71 



THE KAYAK. 



The shape of the kayak stem and stern, particularly the 

 stem, varies much more than that of the umiak, from one section 

 of the Eskimo world to another. The Labrador and southern 

 Baffin Island kayak is very long and heavy, with a broad level 

 stern and long peaked stem (Plate XIV A b). Some of the 

 older models have the stern slightly turned up. The Mackenzie 

 River Eskimo kayak turns up in a half-moon shape at stem and 

 stern (Plate XV a). This feature is said to have been also 

 characteristic of the old type of East Greenland kayak. ^ The 

 Alaskan kayak turns up at the stem, but slopes down a little 

 at the stern (Plate XIV A a). The top rail projects at the stem 

 and stern, forming a grip by which the hunter is hauled ashore 

 when he lands. In certain sections, this is merely a hole sewn in 

 the skin cover where the upper and lower rails meet in the stem. 

 A model, in the Museum, of a three-hole Aleutian bidarka ex- 

 hibits the same variation. The Alaskan kayak is wider and 

 shorter than the Labrador type, and exhibits considerable 

 variation in different sections of the coast. The entrance hole 

 is round, and not raised in front as among the eastern types. 

 The accompanying photographs (Plates XIV and XV), 

 of models in the Museum, illustrate the most important vari- 

 ations. 



The frame of the kayak is made of driftwood, and the cover 

 of Big seal {w'djiik) hide, or when this is not available, of the skins 

 of the Harp seal {hiyolik).^ The instruments used in con- 

 struction are the adze (u'-limot), the drill, and the crooked 

 knife. 



The two long sticks forming the upper rims or rail iapu-ma'-k) 

 of the kayak are the first made. They are chipped and smoothed 

 out with the adze and knife, and holes are bored in them with 

 the drill where the ribs fit in and lashings are necessary. Then 

 the other side-pieces (qiya-'teutiik) and the ribs {tulimauyiik, 

 from tulima-'q, rib) are shaped and fitted in, the ribs being let into 

 the side-pieces about 1| inches and secured with wooden pins. 



• Thalbitzer, The Ammassalik Eskimo, Copenhagen, 1914. 

 'Hudson bay, Ki'rolik. Northern Labrador, Ni'rolik. 



