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Eskimo kayak, James Bay, 1800
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The Eskimo kayak, James Bay about 1800. What the dogsled is to Ice-hunting, the kayak is to open water-hunting. Refence was supplied by the Glenbow Foundation in Calgary and the Vancouver Central Library. Although the larger, skin covered umiak was used mostly for travel from one location to another, I decided to paint the kayak because of its importance to the individual hunter, and because it is the most graceful boat I know of. The slender wooden frame is tightly covered with skin, leaving a central opening. When the seal and narwhale hunter on the Bering Strait had tightly lashed himself into the boat, using his waterproof skin jacket, he becomes a part of the boat, so much so that he may capsize intentionally, to allow a heavy sea to roll over him. He easily comes up again by the controlled use of his paddle. The Eskimo kayak can take many different shapes as it is made using local available material. Some are flat-bottomed and some are round-bottomed. Some are long and narrow while others are broad and blunt. Each shape and size has a purpose and they are of utmost importance to the Eskimo for, without them, he would be confined to hunting only on land. | 
