THEUMYAK 53 



The fact that the kayak with its weapons and 

 fittings is still made with a poor equipment of 

 tools in the past the appliances were much more 

 inadequate compels admiration of the resource- 

 fulness and technical skill of the Eskimoes. It is 

 not merely that the kayak is a remarkably efficient 

 boat with attractive lines, but the finish of the bone 

 fittings and the simple decorative features associ- 

 ated with those that are essential are evidence of 

 artistic feeling, pride of work, and ownership on 

 the part of the craftsman. 



Another type of boat is the umyak (Fig. 22), 

 often spoken of as the women's boat because, 

 formerly at least, the crew, with the exception of 

 the helmsman, who uses a scull as a rudder, con- 

 sisted of women. The umyak, like the kayak, is an 

 ancient type; boats of similar construction are used 

 by the Eskimoes on the shores of Hudson Bay and 

 by the Alaskan Eskimoes. A Greenland umyak is 

 about thirty or forty feet long; it is a flat-bottomed 

 rowing boat with a wooden framework lashed with 

 strips of hide and bound together on the contrac- 

 tion of the skins stretched when wet over the sides 

 and bottom. With the wind dead astern a small 

 sail is sometimes used in the bow. The umyak is 

 employed for long journeys; it can carry a con- 

 siderable amount of luggage, and is easily taken on 

 shore in bad weather when it may be used as a 

 shelter in lieu of a tent by being inverted and with 

 one side propped up with wooden supports. During 

 our residence at the Arctic Station a family 

 travelled a distance of about sixty miles in their 



