334 TlIK POINT BARROW E8KIM0. 



While the kaiak, however, differs so much in exterual ai)pearauoe iu 

 (iiliercut localities, it is i)robable that in structure it is everywhere 

 essentially the same. Only two writers have given a detailed descrip- 

 tion of the frameof akaiak, and these are from widely distant loeaUties, 

 lol.ilik and western (ireenland, both still more widely distant from 

 INiint Barrow, and yet both give essentially the same component parts 

 as are to lie found at Point Barrow, namely, two comparatively stout 

 '..■iiiiw ales runninii- fr stem to stern, braced with transverse deck- 

 beams.' seven stiraks runnin.i;- fore and aft alon.u the bottom, knees, or 

 lilis in the form of lioo]is. nnd a hoop for the coaming, Ixmnd together 

 with whalebone or sinew.- 



The double-bladed paddle is almost exclusively an Eskimo contri- 

 vance. The only other hyjierborean race, besides the Aleuts, who use it, 

 are the Yukagirs, who employ it in their narrow dugout canoes on the 

 River Kolyma in Siberia.^ Double-bladed paddles have also been ob- 

 served in the Malay Archipelago. 



Fig. 341, (No. 565(51 [224] from Htkiavwin) is a very neatly made 

 model of a kaiak, 13-3 inches long. It is quite accurate in all its de- 

 tails, but has only live streaks on the bottom, and its width and depth 

 are about twice « hut they should be in proportion to the length. The 

 frame is lashed together with fine sinew and covered with seal en- 

 trail. The paddle is also out of proportion. Many similar neatly flu- 



..■(•ilicy's Voy 

 ■Wran(;ell. i 



