Date: Tue, 7 Mar 1995 08:24:25 -0800 (PST)
From: George Dyson <gdyson@janice.cc.wwu.edu>
To: Guillemot@aol.com
Subject: Re: Traditional Kayak Designs
In-Reply-To: <950306214515_41399614@aol.com>
Message-Id: <Pine.ULT.3.91.950307081525.16806A-100000@janice.cc.wwu.edu>
The "twig" *sometimes* installed across the open jaws was not a twig but a
piece of baleen fibre (from baleen whales). This is a truly remarkable
physical material, tougher and more elastic (and with higher tensile
strength) than any other material known before composite plastics. Which
is why it was used for corset stays, etc. Before baleen became a trade
commmodity, it was used for all the structural lashings in Aleut kayaks.
This is only seen on a very few early museum specimens. Very curiously,the
Eastern Aleut single collected by the Litke expedition in 1826 (now in
Helsinki) has a perfectly smooth strip of baleen running the entire lenght
of the keelson, from bow to stern. (and, yes the ivory inserts in the
joints, which Joseph Lubischer, Chris Cunningham and I were able to x-ray
with the help of a vetrinarian, late on night after the museum closed...)
Never seen anything like it on any other specimen, or even a mention of
it. Shows how many things in this business are based on a sample size of
one--not a secure position to generalize from!
George B. Dyson Fairhaven College / MS 9118
gdyson@henson.cc.wwu.edu Western Washington University
(360) 734-9226 Bellingham, WA 98225-9118