33 
KA YAC KS. 
it has been compared. With the exception of an ellip- 
tical hole, nearly in its centre, to receive its occupant, 
it was both air and water tight. Into this hole was 
wedged its human freight, a black-locked Esquimaux, 
enveloped in an undressed seal-skin, drawn tightly 
around the head and wrists, and fastened, where it 
met the kayack, about an elevated rim made for the 
purpose, over which it slipped like a bladder over the 
lip of a j ar. 
The length of the kayack was about eighteen feet, 
tapering fore and aft to an absolute point. The beam 
was but twenty-one inches. When laden, as we saw 
it, the top or deck was at its centre but two inches 
by measurement above the water-line. The waves 
often broke completely over it. A double-bladed oar, 
grasped in the middle, was the sole propeller. It was 
wonderful to see how rapidly the will of the kayacker 
communicated itself to his little bark. One impulse 
seemed to control both. Indeed, even for a careful 
observer, it was hard to say where the boat ended or 
the man commenced ; the rider seemed one with his 
frail craft, an amphibious realization of the centaur, 
or a practical improvement upon the merman. 
These boats, not only as specimens of beautiful na- 
val architecture, but from their controlling influence 
upon the fortunes of their owners, became to me sub- 
jects of careful study. I will revert to them at an- 
other time. As we rowed to the shore, crowds of them 
followed us, hanging like Mother Carey's chickens m 
our wake, and just outside the sweep of our oars. 
We landed at a small cove formed by two protrud- 
ing masses of coarsely granular feldspar. Some forty 
odd souls, the men, women, and children of the entire 
settlement, received us. The men were in the front 
