Trip Inland in Summer

The Interviews - Related Artwork from Cape Dorset Collection


EN: We use to walk all the way inland to spend the summer.

TI: Ever since I was a child, I use to walk all around.

EN: The reason was that there were no caribou close by at that time. That was the only way we use to hunt caribou so that we could secure the skin for clothing.

TI: On the first day that you started out you would walk all day long, when night came you would set up camp. One felt so tired. After we woke up the following morning we would be refreshed again, as if we had never been tired.

EN: The first day your thighs would be really sore, then the second day you would not get as tired, then the third day you would no longer get tired.

Q. So you would stay in this area in the spring and when the summer arrived then you would go inland for the summer?

EN: In the summer the men would be hunting for walrus while there was daylight all of the time.

TI: When small birds had hatched and started to walk around, that was an indication that it was time for you to go inland. That was the time when you went inland for the summer.

EN: That is also the time when it started to get hazy at night. At the same time there would be those that would start to move to the places where they would be spending the summer. As for ourselves, we would be transported by boat to the place where we would start inland.

TI: In our case we would be taken to the mainland while the ice was still solid. We would be on the littoral hunting for bearded seal before the summer.

........from another interview

TI: When I picture the time when we used to go inland by foot in the summer, I get tired. When you are used to walking it is not tiring. Even if it looks hazy out in the distance, you could reach that in one day.

EN: We use to go all they way towards ALARNNAARJJUK, we would get close to the other side of the peninsula. The men would go right to the shore at ALARNNAARJJUK starting from this area. When we went inland and set up our summer camp inland, the men would go to all directions from this summer camp and they would be able to reach the other side of the peninsula.

TI: We would all go at the same time. When we made camp the men would go to other locations where they too would spend the night out while they hunted. Then they would return to the main camp. We would stay in the main camp while the men went out in search of caribou. When the men walk in search of caribou from the main camp they would go much faster because they are not moving the camp. They can cover great distance when they go out alone.

TI: They would come backpack our tents and other things that we would need in the camp, including meat.

EN: There would be some that would carry meat, and there are those that carried household implements, and there would be those that carry blubber for fuel. Each had a different load.

TI: In those days, we did not bring a whole lot of things as we do today. There would be things like beddings which would be backpacked by dogs.

EN: Then there would be one that is back packing the tent.

TI: That is the way we use to do it.


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