The Kayakers of Igdlorssuit

Abstract

... The Greenland kayak, although very manoeuvrable and efficient, is at the same time so absurdly small and frail that to chase a seal in it seems almost an impertinence. The contempt that no doubt the seal must feel on seeing a kayak usually coincides with the swift arrival of a harpoon thrown with unerring accuracy at the base of its neck. But that is not always the end of the hunt; it is sometimes the end of the hunter. Very few families in Igdlorssuit have not lost a father, a brother or a son by drowning during a seal's last frantic fight for its life. ..