Man on the Ocean | Page 6

in the still
water below the point.
The whole thing, from beginning to end, occurred in a few seconds; but
who can describe or comprehend the tumultuous gush of feeling
aroused during those brief moments in the bosoms of the voyageurs?
The sudden, electric change from tranquil safety to the verge of what
appeared certain destruction--and then, deliverance! It was one of those
thrilling incidents which frequently occur to those who thread the
wildernesses of this world, and is little thought of by them beyond the
moment of danger; yet it was one of those solemn seasons, more or less
numerous in the history of all men, when the Almighty speaks to his
careless creatures in a voice that cannot be mistaken, however much it
may be slighted; awakening them, with a rough grasp, to behold the
slender cord that suspends them over the abyss of eternity.
The canoes used by the Eskimos who inhabit the Polar Regions are
made of a light framework of wood, which is covered entirely over
with seal-skin--a round hole being left in the centre, in which the
Eskimo sits. Round this hole there is a loose piece of skin, which is
drawn up by the man and fastened round his waist. The machine is thus
completely water-tight. No waves can dash into, although they can
sweep over it; and if by chance it should upset, the Eskimo can turn it
and himself up into the proper position by one dexterous sweep of his
long, double-bladed paddle. The paddle, which varies from ten to
fifteen feet, is simply a pole with a blade at each end. It is grasped in
the centre, and each end dipped alternately on either side of the kayak,
as this canoe is called. Eskimo kayaks are first-rate sea-boats. They can
face almost any sort of weather. They are extremely light, and are
propelled by the natives very swiftly. In these frail canoes the natives of
the Polar Regions pursue seals and whales, and even venture to attack
the walrus in his native element. The kayak is used exclusively by the
men. The oomiak, or women's canoe, is of much larger and clumsier
construction, somewhat like a boat. It is open above, and can hold a
large family of women and children. Like the kayak, it is a framework
of wood covered with seal-skin, and is propelled by means of short
paddles of the spoon form.

The famous "Rob Roy" canoe, which is now so much in vogue among
boys and young men of aquatic tendency, is constructed and managed
on precisely the same principles with the Eskimo kayak; the only
difference between the two being that the "Rob Roy" canoe is made of
thin wood instead of skin, and is altogether a more elegant vessel. An
account of it will be found in our chapter on "Boats." The South Sea
islanders also use a canoe which they propel with a double-bladed
paddle similar to that of the Eskimos. They are wonderfully expert and
fearless in the management of this canoe, as may be seen from the
annexed woodcut.
In order to show that the paddle of the canoe is more natural to man
than the oar, we present a picture of the canoe used by the Indians of
the Amazon in South America. Here we see thar the savages of the
south, like their brethren of the north, sit with their faces to the bow and
urge their bark forward by neans of short paddles, without using the
gunwale as a fulcrum. The oar is decidedly a more modern and a more
scientific instrument than the paddle, but the latter is better suited to
some kinds of navigation than the former.
Very different indeed from the light canoes just described are the
canoes of the South Sea islanders. Some are large, and some are small;
some long, some short; a few elegant, a few clumsy; and one or two
peculiarly remarkable. Most of them are narrow, and liable to upset; in
order to prevent which catastrophe the natives have ingeniously, though
clumsily, contrived a sort of "outrigger," or plank, which they attach to
the side of the canoe to keep it upright. They also fasten two canoes
together to steady them.
One of these double canoes is thus described by Cheever in his "Island
World of the Pacific:"--"A double canoe is composed of two single
ones of the same size placed parallel to each other, three or four feet
apart, and secured in their places by four or five pieces of wood, curved
just in the shape of a bit-stock. These are lashed to both canoes with the
strongest cinet, made of cocoa-nut fibre, so as to make the two almost
as much one as same of the double ferry-boats that