Chapter XVIII: Introduction (17)

Between the post and the last pair of long ribs at each end are two pairs of short ribs running only from the gunwale to the inside streak. The frame is still further strengthened by an outside streak between the bilge streak and the inside streak, and Nikawáalu’s canoe had an extra streak of “half-round” willow outside of the latter. The thwarts rest on the inside streak and are secured by whalebone lashings. The block or head of the stern-post serves as a high seat for the steersman. Crantz’s[N443] description and diagram show that the frame of the Greenland umiak consists of essentially the same timbers, lacking only the two outside streaks.

[Footnote N443: History of Greenland, vol. 1, p. 148, and pl. vi.]

The cover is made of the skins of the larger marine animals. Walrus hide is often used and sometimes the skin of the polar bear, which makes a beautifully white cover, but the skin of the bearded seal is preferred, the people from Point Barrow sometimes making journeys to Wainwright Inlet in search of such skins, which are dressed with their oil in them in the manner already referred to. We were informed that six of these skins were required to cover one umiak. They are put together in the same way as the skins for the kaiak and sewed with the same seam. The edges of the cover are stretched over the gunwale, and laced to the inside streak with a stout thong, which passes through holes in the edge of the cover. At stem and stern the cover is laced with a separate thong to a stout transverse lashing of thong running from gunwale to gunwale close to the edge of the posthead.

The cover is removed in the winter and stowed away on the cache frame or some other safe place (Mûñialu, when preparing to start for the spring deer hunt in 1883, carefully buried his boat cover in a snowbank) out of reach of the dogs, and the frame is placed bottom upwards on a staging 4 or 5 feet from the ground.

When they are ready to refit the canoe for the spring whaling, a hole is cut in the sea ice close to the shore, and the cover immersed in the sea water for several days to soften it, the hole being covered with slabs of snow to keep it from freezing up. Crantz[N444] mentions a similar custom in Greenland. After removing the hair from the boat-skins “they lay them in salt water for some days to soften them again, and so cover the women’s boats and kajaks with them.” When not in use, the umiak is drawn up on the beach and usually laid bottom upward with the gear, spears, etc., underneath it, but sometimes propped up on one gunwale to make a shelter against the wind. This is a common practice in the camp at Pernyû, where there is usually at least one boat set up edgewise, sheltered by which the men sit to whittle and gossip.

[Footnote N444: Vol. 1, p. 167.]

In the whaling camp at Imêkpûñ in 1883, the boats which were not ready to go out to the open water were laid up bottom up with one end resting on a sled set up on its side and the other supported by a block of snow. They do not appear to be in the habit of using the canoe for a tent, as is said to be the custom among the more southern natives,[N445] as they always carry a tent with them on their journeys. The umiak is propelled by paddles, oars, and a sail, and in smooth weather when the shore is clear of ice by “tracking” along the beach with men and dogs, one person at least always remaining on board to steer with a paddle at the stern.

[Footnote N445: See Kotzebue’s Voyage, etc., vol. 1, p. 216.]

The sail, which they are only able to use with a free wind, is square, narrow, and rather high, and is nowadays always made of drilling. Dark blue drilling appeared to be the most popular sort at the time of our visit. The head of the sail is laced to a light yard, and hoisted to the masthead by a halyard through a hole in the latter. The mast is a stout square pole 10 or 12 feet long and is set up well forward of amidships, without a step, the square butt resting against a bottom board, and held up by two forestays and two backstays, running from the masthead to the inside streak. All the rigging, stays, halyards, towing line, etc., are made of stout thong. The Greenlanders set up the mast in the bow of the umiak--as a sailor would say, “in the very eyes of her,”[N446] but as far as I can learn the Western Eskimo all set it up as at Point Barrow.

[Footnote N446: This is also the custom among the Central Eskimo.
(See Boas “Central Eskimo,” p. 528, Fig. 481.)]

The oars are very clumsily made with very narrow blades not over 3 inches broad. They are about 7 feet long and somewhat enlarged at the loom. Instead of resting in rowlocks, they are secured by two long loops of thong as in the diagram Fig. 344. To keep the oar from chafing the skin on the gunwale, they lash to the latter a long plate of bone. No. 89696 [1197] from Utkiavwĭñ is one of these plates. Two of these oars are commonly used in an umiak, one forward and one aft, and the women row with great vigor, swinging well from the hips, but do not keep stroke. The use of oars is so unusual among savages that it would be natural to suppose that these people had adopted the custom from the whites. If this be the case, the custom reached them long ago, and through very indirect channels.

When Thomas Simpson, in 1837, bought an umiak from some Point Barrow natives at Dease Inlet, he bought with it “four of their slender oars, which they used as tent poles, besides a couple of paddles; fitted the oars with lashings, and arranged our strange vessel so well that the ladies were in raptures, declaring us to be genuine Esquimaux, and not poor white men.”[N447] The custom, moreover, appears to be widespread since Lyon speaks of seeing in 1821, “two very clumsy oars with flat blades, pulled by women,” in the umiaks at Hudson Strait.[N448] It was practiced at a still earlier date in Greenland.[N449]

[Footnote N447: Narrative, p. 148.]

[Footnote N448: Journal, p. 30. Compare also Chappell, “Hudson
Bay,” p. 57.]

[Footnote N449: See Egedo, Greenland, p. 111.]

While at Point Barrow the oars have very narrow blades and the double paddles very broad ones, the reverse seemed to be the case in Greenland, where the double paddle, as already noticed, has blades not over 3 or 4 inches broad. Crantz describes the oars as “short and broad before, pretty much like a shovel, but only longer, and * * confined to their places on the gunnel with a strap of seal’s leather.” (Vol. 2, p. 149 and pl. VI) Although both oars and sails are undoubtedly quite ancient inventions (Frobisher in his description of Meta Incognita in Hakluyt’s Voyages (1589) pp. 621 and 628, speaks of skin boats with sails of entrail),[N450] I am strongly inclined to believe that they are both considerably more recent than the paddles, not only on general principles, but from the fact that the whaling umiaks at Point Barrow use only paddles. There is no practical reason against using either oars or sails, and in fact the latter would often be of great advantage in silently approaching a whale, as the American whalemen have long ago discovered. It seems to me that this is merely another case of adhering to an obsolete custom on semireligious grounds. The paddles are usually about 4 or 5 feet long, made of one piece of driftwood, with slender round shafts, and lanceolate blades about 6 inches broad, and a short rounded cross handle at the upper end. (Fig. 345 shows two of the paddles belonging to the model.) The steersman uses a longer paddle, and stands in the stern or sits up on the head of the sternpost.

[Footnote N450: These passages being, as far as I know, the
earliest description of the umiak and kaiak are worth quotation:
“Their boats are made all of Seale skins, with a keel of wood
within the skinne; the proportion of them is like a Spanish
shallop, saue only they be flat in the bottome, and sharp at both
endes” (p. 621, 1576). Again: “They haue two sorts of boats made
of leather, set out on the inner side with quarters of wood,
artificially tyed with thongs of the same; the greater sort are
not much unlike our wherries, wherein sixteene or twenty men may
sitte; they have for a sayle, drest the guttes of such beasts as
they kill, very fine and thinne, which they sewe together; the
other boate is but for one man to sitte and rowe in, with one
oare” (p. 628, 1577).]

Fig. 345_a_ represents the model (No. 56563 [225] from Utkiavwĭñ), which gives a very good idea of the shape of one of these boats. It is quite correct in all its parts, though the timbers are rather too heavy, and there are not so many ribs and floor timbers as in a full-sized canoe. The breadth of beam, 6.2 inches, is at least 1 inch too great in proportion to the length, 25 inches. The cover is one piece of seal skin which has been partially tanned by the “white-tanning” process, and put on wet. In drying it has turned almost exactly the color of a genuine boat cover. The frame, as is often the case with a full-sized boat, is painted all over with red ocher. (See Fig. 345_b_, inside plan.)

For bailing these boats a long narrow dipper of ivory or bone is used, of such a shape as to be especially well suited for working in between the floor timbers. Fig. 346 represents one of these (No. 56536 [40] from Utkiavwĭñ). It is a piece of walrus tusk 16.3 inches long. The cavity is 1.1 inches deep and was excavated by drilling vertical holes and cutting away the substance between them. Some of the holes have not been completely worked out. A similar bailer (No. 89835 [1010] also from Utkiavwĭñ) is made of reindeer antler, a substance much more easily worked than the ivory, as the soft interior tissue exposed by cutting the upper side flat is readily carved out. As with the walrus tusk, the natural curve of the material gives the proper inclination to the handle. It is 18.3 inches long.

When the umiak is fitted out for whaling a stout #U#-shaped crotch of ivory or bone, about 7 inches long and 5 wide, is lashed between the gunwales where they meet at the bow. In this the heavy harpoon rests when they are approaching a whale. It is only used when whaling. The Museum collection contains specimens of this sort from as far south as the Diomede Islands.

We brought home five specimens of these kû´nnɐ, of which No. 56510 [117] Fig. 347 has been selected as the type. This is made of two bilaterally symmetrical pieces of white walrus ivory, each piece consisting of one arm of the crotch and half the shank. Its total length is 7.8 inches. The two pieces are held together by a stout wooden tree-nail, and above this a lashing of sinew-braid, lodged in two deep vertical channels one on each side of the shank just below the arms, and wedged above and below on both sides with slips of wood. A hole is drilled through each side of the butt close to the end, and through these a lashing is stretched across the reentering angle of the butt consisting of four turns of sinew braid with the end closely wrapped round the parts between the holes, and neatly tucked in.

Just at the bend of each arm is a small round becket hole, running obliquely from the back to the outer side. In each of these is a neat becket, about ¾ inches long, made of several turns of sinew braid, with the end neatly wrapped around them. These beckets serve to receive the lashings for attaching the crotch to the gunwales. All the ornamental figures are incised and blackened.

Three of the remaining four specimens are of walrus-ivory, and of essentially the same pattern, differing only in ornamentation and other minor details. No. 56511 [116], from Utkiavwĭñ, is almost exactly like the type and of very nearly the same size. It is fastened together with a lashing only, but no treenail, and the beckets have been removed from the becket holes. The border is colored with red ocher, and there are two whales’ tails instead of one on the shank. The other two have the tips of the arms carved into the shape of whales’ heads. No. 89418 [1224], Fig. 348, from Utkiavwĭñ, is otherwise of the same shape as those already described, but is lashed together with stout seal thong, and has four beckets of the same material, two in the usual position and two at the widest part of the shank. These take the place of the loop running across the butt. On the middle of the back of each arm is a small cross incised and blackened with a small blue glass bead inlaid in the center, and there are two whale’s tails on the opposite face of the shank. It is 8 inches long.

No. 89419 [926], from Nuwŭk, has a nearly straight shank with a flange on each side at the butt. It is lashed together with whalebone and has also a treenail, like the type. The upper beckets are of sinew-braid. A large becket at the butt is made by looping and knotting the ends of a bit of thong into a hole in each flange. There is one whale’s tail engraved on the front of the shank. When lashed in position the front or ornamental side faces inboard, as is indicated by the shape of the shank, which is slightly narrower behind than in front, so as to fit between the converging gunwales. No. 8917 [1104], Fig. 349, from Nuwuk, the only one of the kind seen, is a very interesting form. It is made by cutting a horizontal slice out of the lower jaw of a walrus, so that it form the arms of the crotch, while the thick symphysis is cut into a shank of the usual shape, with the two upper beckets in the usual place and a large one at the butt, passing through a transverse hole. These beckets are roughly made of thong. Its total length is 6.6 inches.

This specimen from its soiled condition is undoubtedly quite ancient, and probably of an older type than the highly ornamented ivory crotches of the present day. The latter are evidently only copies of the jawbone crotch in a material susceptible of a higher finish than the coarse bone. The only reason for making them in two pieces is that it is impossible to get a single piece of walrus ivory large enough for a whole one. It seems to me highly probable that the crotch was suggested by the natural shape of the walrus jaw, since these are frequently used for crotches to receive the cross pieces of the cache frames. Perhaps, for a while, the whole jaw was simply lashed to the bow of the boat. The next step would obviously be to cut out the shank and reduce the weight of the crotch by trimming off the superfluous material. The reason for making the crotch of ivory is perhaps purely esthetic; but more likely connected with the notions already referred to which lead them to clean up their boats and gear and adorn themselves and paint their faces when they go to the whale fishery.

Although, as I have already stated, there appears to be no essential difference in the general plan of the frame of the Greenland umiaks and those used at Point Barrow, there seems to be considerable difference in the size and outward appearance. As well as can be judged from the brief descriptions and rude figures of various authors[N451] and various models in the National Museum (the correctness of which, however, I can not be sure of, without having seen the originals) the umiak not only in Greenland, but among the Eskimo generally as far west as the Mackenzie, is a much more wall sided square ended boat than at Point Barrow, having less sheer to the gunwales with the stem and stern-post nearly vertical.[N452] Mr. L. M. Turner informs me that this is the case at Ungava Bay. It was also a larger boat. Egede says that they “are large and open * * * some of them 20 yards long;”[N453] Crantz gives their length as “commonly 6, nay 8 or 9 fathoms long;”[N454] Kumlien says that it required “about fifteen skins of Phoca barbata” to cover an umiak at Cumberland Gulf,[N455] and Mr. Turner informs me that eight are used at Ungava. Capt. Parry found no umiaks at Fury and Hecla straits[N456] and Kumlien says that they are becoming rare at Cumberland Gulf. The so-called Arctic Highlanders of Smith Sound have no boats of any kind. The model used at Point Barrow probably prevails as far south as Kotzebue Sound. The boats that boarded us off Wainwright Inlet in the autumn of 1883, and those of the Nunatañmiun who visited Point Barrow, seemed not to differ from those with which we were familiar, except that the latter were rather light and low sided, nor do I remember anything peculiar about the boats which we saw at Plover Bay in 1881.

[Footnote N451: Compare for instance Kane’s figure 1st Grinnell
Exp. p. 422, and Lyon, Journal, p. 30.]

[Footnote N452: See Beechey Voyage, p. 252. In describing the
umiaks at Hotham Inlet he says: “The model differs from that of
the umiak of the Hudson Bay in being sharp at both ends.” Smyth
gives a good figure of the Hotham Inlet craft in the plate
opposite p. 250.]

[Footnote N453: Greenland, p. 111.]

[Footnote N454: Vol. 1, p. 148.]

[Footnote N455: Contributions, p. 43. Boas, however, says three to
five skins. (Central Eskimo, p. 528.)]

[Footnote N456: 2d Voy., p. 507.]

There is very little accessible detailed information regarding the umiaks used in the rest of Alaska. From Dall’s figure[N457] and a few models in the Museum, the Norton Sound umiak appears to have the gunwales united at both stem and stern. Those that we saw at St. Michael’s in 1883, were so much modified by Russian ideas as to be wholly out of the line of comparison. The same is true of the Aleutian “baidara,” if, indeed, the latter be an umiak at all.

[Footnote N457: Alaska, p. 15.]

TRAVELING ON FOOT.

_Snowshoes (tûglu.)_--Snowshoes of a very efficient pattern and very well made are now universally employed at Point Barrow. Although the snow never lies very deep on the ground, and is apt to pile up in hard drifts, it is sufficiently deep and soft in many places, especially on the grassy parts of the tundra, to make walking without snowshoes very inconvenient and fatiguing. I have even seen them used on the sea ice for crossing level spaces when a few inches of snow had fallen. Practically, every man in the two villages, and many of the women and boys, have each their own pair of snowshoes, fitted to their size. Each shoe consists of a rim of light wood, bent into the shape of a pointed oval, about five times as long as the greatest breadth, and much bent up at the rounded end, which is the toe. The sides are braced apart by two stout cross-bars (_toe_ and _heel bar_) a little farther apart than the length of the wearer’s foot. The space between these two bars is netted in large meshes (_foot netting_) with stout thong for the foot to rest upon, and the spaces at the ends are closely netted with fine deerskin “babiche”[N458] (_toe_ and _heel netting_). The straps for the foot are fastened to the foot netting in such a way that while the strap is firmly fastened round the ankle the snowshoe is slung to the toe. The wearer walks with long swinging strides, lifting the toe of the shoe at each step, while the tail or heel drags in the snow. The straps are so contrived that the foot can be slipped in and out of them without touching them with the fingers, a great advantage in cold weather. When deer hunting, according to Lieut. Ray, they take a long piece of thong and knot each end of it to the toe of one snowshoe. The bight is then looped into the belt behind so that the snowshoes drag out of the way of the heels. When they wish to put on the shoes they draw them up, insert their feet in the straps, and fasten the slack of the lines into the belt in front with a slip knot. When, however, they come to a piece of ground where snowshoes are not needed, they kick them off, slip the knots, and let them “drop astern.”

[Footnote N458: Twisted sinew is sometimes used. A pair of
snowshoes from Point Barrow, owned by the writer, are netted with
this material.]

We brought home three pairs of snowshoes, which represent very well the form in general use. No. 89912 [1736], Fig. 350, has been selected as the type. The rim is of willow, 51 inches long and 10½ inches wide at the broadest part, and is made of two strips about 1 inch thick and ¾ wide, joined at the toe by a long lap-splice, held together by four short horizontal or slightly oblique stitches of thong. Each strip is elliptical in section, with the long axis vertical, and keeled on the inner face, except between the bars. Each is tapered off considerably from the toe bar to the toe, and slightly tapered toward the heel. The two points are fastened together by a short horizontal stitch of whalebone. The tip is produced into a slight “tail,” and the inner side of each shoe is slightly straighter than the outer--that is to say, they are “rights and lefts.”

The bars are elliptical in section, flattened, and have their ends mortised into the rim. They are about a foot apart, and of oak, the toe bar 9.2 inches long and the heel bar 8.5. Both are of the same breadth and thickness, 1 by ½ inch. There is also an extra bar for strengthening the back part of the shoe 10 inches from the point. It is also of oak, 4.8 inches long, 0.5 wide, and 0.3 thick. The toe and heel nettings are put on first. Small equidistant vertical holes run round the inside of each space. Those in the rim are drilled through the keel already mentioned, and joined by a shallow groove above and below; those in the bars are about ½ inch from the edge and joined by a groove on the under side of the toe bar only. Into these holes is laced a piece of babiche, which is knotted once into each hole, making a series of beckets about ¾ inch wide round the inside of the space. There are no lacing holes in the parts spliced at the toe, but the lacing passes through a bight of each stitch. At the toe bar the lacing is carried straight across from rim to rim about three times, the last part being wound round the others.

On the left shoe the end is brought back on the left-hand side, passed through the first hole in the bar from above, carried along in the groove on the underside to the next hole, up through this and round the lacing, and back through the same hole, the two parts being twisted together between the bar and lacing. This is continued, “stopping” the lacing in festoons to the bar, to the last hole on the right, where it is finished off by knotting the end round the last “stop.” The stops are made, apparently, by a separate piece on the right shoe. The lacing on the heel bar is also double or triple, but the last part, which is wound round the others, is knotted into each hole as on the rim. The lacings on the rim of the heel space are knotted with a single knot round each end of the extra bar.

In describing the nettings it will always be understood that the upper surface of the shoe is toward the workman, with the point upward, if describing the heel nettings, and vice versa for the toe. To begin with the heel netting, which is the simpler: This is in two parts, one from the heel bar to the extra bar (heel netting proper) and one from the latter to the point (point netting). The netting is invariably fastened to the lacing by passing the end through the becket from above and bringing it back over itself. In making the point netting the end of the babiche is knotted round the bar at the right-hand lower corner with a single knot. The other end goes up to the lacing at the point and comes down to the left-hand lower corner, where it is hitched round the bar, as in Fig. 351, then goes up to the lowest becket on the left side, crosses to the corresponding one on the right, and comes down and is hitched as before round the bar inside of the starting point. This makes a series of strands round the outside of the space, two running obliquely from right to left, a long one on the right side and a short one on the left side; two similar strands from left to right, the long one on the left and the short one on the right, and one transverse strand at the base of the triangle (see diagram, Fig. 352_a_). The next round goes up to the first becket at the top on the left hand, crosses to the corresponding one on the right, and then makes the same strands as the first round, running parallel to them and about half an inch nearer the center of the space (see diagram, Fig. 352_b_). Each successive round follows the last, coming each time about ½ inch nearer the center, till the space is all filled in, which brings the end of the last round to the middle of the bar, round which it is knotted with a single knot. This makes three sets of strands, two obliquely longitudinal, one set from right to left and one from left to right, and one transverse, all of each set parallel and equidistant, or nearly so, and each interwoven alternately over and under each successive strand it meets.

The right shoe has fourteen longitudinal strands in each set and thirteen transverse; the left, one less in each set. On the left shoe the end is carried up from the last knot to the lacing at the point, and then comes back to the bar, fastening the other part to the netting with six equidistant half-hitches. The heel netting proper is put on in a slightly different fashion, as the space to be filled is no longer triangular. It starts as before in the right hand lower corner, where it is knotted into the becket, running across from the rim to the heel-bar; goes up to the middle of the extra bar, round which it is hitched as already described, then down to the left hand lower corner; up to the first becket on the left rim, across to the corresponding one on the right, and down to the first becket on the heel bar. This completes the first round (see diagram, Fig. 353_a_). The second round goes up to the hind bar at the left of the first, comes down only to the transverse strand of the first round on the left, goes up to the becket on the rim above the first, crosses to the right, and comes back to the transverse turn of the first rounds. All these strands except the transverse one are on the left of the first round. The third round follows the first, which brings all its strands except the transverse one to the right of the first round (see diagram, Fig. 353_b_). The successive odd rounds follow the first and the even rounds the second, bringing the longitudinal strands alternately to the right and left of the first round, until the ends of the hind bar are reached--that is to say, till the space _outside_ of the first round is filled--each transverse strand coming above the preceding. This is done regularly on the left shoe, the tenth round coming to the left end of the bar, and the eleventh to the right. The twelfth round comes to the becket in the left hand upper corner, and crosses to the corresponding becket on the other side. It then follows the odd rounds, thus making six strands, four longitudinal and two transverse, as in the point nettings. All the remaining rounds follow this till the whole space is filled in, which brings the end of the last round to the middle of the heel bar, where it is knotted to the becket.

On the right shoe the maker seems to have made a mistake at the eighth round, which obliged him to alter the order of the other strands and finish with half a round. Instead of taking the end of the eighth round down to the preceding transverse strand only, he has brought it down to the heel bar, which brings the ninth round to the left, following the even rounds, and coming to the end of the hind bar, the tenth to the right end of the bar, so that it is the eleventh which makes the first transverse turn at the top. The pattern is the same as in the point nettings. The right shoe has 25, 24, and 19 strands in the three sets respectively, and the left, 25, 25, and 19. The toe nettings are put on in the same way, the first round going to the middle becket at the toe, and crossing to the first becket on the right hand, the second going to the first becket on the left hand and crossing on the right to the first round, and the third going to the first round at the toe and crossing on the right to the becket.

All the even rounds go to the becket at the toe and cross to the preceding even round, and all the odd rounds go to the preceding odd round at the toe and cross to the becket, until the space outside of the first round is filled with longitudinal strands, when they begin to make descending transverse turns across the toe, going from the becket on the left to the corresponding one on the right and thus following the odd rounds. The fourteenth round on the right shoe begins this, the twelfth on the left. This brings the end of the last round to the middle of the toe bar. It is then carried up to the becket at the toe, brought down and up again, and the end is used to fasten these three parts to the netting with equidistant half hitches--fourteen on the right shoe and thirteen on the left. The pattern, of course, is the same as before, with 33, 33, and 26 strands on the right shoe, and 31, 31, and 25 on the left, in each set respectively.

The foot-netting is of a very different pattern, and consists of seven transverse and thirteen longitudinal strands, of which six, in the middle, do not reach the toe bar, leaving an oblong transverse hole, through which the toe presses against the snow at the beginning of the step. The cross strands are a piece of stout thong (the skin of the walrus or bearded seal), to the end of which is spliced with double slits a long piece of thinner seal thong, which makes the longitudinal ones. The seven transverse strands pass in and out through holes in the rim, while the longitudinal strands pass over the bars, except the middle three pairs, which pass round the horizontal strand behind the toe hole, drawing it down to the next strand. The end of the thirteenth strand wattles these two firmly together, as it does also the two pairs of longitudinal strands on each side of the toe hole, and finishes off the netting by whipping the two sets of strands together with a “birdcage stitch.”

The object of the complicated wattling round the toe hole is, first, to strengthen the hind border against which the toe presses in walking, and second to give a firm attachment for the straps, which are fastened at the junction of the doubled and twisted longitudinal strands with the first and second transverse ones. Each strap is a single piece of stout seal thong fastened to the shoe with two loops as follows: At the inner side of the shoe the end is passed into the toe hole and makes a round turn about the doubled longitudinal strands, and then goes under the two cross strands, coming out behind them and between the twelfth and thirteenth longitudinal strands. It is then spliced into the standing part with two slits, making a becket about 3 inches in diameter. The other end, leaving a loop large enough to go round the wearer’s heel, is passed through the becket just made, wound in the same way as before round the strands at the other corner of the toe hole, and made into a similar becket by knotting the end to the standing part with a marlinghitch with the bight left in. On the right shoe this hitch is made in a slit in the standing part. The end is probably left long for the purpose of adjusting the length of the strap to the wearer’s foot.

In putting on the shoe, the toe is thrust sideways through the loop till the bight comes well up over the heel, and then turned round and stuck under the two beckets, which together form a strap to fasten the toe down to the shoe, leaving the latter free to swing when the heel is raised. By reversing the process the shoe is easily kicked off. These straps must be fitted very nicely or else the shoe is apt to come off. This is a very neatly made pair of shoes, and the woodwork is all painted red above.

No. 89913 [1737] is a pair of similar shoes also from Utkiavwĭñ. The frame is made in the same way and is wholly of willow except the extra hind bar, which is of walrus ivory. These shoes are shorter and somewhat broader than the preceding and not so well made. They are 48.5 inches long and 11 broad. The two shoes are not perceptibly different in shape. The lacing, which is of sinew braid, is put on in the same way as on the preceding pair, except that it is fastened directly into the holes on the toe bars. The whole of the heel netting is in one piece, and made precisely in the same way as the point nettings of the first pair, the end being carried up the middle to the point of the heel and brought down again to the bar as on the toe nettings, but fastened with marling hitches. The number of strands is the same in each shoe, twenty-three in each set. The toe nettings follow quite regularly the pattern of the preceding pair.

The shoes are not quite the same size, as the right has 35, 35, and 28 strands, and the left 33, 33, and 25, in each set respectively. There is no regular rule about the number of strands in any part of the netting, the object being simply to make the meshes always about the same size. The foot netting is made of stout and very white thong from the bearded seal. These shoes have no strings.

No. 89914 [1738] is a pair of rather small shoes from Utkiavwĭñ, one of which is shown in Fig. 354. They are rights and lefts, and are 42 inches long by 10 broad. The frame is wholly of oak, and differs from the type only in having no extra hind bar, and having the heel and toe bars about equal in length. The points are fastened together with a treenail, as well as with a whalebone stitch. The heel-nettings are put on with perfect regularity, as on the pair last described, but the toe-nettings, though they start in the usual way, do not follow any regular rule of sucession, the rounds being put on sometimes inside and sometimes outside of the preceding, till the whole space is filled. The foot-nettings are somewhat clumsily made, especially on the right shoe, which appears to have been broken in several places, and “cobbled” by an unskillful workman. There are only five transverse strands which are double on the left shoe, and the longitudinal strands are not whipped to these, but interwoven, and each pair twisted together between the transverse strands. There is no wattling back of the toe hole, and one pair of longitudinal strands at the side of the latter is not doubled on the left shoe. The strings are put on as on the type except that the ends are knotted instead of being spliced. This pair of shoes was used by the writer on many short excursions around the station during the winters of 1881-’82 and 1882-’83. They were old when purchased.

I had but one opportunity of seeing the process of making the frames of the snowshoes. Ilûbw’ga, the “inland” native frequently mentioned, a particularly skillful workman, undertook to make a pair of snowshoes for Lieut. Ray at our quarters, but did not succeed in finishing them, as the ash lumber which we brought from San Francisco proved too brittle for the purpose. Having a long piece of wood, he “got out” the whole rim in one piece. Ordinarily the splice at the toe must be made, at least temporarily, before the frame can be bent into shape. He softened up the wood by wrapping it in rags wet with hot water. Some of the other natives, however, recommended that the wood should be immersed in the salt water for a day or two, from which I infer that this is a common practice. After slowly bending the toe, with great care, nearly into shape, he inserted into the bend a flat block of wood of the proper shape for the toe and lashed the frame to this. A pointed block was also used to give the proper shape to the heel; the bars being inserted in the mortises before the ends were brought together. The temporary lashings are kept on till the wood dries into shape. The toes are turned up by tying the shoes together, sole to sole, and inserting a transverse stick between the tips of the toes.

The use of finely finished snowshoes of this pattern is of comparatively recent date at Point Barrow. Dr. Simpson[N459] is explicit concerning the use of snowshoes in his time (1853-’55). He says: “Snowshoes are so seldom used in the north where the drifted snow presents a hard frozen surface to walk upon, that certainly not half a dozen pairs were in existence at Point Barrow at the time of our arrival, and those were of an inferior sort.” I have already mentioned the universal employment of these snowshoes at the present day, so that the custom must have arisen in the last thirty years. The pattern of shoe now used is identical with those of the Tinné or Athabascan Indians (as is plainly shown by the National Museum collections), and I am inclined to believe that the Point Barrow natives have learned to use them from the “Nunatañmiun,” from whom, indeed, they purchase ready-made snowshoes at the present day, as we ourselves observed. The “Nunatañmiun,” or the closely related people of the Kuwûk River, are known to have intimate trading relations with the Indians, and even in Simpson’s time[N460] used the Indian shoe, sometimes at least. The fact that in recent times families of the “Nunatañmiun” have established the habit of spending the winter with the people of Point Barrow and associating with them in the winter deer-hunt, would explain how the latter came to recognize the superior excellence of the Indian shoe.

[Footnote N459: Op. cit., p. 243.]

[Footnote N460: Op. cit., p. 244.]

This is more likely than that they learned to use them from the eastern natives, whom they only meet for a short time in summer, though the latter used the Indian style of snowshoes at least as early as 1826. Franklin[N461] speaks of seeing, at Demarcation Point, a pair of snowshoes netted with cords of deerskin and shaped like those of the Indians of the Mackenzie.

[Footnote N461: 2d Exped., p. 142.]

Most of the other Eskimo of Alaska, who need to use snowshoes at all, use a style of shoe very much less efficient and more roughly made, the rim being of heavy, rather crooked pieces of willow or alder. Simpson’s description will apply very well to this form, which is used even as far north as Icy Cape, whence Mr. Nelson brought home a pair. It also appears to be the prevailing, if not the only, form on the Siberian coast and St. Lawrence Island, judging from Nordinskiöld’s figure[N462] and Mr. Nelson’s collections.

[Footnote N462: Vega, vol. 2, p. 102 _a_.]

Simpson says:[N463] “The most common one is two pieces of alder, about two feet and a half long, curved towards each other at the ends, where they are bound together, and kept apart in the middle by two crosspieces, each end of which is held in a mortise. Between the crosspieces is stretched a stout thong, lengthwise and across, for the foot to rest upon, with another which first forms a loop to allow the toes to pass beneath; this is carried round the back of the ankle to the opposite side of the foot, so as to sling the snowshoe under the joint of the great toe.”

[Footnote N463: Op. cit., p. 243.]

When there are toe and heel nettings, they are of seal thong with a large open mesh. The snowshoe from Norton Sound, figured by Dall,[N464] is a rather neatly made variety of this form. South of the Yukon, the use of the snowshoe appears to be confined to the Indians. As shown by the Museum collections, the strings are always of the pattern described throughout the whole northwestern region.[N465]

[Footnote N464: Alaska, p. 190, Fig. A.]

[Footnote N465: See, also, Dall, Alaska, p. 190, and Figs. A and
C.]

Snowshoes appear to be rarely used among the eastern Eskimo. The only writer who mentions them is Kumlien.[N466] He says: “When traveling over the frozen wastes in winter, they [i.e., the natives of Cumberland Gulf] use snowshoes. These are half-moon shaped, of whalebone, with sealskin thongs tightly drawn across. They are about 16 inches long. Another pattern is merely a frame of wood, about the same length and 8 or 10 inches wide, with sealskin thongs for the foot to rest on.”

[Footnote N466: Contributions, p. 42.]

The latter is apparently quite like the western snowshoes described by Simpson.

_Staff._--The only staff used by the young and vigorous is the shaft of the spear, when one is carried. The aged and feeble, however, support their steps with one or two staffs about 5 feet long, often shod with bone or ivory. (The old man whom Franklin met on the Coppermine River walked with the help of two sticks.[N467]) Fig. 355 from a photograph represents old Yûksĭña from Nuwŭk, with his two staffs, without which he was hardly able to walk.

[Footnote N467: 1st Exp., vol. 2, p. 180.]

LAND CONVEYANCES.

_Sledges._--The only land conveyance employed at Point Barrow is the universal sledge of the Eskimo, of which there are two forms in general use, one, kă´motĭ, with a high rail on each side, and especially intended for carrying loads of the smaller articles, clothing, camp equipage, etc., and the other (unia) low and flat, without rail or “upstander,” for carrying bulky objects, like whole carcasses of deer, frozen seals, rough dried deerskins, etc., and especially used for carrying the umiak across the land or solid ice. Both kinds are made without nails, but are fastened together by mortises and lashings and stitches of thong and whalebone. I have, however, seen one unia, which was made in 1883, fastened together with nails, a rather inferior substitute for the lashings, as they not only would not hold so firmly, but would also be liable to break in cold weather.

Both kinds of sledge are made of driftwood and shod with strips of whale’s jaw, about three-fourths of an inch thick, fastened on with bone treenails. These bone runners, which are about 2 inches wide, run sufficiently well over ice, hard snow, the frozen gravel of the beach or even on the bare tundra, but for carrying a heavy load over the softer snow of the interior they are shod with ice in a manner peculiar to this region.

It is well known that not only the Eskimo generally, but other hyperborean people coat the runners of their sleds with ice to make them run more smoothly, but this is usually only a comparatively thin crust, produced by pouring water on the runners or applying a mixture of snow or mud and water.[N468] Mr. Turner informs me that at Ungava they are particular to use fine black vegetable mold for this purpose.

[Footnote N468: For example, Lyon says that at Fury and Hecla
Straits the runners are coated with ice by mixing snow and fresh
water (Journal, p. 235); (See also Parry, 2d Voyage, p. 515). At
Cumberland Gulf “they pour warmed blood on the under surface of
the bone shoeing; some use water, but this does not last nearly so
long as the blood and is more apt to chip off.” Kumlien,
Contributions, p. 42; (See also Hall, Arctic Researches, p. 582).
Around Repulse Bay they ice the runners by squirting over them
water which has been warmed in the mouth, putting on successive
layers till they get a smooth surface. This is renewed the first
thing every morning. Gilder, Schwatka’s Search, p. 66. A native of
the eastern shore of Labrador, according to Sir John Richardson
(Searching Expedition, vol. 2, p. 82), applied to the runners coat
after coat of earth or clay tempered with hot water, and then
washed the runners with water, polishing the ice with his naked
hand. MacFarlane in his MS. notes speaks of covering the sled
runners with “earth, water, and ice” in the Mackenzie region.
Petitot (Monographie, etc., p. XVII) says the runners in the
Mackenzie and Anderson district are shod with “un bourrelet de
limon et de glace,” which has to be often renewed. Nordenskiöld
says that at Pitlekaj “the runners, before the start, are
carefully covered with a layer of ice from two to three
millimeters in thickness by repeatedly pouring water over them,”
(Vega, vol. 2, p. 94), and according to Wrangell (Narrative, etc.,
p. 101, footnote) it is the common custom in northern Siberia to
pour water over the runners every evening to produce a thin crust
of ice.]

The method at Point Barrow is quite different from this. To each runner is fitted a heavy shoe of clear ice, as long as the runner, and fully 1 foot high by 6 inches thick. The sledge with these ice runners is estimated to weigh, even when unloaded, upwards of 200 or 300 pounds, but it appears that the smoothness of running more than counterbalances the extra weight. At any rate these shoes are almost universally employed on the sleds which make the long journey from the rivers in the spring with heavy loads of meat, fish, and skins. One native, in 1883, shod his sledges with salt-water ice in this way before starting for the hunting grounds. As these ice shoes are usually put on at the rivers, I had no opportunity of seeing the process, though I have seen the sledges thus shod after their return to the village. Lieut. Ray, who saw the process, describes it as follows:

“From the ice on a pond that is free from fracture they cut the
pieces the length of a sled runner, 8 inches thick and 10 inches
wide; into these they cut a groove deep enough to receive the sled
runner up to the beam; the sled is carefully fitted into the groove,
and secured by pouring in water, a little at a time and allowing it
to freeze. Great care is taken in this part of the operation, for
should the workman apply more than a few drops at a time, the slab
of ice would be split and the work all to do over again; after the
ice is firmly secured the sled is turned bottom up and the ice-shoe
is carefully rounded with a knife, and then smoothed by wetting the
naked hand and passing it over the surface until it becomes
perfectly glazed.”[N469]

[Footnote N469: Rep. Point Barrow Exp., p. 27.]

In traveling they take great care of these runners, keeping them smooth and polished, and mending all cracks by pouring in fresh water. They are also careful to shade them from the noonday sun, which at this season of the year is warm enough to loosen the shoes, for this purpose hanging a cloth or skin over the sunny side of the sled.[N470]

[Footnote N470: Schwatka, in “Nimrod in the North,” (p. 159)
describes a practice among the “Netschillik,” of King William’s
Land, which appears very much like this, though his description is
somewhat obscure in details. It is as follows: “We found the
runners shod with pure ice. Trenches the length of the sledge are
dug in the ice, and into these the runners are lowered some two or
three inches, yet not touching the bottom of the trench by fully
the same distance. Water is then poured in and allowed to freeze,
and when the sledge is lifted out it is shod with shoes of
perfectly pure and transparent ice.” Strangely enough, these
curious ice shoes are not mentioned by Schwatka’s companions,
Gilder and Klutschak, nor by Schwatka himself in his paper on the
“Netschillik” in _Science_, although Klutschak describes and
figures a sledge made wholly of ice among the Netsillingmiut.
(“Als Eskimo, etc.” p. 76). Also referred to by Boas (“Central
Eskimo,” p. 533).]

We were unfortunately not able to bring home specimens of either style of large sled. The rail sled (kămotĭ) is usually about 8 or 9 feet long, and 2½ to 3 feet wide, and the rail at the back not over 2½ feet high. The thick curved runners, about 5 or 6 inches wide (see diagram, Fig. 356, made from a small photograph) meet the curved slender rails (which are usually round) in front, but are separated from them behind by four stout vertical posts on each side, increasing in length toward the other end and mortised into the runners and rails. An equal number of stout wooden arches half the height of the posts are mortised into the runners, each arch a little in front of each pair of posts. A longitudinal strip runs along the middle of each side, and slats are laid across these, supported by the arches. The sledge is rather heavy and clumsy, but usually carefully made and often painted with red ocher.

Of the unia or flat sledge we have, fortunately a good photograph, Fig. 357. To the thick straight wooden runners are fastened directly seven cross slats, which project about 2 inches at each end beyond the runner, to which they are fastened by two stitches of whalebone each. A longitudinal strip runs along above the slats on each side. These sledges are generally made on the same pattern, varying somewhat in size. A common size is about 6 feet long, about 2½ feet wide, and 9 or 10 inches high. Very small sledges of this pattern are sometimes made, especially for the purpose, as we were told, of carrying provisions, perhaps when one or two persons desire to make a rapid journey of some length, or for carrying a small share of meat from camp to camp.[N471]

[Footnote N471: The word used was “kau-kau.” Perhaps it referred
to a seal for food, as the sledge appears very like one described
by Hooper (Corwin Report, p. 105) as used on the “Arctic Coast.”
“When sealing on solid ice a small sled is sometimes used, the
runners of which are made of walrus tusks. It is perhaps 16 inches
long by 14 inches wide and 3 inches high. It is used in dragging
the carcass of the seal over the ice.”