 is made in the same way as the half-jacket,
and, like it, fits close to the kaiak-ring, but is longer above, has
sleeves attached to it, and a hood which comes right over the head.
It is laced tight round the face and wrists, so that with it on the
kaiak-man can go right through the breakers and can capsize and right
himself again, without getting wet and without letting a drop of water
into the kaiak.

It will readily be understood that it is not easy to sit in a vessel
like the kaiak without capsizing, and that it needs a good deal of
practice to master its peculiarities. I have seen a friend of mine in
Norway, on making his first experiment in my kaiak, capsize four times
in the space of two minutes; no sooner had we got him up on even keel
and let him go, than he again stood on his head with the bottom of the
kaiak in the air.

But when one has acquired by practice a mastery of the kaiak and of the
two-bladed paddle, one can get through the water in all sorts of weather
at an astonishing speed. The kaiak is beyond comparison the best boat
for a single oarsman ever invented.

In order to become an accomplished kaiak-man, one ought to begin early.
The Greenland boys often begin to practise in their father's kaiak
at from six to eight years old, and when they are ten or twelve the
provident Greenlander gives his sons kaiaks of their own. This was the
rule, at any rate, in former times. Lars Dalager even says: 'When they
are from eight to ten years old they take seriously to work in little
kaiaks.'

From this age onwards, the young Greenlander remains a toiler of the
sea. At first he generally confines himself to fishing, but before long
he extends his operations to the more difficult seal-hunting.

You cannot rank as an expert kaiak-man until you have mastered the art
of righting yourself after capsizing. To do this, you seize one end of
the paddle in your hand, and with the other hand grasp the shaft as
near the middle as possible; then you place it along the side of the
kaiak with its free end pointing forwar