The boat is propelled by two large oars. The rowlocks are a very ingenious device. A piece of bone is tied upon the skin in order to protect it from the friction of the oar, which would quickly wear it through (Fig. 481 a). On each side of the bone a thong is fastened to the tuving, forming a loop. Both loops cross each other like two rings of a chain. The oar is drawn through both loops, which are twisted by toggles until they become tight. Then the toggles are secured between the gunwale and the tuving.
The oar (ipun) consists of a long shaft and an oval or round blade fastened to the shaft by thongs. Two grooves and the tapering end serve for handles in pulling. Generally three or four women work at each oar.
For steering, a paddle is used of the same kind as that used in whaling (see [p. 499]). A rudder is rarely found (Fig. 480), and when used most probably is made in imitation of European devices.
If the wind permits, a sail is set; but the bulky vessel can only run with the wind. The mast is set in the stem, a mortise being cut in the forehead of the main timber, with a notch in the wooden piece above it to steady it. A stout thong, which passes through two holes on each side of the notch, secures the mast to the wooden head piece. The sail, which is made of seal intestines carefully sewed together, is squared and fastened by loops to a yard (sadniriaq) which is trimmed with straps of deerskin. It is hoisted by a rope made of sealskin and passing over a sheave in the top of the mast. This rope is tied to the thwart farthest abaft, while the sheets are fastened to the foremost one.
[THE SLEDGE AND DOGS.]
During the greater part of the year the only passable road is that afforded by the ice and snow; therefore sledges (qamuting) of different constructions are used in traveling.
Fig. 482. Qamuting or sledge.
The best model is made by the tribes of Hudson Strait and Davis Strait, for the driftwood which they can obtain in abundance admits the use of long wooden runners. Their sledges (Fig. 482) have two runners, from five to fifteen feet long and from twenty inches to two and a half feet apart. They are connected by cross bars of wood or bone and the back is formed by deer’s antlers with the skull attached. The bottom of the runners (qamun) is curved at the head (uinirn) and cut off at right angles behind. It is shod with whalebone, ivory, or the jawbones of a whale. In long sledges the shoeing (pirqang) is broadest near the head and narrowest behind. This device is very well adapted for sledging in soft snow; for, while the weight of the load is distributed over the entire length of the sledge, the fore part, which is most apt to break through, has a broad face, which presses down the snow and enables the hind part to glide over it without sinking in too deeply.