Beta Book

The paddles used are curiously
narrow and pointed.
What still remains unexplained is the native one-sided method of
paddling; that is to say, in a two-hatch baidarka, both natives make six
or seven short strokes on one side together, and then change to the
other side. An absolutely straight course is thus impossible, but the
Aleut is a creature of habit, and smiles at all new suggestions.
In the canoe is plenty of room for provisions and live stock. I speak of
the latter because a native will often carry his wife, children, and dog
inside a one-hatch baidarka while he paddles.
Water is kept out of the hatches by the kamlaykas which the natives
wear. This is a long jacket made of bears' intestines, very light and
water tight, and when the neck and sleeve bands are made fast, and the
skirts secured about the hatch with a thong, man and canoe alike are dry
as a chip.
In the early days, Shelikoff's severe rule in Kadiak actively encouraged
the hunting instinct, and the first Russian fur post was established at
St.


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