The Kayak in North-Western Europe

The Kayak in North-Western Europe. Author(s): David MacRitchie Reviewed work(s): Source: The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 42 (Jul. - Dec., 1912), pp. 493-510 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2843199 . Accessed: 15/06/2012 09:57

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http://www.jstor.org 493

THE KAYAK IN NORTH-WESTERN EUROPE.

BY DAVID MACRITCHIE. THE word kayakis here taken in its common acceptation as denotingthe long, narrow,skin-covered canoe of the Eskimo. This kind of canoe has othernames; and, conversely,the word kayak (varyinginto kayik and kayook)is sometimes applied to vessels of a differentdescription.' But it is convenientto employthe wordin its commonestsense. At the present day the kayak is in use over a great extent of the Arctic regions,from East Greenland westward across Arctic America,and along some 800 miles of the Asiatic coast,both westward and south-westwardfrom Behring Straits. In the sixteenthand seventeenthcenturies it is reportedat a pointvery much fartherto the west, namely, on the coast of north-eastRussia beside Vrigatz Island. StephenBurrough, the English traveller,who visitedthat coast in 1556, has furnishedus with an account of the natives,in the course of which he says: " Their boats are made of deer's skins,and when theycome on shore theycarry theirboats with them upon theirbacks."2 This statementwould apply to existing Eskimo and theirkayaks.3 A centuryafter Burrough,the same coast was visited by a Danish tradinoexpedition sailing fromCopenhagen. The French surgeon of the expedition,who has lefta racy accountof the voyage,describes how the ships' boats gave chase to a native of this localitywhom theysaw in his canoe, a mile and a half fromthe shore. " As soon as he saw us coining towards him,"says the chronicler," he rowedwith such force that it was impossiblefor us to get near him. And on reachingthe shore,he, with great swiftnessand dexterity,lifted his

1 The Turkish kaik, or kayik(Fr. caique), is a wooden skiff. Then, again, there are referencesto cayooks,or cayyucks,on the River Petchora, North Russia, in 1611, which were vessels of from four to seven tons. (See Purchashis Pitqrimes,Part III, lib. iii, pp. 534 and 540.) Canon Isaac Taylor states his belief (Athenceum,26th July, 1879 ; Acaderl&y,11th November, 1893) that the earliest assignable home of the word was the shores of Lake Baikal, befoirethe great scission of the Turkic race " which took the Seljuks westward to the Bosphorus, and the Yakuts nQrthward down the Lena to the shores of the Arctic Ocean." He regards it as probable that-the Eskimos at the mouth of the Lena took this name with them in their migration across Behring's Straits to the shores of Greenland. 2 Hakluyt, firstedition, p. 318. 3 Even the referenceto deer-skin as a covering is still applicable, although seal-skin is more commonly used. The Hudson's Bay Eskimos employ deer-skin (Hanbury's Sportand Travelint theNorthland of Canada, London, 1904, p. 3). 2 L 2 494 DAVID MACRITCHIE.-The Kayak in North-Western _Europe. canoe upon his shoulder,and holdinghis bow and his spear in the otherhand (his quiver being on his back), he sped away." When these two accounts are taken togetherit seems fairlyevident that the skin kayak is denoted. But thereis no doubt whatever in the followingdescription of a canoe, containinga man and a woman,which the Danes captured the same day. " The canoe was made in the style of a gondola(fait en gondolle),being fifteenor sixteenfeet long by two and a half feetbroad, very cleverlyconstructed of fishribs (probably baleen or whalebone) coveredwith fish skins (? seal skins)stitched together, thus makingthe canoe a purse, as it were,from one end to the other. Within it the two were enclosed up to the waist in such a mannlerthat not a single drop of water could get into their little vessel, so that they were enabled to expose themselves to everytempest without any danger."' A very peculiar interest attaches to this record of a two-holedkayak in European watersin the seventeenthcentury. The two-holedkayak appears to be quite unknownbetween East Greenlandand Alaska, and it is speciallyassociated with the Aleutian Isles. The earliest picture of a two-holedkayak, so far as I know,is that given by Captain Cook,and it belongsonly to the latterpart of the eighteenthcentury. That varietywas seen by Captain Cook at Unalaska in the Aleutian Isles, and it seems to have been a noveltyto him. Yet here we have a word-pictureof a hundredyears earlier,showing the two-holed kayak as in use at that date on the north-eastcoast of Russia. This varietyof kayak,therefore, appears to belono to the Eurasian continentand to the Aleutian Isles; occasionally intrudingitself in Alaska as a visitorfrom the west. Mentionmay be made of the harpoon-pointsfound in Lapland at Kjelm6, on the south side of the VarangerFiord. " Some of these harpoon-pointsresemble old, primitive,Eskimo formis,which are foundin Greenland,"observes Dr. Nansen. He adds that theyare remnarkablysmiall, and could not have been used for any animal largerthan a seal. He furtherstates that " Nothinghas been foundwhich mightafford us informationas to the kinidof boats these northernsealers used."2 It would not be surprisingif these boats were of the same descriptionas the skin kayaks of the Archangelcoast, but, on the other hand, theymight have been woodenboats. Nevertheless,the existenceof these harpoon-pointsoii the south side of the Varanger Fiord,and their resemblance to old Eskimo forms,may be appropriatelykept in view. Contemporaneouswith the kayaks of the North Russian coast are certain indubitable kayaks reported from Northern Scotland. One of these is the specimen preservedin Aberdeen. It is stated to have been captured near the Aberdeenshirecoast, and it is now in the AnthropologicalMuseum, Marischal College, Aberdeen. Its history is given by Francis Douglas, in his General

1 These referencesto the canoes seen by the Danish expeditionwill be found in Martiniare'sVoyage des Pais Septentrionautx,Paris, 1671,pp. 150-3. 2 In NorthernMists, London, 1911, pp. 215-6. DAVID MAcRITCHIE.-The Kayakin North-Western Europe. 495

Descriptionof theEast Coastof Scotland(Paisley, 1782). At the time of Douglas's visit to Aberdeen the kayak was preservedin the libraryof Marischal College along with othercuriosities, and he thus refersto it in giving a summaryof the objects that specially attracted his attention: "A canoe taken at sea, with an Indian man in it, about the beginningof this century.' He was brought-alive to Aberdeen,but died soon after his arrival,and could give no account of himself. He is supposed to have come fromthe Labrador coast,and to have lost his way at sea. The canoe is coveredwith fishskins, curiously stretched upon slight timbers verysecurely joined together. The upper part of it is about twentyinches broad at the centre,and runs offgradually to a point at both ends. Where broadest, thereis a circularhole, just large enioughfor the man to sit in, round which there is a kind of girth,about a foot high,to which he fixed himself,probably when he did not use his oar or paddle, which,when he chose it, he stuck into some lists of skin tied round the canoe, but slack enoughto let in the paddle and some other awkward utensils which were found stuck there. The canoe is about 18 feet long,and slopes on both sides, but the bottom is flat for 3 or 4 inches in the middle and gradually sharpensas it approaches the extremitiestill it ends in a point." The generalcorrectness of the measurementsgiven by Douglas is confirmed by ProfessorReid of Aberdeen University,who adds the informationthat the weightof the kayak is about thirty-fourpounds. ProfessorReid has favouredme witha veryprecise and detailed account of the kayak and the implementsbelonging to it, which,with his permission,is annexed hereto. With regard to the circumstancesattending the captureof this kayak it must be borne in mind that our firstprinted informationis obtainedfrom a man who visited Aberdeen some eighty years after the event. He states that it occurred "about the beginning of the century,"which may be held to denote any date between 1690 and 1710. In the course of the eightyyears the factsmay have become partlyforgotten. In statingthat the captive " could give no account of himself,"Douglas leaves us in doubt as to whetherhis languagewas notintelligible to his captors or whetherhe was then too weak to speak coherently. It is evident, at any rate,that Douglas regardedhim as an Eskimo; because a so-called" Indian man " who is supposed to have come fromLabrador in a kayak could have been no otherthan an Eskimo. Further,the scene of the captureof the kayak and its occupantis inotclearly inidicatedby Douglas. " Taken at sea "' is vague enough. However,the unwritten beliefwhich has been handed down with the canoe in Aberdeenis that the capture took place in the NorthSea, not far fromAberdeen.

1 It maybe pointedthat in the second editionof Douglas's book,published in 1826, no editorialnotice is takenof the words " this century." Readers who are unawarethat Douglas wrotethe wordsabout the year 1782,when his book firstappeared, will naturallyfall into the mistake of supposiiigthat the period referredto is about the beginningof the nineteenth century. 496 DAVIDMACRITCHIE.- -TheKayak im North- Western Europe.

The theorythat the kayak-manhad paddledacross the Atlanticfromn Labrador to Scotland, a distance of 2,000 miles, is clearlyuntenable. For one thing,the voyage would have had to be intentionallyundertaken. An Eskimo out fishingor sealing does not carry enoughfresh water to last him forthe threeor fourweeks whichis the minimumtime requiredto make thetransatlantic voyage. Moreover, even if a strongwesterly gale had drivenhim eastwardfor a day or two,he would have begunto paddle westwardas soon as the stormabated. It is obviousthat if the crossingwas ever nmadeit inust have been by deliberatedesign. Enough fresh water to last a monthmust have been placed in the tinyhold, and also sufficient food for at least half the time; allowingthat he could catch a certainamount of fish on the voyage. Moreover,the sea must have been calm nearlyall the time. The voyager could not sleep, drink,eat, or satisfyany other naturalwant unless the sea was calm. When Eskimo intendspending a nightor two at sea it is their custoili to go ill pairs, and at nightthey lash theirkayaks together,thus giving them the stability of a raft. This admits of their sleepingwith safety.' Pre- sumably,in a calm sea, a solitarykayak-man can preservehis equilibriumwhen asleep. A calm sea is thereforenecessary for sleep. It is necessaryalso forthe performanceof any of the other functionsjust indicated, which denmandthe untyingof the lacing that unites the waterproofcoat to the girth'ofthe manhole. To untie this fasteningwhen the deck was awash with waterwould be simple madness, resulting in immediate death by drowning. For these reasonsthe idea of a directcrossing from Labrador to Scotland cannotbe permanentlyentertained. Much mioremight be said in favourof a theorythat the voyagerhad crossed to Greenlandfrom Labrador, or had startedfromi Greenland and had thereafter crossedto Iceland, thenceto the Faroes, and thenceto Shetland and Orkney. The successive crossings would be comparativelyshort. Here, also, it would be necessaryto suppose that thevoyage was deliberate. A theorysimpler still would be that of an involuntaryvoyage eastward,as prisoneron board of a European ship, and a subsequentescape afterreaching Europe. Somethingmore will be said upon this subjectlater on. There is, however,one circumstancethat would seem to denoteat the first glance,at any rate,that the Aberdeen kayak was conistructedin Europe. This is that all the wood of its framework,2and of the implementsbelonging to it, is ofthe tree knownas Pinus silvestris,a tree familiarto us in this countryunder the name of Scots fir. Now this tree,Pints silvestris,does notgrow in Greenlandanld North Anierica, although it flourishesin NorthernEurope. I am indebted forall my informationon this subject to Mr. William Dawson, B.Sc., Lecturer in Forestryin the Universityof Aberdeen. Mr. Dawson has made a carefulexamination of the Aberdeen kayak, and has drawn the deduction that its wood was grown in NorthernEurope, but not in an insular climate such as ours. " The wood of the

1 See "The Eskimo about Behring Strait," by Edward William Nelson, Smithsonian InstitutionReport, Washington, 1899, Part I, p. 221. 2 Leavingout of the questionsomie necessary repairs made at Aberdeenin 1900. DAVID MACRITCHIE.-Tlhe Kayakin North-Western Entrope. 497 spears in theAberdeen kayak," writes Mr. Dawson, " shows the characterof timber grown in a continentalclimate, and that,too, in a continentalclimate pretty far north or at very high elevation. The charactersfrom which this can be deduced are (1) the extremeregularity of each season's growth,and (2) the small- ness of each season's growth. Wood grown in an insular climate shows less regularity,due to the prevalenceof springfrosts after growthhas begun,and the consequent checking of the developmentof the wood, and also shows greater growthsin each year owingto the longergrowing season. The woodof thesespears is similarin characterto some of the wood we get at the presenttime from Norway and Sweden and from Finland, but is not similarto anythingproduced in this country,even in the remainsof the native forests. The thrower(a small piece of wood for launching the spears) is of wider ringedwood, but it, too, is regularly grown,and mighthave been grownin more shelteredplaces in the same neighbour- hood as producedthe wood of the spears. The tree Pinns silvestrisis native over a considerablepart of Northand Middle Europe, but the Baltic neighbourhoodis its principal habitat." As already mentionedthe frameworkof the kayak is also of Pinns silvestris. It appears evident,therefore, that the wood used in thiskayak of two centuries ago was grown somewhere in the Baltic region. But it does not necessarily follow that the kayak was constructedin Europe. Driftwood and wrecks are cast at tiinesupon the coasts of Greenland,and this kayak mighthave been made in Greenilandof European wood. It is true that Dr. Packard,in his book on The Labrador Coast' states that the Greenland kayak are framedof bone, whereas those of Labradorare framedof spruce wood. But this statement,although doubt- less correctin the miiain,is too sweeping. It is thereforequite possiblethat this kayak was framedin Greenlandfrom European driftwood. It would be somethingof a coincidencebut it is quite a possibility. The date of the arrivalof this kayak and its ownerin Aberdeenmay be held to be somewherebetween 1690 and 1710, according to the statementmade by Douglas. Now,it is an importantfact that similar captures were made in the Orkney Islands at the same period. In the wordsof Dr. JamesWallace, a nativeof Orkney and a Fellow of the Royal Societyof London, another kayak was "catched in Orkney" and "was sent fromthence to Edinburgh," He adds that it "is to be seen in the Physicians' Hall (Edinburgh),with the oar and dart he makes use of forkilling, fish." Dr. Wallace publishedthis statement in the year 1700, but before that date the kayak had been transferredfrom the Physicians' Hall to the Universityof Edinburgh. We know this froman entryin the Minute Book of the College of Physicians,dated 24th September,1696, whereinit is stated that the Physicians had decided to present the boat in question to the University of Edinburgh,in order that it might be more safelypreserved. The entryfurther states that " the oars of the boat and the shirtof the barbarousman thatwas in

1 New York and London,1891, p. 207. 498 DAVIDMACRITCHIR-The Kayak in Nortih-Western Europe.

the boat" were alreadyin the possessionof the University. From this statement we see that,as was the case at Aberdeen,the kayak-manwas capturedalong with his kayak. It may be added that the plural " oars " of the entryevidently denotes the implementsmore correctly styled by Dr. Wallace " the oar and dart." This kayak had been in the Physicians'Hall in Edinburghfor at least eight years prior to its transferto the University. This is certainfor the reason that the statementas to its presence in the Physicians' Hall was first made by- Dr. Wallace's father,the Rev. James Wallace, Minister of Kirkwall in Orkney, who died in September,1688. Wallace, senior,who had graduated at Aberdeen Universityin 1659, and who was a man of wide readingand of veryconsiderable mental culture, wrote A Descriptionof the Isles of Orkney,which was first published in 1693, five years afterhis death, The subject of the Orkneykayak- men is thereintroduced by him in these words(p. 33):- " Sometime about this Country(i.e., Orkney) are seen these Men which are called Finnmen. In the year 1682 one was seen sometimesailing, sometime rowing up and down in his little boat at the south enid of the Isle of Eda, most of the people of the Isle flockedto see him,and when theyadventured to put out a boat with men to see if theycould apprehendhim, he presentlyfled away nost swiftly: and in the year 1684, anotherwas seen fromWestra, and for a while afterthey got few or no Fishes; for they have this Remarkhere, that these Finnmendrive away the fishesfrom the place to whichthey come." Afterthese definitestatements the authoradds his own comment(p. 34):- '"These Finnmenseem to be some of these people that dwell about the Fretum Davis, a full account of whommay be seen in the natural and moral Historyof the Antilles,Chap. 18. One of their Boats sent fromOrkney to Edinburghis to be seen in the Physitians hall with the Oar and the Dart he makes use of forkilling Fish."l The last sentencemight easily be interpretedto mean that the boat sent from Orkney to Edinburgh had been obtained in Davis Straits. But this idea is negativedby the plain statemenitof Dr. Wallace, the author'sson and editor,who tells us that the canoe in question" was catched in Orkney." Wallace, junior, indeed,applies the term" Finnmen" to the Eskimo of Davis Straits,as well as to the kayak-menof Orkney. For he observesthat " a full accountof theseFinnmen may be had," in the work to which his fatherhad previouslyreferred, and which deals withthe Davis Straitspeople only. That work,which is in French,was writtenby a certainLouis de Poincy,and was publishedin Rotterdamin 1658. Althoughit relatesprimarily and mainlyto the Antilles,the authorwas happilytempted to interpolatea mostinteresting and

1 A Descriptionof theIsles of Orkney,by the Rev. JamesWallace, Minister of Kirkwall; firstpublished at Edinburghin 1693. The above is fromthe Edinburgh reprint of 1883, editedby JohnSmall, M.A., F.S.A.Scot. DAVID MACR1TCHIE.-IThe Kayak in North-Western Bar-ope 499

valuable account of the Davis StraitsEskimo whichhe had obtainedfrom a Captain Nicholas Tunes, the commanderof a Flushing vessel,who had penetratedto the northend of Davis Straitsin the summer of 1656. It is obvious that Wallace, senior,had read this book and had seen its illustrations,and when we look at these latter we understandwhat he meant when he said that the Finnmenwho were occasionallyseen in Orkneywaters in his day " seem to be some of these people." What he clearlytells us is that the OrkneyFinnmen were identicalwith Eskimo. Wallace,junior,is equallyexplicit. As alreadynoticed,he acceptshisfather'sinference thatthe Eskimo ofDavis Straitsand theFinnmen of the OrkneyIslands were oneand the same people. He is somiewhatpuzzled over the circumstancethat theformer peopleshould be foundat sucha greatdistance from their home; as will be seen in his openingremark in the passage about to be quoted. But his writtendescription of the Finnmen of Orkney,and theircanoes, leaves no doubt as to theirappearance. The followingis his commenton his father'saccount:-" I must acknowledgeit seeirmsa little unaccountablehow these Finnmen should come on this coast, but. theymust probablybe driven by stormsfrom home, and cannot tell,when they are any way at sea, howto make theirway home again; theyhave this advantage that be the seas never so boisterous,their boats being made of fish skins are so contrivedthat he can never sink but is like a sea-gull swimmingon the top of the water. His shirthe has is so fastenedto the boat that no water can come into his boat to do him damage,except when he pleases to untie it, which he never does. but to ease natureor when he comes ashore."' In this descriptionWallace, junior,absolutely identifies the OrkneyFinnmen with the Davis Straits Eskimo. What is more he gives us a little bit of prosaic information,in his closing sentence,which no otherwriter on kayak people has ever referredto; so far as my somewhat extensive readingon this subject goes. It must be rememberedthat the younger Wallace was bornand bred in Orkney and he had opportunitiesof learning many details with regard to the ordinary habits of the Finnmen-whether fromhis own personal observationor fromthat of others. One morewriter on the OrkneyFinnmen must here be cited. In the year 1701 the Rev. John Brand published A Brief Deseriptionof Orkney,Yetland, Pightland-Firth,and Caithness,which contains similar references. Like the elder Wallace, Brand was a clergymanof the Church of Scotland,and he visited the districtsnamed by him as one of a Commissionappointed by the General Assembly of the State Churchto inquire into the conditionof religionand morals in those parts. In the courseof his descriptionof Orkneyhe observes-and it is to be rememberedthat he was writing twelve years after the death of Wallace, senior-" There are frequentlyFinnmen seen here upon the coasts,as one about a year ago [1699] on Stronsay,and anotherwithin these few months on Westray- a gentlemanwith many othersin the Isle looking on him nigh to the shore,but 1 Commentin editionof 1700. Cited herefrom Edinburgh reprint of 1693edition (already specified),pp. 33-4. 500 DAVIDMACRITCHIE.-The Kayak in North-Western Europe. when any endeavour to apprehendthem theyflee away mostswiftly. . . . His boat is made of seal skins,or some kind of leather; he also hath a coat of leather upon him,and he sitteth in the middle of his boat witha little oar in his hand fishingwith his lines. . . . One of their boats is kept as a rarity in the Physicians' Hall at Edinburgh." Their are one or two points to be noted in Brand's account. It is pretty evident that he is speaking at second hand. His visit to Orkneywas very brief and he could not have had much experience of Orkney life. Moreover,it is obvious that he had read Wallace's book and had taken some of his statements fromit. We know,for example,that the Finnmnan'scanoe was no longerin the Edinburgh Physicians' Hall in 1700, although it was therewhen Wallace wrote.' There is, further,ain echo ofWallace's phraseologyin at least one passage. Never- theless,he had clearlymade freshenquiry on the subject,and had learnedthat a Finnmanhad been seen off the Island of Stronsayin 1699, and again in 1700 off Westray. He also adds a touch or two to the picture of a Fiinnmanwhom he describesas sittingin the middleof his canoe " witha little oar in his hands fishing withhis lines." These details he had not learnedfrom Wallace. In additionito the Finnman'scanoe whichwas " catched in Orkney" and sent to Edinburgh,Dr. James Wallace, writingin 1700, states that " there is anotherof theirboats in the Churchof Burra in Orkney." Burra or Burrayis a small island in the southernpart of the Orkneygroup. Its church has been a ruin for more than a century.and thereis no vestige of the Finnman's canoe remaining,which is not to be wonderedat consideringthe perishablenature of its materials. There is no reason,however, to doubt the accuracyof Dr. Wallace's statement. He may have been wrong by a fewyears, as he was with regard to the Physicians'Hall specimen. But a Fellow of the Royal Societyof London,publishiing a book in London,would not wantonlymake an essentiallyfalse statementwhich could be refutedwithin a monthor two afterit had been made.2

1 Most unfortunately, the identity of this kayak has been lost, if it is one of those preserved in the Royal Scottisb Museum, Edinburgh. That museum obtained two kayaks from the University of Edinburgh in 1865, but with no history attached. One of these may be the seventeenth-centuryFinnman's. 2 Dr. Wallace throws no light on the circumstances attending the acquisition of the Burray specimen. It is possible that it may be the " little boat" referred to in the Session Record of South Ronaldshay and Burray in 1661. That Record states that on Sunday, 26th May, 1661, in St. Peter's Kirk, South Ronaldshay, a collection of 16s. 6d. was taken as " charity to ane poore Yetland (i.e., Shetland) man whom God had wonderfullypreserved into a storme at sea into his litill boate, and taken in by ane vessell findinghim upon-the seas." (See Dr. Craven's ChurchLife in South Ronaldshay and Burray in the SeventeenthCentury, Kirkwall, 1911, p. 36.) It is a little remarkable that a Shetlander should have been picked up by a vessel putting in at the niost southern island of the Orkney group. Moreover, it is unlikely that a Shetlander of the ordinary type would be found adrift in Orkney waters iii a small open boat, or that such a boat could weather a heavy storm. On the other hand, if the man was a Finnman in his kayak, coming from Shetland, or describing himself as a Shetlander, the situation would be more easily understood. It might be conjectured that the recipient of the 16s. 6d. afterwards settled in the little island of Burray, across the narrow sound, and that thus DAVID MACRITCHIE.- TheKayak in North-Western Europe. 501

It will now be seen that about the end of the seventeenthcentury there were three kayaks preserved in Scotland. One of these,with its occupant,had been captured in Orkney waters, and was preserved in Edinburgh. Another was in Marischal College,Aberdeen, having been taken,also with its occupant,in the North Sea. The third was presumablycaptured in Orkneywaters, seeing that it was preservedin an Orkney church. There is, moreover,special mention of Finnmenstill at large in Orkneyat that period; near the Island of Eday in 1682, near Westrayin 1684, near Stronsayin 1699, and again near Westrayin 1700. It mightquite well be argued that all these appearanceswere made by one mian,and that it was he who was carried prisonerto Aberdeen,about the beginningof the eighteenthcentury. On this hypothesisour OrkneyFinnmen could be narrowed down to threeill number. On the otherhand, the referencesof the two Wallaces manifestlyindicate that the Finnmenseen in Orkneywaters numberedmore than three. When the traditionsof the common people of Orkney and, it may be added, of Shetland come to be considered,it will be seen that the Finnmeinwere believed to be much morenumerous. It is somewhat remarkable that the year 1883 not only witnessed the republicationof the recordsof the Wallaces and Brand, but two otherwriters also drewpublic attentionin or about the same year to the theme which we are at presentconsidering. One of these modernwriters was JohnR. Tudor,whose book on The Orkneysand Shetlandappeared in 1883. Tudor,who wrotein a lively and interestingstyle, had read Wallace's and Branid'sbooks, and he naturallymakes referenceto the Finnmnen. "What can these Finn Men have been ? " he asks (op. cit.p. 342) " Is it possibleEskimos can have been drivenover fromGreenland, or can therehave been a substantialbasis of actual factfor the traditionalShetland Finns that 'came ow'r fa Norroway?' The Burrayand Stronsayinstances," he continues," all point to the kayaks,or whatever they were,beng driven fromthe east, and the ones seen offEday and Westraymay, with equal probability,have come fromthat quarter. Besides,Cape Farewell,the nearest point of Greenland to the Orkneys,is 1180 nautical miles fromthe Noup Head of Westray,whilst the Norwegian coast,at the southernend of Finmarkeni,is 750, and at the nearest point only 240 miles." Tudor is not the first,however, who looked eastward for the home of the Finnmen. Brand had already done so in 1700, ignoring or discreditingathe Wallaces' assumptionthat the Finnmen had come from Davis Straits. In his estimation,the Finnmen were natives of Finland: "Which is verystrange," he remarks," that one man sittingin his little boat should come some hundred of leagues fromtheir own coasts as theyreckon Finland to be fromOrkney. It may be thoughtwonderful how theylive all that time,and are able to keep the sea so long." But although Brand regarded the Finnmen as a European race, his

his kayak was eventually preserved in the church of Burray. All this is conjecture, but the incident of 1661 seems deserving of mention in this connection. 502 DAVID MACRITCHIE.-The Kayak in North-Western Europe. assumption that Finland was their home is open to many objections. Tudor's suggestionis much moredeserving of consideration. But before that suggestion is considered,one featureof the early referencesought to be pointedout. It will be noted that the educated class, as representedby the Wallaces and Brand,clearly regarded the Finnmen as foreignerscoming from a great distance. Accordingto one theorythey came from the western side of the Atlantic,while anothertheory brought them from the upper Baltic. Douglas, again, who tells us of the Aberdeenkayak, believed that it had come fromLabrador. The firstto suggestthe neighbouringcountry of Norway was Tudor. Now, it is possible to say a great deal in favourof a Transatlanticorigin. It will be well to shelve the " drifting" theoryat once. A kayak with a man in it cannotdrift a thousanid,fifteen hundred, or two thousand miles. Much more can be said fora theoryof journeys deliberatelymade fromGreenland with resting- places at Iceland and the Faroes. But simpler still is the theory of captives brought by European ships who had regained their libertyon this side of the Atlantic. The customof bringingspecimens of strangepeople to one's own country,with or withouttheir consent, is a veryold one, and the kayak-peoplehave frequently been broughtto Europe fromacross the Atlantic. A number of instances in the nineteenthcentury could be adduced. The same thing can be said of previous centuries. In an articleon " Eskimos,Ancient and Modern,"'Baron A. E. Norden- skiioldrefers particularly to this practice. Referringto encountersbetween early European voyagersand Eskimo he says, " Their meetings always ended in the murderor capture of the poor natives,who were carried away to be shown as curious animals in Europe. La Peyrere's -Reportof Greenland,written in 1647, describesthem, and goes on to tell of the nine Eskimo who had been broughtto Denmark by differentPolar expeditions. . . . Poor Eskimo! They often looked northwards,and once tried to escape in theirskiffs, but a stormcast them ashore,and some peasants caughtthem and took themback to Copenhagen. . Two of themagain tried to escape in theirkayaks; one was caught,the other,who got away, was drowned at sea. . . . The last of them died of grief afterthe failure of his third attemiptto return to Greenland ini his kayak. He was thirtyor fortynmiles2 out to sea before he was overtaken." This account of Baron Nordenski6ld'sis not whollyaccurate, because he has overlookeda paragraph in whichLa Peyrere states that two of those who were captured by peasants in their firstattempt to escape actually did effecttheir escape on a subsequent occasion. " They were pursuedas far as the entranceof the Sound,but could not be overtaken,so that,"observes La Peyrere," it is probablethey were lost,it being not likelv theycould reach Greenlandin theirsmall boats." This occurrencetook place somewherein the firsthalf of the seventeenth century. It mnaynot have been a unique occurrence. I am not aware of any

' EnglishIllustrated fagazine,Decenmber, 1891. 2 Leagues,not miles,in the Englishtranslation of the original. DAVID MACRITCHIE.-The Kayak itnNorth- Western Europe. 503 otherrecorded instance of the kind,but the argut&mentumex silentio is one to which I do not attach greatweight. There may have been other successfulescapes of captive Eskimo,although they are not recorded. These fugitivesmay have made theirway to the Orkneyand Shetland Islands, and have been the people described as Finnmen. This seems quite a good line of argument. To take this view,however, is to leave out ofsight many other considerations- ethnological,historical, and traditional. The last of these considerationsmay not appeal to all. The importanceattached to traditiondepends upon mentalbias. In this particularcase we have seen that Tudor, in 1883, recognizeda connection between the positive statements of seventeenth-centurychroniclers and the traditionsof the commonpeople that have come down to our own time. He puts the question:-" Can there have been a substantial basis of actual fact for the traditional Shetland Finns that ' came ow'r fa Norroway'?" The traditions referredto can only be noticedvery briefly here. They are currentto-day among people of the old Norse stock in Orkneyand Shetland,and theyare to this effect. A race of "Finns " or "Finfolk,"men and women,use(1 to visit these archipelagoesand the neighbouringcounty of Caithness several generationsago. The Finn womenare chieflyremembered as witches and fortune-tellers,who were always carefulto exact paymentfor the exercise of their art. They were also skilful in curing disease in men and cattle; and they frequentlymade a living by knittingand spinning. Sometimesthey were merely strollingbeggars. When a Finn woman settled in Orkneyshe professedto be a native of Shetland or of Caithness. When in Shetland,she alleged that she came fromOrkney or Caithness. The Finnmenwere also veryskilful in curingdiseases, and the wordsquoted by Tudorare those of a song relatingto a Finnman who came across fromNorway to Shetland to cure the toothache. Both the men and the womenpossessed a speciallyprepared skin, which enabled themto swim like a seal in the sea. When they came ashore they discarded this skin. That is one version. Another version simply speaks of this skin as a boat, which they propelled at a marvellous speed. It is said that theycould pull across to Bergen from Shetland in a few hours, making nine miles at every stroke. With the statementsof the Wallaces and Brand in view,it seems quite obviousthat these swiftsea-skins or boats were simplythe kayaks alreadydescribed.'

1 It is of interestto quotehere the impression made upon Dr. G. F. Wrightand Mr. Warren Upham by the adventof Eskimofrom seaward, while the Americanparty were camped on the West Greenlandcoast. The description,at pp. 143-4 of GreenlandIcefields (London, 1896), is in thesewords: "At one time,while in campat Ikamiut,when the windwas blowinga gale,shutting us up all day in our tentand tossiilgthe waves of the fiordinto such commotionthat it would have been madnessfor any large boat to have venturedupon the water,we were thrilledby the cry thatsome kayakers were coming. Theywere three that belongedto the littlesettlement, and had comethat day,as a matterof course,from Sukkertoppen, which was twentymiles distanit. Upon reachingthe shoreand pullingthemselves loose fromtheir shells, the kayakersran their hands into the aperturesfrom which they had drawn their limbs [legs], and brought out variousobjects of merchandisewhich they had purchasedat the storefor their families. Then 504 DAVID MACRITCHIE.-The Kayak in North-Western Europe.

Thus, although the ministersand doctors of the seventeenthcentury were puzzled as to the place of origin of the Finnmren,the peasantryof Orkney and Shetlandhad a much moreintimate knowledge of them and of theirways. It is, true that theyalso regardedthe Finns as foreigners,but all theirmemories of them denotea considerableamount of intercoursebetween the two races,with occasional intermarriages. And the Finns are chieflyassociated with Norway in these traditions,although one writerreports them as havinocome fromthe Faroe Islands,. while otherstories point to theirstill retaininga footholdin past centuriesin the Orkney and Shetland Islands. "It is a historic fact," observes Mr. Nelson Annandale,who has noted certain traces of Mongoloid blood in Iceland and the Faroes," that in the ninthcentury and earlierthe Scandinaviansintermarried with the Lapps or 'Finns,' as they were originallycalled. . . . Moreover,"continues Mr. Annandale, " Beddoe, than whom we could have no safer guide in physical anthropology,believes that physical traces of Mongolianancestry can be detected in the Shetlanders."'I It will be rememberedthat the people of Shetland,and in a less degree of Orkney,are mainlydescended from Norse colonistsof the ninthcentury, at which period Finn marriages were not very uncommon. Harold Haarfager himself married a Finn woman,2by whom hle had four sons,and one of these (Halfdan) rulecl over Orkneyfor a short period. Further,the Finns of Norwegian history bore exactlythe same reputationfor magical powers as the Finns of Orkneyand Shetland tradition. Moreover,we do not require to look so far north as modern Finmarkand Lapland to findthose people in mediaevaltimes. " It may be quoted as a strongpiece of evidence,"observes Dr. Nansen, " that a people called Finns, must have lived in old times in south Norway,that the oldest Christianlaws of about 1150 for the most southernjurisdictions, the Borgathingand Eidsvathing,, visit withthe severestpenalty of the law the crime of going to the Finns or to Finmarkto have one's fortunetold (cf.,A. M. Hansen, 1907, p. 79)." Dr. Nansen points to " Finn " in many place-names of southern Scandinavia, and to a " Finmarken" situatedto the east of Christiania. It is not to be supposedthat the people of southernScandinavia in the twelfthcentury made long and, toilsome journeys to the extremenorth of the peninsula in order to have their fortunes told.3 Indeed, the conclusioiiis almost inevitable that these twelfth-centurylaws were enacted for the purpose of suppressingan every-daypractice, and that the Finns, or Lapps consulted were living in the south of Norway. Granting they severallytook up theirkayaks and carriedthem to a secureplace, and disappearedin the igloos [huts of earth and stones],where their familiessoon joined them to talk over the adventuresof the week. To us theyseemed like inhabitantsof the sea, who wereaccustomed to shed theirskins on comingout of the water." 1 The Faroes and Iceland,by Nelson Annandale,Oxford, 1905, pp. 163-164. 2 Snaefrid,daughter of Svase, the Finn or Lapp. 3 See Dr. Nansen'sIn NorthernMists, London, 1911, vol. i, p. 206,etc. DAVID MACRITCHIE.-The Kayak in North-Western Europe. 505 that they were there in considerable numbers in the twelfth century,their existencein that localitymay have been prolongedfor centuries. Lord Avebury, indeed,points to the presence of Lapp familiesin southernNorway in the end of the nineteenthcentury.1 But if theseSouth Norwegian Lapps werethe Finnfolkwho visited Orkneyaud Shetland in the seventeenthcentury, it would be necessary to bring forward evidencefrom Scandinavia to show that the Lapps in Norwayat that date made use of kayaks. Such evidenceappears to be wantingat present. That skin boats of some kind were once used by theirforefathers is a traditionalbelief among the MountainLapps. Baron Von Diiben tells us2 that the Mountain Lapps assign to their remote ancestors a home lying far to the south-east,apparently on the Indo-Persian frontier. Thence, they allege, they were driven by their enemies, and wandered westward and northwardin two divisions,the formerof which eventually reached the sound separating Denmark from Sweden. This they ferriedacross in their small skin boats; and, when the sea was calm, conveyed their goods over on reindeer-skinbuoys linked togetherand drawn by swimming reindeer. Their herdsalso swam across. Thus did the forefathersof the Mountain Lapps enter Sweden. Von Dtiben furtherpoints out3 that the names of sailingvessels and large boats are all importationsinto the Lapp language, whereas,on the otherhand, the only really Lapp name for a boat denotes a skin canoe,propelled by paddles,and devoid of rowers'seats and steeringplace. Tradition and language agree,therefore, in ascribingto the Lapps, beforeand aftertheir entrance into Scandinavia, the use of skin boats. There is nothingin the evidence to show that these skin boats were notkayaks. But, admittingthat theywere, the periodindicated is remote. What is needed is some proofof their use in the peninsulain comparativelyrecent centuries. The possibilityof proving this is complicatedby the undoubtedpresence of transatlantickayaks in the museumsanid churches of Europe. La Peyrere,whose account of the Greenland captiveshas already been cited,states that theirkayaks were still to be seen in Denmark,and that he had seen two of themin Copenhagen. That was in 1647. Then Olaus Magnus tells how in 1505 he saw two of the leather skiffsof the Greenland pirates hangingin the cathedralat Asloii. They weresaid to have been capturedby King Haco, whosewarships these kayak-men had tried to sink. For Olaus states that these "pirates," as he calls them,had the power of goino underneathships and boring holes in the bottom,so that they foundered.4By this means, says Olaus, the Greenland kayak-men,or pirates, 1 PrehistoricTimnes, ed. 1900,p. 281. 2 Om Lappland och Lapparne,Stockholm, 1873, pp. 372-3. 3Op. cit.,p. 387,note. 4This idea seemsto be derivedfrom the kayak-man'saccomplishment of upsettinghimself and his canoe,many consecutivetimes; and of a confusionbetween the kayak-manand the narwha],which was creditedwith the powerof sinkinga ship at sea by ruliiingits tuskinto it and splittingit up. (See p. 468 ofEnglish translation of La Peyr6re'sGreenland.) 506 DAVID MACRITCHIE.-The Kayak in Nort7hWestern Europe.

obtained great booty frommerchant ships.' In making use of this reference, Dr. Nansen quotes two other Scandinavian writers,one of the year 1532 and anotherof 1551, who agree in chargingthe Greenland kayak-menwith frequent and successfulpiracy.2 The earliestexample (after those attributed to King Haco) of a kayak preserved as a trophyin a European church is also furnishedby Dr. Nansen. It is of the year 1430. The chronicleris a certain Dane named Claudius Clauss6n,or Clavus, who informsus that to the west of the Wild Lapps " are the little Pygmies,a cubit high,whom I have seen,"he affirms," after they were taken at sea in a little hide- boat, which is now (about 1430) hangingin the cathedralat Nidaros (Trondhjem). There is likewise,"he goes on to say, " a long vessel of hides,which was also once taken with such Pygmiesin it."' Dr. Nansen also cites Michel Beheim, who travelled in Norwayin 1450. There he saw or heard of a people called " Skraelings" who are onlythree " spans" high,but are neverthelessdangerous opponents both on sea and land. " They live in eaves whichthey dig out in the mountains,make shipsof hides,eat raw meat and raw fish,and drinkblood with it." Thenthereis the similartestimony byArchbishop Erik Walkendorf,who, in his descriptionof Finmark, written about 1520, says: " Finmark has on its north-north-westa people of shortand small stature,namely, a cubit and a half, who are commonlycalled 'Skraelinger'; they are an unwarlikepeople, for fifteenof themdo not dare to approachone Christiarnor Russian eitherfor combat or parley. They live in undergroundhouses, so that one neithercan examinethem nor capture them."4 To these extracts must be added a statementby Cardinal Bembo,who lived from 1470-1547, and who refersto an incidentof his own time. 1 quote Bembo's statementon the authorityand in the words of an Americanwriter of the year 1892.5 " In 1508, a French ship picked up near the English coast a small boat, made of bark and osiers,containing seven men of mediuinheight, darkish hue, and attiredin fishskins, and paintedstraw caps. Their broad faces with theirhabit of eating raw flesh and drinkingblood would implythat they were Eskimos; but it is difficult,"observes this modernAmerican writer, " to conceiveof a boat drifting across the Atlantic with sufficientstores of foodto avoid cannibalism. Cardinal Bembo adds, however,that six of themdied-which may mean that theyhad been starving-and that the sole suirvivorwas taken to Louis XII." Now, although the boat in question was not a skin boat, one can hardly dissociate it and its occupants fromthe people here spoken of. Their habit of eating raw meat and drinkingblood at once links them with the Skraelings

1 Rlistoriade gentibus SeptentrionalbTus, lib. ii,c. 9. De scorteisseu coriariis navibus piratarum Gruntltandiae.Rome, MDLV. 2 In NortherMists, vol. ii, p. 127. 3 In NorthernMists, vol. ii, p. 269. 4 For theseextracts from Beheim and Walkendorf,see in NorthernMists, vol. ii, pp. 85-6. 6 AtlanticMonthly, July, 1892, p. 140. DAVID MAcRITCHIE.-The Kaya7 in North-Western Europe. 507

described by Beheim fifty-eightyears earlier.' And in both cases the question arises: Did these people belong to Greenlandor to Europe? If we accept the name " Greeiiland" in the wide sense givento it in theseven- teenthcentury by Danes, the answermight be that theybeloniged to Greenlandand to Europe, because Greenland was then supposed to include the islands of Jan Mayen and Spitsbergen,and to extend eastwardsto Nova Zembla. Greenlandwas even believed to be united to Siberia,or " The Great Tartary."2 In his account of the importantwhaling station of Spitsbergen,Martiniere does not make use of the name "Spitsbergen,"but simply calls it " Greenland." No doubt that was the name commonlygiven to thatcoast by the membersof tbe Danish expeditionto which he was attached. It is not very unlikely,keeping this terminologyin view,that the kayak-usingnatives of the Vaigatz region, some of whom were broughtto

1 The storyof a " sea-man" capturedoff the Yorkshirecoast, near Skinningrave,in 1535, is worthrecording here. It is foundin " an ancientmanuscript in the Cott.Library (marked Julius F.C. fol. 455), descriptiveof the lordshipof Guisboroughand the adjacent coast,"as stated by the Rev. JolhnGraves in his Historyof Cleveland(Carlisle, 1808, p. 34). Graves introducesthe storythus (p. 369) : " Camden mentionsthe reportof a sea-manbeing caught by the fishermenhere; and the same fabulousstory is thus more particularlyrelated in the ancientMS. above quoted: 'Old Men that would be loath to have theirCredyt crackt by a Tale of a stale Date, reportconfidently that sixty Yeares since, or perhaps 80 or more,a sea-manwas takenby the Fishersof that place [Skinningrave],where duringe many weeks they keptein an oulde House, givinghim rawe Fishe to eate,for all otherfare he refused; insteade of Voycehe skreeked,and shewed himselfcourteous to suchas flockedfarre and neareto visit him ;-fayre Maydes werewellcomest Guests to his Harbour,whome he wouldebeholde with a very earnesteCountenaynce, as if his phlegmatickeBreaste had been touchedwth a Sparke of Love.--One Day, whenthe good Demeanourof this newe Guestehad made his Hosts secure of his Abode wththem, he privelystoale out of Doores, and ere he coulde be overtaken recoveredthe Sea, whereintohe ploungedhimself ;--yet as one that woulde not unmannerly departwithout taking of his Leave, fromthe mydle upwardeshe raysed his Shouldersoften above the Waves, and makingesignes of acknowledginghis good Enterteinmentto such as beheld him on the Shore,as theyinterpreted yt;-after a prettywhile he dived downe and appeared no more."' In his Historyof Whitby(Whitby, 1817, p. 798, note),Young suggests that this" sea-man" may have been a seal. This idea mayfind support from the mannerof his finaldisappearance. It is a fact,also, thatseals eat theirfish raw. On the otherhand, a seal could hardlylive in a house for manyweeks withoutwater to bathe. Moreover,it may be questionedwhether a captiveseal on the Yorkshirecoast in the sixteenthcentury would attract people fiom far and near; nor is it likelythat a seal would pay special attentionto "fayre maydes." Much more mightbe said in favourof the view that this "sea-man" was of the same kindas the OrkneyFinnmen of the seventeenthcentury, and that he made his escapeby retrievinghis capturedkayak, althoughthe traditionalaccount speaks of his diving under waterlike a marineanimal. Apparentlythe storywas not recordedin writinguntil eighty years afterthe event,by which time the details may have become blurred in the popular memory. Mentionmay also be made of thesea-woman captured near Edam, West Friesland,in 1430Q The Frieslandgirls dressedher in clotheslike their own,and taught her to spin. She was afterwardstaken to Haarlem,where she lived forseveral years, and was instructedin her duty to God. So says Parival, in his Delices de Hollande,according to Mr. Baring-Gould(Caurious Mythsof theMiddle Ages, 1868, II, 244). It is difficultto reconcilesome of these statements with the idea of a marineanimal, although they would be quite intelligibleif the captivewas a womanof Eskimotype. 2 La Peyr6re. VOL. XLII. 2 M 508 DAVID MAcRITCHIE.--The Kayak in Nor-th-Western Enrope.

Copenhagen by this expedition,were looselystyled " Greenlanders." The date of this capture was 1653, and it is quite conceivable that a picture of certain "Greenlanders" which was painted at Bergen in 16541 representsthese very people. I do not press this point,but the idea seemsto me worthyof consideration. This wideracceptation of the term" Greenland" would explain some of the referencesto " Greenland pirates" already noted. If the two kayaks seen by Olaus Magnus were really capturedby King Haco, as alleged,in the second half of the thirteenthcentury, after an attack made by the " Greenlandpirates " upon his battleships,did that encountertake place in the neighbourhoodof Cape Farewell ? A similar question may be put with referenceto the merchantvessels which, accordingto Olaus and two other Scandinavianwriters of the sixteenthcentury, were frequentlyattacked and plundered by the Greenland pirates. Was the scene of their operations always on the other side of the Atlantic? It is noteworthy,in this connection,that the Shetland traditionsof the Finns speak of them as pursuing boats at sea, and demandingand obtaining nmoneyfrom the fishermen. Mention may also be made of the instructionsgiven by Sebastian Cabot in 1553 to Sir Hugh Willoughby's expedition to Northern Europe and Siberia. Cabot was then Governorof the MerchantAdventurers of England,and in that capacityhe issued a series of " ordinances" to the expedition. These are all quite sensibleand practical,and althoughthe one about to be quoted-the 31st- is couchedin termsthat cannot be accepted literally,it is evidentthat Cabot was warningthe expeditionagainst a real danger. The paraguraphis as follows:"1 tem, thereare people that can swim in the sea, havens and rivers,naked, having bows and shafts,coveting to draw nigh to your ships, which,if they shall find not well watched or warded, theywill assault, desirous of the bodies of men,which they covet formeat: if you resist them theydive, and so will flee,and therefore- diligentwatch is to be kept both day and nightin some islands."2 Discounting the accusationiof cannibalism,and assuming that the other expressionsare based upon the confusedreports of previousvoyagers, we have in this ordinance the suggestionthat in certain islands between England and the Straits of Vaigatz therewere people of proclivitiessimilar to those attributedto the Greenland pirates by Olaus Magnus, a contemporaryof Sebastian Cabot's. Olaus tells us that those people dive under ships and bore holes in the bottomisso that theyfounder. We may believe that both he and Cabot were speakingof real people, withoutnecessarily accepting all their statementsas true. The most, interestingfeature in Cabot's statementis that he is unidoubtedlyreferring to a people inhabitingcertain parts of North-Westernor NorthernEurope. Two writersof the fifteenthcentury and one of the sixteenthlhave already been quoted who speak of a people in the north-westof Norway known as.

1 This paintingis preservedin the EthnographicalMuseum, Copenhagen, and it has been reproducedin Nordenskiold'sVoyage of the Vega (Englishtranslation), where it has received- the titleof " New WorldPolar Dress." 2 Pinkerton'sVoyages and Travels,vol. i, London,1808, p. 6. DAVID MACRITCHIE.-The Kayakin North-Western Europe. 509

"Skraelings," who made use of skin boats and lived in caves and underground houses. It will be rememberedthat this name " Skraeling" was applied by the Norsemen to the Eskimo whom they encounteredin North America in the eleventhcenitury. They sometimesreferred to themalso as " Lapps," and at other times as " trolls." There is no evidencethat those Eskimo representeda type of man previouslyunknown to the Norsemen. The generalconclusion to be drawnfrom these various references seems to me to be substantiallythat drawnby Buffonin the eighteenthcentury: that the people of the ArcticCircle were at one tiine " nearly alike." A inore modern ethnologist, CharlesH. Chambers,a formermember of this Society,expressed himself in similar termsin 1864. Unfortunately,he does not give any reasonsfor the conclusionhe arrived at, which he brieflystates in these words: " I believe the race which inhabited the northernshores of Europe to have been akin to the Laps, Fins and Esquimaux,and the Pickts or Pechtsof Scotland, and to have given rise to many of the dwarf,troll, and fairystories extant among the Sagas and elsewhere."' Sir George Dasent clearly favoured this view, although he expressed himself with much greatercaution. In his opinion, the Orkney and Shetland groups,prior to the arrival of the Norsemen in the ninth century,were inhabitedby two races, the dwellers in the undergroundhouses and those who inhabitedthe circulartowers commonlyknown as " Brochs," of both of which structuresspecimens are yet to be seen. "What these races were," observes Dasent, "whether the firstwhich dwelt undergroundwere Esquimaux of Turanian race, while the Burghs,or castles or Picts' houses,are the handiworkof that mysteriousrace of Picts so long the terrorof BritishAntiquaries, may be matterof doubt."2 It will be observedthat these termsare so extremelycautious that Dasent commitshimself to nothing. But he shows that he entertainedideas not very differentfrom those to which Chambersgives directexpression. It maybe added, in conclusion,that Orkney tradition alleges that the Finnmen were the precursorsof the Norsemen in Orkney,and that theseislands were,in the local phraseology," won fronmthe Finnfolk." An Orkneytradition, recorded by the late Walter Traill Dennison,asserts that the little island of Eyn-Hallow, lying,betw-een the island of Rousay and the mainland of Orkney,was the last refugeof the Finnfolk.3 A Shetlandsong assigns to them the lonely islet of Stile Skerry,situated midway between Hoy Head, Orkney,and Cape Wrath. Tlle lines embodyingthis idea, as well as the belief that Firinmenwere seals or " selkies" when theywere in the sea, althoughquite human when oii shore,are as follows " I am a man upo' da land; I am a selkie i' da sea. An whinI'm farfa everystrand, My dwellingis in Shool Skerry."

1 AnthropologicalReview, 1864. 2 The Orkneyiinqers'Saga, Rolls Series,1894, Introduction, p. 5. 3 The ScottishAntiquary, January,1893, p. 118. 2 M 2 510 DAVID MACRITCHIE.-The Kayakin North-Western Europe.

This rhyme,with many other interesting traditional references to the Finnfolk, was publishedby Dr. Karl Blind in the course of a series of papers on " Scottish, Shetlandic,and GermanicWater Tales," contributedto The ContemporaryReview of 1881 and to The Gentlemaqn'sMagazine of 1882. It is not uillikelythat these papers led to the re-printingof Wallace's and Branid'sbooks in 1883. There can be no doubt, at any rate,that the publicationof the historicaland the traditionalaccounts in 1881-1883 stimulatedTudor, in 1883, to point out the manifestconinection betweenthem. One other detail must be referredto. It is evident that the Orkney and Shetland traditionsof Finn women who cast off their "skins" on coming ashore point to the use of the kayak among women. At the present day, the weight of evidence is stronglyagainst the use of the kayak by women,who are almost exclusivelyspoken of as using only the large open oomiak,thence known as " the women'sboat." Nevertheless,two AngmagsalikEskimo womenpossessed kayaks in 1883-85.1 Mr. David Haniburyspeaks also to a restricteduse of the kayak by the Hudson's Bay women,when he states that the men do not trusttheir women in kayaks " unless theyare lashed togetherso as to forma raft." Those kayaks of the westernHudson's Bay coast are coveredwith deer skin,however, and are lighterand crankierthani those coveredwith seal skin. Mr. Hanbury (op. cit., p. 3) remarksthat the men " feel perfectlyat home in them so long as they are under way,but exercise great cautionwhen at rest. I observed,"he adds, "that theyinvariably landed whenithey wishedto light theirpipes, or even to take a cup of water." It is to be noted, however,that Baffin,pilot of the Patience,one of Captain Hall's ships in 1612, says of the Greenland Eskimo: "Every one, both man and woman,has a boat coveredwith seal's skin,close sewed,that no water can enter them."2 Whittier'sreference to the " squaw in her small kyack" may, therefore,be well founded. Whittierwas thoroughlyversed in the traditionallore of the region in which his poem (The Bay of the SevenIslands) is placed, and he had probably good reason for assigniniga kayak to a Labrador Eskimo woman. Many otheraccounts might be cited whichbear a distinctlyopposite testimllony, and the statementis repeatedlymade that the kayak is exclusivelya man's boat. So far as regards Europe, we have seen that one of the occupants of the two-holed kayak capturednear Vaigatz in 1653 was a woman. The traditionalreferenices in Orkney and Shetland consequentlyreceive some support on both sides of the Atlantic. It is obvious that the recognitionof a race of kayak-usingpeople in seventeenth-centuryEurope opens up a wide field of enquiry. It means that the type known as " Magdalenian" has persistedin Europe down to a recent date, if not actually to the present day. A furtherconsequence is that the name "Lapp offersonly a verypartial solutionof the problempresented.

1 Mieddelelseronb Gronland, lOde Hefte,Text, 384. 2 H3akluytSoc., Arcticvol., Lond., 1894.