32 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
when once excited in the chase. All is silent and motionless until the spout is seen, when they 
instantly paddle toward it. The spouting oyer, .every paddle is raised. Again the spout is seen 
or heard through the fog, and again they spring to their paddles. In this manner the animal is 
approached near enough to throw the harpoon, when all shout at the top of their voices. This is said 
to have the effect of checking the animal’s way through the water, thus giving an opportunity to 
plant the spear in its body with line and buoys attached. The ehabe continues in this wise until a 
number of weapons are firmly fixed, causing the animal much effort to get under water, and still more 
to remain down ; so it soon rises again and is attacked with renewed vigor. 
It is the established custom with these simple natives that the man who first effectually throws 
his harpoon takes command of the w r hole party. Accordingly, as soon as the animal becomes much 
exhausted, his baidarra is paddled near, and with surprising quickness he cuts a hole in its side suffi- 
ciently large to admit the knife and the mast to which it is attached. Then follows a course of 
cutting and piercing until death ensues, after which the treasure is towed to the beach in front of 
their huts, where it is divided, each member of the party receiving two “slabs of bone” and a like 
proportion of the blubber and entrails, the owner of the canoe claiming what remains. (Marine 
Mammalia of the Pacific Coast, by Charles M. Scammon, pp. 31, 32.) 
The oomiak has a flat bottom, tapering to a point at either end, flaring sides, and 
sharp bow and stern. In shape it closely resembles the American dory, from which it 
differs in the following particulars: (1) In having less sheer to the top; (2) in having 
a nearly straight bottom, and (3) in not having the plshaned stern running down to 
the bottom, which is a characteristic feature of the dory. But the bidarrah lias the 
buoyancy, the easy lines fore and aft, and the seaworthiness (so far as its form is con- 
cerned) that distinguish the dory and have made it famous as a fishing boat. 
The covering of the bidarrah varies with the locality. The Aleuts use the skins 
of the sea lion ( Uumetopias stelleri), which are unhaired by sweating in a pile, and they 
are then skillfully sewed together until enough are joined to cover the wood frame of 
the boat. The northern Innuits make their oomiaks of walrus hides, seal pelts, or white 
whale skins. The frame is made of wood, usually of pieces of spruce that drift upon 
the shores, and is deftly lashed together with sinews, strips of whalebone, or thongs of 
seal skin; the material used for fastening the frame varies somewhat with the locality, 
and always depends upon the possibility of obtaining that which can be adapted to 
this purpose. 
The number of pieces in a frame may vary, but generally the frame of an Innuit 
oomiak is as follows : The keelson runs through the center of the bottom, and to the 
ends of this are attached the stem and stern post, unless the stick grows to the proper 
shape to make these from one piece. Two other pieces, which may be called sister keel- 
sons, are fitted with a series of holes on their sides to receive the ends of cross bars or 
beams of unequal lengths (the largest being in the middle), and these form the sides 
of the bottom, being bent around the beams and their ends fastened to the keelson at 
the bow and stern. Upon these side keelsons are stepped upright timbers or ribs, which 
ma,y extend to the gunwale. Along the sides are one or more horizontal strips, the ends 
of which are fastened at stem and stern post, while they are lashed to each timber; the 
thwarts rest upon these battens. On top of the stem and stern post is secured trans- 
versely a flat wooden piece, like a piece of board, which is 10 to 12 inches wide and 
15 to 24 inches long. The gunwales are now bent around, these resting upon and 
being secured to the upright frames, while the ends are fastened to the upper side of 
the flat pieces above mentioned, beyond which they project 6 or 8 inches. 
The skin is stretched over the frame while it is moist or “green,” and having been 
