The collection contains one full-sized kaiak, with all its fittings, and their models, including a toy kaiak cut from a walrus tusk. The model is just 9 inches long and quite perfect in form. The double-bladed paddle accompanying is made from the same material, and is six inches long.
[ ON LAND.]
The universal means of transportation on land is the sled, drawn by dogs. The number of dogs used to draw a sled varies according to the distance to be traveled, the character of the country, the condition of the animals, and the weight of the load to be drawn. From one to twenty dogs may be used. The common team for general purposes is seven or nine animals.
The method of constructing sleds differs slightly in different parts of the region, and then only where the material may be difficult to obtain or a heavy sled may not be needed. A tree of a suitable size is selected, generally larch, because of its greater strength, although somewhat heavier than the spruce.
It is necessary, for greater strength, that each runner be of a single piece of timber. The length of the runner is from 12 to 16 feet; the height varies from 10 to 12 inches. The piece must be as nearly free from knots and crossgrain as possible, for these defects render the wood very brittle during cold weather. The runners are roughly hewn at the place where originally cut, and, when needed, they are brought to the temporary camping place of the Eskimo, and there dressed with plane and saw to the required form. The bottom of the runner is usually 2½ to 3 inches thick, gradually becoming thinner by one-half an inch to an inch toward the top. This enables the sled to make a wider track at the bottom and encounter less friction of the runner sides against the snow crust. The curve at the forward end is long and very gradual. There may be as much as 3 feet of the curved part, which rises above the level of the lower edge of the runner. This enables the sled to creep easily over any obstruction. The runners are now placed parallel, separated by a distance of 14 to 16 inches, and on these are fastened crossbars 3 inches wide, of sufficient length to allow about an inch to project over the outer edge of each runner. Near the ends of these slats is cut a notch on each edge. Sometimes a hole is also bored through the slat between the notches. These are for the purpose of fastening the slats to the runners. A sufficient number having been prepared, and placed 1 or 2 inches apart, they are now laid on the flat top of the runner. Holes are bored through the top of the runner to correspond with the holes and notches of the slats. Through these and over the slats a stout piece of heavy sealskin line is threaded, and so on through and over the slats and runner until it is firmly fastened. The line must be well soaked in water to render it flexible and allow it to stretch, otherwise the joints where it was tied would soon work loose. The line shrinks while drying, and draws as tight as though made of the best iron. No metal is used, for the reason that it would snap as easily as chalk during cold weather. The use of the thongs in binding the slats to the runners allows freedom to the motion of the sled when passing over inequalities of surface, where a rigidity of the sled would soon cause it to break. The bottom of the runner is shod with iron brought by the traders for that purpose. It is simply extra-wide hoop-iron and of a width to fit. It is fastened on with screws, the heads of which are countersunk.
Another kind of shoe is put on when traveling in very cold weather. A swampy track is searched for soil of half-decomposed vegetation and pure humus, as nearly free from sand and gravel as possible. It must possess certain qualities or it may not have the requisite strength—much, I presume, as mortar often requires to be tempered with more or less lime or sand when it is too rich or too poor. The Eskimo tempers his mortar with the almost impalpable soil found under the larger spreading trees of the forest. It is the slowly decomposed vegetation fallen from branches and trunks. The manner of preparing it is as follows: A large kettle is partially filled with the material and heated to the boiling point, being constantly stirred, and while yet cool enough all coarse sticks, grass blades, pebbles, etc., are carefully removed as the fingers discover them in working the mortar. The sled is turned over with the bottom of the runner up. The mud is now applied by the hands, a couple of pounds being taken and pressed on the runner, which has previously been wetted. This process of adding to the runner is continued until it attains an additional depth of 3 or 4 inches and a width of 3 to 5 inches. It now resembles the rail of a stairway. When it has been thoroughly gone over to fill up any inequalities the sled is set aside in order that the mud may freeze solid. The sled must be handled with care, as the least jar or jolt will break the “setting” mud. After it is frozen the owner takes a plane and planes it down to the proper shape and smoothness. It is somewhat difficult to describe the shape in words, unless it be compared to the upper part of the T rail of a railroad inverted—neither rounded nor flat, but so fashioned as to give the best bearing surface with the least friction. When the plane has finished its work the color of the mud is a rich chestnut brown. The builder now takes water in his mouth and spirts it in a spray along the mud. As soon as the water touches the runner it must be spread evenly with a hand incased in a mitten of reindeer skin, rubbing back and forth until the runner looks like a bar of black glass. The sled is then ready for use. Great care is necessary to avoid rocks or stones, as these cut the polished mud and roughen it. If a sudden lurch causes a portion of the mud to drop out the piece is frozen on again by means of water, or if crumbled a piece of ice is cut to the shape and caused to adhere by water freezing it to the runner.
It is not often that one may find a sled shod with bone, as is the custom with the Eskimo farther north, and especially farther west. The only instance where I have seen bone used was by some of the people from the western extremity of Hudson strait. These had only a portion of the curve and a part of the runner shod with bone and pieces of reindeer horn, secured to the runner by means of pegs.
The greatest objection to the use of mud is that a few hours of warmth may cause it to loosen and render it worthless. The polish suffers when traveling over rough ice, and especially where sand has drifted from some exposed bank to the surface of the snow. This causes very hard pulling, and soon roughens the running surface of the sled. To repair such damage the native stops, at a convenient place, to obtain water, which is spirted on the runner and rubbed evenly until it acquires a thickness of one-eighth of an inch. This coating of ice may last for the entire day of travel where the “roads” are good.
The harness for the dogs consists of two large nooses, placed one above the other. These are joined by two perpendicular straps of 4 or 5 inches in length at a sufficient distance from the end to allow the head of the dog to pass through so that one noose will lie along the back and the other between the forelegs. At the rear ends of the nooses is a long thong of the heaviest sealskin of variable length depending on the position or place the dog is to have in the team. The body harness is made of sealskin, with or without the hair on, stout canvas, or other material which may be convenient. Thin undressed sealskin makes the best harness, and is not so liable to chafe the neck of the animal. The trace attached to each dog is generally of stout sealskin thong cut three-eighths of an inch wide, and the corners are carefully pared until the trace in form resembles a hoop for a small keg. The trace varies from 10 to 30 feet in length, and is attached to a longer but much stouter thong of heavier sealskin or walrus hide prepared in the form described for the trace. The thong to which all of the traces of variable lengths are fastened is termed the “bridle.” The bridle has, usually, apiece of ivory, called “toggle,” at the end farthest from the sled. A few inches back of the toggle is a short piece of stout thong plaited in the bridle end. This thong has a slit cut in the farther end. It is passed through slits cut in the end of each trace and then looped on the toggle. It will now be understood that the traces all start from one place, but their different lengths give different positions to the dogs of the team so that they may move freely among rough pieces of ice without interfering with each other. This has some advantages, but it necessitates watching the traces as they are liable to catch around any projection above the surface.
The bridles are also of varying lengths, from 15 to 40 feet. The rear end has two stout thongs plaited into it, forming a loop for each thong. These are known as the “yoke,” and are looped over toggles, one on each inner side of the runner.