222 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [EYH. ANN. 18 
When occupied by skilful paddle-men these boats are very difficult to 
upset and will ride through extremely rough weather in safety. I was 
told that some of the most skilful among the coast people could upset 
their kaiaks and right them again by the use of the paddle, but the 
old meu said this feat was now becoming rare as the young hunters 
were degenerating and were not as good kaiak men as formerly. 
BOAT HOOKS 
Boat hooks are used by the men on umiaks and kaiaks all along the 
coast and on the islands, the principal difference in them being in the 
larger size of those used on the umiaks. These boat hooks are of great 
service, particularly to men on kaiaks when landing on rocky shores or 
upon the ice, and those having pointed spurs at the butt are used for 
fending off ice when paddling about at sea during spring and autumn. 
Figure 1, plate LXXxx, illustrates a stout boat hook, 6 feet in length, 
for use in a umiak, which was obtained on Norton sound. The end 
of the shaft has a strong bone point lashed against a shoulder with 
rawhide cords; a foot inward from the lower end a strong spur of 
deerhorn is lashed against the side, from which it projects at a right 
angle. This is the style of boat hook commonly used on umiaks, the 
shafts varying from 6 to 8 feet in length. 
A boat hook intended for use on a kaiak, obtained at Golofnin bay, 
is shown in figure 3, plate LXxx. It is 4 feet 9 inches in length; the 
shaft is rounded and tapering, with a long, spur-like hook of walrus 
ivory set in a notch near its end and held in place by lashing with 
strips of whalebone passed through holes in the spur and shaft. This 
hook is flattened triangular in cross section; the inner edge is thin, 
but it broadens toward the back; it projects backward toward the end 
of the shaft and ends in a tapering point. 
Boat hooks of this kind are common from the mouth of the Kusko- 
kwim to Kotzebue sound, and vary but little in shape and in the form of 
the spur or hook. The backs of these ivory hooks are covered with 
conventional patterns of diagonally etched lines, crossed by long, hori- 
zoutal grooves, This pattern is common on these implements over a 
wide extent of territory. A specimen in the National Museum (num- 
bered 73797) was brought from Taku harbor, in southeastern Alaska. 
It is made of walrus ivory and is marked with the pattern described. 
Figure 15, plate Lxxvu1, shows an ivory hook from Sledge island, 
which has two points at one end and the other fashioned into the form 
of a seal-head. Another small ivory hook of this kind (figure 26, plate 
LXXVuI) has three walrus-heads along the back. A long ivory hook 
from Unalaklit (figure 23, plate Lxxvuz1) has etched upon it a conven- 
tional pattern of straight lines and the raven totem sign. 
A deerhorn hook from Askinuk (figure 25, plate LXxv1I1) has the back 
carved to represent the head of a walrus, the outlines of the flippers 
