NELSON] KAIAK AND UMIAK PADDLES 
blade is surrounded by a broad, black band, with a 
another below it. 
225 
red band above and 
Figure 8, plate LXxx, represents one of a pair of single-blade kaiak 
paddles from Kushunuk. It has a long, narrow 
blade, and the crossbar at the end of the handle 
is cut from the same piece. The paddle is marked 
with black lines and bars representing a female 
phallic emblem, one-half of the figure being on 
each of the two paddles forming the set. On 
each side of the crossbar are incised lines repre- 
senting the mouth, nostrils, and eyes of a semi- 
human face. On one side the mouth is curved 
downward, and on the other it is upeurved. The 
two paddles are exact duplicates as to their 
markings. u 
A single-blade paddle from Big lake (figure 6, 
plate LXxx) is somewhat similar in form to the 
preceding. On the middle of the blade on each 
side is painted a red disk, surrounded by a black 
circle, from which a black band extends up the 
median ridge of the blade to its upper edge, 
where a black ring surrounds the handle; from 
this point to the tip the edge of the blade is 
painted black. 
In the vicinity of the lower Kuskokwim the 
paddle blades are somewhat similar in shape, 
but vary in the character of the figures painted 
on them, which indicate the totems or the owner- 
ship marks of their makers. 
Figure 10, plate Lxxx, illustrates a thin, sword- 
shape implement of wood, which was obtained at 
Cape Denbeigh. It is flat on one surface, down 
the middle of which extends a small groove, while 
the other surface is so ridged that the cross 
section forms a flattened triangle. Itis employed 
by seal and walrus hunters for a double pur- 
pose—as a paddle for propelling the kaiak 
slowly and cautiously toward sleeping seals, and 
for striking the water with the flat side to 
frighten a wounded animal and cause it to dive 
again before it can take breath, and thus become 
exhausted more quickly. From the Chukehi of 
the Asiatic coast, northwest of Bering strait, I ob- 
tained a similar implement made from a long, flat 
piece of whalebone fitted to a wooden handle. 
Fie. 71—Kaiak paddles from 
Point Barrow and King 
island (7). 
Strips of bone cut from the jaw or rib of a whale are sometimes 
18 ETH 15 
