i6z 



GRINNELL 



the prow the wood is cut away backward, and beneath 

 this again projects forward just above the water's level, 

 with the result that this projecting point of wood first 



YAKUTAT SEALING CANOE. 



strikes and pushes away the ice cakes which so thickly 

 float upon the water's surface, and prevents them from 

 battering and chafing the bows of the canoes. 



The two seal hunters in the canoe may be two men, or 

 a man and his wife, or a man and boy. The hunter sits 

 in the bow and his companion in the stern, while amid- 

 ships are placed three or four large stones for ballast, 

 weighing in the aggregate 150 or 200 pounds. Each oc- 

 cupant sits or kneels on a little platform fitted into bow 

 and stern, or perhaps on a pile of branches covered by a 

 blanket, a coat, or a skin, so as to keep him above the 

 water, of which there is always more or less in the canoe. 

 To the right of the bowman, and so of course immedi- 

 ately under his hand, are his arms, usually a Winchester 

 rifle, or double-barrel shot gun, and a seal spear ten or 



