480 THE kayacker: 
The paddle (pa-uh-teet), ahout which a knowing 
Esquimaux will waste as many words as a sporting 
gentleman upon a double-harreled Manton or a bridle- 
hit of peculiar fancy, is in every respect a beautifully 
considered instrument. It never exceeds seven feet 
in length. It is double-bladed, and its central por- 
tion, which receives the hands, presents an ellipsoid 
face, well adapted to a secure grasp. The blades are 
four inches in width, and some two feet in length, 
forming very nearly sections of a cone. Their edges 
and tips are carefully guarded from the cutting action 
of the ice by the ivory of the walrus or narwhal. 
Thus constructed and furnished, its seal-skin cover- 
ing renewed every year, the kayack is the life, and 
pastime, and pride of its owner. He carries it on his 
shoulder into the surf, clad in his water-proof seal-skin 
dress, belted close round the neck, his hood firmly set 
above ; wedges himself into the man-hole, unites him- 
self by a lashing to its rim, and paddles off for a frolic 
outside the breakers, or it may be a seal-hunt, or to 
throw his javelin at the eider, or perhaps to carry dis- 
patches to some distant settlement, or to take part in 
a crusade against the reindeer. 
In their long excursions in search of deer, the ka- 
yackers paddle their way to the nearest portage along 
the coast, and shoulder their little skiff till they reach 
the interior lakes. Their dexterity is admirable in the 
use of their weapons. I have seen them spear the eider 
on the wing and the loon as he was diving. Scud- 
ding along at a rate equal to that of a five-oared whale- 
boat, they fling their tiny javelin far ahead, and, with- 
out interrupting their progress, seize it as they pass. 
The authorities of Greenland communicate con- 
stantly with their different posts by means of the ka- 
