338 THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 



The cover is removed in the winter and stowed away on the cache 

 frame or some other safe place plufiiahi, when preparing to start for 

 the spring deer hunt in 1883, carefully buried his boat cover in a snow 

 bank) out of reach of the dogs, and the frame is placed bottom up 

 wards on a staging 4 or 5 feet from the ground. 



When they are ready to refit the canoe for the spring whaling, a hole 

 is cut in the sea ice close to the shore, and the cover immersed in the 

 sea water for several days to soften it, the hole being covered with 

 slabs of snow to keep it from freezing up. Crantz * mentions a similar 

 custom in Greenland. After removing the hair from the boat-skins 

 &quot;they lay them in salt water for some days to soften them again, and 

 so cover the women s boats and kajaks with them.&quot; When not in use, 

 the umiak is drawn up on the beach and usually laid bottom upward 

 with the gear, spears, etc., underneath it, but sometimes propped up on 

 one gunwale to make a shelter against the wind. This is a common 

 practice in the camp at Pernyu, where there is usually at least one boat 

 set up edgewise, sheltered by which the men sit to whittle and gossip. 



In the whaling camp at Imekpfifi in 1883, the boats which were not 

 ready to go out to the open water were laid up bottom up with one end 

 resting on a sled set up on its side and the other supported by a block 

 of snow. They do not appear to be in the habit of using the canoe for 

 a tent, as is said to be the custom among the more southern natives, 2 

 as they always carry a tent with them on their journeys. The umiak 

 is propelled by paddles, oars, and a sail, and in smooth weather when 

 the shore is clear of ice by &quot;tracking&quot; along the beach with men and 

 dogs, one person at least always remaining on board to steer with a 

 paddle at the stem. 



The sail, which they are only able to use with a free wind, is square, 

 narrow, and rather high, and is nowadays always made of drilling. Dark 

 blue drilling appeared to be the most popular sort at the time of our 

 visit. The head of the sail is laced to a light yard, and hoisted to the 

 masthead by a halyard through a hole in the latter. The mast is a 

 stout square pole 10 or 12 feet long and is set up well forward of amid 

 ships, without a step, the square butt resting against a bottom board, 

 and held up by two forestays and two backstays, running from the 

 masthead to the inside streak. All the rigging, stays, halyards, towing 

 line, etc., are made of stout thong. The Greenlanders set up the mast in 

 the bow of the umiak as a sailor would say, &quot;in the very eyes of her,&quot; 3 

 but as far as 1 can learn the Western Eskimo all set it up as at Point 

 Barrow. 



The oars are very clumsily made with very narrow blades not over 

 3 inches broad. They are about 7 feet long and somewhat enlarged at 

 the loom. Instead of resting in rowlocks, they are secured by two long 



Vol. 1. ]).167. 



s S&amp;lt;&amp;gt;o Kotzebue s Voyage, etfl., vol. 1, p. Jltf. 



3 This i also the custom among the C eutral Eskimo. (See IJoas &quot;Central Eskimo.&quot; p. -jliri, Fig. 481.) 



