154 H. P. STEENSBY. 
shows that the whale hunting from umiaks carried on by the Eskimo 
along the west and north coasts of Alaska is borrowed from the Pacific- 
Asiatics. We have here the same alternative before us as in the case 
of the catching of seals with nets, in that we must presume that the one 
group of people have learnt from the other. We now know that whale 
hunting is old and of great importance among the Pacific Asiatics. This 
applies not only to the Coast Chukches and Coast Koryaks, but also 
to the Kamchadales — even STELLER?! records whale hunting among 
these — and lastly to the Ainos and the coast inhabitants of Japan.? 
Among all these coast peoples whale hunting is carried on from 
large boats, which hold a number of paddlers. Among the Koryaks 
these boats are made of skin, like the Eskimo umiaks, although they 
differ somewhat in type. Among the more southerly coast people, on 
the other hand, wooden boats are used. The small boats used for seal 
hunting are also made of wood — originally they were made by hol- 
lowing out the trunk of a tree; they have at the stern a paddler and 
in the bow a man who hurls the harpoon. 
That the Eskimo’s net-catching of seals and whale hunting from 
umiaks are originally borrowed from the Pacific Asiatics cannot very 
well be doubted. Even Мовросн emphasized the fact that net-catch- 
ing had come from Asia, and as a proof he stated that the Point-Bar- 
row Eskimo’s designation for nets was according to his opinion of Chukche 
origin, and that they have traditions of a time when they captured 
seals with the harpoon alone. 
I must however also presume that the umiak has been borrowed 
from the same source, and has probably been introduced at the same 
time as the whale hunting, because the Eskimo required a large boat 
for this purpose. Whale hunting is, on the whole, the only occasion on 
which the umiak plays a direct röle as regards gaining a livelihood. 
Otherwise the umiak is used only for travelling, and for this reason 
has degenerated into a contrivance to be used by women, “a wo- 
man’s boat” (except on Kadiak where it was also used as a war-craft). 
Now it is quite unlikely, or, to put it more exactly, inconceivable that 
the Eskimo, at the outset and during their struggles to adapt them- 
selves to the new natural conditions, should have created two such 
widely different water-craft as the kayak and the umiak, and both so 
highly developed. This would simply militate against the biological 
"principle of least action (in this case: least labour),” as, to begin with, 
they would be able to suffice with the kayak. 
It must, of course, be left for later consideration whether the Eskimo 
themselves have produced the umiak by imitating the large boats 
and using the material at their disposal, or whether perhaps the Coast 
1 STELLER, p. 102; pp. 103 sqq. 
? KAMPFER, рр. 150 sqq.; P. de СнАвьвуолх. II, pp. 578 sqq.; W. HEINE, р. 57; 
cf. Murray’s Handbook for Japan [London, 1903], р. 252. 
