360 



for convenience in seizing and slinging it out. In the 

 kayak itself or on the front deck a gun may nowadays also be 

 carried, sometimes lashed to the kayak by a thong so 

 that it should not be lost if it fell overboard. The Polar 

 Eskimos are very careless in their ways of keeping and looking 

 after their weapons. The well known Eskimo bird-dart is not 

 at all used. 



As mentioned previously, this form of kayak is only in 

 small degree suited for use on the sea. And the Polar Eski- 

 mos for this reason took great interest in the West Greenland 

 kayaks, which the Expedition had brought with it, and a West 

 Greenland kayak which Knud Rasmussen had taken up on an 

 earlier occasion had even already produced an effect, which 

 could be traced in some of the kayaks at Umanark. 



The open kayak of the Polar Eskimos or rather of the 

 Ponds Inlet Eskimos is more suited for use on rivers than on 

 the sea. The square, open frame is certainly also a relict of 

 the birch-bark canoe, which was only covered over in front 

 and behind. Models of the Canadian birch-bark canoes are to 

 be found in the "Museum für Völkerkunde" in Berlin and in 

 these the upper deck extends over ^/srds of the length of the 

 canoe, so that the middle third is open^. That the well of 

 the kayak has become narrower in front, is possibly connected 

 with the fixing of the wooden board mentioned as support for 

 the paddle, by which means the rowing is made easier. 



The Polar Eskimo kayak described seems to agree well 

 with the figure Low gives of a kayak from Cape Haven south 

 of Cumberland Sound; on the other hand, it differs from some 

 figures gives by Boas^ of the kayaks of the Central Eskimos 

 from the southern Baffin Land and Repulse Bay, as these have 

 round wells. In several respects it seems to differ from the 



1 cf. A. Byham, Die Polaivölker. Leipzig 1909. Pi. X, fig. 2. 

 ^ The Central Eskimo. 6tli Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. 

 Washington 1888, p. 486 et seq. 



