Part 11 (2/2)

_Muller's Voy._, p. 46. The kyak is like an English wager-boat. They are 'much stronger than their lightness would lead one to suppose.' _Hooper's Tuski_, pp. 226, 228. _Oomiaks_ or family canoes of skin; float in six inches of water. _Simpson's Nar._, p. 148. 'With these boats they make long voyages, frequently visiting St. Lawrence Island.' _Dall's Alaska_, p. 380. 'Frame work of wood--when this cannot be procured whalebone is subst.i.tuted.' _Armstrong's Nar._, p. 98. Mackenzie saw boats put together with whalebone; 'sewed in some parts, and tied in others.'

_Voyages_, p. 67. They also use a sail. 'On decouvrit au loin, dans la baie, un bateau qui allait a la voile; elle etait en cuir.' _Choris_, _Voy. Pitt._, pt. ii., p. 6. They 'are the best means yet discovered by mankind to go from place to place.' _Langsdorff's Voy._, pt. ii., p. 43.

'It is wonderful what long voyages they make in these slight boats.'

_Campbell's Voy._, p. 114. 'The skin, when soaked with water, is translucent; and a stranger placing his foot upon the flat yielding surface at the bottom of the boat fancies it a frail security.'

_Beechey's Voy._, vol. i., p. 346.

[55] The 'kajak is shaped like a weaver's shuttle.' _Richardson's Pol.

Reg._, p. 308. 'The paddle is in the hands of an Eskimo, what the balancing pole is to a tight-rope dancer.' _Seemann's Voy. Herald_, vol.

ii., p. 56.

[56] 'The Koltshanen construct birch-bark canoes; but on the coast skin boats or baidars, like the Eskimo kaiyaks and umiaks, are employed.'

_Richardson's Jour._, vol. i., p. 405. If by accident a hole should be made, it is stopped with a piece of the flesh of the sea-dog, or fat of the whale, which they always carry with them. _Langsdorff's Voy._, pt.

ii., p. 43. They strike 'the water with a quick, regular motion, first on one side, and then on the other.' _Cook's Third Voy._, vol. ii., p.

516. 'Wiegen nie uber 30 Pfund, und haben ein dunnes mit Leder uberzognes Gerippe.' _Neue Nachrichten_, p. 152. 'The Aleutians put to sea with them in all weathers.' _Kotzebue's New Voy._, vol. ii., p. 40.

At the Shumagin Islands they 'are generally about twelve feet in length, sharp at each end, and about twenty inches broad.' _Meares' Voy._, p.

x. They are as transparent as oiled paper. At Unalaska they are so light that they can be carried in one hand. _Sauer_, _Billings' Ex._, p. 157, 159.

[57] 'They average twelve feet in length, two feet six inches in height, two feet broad, and have the fore part turned up in a gentle curve.'

'The floor resembles a grating without cross-bars, and is almost a foot from the level of the snow.' _Seemann's Voy. Herald_, vol. ii., p. 56.

At Saritscheff Island 'I particularly remarked two very neat sledges made of morse and whalebones.' _Kotzebue's Voy._, vol. i., p. 201. 'To make the runners glide smoothly, a coating of ice is given to them.'

_Richardson's Pol. Reg._, p. 309. At Norton Sound Captain Cook found sledges ten feet long and twenty inches in width. A rail-work on each side, and shod with bone; 'neatly put together; some with wooden pins, but mostly with thongs or las.h.i.+ngs of whale-bone.' _Third Voy._, vol.

ii., p. 442, 443. Mackenzie describes the sledges of British America, _Voyages_, pp. 67, 68.

[58] 'About the size of those of Newfoundland, with shorter legs.'

_Dall's Alaska_, p. 25. 'Neither plentiful nor of a good cla.s.s.'

_Whymper's Alaska_, p. 171.

[59] The dog will hunt bear and reindeer, but is afraid of its near relative, the wolf. _Brownell's Ind. Races_, p. 474.

[60] 'An average length is four and a half feet.' _Whymper's Alaska_, p.

183. 'The Innuit snowshoe is small and nearly flat,' 'seldom over thirty inches long.' 'They are always rights and lefts.' Ingalik larger; Kutchin same style; Hudson Bay, thirty inches in length. _Dall's Alaska_, pp. 190, 191. 'They are from two to three feet long, a foot broad, and slightly turned up in front.' _Seemann's Voy. Herald_, vol.

ii., p. 60.

[61] 'Blue beads, cutlery, tobacco, and b.u.t.tons, were the articles in request.' _Beechey's Voy._, vol. i., p. 352. At Hudson Strait they have a custom of licking with the tongue each article purchased, as a finish to the bargain. _Franklin's Nar._, vol. i., 27. 'Articles of Russian manufacture find their way from tribe to tribe along the American coast, eastward to Repulse Bay.' _Richardson's Pol. Reg._, p. 317.

[62] Are very anxious to barter arrows, seal-skin boots, and ivory ornaments for tobacco, beads, and particularly for iron. _Hooper's Tuski_, p. 217. Some of their implements at Coppermine River are: stone kettles, wooden dishes, scoops and spoons made of buffalo or musk-ox horns. _Hearne's Travels_, p. 168. At Point Barrow were ivory implements with carved figures of sea-animals, ivory dishes, and a 'fine whalebone net.' Also 'knives and other implements, formed of native copper' at Coppermine River. _Simpson's Nar._, pp. 147, 156, 261. At Point Barrow they 'have unquestionably an indirect trade with the Russians.'

_Simpson's Nar._, 161.

[63] 'They are very expert traders, haggle obstinately, always consult together, and are infinitely happy when they fancy they have cheated anybody.' _Kotzebue's Voy._, vol. i., p. 211. 'A thieving, cunning race.' _Armstrong's Nar._, p. 110. They respect each other's property, 'but they steal without scruple from strangers.' _Richardson's Jour._, vol. i., p. 352.

[64] 'They have a chief (Nalegak) in name, but do not recognize his authority.' _Dr Hayes_, in _Hist. Mag._, vol. i., p. 6. Government, 'a combination of the monarchical and republican;' 'every one is on a perfect level with the rest.' _Seemann's Voy. Herald_, vol. ii., p. 59, 60. 'Chiefs are respected princ.i.p.ally as senior men.' _Franklin's Nar._, vol. ii., p. 41. At Kotzebue Sound, a robust young man was taken to be chief, as all his commands were punctually obeyed. _Kotzebue's Voy._, vol. i., p. 235. Quarrels 'are settled by boxing, the parties sitting down and striking blows alternately, until one of them gives in.'

_Richardson's Pol. Reg._, p. 326. Every man governs his own family.

_Brownell's Ind. Races_, p. 475. They 'have a strong respect for their territorial rights, and maintain them with firmness.' _Richardson's Jour._, vol. i., p. 351.

[65] They are 'horribly filthy in person and habits.' _Hooper's Tuski_, p. 224. 'A husband will readily traffic with the virtue of a wife for purposes of gain.' _Armstrong's Nar._, p. 195. 'More than once a wife was proffered by her husband.' _Richardson's Jour._, vol. i., p. 356. As against the above testimony, Seemann affirms: 'After the marriage ceremony has been performed infidelity is rare.' _Voy. Herald_, vol.

ii., p. 66. 'These people are in the habit of collecting certain fluids for the purposes of tanning; and that, judging from what took place in the tent, in the most open manner, in the presence of all the family.'

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