222 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [eth.ann. 18 



When occupied by skilful paddle-men these boats are very difficult to 

 upset and will ride through extremely rough weather in safety. I was 

 told that some of the most skilful among the coast people could upset 

 their kaiaks and right them again by the use of the paddle, but the 

 old men said this feat was now becoming rare as the young hunters 

 were degenerating and were not as good kaiak men as formerly, 



BOAT HOOKS 



Boat hooks are used by the men on umiaks and kaiaks all along the 

 coast and on the islands, the principal diiference in them being in the 

 larger size of those used on the umiaks. These boat hooks are of great 

 service, particularly to men on kaiaks when lauding on rocky shores or 

 upon the ice, and those having pointed spurs at the butt are used for 

 fending off ice when paddling about at sea during spring and autumn. 



Figure 1, plate lxxx, illustrates a stout boat hook, 6 feet in length, 

 for use in a umiak, which was obtained on Norton sound. The end 

 of the shaft has a strong bone point lashed against a shoulder with 

 rawhide cords; a foot inward from the lower end a strong spur of 

 deerhorn is lashed against the side, from which it projects at a right 

 angle. This is the style of boat hook commonly used on umiaks, the 

 shafts varying from 6 to 8 feet in length. 



A boat hook intended for use on a kaiak, obtained at Golofnin bay, 

 is shown in figure 3, plate lxxx. It is 4 feet 9 inches in length; the 

 shaft is rounded and tapering, with a long, spur-like hook of walrus 

 ivory set in a notch near its end and held in place by lashing with 

 strips of whalebone passed through holes in the spur and shalt. This 

 hook is flattened triangular in cross section; the inner edge is thin, 

 but it broadens toward the back; it projects backward toward the end 

 of the shaft and ends in a tapering point. 



Boat hooks of this kind are common from the mouth of the Kusko- 

 kwim to Kotzebue sound, and vary but little in shape and in the form of 

 the spur or hook. The backs of these ivory hooks are covered with 

 conventional patterns of diagonally etched lines, <;rossed by long, hori- 

 zontal grooves. This pattern is common on these implements over a 

 wide extent of territory. A specimen in the National Museum (num- 

 bered 73797) was brought from Taku harbor, in southeastern Alaska. 

 It is made of walrus ivory and is marked with the pattern described. 



Figure 15, plate lxxviii, shows an ivory hook from Sledge island, 

 which has two points at one end and the other fashioned into the form 

 of a seal-head. Another small ivory hook of this kind (figure 26, plate 

 lxxviii) has three walrus-heads along the back. A long ivory hook 

 from TJnalaklit (figure 23, plate lxxviii) has etched upon it a conven- 

 tional pattern of straight lines and the raven totem sign. 



A deerhorn hook from Askinuk (figure 25, plate lxxviii) has the back 

 carved to represent the head of a walrus, the outlines of the flippers 



