340 THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 
ago discovered. It seems to me that this is merely another case of ad- 
hering to an obsolete custom on semireligious grounds. The paddles 
are usually about 4 or 5 feet long, made of one piece of driftwood, with 
slender round shafts, and lanceolate blades about 6 inches broad, and 
a short rounded cross handle at the upper end. (Fig. 345 shows two 
of the paddles beionging to the model.) The steersman uses a longer 
paddle, and stands in the stern or sits up on the head of the sternpost. 
Fia. 345,—Model of umiak and paddles: (a) side view; (b) inside plan. 
Fig. 345a represents the model (No. 56563 {225| from Utkiaywin), 
which gives a very good idea of the shape of one of these boats. It is 
quite correct in all its parts, though the timbers are rather too heavy, 
and there are not so many ribs and floor timbers as in a full-sized canoe. 
The breadth of beam, 6-2 inches, is at least 1 inch too great in propor- 
tion to the length, 25 inches. The cover is one piece of seal skin which 
has been partially tanned by the ‘“‘ white-tanning” process, and put on 
wet. In drying it has turned almost exactly the color of a genuine 
Fic. 346.—Ivory bailer for umiak. 
boat cover. The frame, as is often the case with a full-sized boat, is 
painted all over with red ocher. (See Fig. 345), inside plan.) 
For bailing these boats a long narrow dipper of ivory or bone is used, 
of such a shape as to be especially well suited for working in between 
the floor timbers. Fig. 346 represents one of these (No. 56536 [40] from 
Utkiavwin). It is a piece of walrus tusk 16:3 inches long. The cavity 
is 11 inches deep and was excavated by drilling vertical holes and 
cutting away the substance between them. Some of the holes have not 
been completely worked out. A similar bailer (No. 89835 [1010] also 
