Compared to the Koryak, the Alaskan kayak is tremendously advanced. The Aleuts are daring and accomplished kayakers, and their craft are among the finest in the Arctic. The Kodiak Island kayak of 1885, shown above, represents one type used in this area and that from Unalaska, shown below, the other. The Kodiak boat is rather short and wide, measuring 15 feet 1 inch in length, 29 inches beam and 14 inches depth to ridge batten of the deck just forward of the manhole. The boat has the humped sheer found in many Alaskan kayaks and is intended for use in stormy waters. Its large manhole, also a feature of the Nunivak Island kayak, permits two persons to be carried, one facing forward to paddle and the passenger facing aft, or the space can be used to carry cargo. The drawing shows the construction and requires no detailed explanation. Kayaks from the Aleutian Islands eastward to Kodiak use rod battens; only the gunwales and keelson are rectangular in section. The frames are thin flat strips bent in one piece from gunwale to gunwale. The ridge-batten of the deck is laminated, in two pieces. The deck beams and thwarts are notched into the ridge-batten and lashed. The bow piece is carved from a block, and the longitudinals are lashed to it, each in a carefully fitted notch. The sternpost is formed of a plank. The skin cover passes over the manhole rim and a line passed outside the rim holds the skin down enough to form a breakwater. The skin cover is sewn to the inside lower edge of the rim, thus covering it almost completely. [Illustration: Figure 177 KODIAK ISLAND KAYAK, 1885, in U.S. National Museum (USNM 76285). The identification of this kayak has been questioned by Henry B. Collins and John Heath, but it may represent an old form out of use in the twentieth century.] [Illustration: Figure 178 ALEUTIAN KAYAK, Unalaska, 1894, in U.S. National Museum (USNM 76282).]