The Kayakers of Igdlorssuit

Authors

  • H.I. Drever

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic3739

Keywords:

Birds, Gwich'in language, Indians, Traditional knowledge, Inuit, Inuit languages, Social interaction, Alaska, Northern, Old Crow, Yukon

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. ..

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Published

1958-01-01