BULLETIN OP THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION 
26 
considered reasonable, when the methods of capturing whales and sea otters, as practiced 
by the Aleuts, are studied. In pursuance of these methods it is necessary for two men 
to work together in the same boat; the one nearest the stern paddling and guiding the 
bidarka, while the other throws the spear or harpoon into the game. It is also prob- 
able, he thinks, that skin canoes with three holes may have been used by chiefs before 
the Russian occupation. He says : 
Most of them are made with 'two manholes, some have three, and a great many have hut one. 
The otter-hnnters always go in pairs, or, in other words, use two-holed bidarkas. 
Petrol! says: 
Although single-hole kaiaks are used at Kadiak and throughout the Aleutian Chain, the fact 
remains, as has been stated, that the larger canoes, with two or three holes, are also extensively employed. 
In the northern part of the Territory, however, the single-hole kaiak is chiefly if not entirely in favor. 
The true kaiak of the Eskimo is exclusively used in the vicinity of Alexandrovsk within the reach of tide- 
water, and is also universal among the Kuskokvagmute. 
There are many types of these single-hole kaiaks in northern Alaska, and although 
all are doubtless of Eskimo origin it appears that Petrol! and other writers on Alaska 
have not noticed their typical differences any more than by figuring them. One of 
them, which closely resembles the kaiak of Labrador, is found at Point Barrow, while 
another form, with a peculiar dome-shaped top, is used, according to Turner, from St. 
Michael’s southward to Kadiak. Petrol! illustrates this as being in use by the beluga 
hunters on the Kuskokvim River. The difference in the types will be more definitely 
stated in the technical description which is to follow. 
The material used for covering the kaiaks and bidarkas varies with the locality, 
as the natives have to utilize the skins most readily obtainable. The Aleuts use sea- 
lion skins to make their bidarkas and bidarras. 
The Kuskokvim and Kushagak Eskimo make boats of the skin of the Mahlklok 
( JErignathus barbatus), of the Kearpah (Plioca vitulina), and the walrus; while for the 
same purpose the Eskimo of the Arctic Ocean, Bering Strait, and St. Lawrence Island 
use walrus hides and the skins of the ringed seal ( Plioca fcetida J. According to Turner, 
the canoes used by the Kadiakers, with the single and double manholes, have not the 
split which characterizes the double-hole bidarkas, but the bow resembles that of the 
canoe of the Kuskokvim, which will be described later and which is distinguished by 
having a hole in it for the insertion of the hand. On Kadiak the peculiar split bow is 
found only on the large bidarkas which have three manholes. 
12. Canoes of Kadiak . — The following description is given by Petrol! in Volume 8 
of the Tenth Census reports : 
The Kaniag cahoes are remarkable for fine workmanship and graceful form. They consist of a 
slight frame of light wood tied together with whale sinews and covered with seal-skin, with the 
exception of an opening for the oarsmen, and are made with one, two, or three openings. Each kind 
has a different name, but are all known as kaiaks. The three-hatch kaiak is called the hidarka 
(paitalik); the two-hatch canoe is called Kaikhpak (big canoe), and the one-hatch canoe, Kaiangvak. 
The two-hatch canoes are most generally used in Kadiak. Over each hatch a water-proof apron is 
fastened (called by the Russians obtiashka and by the natives Akrilivak), which the inmate draws up 
to his armpits in had weather, securing it tightly about his chest. The Kadiak bidarkas differ in form 
from those of other coast tribes, being shorter and broader than those of the Aleuts, and the paddles 
have but one blade. 
