THE UMYAK 53 
The fact that the kayak with its weapons and 
fittings is still made with a poor equipment of 
tools—in the past the appliances were much more 
inadequate—compels admiration of the resource- 
fulness and technical skill of the Eskimoes. It is 
not merely that the kayak is a remarkably efficient 
boat with attractive lines, but the finish of the bone 
fittings and the simple decorative features associ- 
ated with those that are essential are evidence of 
artistic feeling, pride of work, and ownership on 
the part of the craftsman. 
Another type of boat is the umyak (Fig. 22), 
often spoken of as the women’s boat because, 
formerly at least, the crew, with the exception of 
the helmsman, who uses a scull as a rudder, con- 
sisted of women. The umyak, like the kayak, is an 
ancient type; boats of similar construction are used 
by the Eskimoes on the shores of Hudson Bay and 
by the Alaskan Eskimoes. A Greenland umyak is 
about thirty or forty feet long; it is a flat-bottomed 
rowing boat with a wooden framework lashed with 
strips of hide and bound together on the contrac- 
tion of the skins stretched when wet over the sides 
and bottom. With the wind dead astern a small 
sail is sometimes used in the bow. The umyak is 
employed for long journeys; it can carry a con- 
siderable amount of luggage, and is easily taken on 
shore in bad weather when it may be used as a 
shelter in lieu of a tent by being inverted and with 
one side propped up with wooden supports. During 
our residence at the Arctic Station a family 
travelled a distance of about sixty miles in their 
