154 CBUISE OF THE NEPTUNE 



boat or kyak. The men bring in the animals and skin them, 

 after which the skins are handed to the women to dress. 

 If they are to be used to repair the tent, or for bags, they are 

 simply dried by stretching them on wooden pegs about six 

 inches above the ground. If they are required to cover the kyak, 

 or for boots, the hair is scraped off with an ordinary chopping 

 knife, against the grain, and the film is removed from the inner 

 skin. For winter boots, the hair is rotted off and the skin has a 

 white colour, but it is not water-proof. 



As soon as a convenient level spot of ground is bare of snow 

 the snow-house is abandoned and the summer tent erected. The 

 tent is of a ridge-pole pattern, with the ridge from six to ten 

 feet long, resting in the front in the socket between two crossed 

 poles and at the rear terminating at the apex of a number of 

 poles which form a half cone to the back of the tent. The ridge 

 is about six or seven feet high, and the frame over all about 

 twelve feet long and about nine feet wide on the ground. The 

 covering is made either of seal or deer skins, except in the case 

 of a man of wealth, who has a cover of cotton. Both the seal 

 and deer skins used for this purpose are dressed with the hair 

 on, and are used with the hairy side exposed. 



This is the time to repair, and if necessary make new, wooden 

 frames for the kyak. The kyak is a long narrow boat sharply 

 pointed at both ends, and entirely decked over except a small 

 well sufficiently large for the entrance of a man's body. The 

 frame is of wood, and is covered with sealskins sewn together 

 to make a water-tight cover. Each tribe has a slightly different 

 model, the difference being in the shape of the bow or stern or 

 in the relative width. The Labrador kyak, common to the 

 Atlantic coast and Hudson bay and strait, is nearly twenty 

 feet long, and over two feet wide in the middle, or well section. 

 It has a long sharp bow, which leaves the water about 

 six feet from the forward end, where it stands about fifteen 

 inches above the water. The stern is lower and less sharp, 



