МАЭ № 211-36

Model of a two-hatched kayak

Kodiak Eskimos

prior to 1890

wood, paint, leather, woolen thread, sinew, seal intestine

length 46.5 cm, width 6.6 cm, height with figurers 8.5 cm, height of the hull 3.4 cm, height of the nose 7 cm

“Sometimes an American in a kayak endures a heavy storm relying solely on his skill and bravely puts out to sea a hundred versts from shore when the weather promises to be calm. If the Koniags encounter a storm far out at sea and are unable to reach the shore, they lash two or three kayaks together and wait until the wind dies down. They try to lash their kayaks together in such a way that the sides of the boats do not touch one another because the skin is easily ripped; they do not join more than three boats so that a single swell cannot raise them up and somehow tear them to pieces. If a single kayaker encounters a storm he may attach two inflated floats to the sides of the boat. “ In spite of their skill and experience sometimes the Americans are killed in a storm or the skin which covers the kayak is not strong enough to withstand the force of a prolonged storm and is torn off and, unable to save themselves from such a calamity, they perish” (Davydov 1812: 147-148).

Ethnography of America