МАЭ № 536-11

Model of a three-hatched kayak

Kodiak Eskimos

Russian circumnavigations and half round-the-world sea expeditions

wood, sinew, phoca bowels, paint, baleen, cloth, beads

length 71.5 cm, width 9.2 cm, height with figure 13 cm, height of the hull 5,8 cm, height of the nose 9 cm

In the forward hatch there is a figure of a hunter wearing ceremonial headgear made like the head of a seal. In the middle hatch the hunter figure is wearing a visor with an open top which is made like the head of a bird. It is possible that it symbolizes the head of a puffin. At the present time there are no visors like this in any museum collections. “ At various times the Americans paint their faces, most likely when they have to make a big crossing, but the most important and long-standing superstition they have is that of not eating anything or eating very little before a departure because they are convinced that a hungry person is stronger, paddles more easily, and can endure his work longer” (Davydov 1812: 62—63).

Ethnography of America