FISHING VESSELS AND BOATS OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 
29 
The three-hole bidarka of the Aleuts and adjacent tribes differs from that of the 
two-hole chiefly in its size and in having the additional manhole. This type of canoe 
is used very little in the fisheries, being a boat designed chiefly for cruising or carrying 
white traders about the country. The following are the dimensions of the bidarka of 
this class now in the National Museum: 
Feet. Inches. 
Length, over all 24 8 
Beam - 2 3 
Depth, from top of manhole rim 1 
Height of rim of manholes l^lf 
Width of manhole 1 10f 
The canoe from which these measurements were taken was used on the revenue 
cutter Corwin in making her explorations in Alaska and Bering Sea. See fig. 3, 
plate viii. 
Skin boats with a single manhole are used for certain purposes. These differ from 
the two-hole and three-hole bidarkas chiefly in being wider and deeper in proportion, 
since the larger boats gain in dimensions almost entirely by additional length. One 
of these kaiaks which is in the National Museum has the following dimensions : Length, 
extreme, 13 feet 10 inches ; beam, 2 feet 5 inches ; depth in manhole, top of rim to 
bottom, 16 inches. This canoe (fig. 1, plate viii) has the typical split bow of the 
Aleutian bidarka, a dome-shaped or strongly arched deck, and a hogback sheer, the 
boat being highest in the middle and gradually slanting downward to the ends, except 
at the extreme bow where it has an abrupt upward curve.* 
The frame is as follows : The keelson in the middle of the bottom extends from end 
to end of the boat, and between this and the gunwale on either side are four battens, 
running longitudinally, and separated from each other from 21 to nearly 4 inches. 
These battens or rib bands are made of wood, as is all the frame, and are from three- 
fourths to seven-eighths inch wide, and three-eighths to one-half inch thick. The 
keelson and the gunwales are a trifle heavier. The ribs are flat, or nearly so, 3 inches 
by one-fourth inch, bent around from gunwale to gunwale, inside of the battens, and 
each is held by a seizing of sinew around the keelson, while its upper ends are inserted 
into holes in the underneath side of the gunwales. The deck frame is ingeniously con- 
trived to secure strength with little weight. Near the center is the manhole, around 
which is a stout rim of hard wood, nearly circular in form, and about 2 inches high. 
This rim is supported on the forward and after side by a strongly arched beam of 
hard wood, 1£ to 2 inches thick in the middle, tapering towards the ends, which are 
skillfully mortised into the gunwale on each side. From the manhole rim a ridge 
piece extends to the bow and another to the stern, this being nearly round and about 
three-fourths of an inch in diameter. The after ridge piece is supported in the middle — 
about half way from the manhole to the stern — by beams similar to those under the 
manhole rim. These ridge pieces support the middle of the deck longitudinally, and 
* This kaiak lias been presented to the Museum by Win. Burling, esq., and is marked as a “Boat 
used by Sitka Indians.” This is undoubtedly a mistake, to this extent at least : The Sitka Indians 
do not build such craft, and the occurrence of a skin boat at Sitka is believed to be purely accidental 
and unusual. Turner thinks this canoe is a hybrid — an unusual form that has the bow of the Aleutian 
bidarka and the body of the Kadiak Island kaiak. 
