Beta Book

When a native wants anything, he will sell whatever he owns
for it, even to his rifle or wife. They almost all belong to the Greek
Church, the Russians, when we bought Alaska, having reserved the right
to keep their priests in the country.
The baidarka, the most valuable possession of the native in a country so
cut up by waterways that little traveling is done by land, deserves a
word. These are trusted in the roughest water more than any other
craft, except the largest. A trip from Kadiak to Seattle in a baidarka
is in fact on record. With a light framework of wood, covered, bottom
and deck, excepting the hatches, with the skin of the hair seal, it is
lighter than any other canoe, pliable, but very staunch, and works its
way over the waves more like a snake than a boat. The lines are such
that friction is done away with, and driven through the water by good
men, it is the most graceful craft afloat. It has a curious split prow,
so made for ease in lifting with one hand, and may have one, two, or
three hatches, according to its size.


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