Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 November 1892 — Aleut Canoes. [ARTICLE]

Aleut Canoes.

Two firemen who wore on the steamer Alice Blanchard on a trip to the Yukon river, says the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, brought back two novel Aleut canoes. The boats were made of rawhide, supported by horizontal ribs. The only opening is a circular hole in the center, large enough for a man's body so that he can sit down. A flap of rawhide surrounds the hole, und when the occupant plants himself in the bottom of the craft ne draws this flap up, fastening it tightly around his body under the arms. This makes the boat practically water-tight, und he enn paddle along in the roughest kind of weather witnou danger of drowning. If his cruft rolls over all he has to do is to paw the water until he gets his head to the surface again, and the boat, having stationary ballast, immediately rights itself. Some of them are made with two holes to accommodate two passengers. The two brought down are the single pattern. They are about fourteen feet long, thirty inches across and of a like depth. They are very light and can easily be carried about. The owners are going to keep them at Lake Washington. It is said two men came doWn from Alaska in one some years ago and had been upset on numerous occasions on the way, but they never suffered more serious injury than getting their shoulders wet.