Mn:r>..,H.l IMIAKS. :51;; 



of the present day. The laltrr arc cvl.lciitly only copio ,,r I lie jaw- 

 boiK' croteli ill a raaterial susrcprililc oT a liij^licr liiiisli than llic maisc 

 bone. The only reason tor makiii.t;- thciii in two |iicccs is tliat it is ini 

 possible to get a single piece of walrus i\(iiy lar-v eiioiigli lor a whole 

 one. It seems to nie bighly probabl(^ thai tliecrolcli was sii;;ucsi.'(l l>s 

 the natural shapeof the walrus Jaw, since these are IVeiinenily used lor 

 crotches to receive the cross pieces of the caclie fiamcs. Perhaps, for 

 a while, the whole jaw was simply lashed to tlie how of the hoal. The 

 next step would obviously be to cut out tlu' shank and reduce the weight 

 of the crotch by trimming off the snpertinons niateiial. The reason hir 

 making the crotch of ivory is perhaps purely csthctii'; bni nioic lik(dy 

 connected with the notions already referred to which lead them loclean 

 up their boats and gear and adorn theinselx es and [laint tln'ir faces 

 when they go to the whale fishery. 



Although, as I have already stated, there appears to he no essential 

 difference in the general plan of the frame of the (rreenlatid umiaks 

 and those used at Point Barrow, there seems to be considerahle dilVer 

 ence in the size and outward ai)pearance. As well as can be Judged 

 from the brief descriptions ami rude flgiu-es of various authors' and 

 various models in the Xatioiial Museum (the correctness of whi(di, how. 

 ever, I can not be sure of, without having seen the originals) the umiak 

 not only in Greenland, but among the Eskimo generally as far west as 

 the Mackenzie, is a much more wall sided square ended l)oat than at 

 P(»int liarrow, having less sheer to the gunwales with the stem and 

 stern-post nearly vertical.'^ Mr. L. M. Turner informs me that this is the 

 case at Ungava Bay. It was also a 1 arger boat. Egede says that they '' are 

 large and open * * * some of them 20 yards long;"' Crantz gives their 

 length as "cominoidy (5, nay S or 9 fathoms long;"^ Kumlien says that 

 it required '-about fifteen skins of Phoca barbata" to cover an umiak 

 at Cumberland Gulf," and Mr. Turner informs me that eight are used 

 at Tngava. Capt. Parry found no umiaks at Fury and I lecla straits'' 

 and Kumlien says that they are becoming rare at( 'umberland ( rulf. The 

 so-called Arctic Highlanders of Smith Sound have noboatsof any kind. 

 Tlie model used at Point Barrow probably prevails as far south as 

 Kotzebue Sound. Tiie boats that boarded us off" Waiuwright Inlet in 

 the autumn of ISS.'., and those of the Xunataumiun who visited Point 

 Barrow, seemed not to (lilfer from those with wdiich we were familiar, 

 except tluit the latter were rather light and low sided, nor do I remember 

 anything ]>e<idiar alxuit the boats which we saw at Plover Bay in 

 18S1. 



