THE KURILSKY AINU 31 
Shumshir natives possessed a suit of foreign clothes 
and a Russian peaked cap. 
The boats used by these Kurilsky Ainu were 
peculiar to themselves. They were most ingeniously 
constructed, and, considering the poor tools, the 
materials of which they were built, and the way in 
which they were put together, were good, service¬ 
able craft. Some of them were about 30 feet long, 
feet broad, and about 4 feet deep. They were 
built with considerable sheer. The stem and stern 
posts were made of a thick plank bent into a 
rounded form, extending from the keel plank and 
carried up about feet above the level of the gun¬ 
wale, the ends or heads being shaped into a spear¬ 
head form. Inside, the boat was strengthened by 
frames and knees. The broad planks outside were 
placed edge to edge, shaped to coincide with the 
sheer, and made to meet as neatly as their rough 
tools would allow. Over the seams half-round 
battens, about an inch wide, were placed, and kept in 
position by lashing of whale sinews or whalebone 
fibres, which passed through small holes made in 
the planks just above and below the batten. These 
lashings were continued all along the seams, at 
intervals of about 6 or 8 inches. Each one was 
finished off separately, not carried on from one to 
another, the sinews being passed round and round 
over the battens and through the holes. The holes 
were then tightly plugged with wooden pegs, and 
the seams inside caulked with moss. In the same 
manner lashings were passed through holes in the 
planks round the timbers and knees. The gunwale, 
thwarts, strengthening pieces, etc., were all fastened 
in this way, and so a good serviceable, though rough, 
