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.
