.'5;)2 THE POINT HARROW ESKIMO. 



water. The whole is very iieafly and smoothly made, au<l tlie bhide.s 

 are painted witii red oelier. This is a imicli more etlective i>addk* than 

 those used liy the (ireeidaiiders and otlier eastern Eskimo, the blades 

 of w hich. |irohal)l\- iVoni tiie searcity of wood' are very narrow, not 

 exeeedini: 1 ineiies in widtli. In (ireeulaiid aiul Labrador, also, tlie 

 idailes aie snuareat the ends like tliose of ordinary oars, and are usually 

 edj;'ed with bone to i)revent them from splitting. The absence of this 

 hone ed.nins' on the paddles from Point Barrow perhaps indicates tliat 

 tlii> are meant for summer use only and not for working among the 

 ice. In aecordancc with the general custom in northwestern America, 

 the (!oul)lc iiiaded paddle (i)autifi) is used only when great speed is 

 desired, as in chasing game. Ft is handled in the usual way, being 

 grasped witli botii iiands near the middle, and di|(i)ed alternately on 

 opposite sides. For ordinary traveling they use a singled)laded padille 

 (afiuni. of the same sliaiie as tliose used in tlie umiak but usually some- 

 what snuiller, of which we neglected to procure a specimen. With this 

 they make a few strokes on one side, till the lioat begins to sheer, then 

 shift it over and make a few stroki-s on the other side. They do this 

 with very great skill, getting considerable speed, and making a remark- 

 ably straight wake. The use of this single paddle appears t<i be uni- 

 versal along the coast of Alaska, from Point Barrow southward, and it 

 is also used at the jrackenzie and Ander.son rivers, as shown by the 

 models collected by iMacFarlaue in that region. It is, however, 

 nnkniiwn among the eastern Fskimo about whom we have any definite 

 information on the subject, namely, the Greenlanders, the people of 

 IJallin Land, Hudson Strait, and Labrador.^ 



("uri(msly enough the (rreenlanders had a superstition of a sort of 

 malevolent spirits called kajariak, w ho were -kayakmen of an extraor- 

 flinary size, who always seem to lie met with at a distance from land 

 b.^yond the usual hunting grounds. They w.nv skilh'd in the arts of 

 sorcery, particidarly in the way of raising M,,inis and bringing bad 

 weatlier. Like the luniaiissat |otlier fabulous beings], thi-y use „uc- 

 hlndcd imddlrx, Wki' those of the Indians."-^ This traditiou either refers 

 back to a time when the ancestors of the Greenlanders used the single 

 paddle or to occasional and perhaps hostile meetings between eastern 



'i'liough the kaiak is essentially the same wherever used, it differs 

 consideraltly in size and external apjiearanceiu different localties. The 

 kaiak of the (rreenlanders is perha|)s the best-known model, as it has 



It IS ;i .unoii^ tart. iu.u. \. i ihit tlir n.n rowr^i kjiak jiatMIrs I have ever seen belonged to some 

 h:^ .iiiio that saw m 18, t,, ;ii ];i-..l,it. I, il,; m,],,! , v\ hn livr.l ill :i regiou sufficiently well wootletl to 



• I'.iriiilDnnatioiicoiiciTiiiii^'ili. l.,.i lucr, -ir,i,, i ;,„, ii„i,.|,t< ,1 to Mr. U M. Turner; for the others 

 I" till' slaliilar.1 aiilhoritks. 



