476 
THE kayack: 
and its depth ten 
inches in the middle, 
just such as to al- 
low its occupant to 
sit with his feet ex- 
tended on the bot- 
tom and his hips be- 
low the deck. It is 
always built with a 
nice adaptation to his 
weight. 
Its frame is light 
enough to startle all 
our notions of naval 
construction, and it 
is covered with noth- 
ing hut tanned seal- 
hide. Yet in this 
egg-shell fabric the 
Esquimaux navigator habitually, and fearlessly, and 
successfully too, encounters risks which his more civ- 
ilized rivals in the seal-hunt, the men of New Bedford 
and Stonington, would rightfully shrink from. I am 
not sure that I can make such a description of its pro- 
portions and structure as a ship-builder would under- 
stand ; hut the drawings I annex have been made 
carefully from one of the best models, and may he re- 
lied on for all the information that can be gathered 
from them. 
