DOL THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 
water. The whole is very neatly and smoothly made, and the blades 
are painted with red ocher. This is a much more effective paddle than 
those used by the Greenlanders and other eastern Eskimo, the blades 
of which, probably from the scarcity of wood! are very narrow, not 
exceeding 4 inches in width. In Greenland and Labrador, also, the 
blades are square at the ends like those of ordinary oars, and are usually 
edged with bone to prevent them from splitting. The absence of this 
bone edging on the paddles from Point Barrow perhaps indicates that 
they are meant for summer use only and not for working among the 
ice. In accordance with the general custom in northwestern America, 
the double-bladed paddle (pautin) is used only when great speed is 
desired, as in chasing game. It is handled in the usual way, being 
grasped with both hands near the middle, and dipped alternately on 
opposite sides. For ordinary traveling they use a single-bladed paddle 
(anun), of the same shape as those used in the wniak but usually some- 
what smaller, of which we neglected to procure a specimen. With this 
they make a few strokes on one side, till the boat begins to sheer, then 
shift it over and make a few strokes on the other side. They do this 
with very great skill, getting considerable speed, and making a remark- 
ably straight wake. The use of this single paddle appears to be uni- 
versal along the coast of Alaska, from Point Barrow southward, and it 
is also used at the Mackenzie and Anderson rivers, as shown by the 
models collected by MacFarlane in that region. It is, however, 
unknown among the eastern Eskimo about whom we have any definite 
information on the subject, namely, the Greenlanders, the people of 
Baffin Land, Hudson Strait, and Labrador.” 
Curiously enough the Greenlanders had a superstition of a sort of 
malevolent spirits called kajariak, who were “kayakmen of an extraor- 
dinary size, who always seem to be met with at a distance from land 
beyond the usual hunting grounds. They were skilled in the arts of 
sorcery, particularly in the way of raising storms and bringing bad 
weather. Like the umiarissat [other fabulous beings], they use one- 
bladed paddles, like those of the Indians.”* This tradition either refers 
back to a time when the ancestors of the Greenlanders used the single 
paddle or to occasional and perhaps hostile meetings between eastern 
and western Eskimo. 
Though the kaiak is essentially the same wherever used, it differs 
considerably in size and external appearance in different localties. The 
kaiak of the Greenlanders is perhaps the best-known model, as it has 
'It is a curious fact, however, that the narrowest kaiak paddles I have ever seen belonged to some 
Eskimo that I saw in 1876, at Rigolette, Labrador, who lived in a region sufticiently well wooded to 
furnish them with lumber for a small schooner, which they had built. 
? For information concerning the last two regions I am indebted to Mr. L. M. Turner; for the others 
to the standard authorities. 
‘Rink, Tales and Traditions, p. 47. See also p. 374 for a story of the meeting of a Greenlander with 
one of these beings. 
