 of drying, the skin shrinks, a hole for the lashing appears between 

 the skin and that strip of bone which at this point strengthens the 



Fig. 32. Drift rudder attached to the keel of the kayak. 



kayak, and which acts as the runner when the kayak is pushed across 

 the ice. When one steals upon a seal the rudder has to counteract 

 the effect of the wind catching the shooting screen which may force 

 the kayak out of the desired direction, or it has to counteract the 

 effect of the last stroke of the paddle which would otherwise cause 

 the kayak to veer and render concealment illusory. The lashing is 

 just sufficiently tight to keep the rudder in a vertical position, but 

 not too tight to permit its folding up without breaking when, on 

 landing, the kayak takes the ground. 



The Rifle-bag for the kayak. 



In the early days which followed the introduction of the rifle, 

 this was carried lying between the legs of the hunter in the kayak, 

 but as the rifle was a muzzle-loader the charge could not be extracted, 

 and by reason of the lack of space in the kayak the rifle had to lie 

 with its barrel pointing backward. This involved numerous accidents, 



