334 THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 
While the kaiak, however, differs so much in external appearance in 
different localities, it is probable that in structure it is everywhere 
essentially the same. Only two writers have given a detailed descrip- 
tion of the frame of a kaiak, and these are from widely distant localities, 
Iglulik and western Greenland, both still more widely distant from 
Point Barrow, and yet both give essentially the same component parts 
as are to be found at Point Barrow, namely, two comparatively stout 
gunwales running from stem to stern, braced with transverse deck- 
beams,! seven streaks running fore and aft along the bottom, knees, or 
ribs in the form of hoops, and a hoop for the coaming, bound together 
with whalebone or sinew.’ 
Fia, 341.—Model kaiak and paddle, 
The double-bladed paddle is almost exclusively an Eskimo contri- 
vance. The only other hyperborean race, besides the Aleuts, who use it, 
are the Yukagirs, who employ it in their narrow dugout canoes on the 
River Kolyma in Siberia.’ Double-bladed paddles have also been ob- 
served in the Malay Archipelago. 
Fig. 341, (No. 56561 [224] from Utkiavwin) is a very neatly made 
model of a kaiak, 13-3 inches long. It is quite accurate in allits de- 
tails, but has only five streaks on the bottom, and its width and depth 
are about twice what they should be in proportion to the length. The 
frame is lashed together with fine sinew and covered with seal en- 
trail. The paddle is also out of proportion. Many similar neatly fin- 
1Since the above was written Boas has published a detailed description of the central kaiaks, in 
which he says there are only four streaks besides the keel (Central Eskimo, p. 486). 
2Dr. Kane’s description, though the best that we have of the flat-bottomed Greenland kaiak and ac- 
companied by diagrams, is unfortunately vague in some important respects. It is in brief as follows: 
“The skeleton consists of three longitudinal strips of wood on each side * * * stretching from end 
toend. * * * Theupper of these, the gunwale * * * issomewhat stouter than the others. The 
bottom is framed by three similar longitudinal strips. These are crossed by other strips or hoops, 
which perform the office of knees and ribs. They are placed at a distance of not more than 8 to 10 
inches from one another. Wherever the parts of this framework meet or cross they are bound together 
with reindeer tendon very artistically. * * * The pah or manhole * * has arim or lip secured 
upon the gunwale and rising a couple of inches above the deck.’ (First Grinnell Exp., p.477.) Tt will 
be seen that he does not mention any deck beams, which would be very necessary to keep the gunwales 
spread apart. They are shown, however, in Crantz’s crude section of a kaiak frame. (History of 
Greenland, vol. 1, pl. vii), and are evidently mortised into the gunwale, as at Point Barrow. Crantz 
also (op. cit., p. 150) speaks of the use of whalebone for fastening the frame together. 
Capt. Lyon’s description of the round-bottomed kaiak used at Fury and Hecla Straits (Journal, p. 233) 
is much more explicit. He describes the frame as consisting of a gunwale on each side 4 or 5 inches 
wide in the middle and three-fourths inch thick, tapering at each end, sixty-four hoop-shaped ribs (on 
a canoe 25 feet long), seven slight rods outside of the ribs, twenty-two deck-beams, and a batten run- 
ning fore and aft, and a hoop round the cockpit. These large kaiaks weigh 50 or 60 pounds. There is 
a very good figure of the Point Barrow kaiak, paddled with a single paddle, in Smyth’s view of Nuwak 
(Beechey's Voyage. pl. opposite p. 307). 
3 Wrangell, Narrative of an Expedition, ete., p. 161, footnote. 
