380 



W. Thalbitzer 



use a sail in their umiaks ^); this was noted already when Frobisher 

 discovered the land^). From Alaska Nelson shows an umiak model 

 with matting saiH). 



On the northern part of the east coast no certain trace has 

 yet been found, that the natives have had umiaks. This would 

 correspond to the condition among the Smith Sound Eskimo and 

 the Eskimo of Coronation Gulf and Boothia Felix (North Canada), 

 who also have no umiaks'^). The three sets of stone-rests found 

 by the Danmark Expedition at Renskæret (76° 41 N. lat.) are 

 explained by Thostrup as umiak rests ^), but to judge from the low 



height of these supports (from 10 to 40 cm.) and 



from the absence of other evidence of the pre- 

 sence of umiaks north of Scoresby Sound, I 

 believe, that the explanation given by Thostrup 

 must be considered as doubtful. If these stone 

 supports have really been used as boat-rests, 

 might they not be considered as double kaiak 

 b rests, each set for two kaiaks? Their height 

 may have been greater originally^). 



Umiak cleaners (p. 43, cf. fig. 83) — or boat- 

 hooks? The instrument consists of a short 

 wooden stock with a bent bear's tooth fixed at 

 the one end and a bear's claw at the other. It 

 is not improbable, that this instrument is useful 

 in certain cases for more than simply cleaning 

 the boat. Turner') mentions "boat-hooks" as 

 belonging to the complete outfit of a kaiak 

 among the Eskimo of Hudson Bay, "used for 

 all the purposes of a boat hook, and also to retrieve a sunken 

 animal" (seal). It is possible that the Ammassalikers' umiak cleaner 

 is a transformed relict of this instrument. 



Fig. 83. Two umiak 

 cleaners (Holm coll.) ^1 



1) Boas (1888) p. 528. 



2J Frobisher (1577) pp.225 and 227. 



3) Nelson (1899) PI. LXXVII. 



+) Kroeber (1899) p. 269; Steensby (1905) pp.95 and 104, (19101 p. 289. I may take 

 this opportunity to correct Steensby's statement, that "a umiak cannot be taken 

 on the sledge" (1. с p. 289). On the contrarj^ the Ammassalikers each spring move 

 their tents and umiaks from the winter house to the summer tenting grounds, 

 driving over the ice. Cf. Holm p. 45 and fig. 35 in this volume. 



b) Thostrup (1911) p. 238 and fig. 29. 



") The stone-rests for kaiaks on Southampton Island in Hudson Bay, illustrated 

 by Boas (1907) PI. V, fig. 2, are of a much greater height and more solid 

 construction. 



') Turner (1894) p. 240 and Boas (1888j p. 483, figs. 409 411. 



