196 HUNTERS OF THE GREAT NORTH 



pounds. They have been killed sometime during the win- 

 ter or previous summer. A month or two before it is time 

 to make the skin-boats, the hides are put into tubs or bags 

 and kept in some warm place until all the hair rots off. 

 At the same time that the hair is scraped off one side the 

 fat is scraped off the other side of the skin. The women 

 then sew the hides together with a double seam. The 

 thread is braided caribou sinew and has the property of 

 swelling when it gets wet. The careful sewing by the 

 women and the swelling of the sinew together produce the 

 only waterproof seam that is known to be made by any 

 people, European or other. This is the same seam they 

 sew in making their seal skin water boots. 



The seams of the commercial leather hunting boots sold 

 in our sportsmen's outfitting stores are generally made 

 waterproof by rubbing grease into them. A boot seam 

 made by an Eskimo woman does not need any water- 

 proofing with grease and she will consider it an insult 

 if she sees any one rubbing grease on the seams of boots 

 she has made, the implication being that you do not trust 

 her sewing. In the case of the umiaks, however, it is 

 the custom to rub grease on the seams just before launch- 

 ing if the boats are dry at the time. When once water- 

 soaked they never leak. 



The seal skin is sewed in the beginning so as to fit 

 the boat frame, but only roughly. It is then stretched 

 and lashed on the frame in such a way as to make it fit 

 tightly. When it dries it is as tight as a drum. 



An umiak big enough to carry twenty men will weigh 

 only four or five hundred pounds. Two stout men, one 

 at each end, can carry it, and four men can carry it 

 easily. In the spring the Esl often put their umiaks 



on low sledges, then put their household «car inside the 



