88 



Our North Land. 



way they gradually become narrower, until at the points the width 

 is not over two or three inches ; and from the centre, each way 

 toward the ends, and toward the top as well, the bottom slants 

 upwards and outwards, until at the points the thickness is about 

 two inches. It is flat at the bottom, but much narrower than at 

 the top. The frame is of strong wood, and the whole is covered 

 with seal-skin carefully sewed together and stretched over tightly. 

 There is a round hole in the top, at the centre, formed by a hoop to 

 which the seal-skin is attached. The Esquimo sits in this hole, 

 with his feet stretched out toward the forward end and his head 

 and shoulders above it. In rough weather he wears a thin water- 

 proof jacket made from the bladder of the walrus or other mammal, 



THE KAYAK. 



that stretches something- like rubber. This is drawn down over the 

 hoop, so that the waves may pass over the kayak again and again, 

 and not one drop of water enter it. A kayak will accommodate 

 but one person at a time. 



In one of these kayaks the Eskimo paddles about, sometimes 

 making very remarkable speed, quite a little monarch of the north- 

 ern seas. On the flat top of his little craft, secured by loops of 

 walrus-skin, are his lance, his spear and his hook, while by his side, 

 partly in the kayak, is his faithful gun. At his back is a buoy, 

 which looks the image of a seal, because it is no more or less than 

 the pelt of a seal tightly filled with air. Attached to this is a 

 harpoon at the end of a piece of walrus hide thirty or forty feet 

 long. If the seal or walrus comes near enough, he is harpooned 



