loops ot'tbouji' as in the (liaj;i;uii h'ig. Ml. 'I'o ki 



ing the skin on tlic .umi^valc, they lasli tu tlic 



bone. iSTo. S'.m;'.I(; [ll'.iTl fiom LTtkiuvwin is ,.nr ( 



of these oars are cominonly usinl in an umiak, (uu 



and the women row witli great vigor, swinging w 



do not keep stroke. Tlie use of oars is so nnusua 



it would be natnral to suppose that these, jteoplc had adojitcd ihr cus 



toni from the wliites. If this be the ease, tlie rustom icai lied ilieni 



long ago, and through very indirect ehannels. 



Wlien Thomas Simpson, in 1837, bought an umiak fnun some I'oint- 

 Barrow natives at Dease Inlet, he bought with it •■ four ot tiieii slender 

 oars, whieli they used as tent poles, besides a couple of paddles; lilted 

 the oars with lashings, and arranged our strange vessel so well that the 

 ladies were in raptures, declaring us to be genuine i;s(iuiman\, and not 

 poor white men."' The custom, 

 moreover, appears to be wide- 

 spread since Lyon speaks of see 

 ing in ISlil, "two very clumsy 

 oars with flat blades, pulled by 

 women."' in the umiaks at Hud 

 sou Strait.- It was praeticed at 



,. , . ,, 11. Flc, 344.— ilc-thoilof sliugius: till' iiiiri.t iiiiiiak. 



a still .'ailier «late in (Ireculaiid.' 



While at I'oint Barrow the oars have very narrow blades ami tlie 

 double ])a(ldles very broad oiuvs, the reverse seemed to be the ease in 

 (ireenland, where the double jiaddle, as already noticed, has blades not 

 over .'> or 4 inches broad. Crantz describes the oars as" short and 

 broad belbre, ]U-etty much like a shovel, but only longer, and * * 

 eontined to their places on the gunnel with a strap of seal's leather;' 

 (Vol. U, \>. 14".l and pi. VI ) Although both oais and sails aiv un- 

 doubtedly quite ancient in veutious (Frobisher in his des.-iiptiou of Meta 

 Incognita in llakluyt's Voyages (15Si)) pp. (Il-l and C.l'S, speaks ofskiu 

 boats with sails of eutiail),' I am strongly inclined to believe that they 



are both e.uisideiably i c recent than th<> p^iddles. not only on geiieial 



l.riuciples, but ti<uii the fact that the whaling umiaks at Point I'.avrow 

 us<' (Mily paddles. There is no luactical reason against using cither 

 oars or sails, and in fact the latter would often be of great advantage 

 in silently approaching a whale, as the American whalemen have long 



> Narrative, p. 148. 



'.ro.mial, II. :!». Cinipar., alai. Cliappell, " Hudson Bay,' p. 57. 



■I'l'lii ,^^1, iss i"is Ill-ill"-' a.s lar a.s I Uniiw. the earliest description of the umiak and kaiak are worth 

 ,,„„tili.Mi ni.ir hoalsare made all of .Seale skins, with a keel of wood within the skiuue; the 



iii-nimil 1,1.1 ut til. Ill is like a Spanish slialliip. smie only they bo flat in the bottonie, .and sharp at holh 

 ndt-s I . li'l I '-71" \ ■ 111! I'lM V li I"' tui. -lilts i.r boats made of leather, set out on the inner 



''"I'^l-i.'i'' ,'r,,i ,' ,,1 ^^M,~.I mm. iilh t^..l " nli ili'-nu-s of the same; the greater sort are not luui-h 



iX iiiir wll iiH- "1" ..Mi -M '"■ "'^ '"•" '»»>■ ^'"»' ""■•"■ '"•" '■'"■ " ""•'■'"• '""■'" "'" 



"utte»i'i'l"sii"li'l'i.i-^ts :i- tlin l>ill i.n liiii iii'l tliiiiiii, which they sewe together; the other boate is 



