Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk - Sanaaq - An Inuit Novel

They had completely lost sight of each other. The dog team came to a halt, as did the sled and its occupant. The dogs could go no further because of the raging blizzard. Meanwhile, Qalingu had clearly gone astray. He had lost his bearings and did not know where he was. He walked for a long time, using the wind as a compass. A strong atuarniq was blowing. He was afraid and his thoughts were on his companion.

“Had I not gone ahead, my young companion wouldn’t be in danger of freezing… He can’t do much by himself, so he’s certainly going to freeze… If he gets lost, it’d be better if we both got lost… But if we both die, my little family, my little boy, Qumaq and her mother, will be looking everywhere in vain. They’ll have false hopes and be ever more hungry, with no provider… The others will probably abandon them… I’m helpless because of this severe blizzard… I don’t even have anything to drink to keep me warm, and although my companion has a stove with a bit of kerosene, I’m very anxious for him…”

During this time, Ilaijja, who had halted with the sled, was abruptly and unwillingly pulled away in the direction of the wind by the dogs, which had smelled something. He was pulled away quickly and might have been thrown off at any moment as the sled hurtled over the uneven ridges of snow. He managed to hold on by hanging to the leather strap that held the load in place. The dogs’ sense of smell finally took the sled back to the abandoned igloo. His thoughts turned to Qalingu. “My companion will certainly freeze… I’ll be unable to go home alone… I’ll probably get lost on the way, poor little me who lacks intelligence and gets lost easily!”

Qalingu, now in the thick of the blizzard, was fast losing hope. His face was encrusted with snow and he could not make out the slightest thing. Nonetheless, he plodded on into the wind. His cheeks were freezing and his entire body was feeling the cold. With night falling, he decided to take shelter on the side of the hill away from the wind, while there was still some daylight. Without even a snow knife, he began digging a hole for himself in the snow, all the while afraid of being smothered by the blizzard.

Meanwhile, Ilaijja was waiting and doing nothing in their old igloo. He had been there all day and was starting to feel very hungry. For a long time, he chewed on a piece of beluga stomach, dipped in oil, and drank cold water, no longer having any fuel for heat. With another night coming, he tried to sleep but could not because the familiar howling of the wind was fading away.

At the camp where they had left their family, Sanaaq and her folks were worried. Ningiukuluk made Sanaaq even more anxious by saying, “Sanaaq ai! That’s some blizzard. It’s really no weather for being exposed to the elements far from home! I had a qunujaq some time ago. You’ll have to take good care of your little boy because I dreamed of something broken!” This was an omen that someone close would die.

“You’re probably right,” answered Sanaaq, “but I still hope they’re alive. We don’t have any news of them yet… Those beliefs of yours just aren’t true. I don’t want to believe in them!”

Ningiukuluk became angry because her views were being dismissed. As she left, she exclaimed, “ Irq! I’m leaving because no one believes me.”

Sanaaq slipped her baby into her amauti and told her daughter, “Qumaq! You must not come with me now!”

Sanaaq followed Ningiukuluk. She crossed the threshold and walked down the front step. Qumaq could not keep herself from following her mother, crying all the while, “ A a a! ” She fell and hit her face after stumbling over a ridge of snow. Sanaaq said, “Ningiukuluk! I’d like to give you some explanations… We’ve been told not to believe at all in such things. They’re not really things to believe in ai! ”

Ningiukuluk simply agreed with her

Daylight had now come and the two sled travellers, Qalingu and Ilaijja, would at last find each other. Qalingu was walking towards their old igloo. As he walked he said, “ Aa! ” Still anxious, he caught sight of the dogs. “Thank goodness!” When he reached his companion, he said, “You came back here?”

“Yes! I was dragged here against my will by their sense of smell… That’s how I managed to end up here!”

“The dogs are truly to be thanked! Let’s go! Let’s get on our way!”

“Yes!” said Ilaijja.

They got their dogs going, without even a going-away meal, because they had almost nothing left to eat. They both had empty stomachs.

At the camp, Sanaaq was carrying her son in her amauti. He was getting a bit big to be carried about in this manner. He was starting to crawl on his belly. She went out… Soon after, she began cutting and sewing some material to make boots with. She gazed at the horizon, far off in the distance, straight ahead of her, looking for travellers on a sled. She then said, “Those things over there, wouldn’t they be people coming on a dogsled? They look like little dark spots…” She went back in and said, “Arnatuinnaq! Go look! Seems to be people coming on a dogsled… Look at them through the telescope.”

“Yes!” said Arnatuinnaq. “Qumaq! Quick, get me the telescope up there in the kilu! ”

Qumaq fetched it from the kilu and brought it to her. Arnatuinnaq went out and looked through the telescope.

“You’re right,” she said. “There are people with a sled, over there. Looks like they’re having their daily meal!”

Qumaq and her little brother were overjoyed as Sanaaq in turn took a look.

The two travellers were indeed having their daily meal. They barely managed to get the stove lit and hardly had any provisions left. They drank a very weak tea and, between them, their only food was a small piece of meat. It clearly was not enough and Qalingu was glad to let his companion have it. He pretended that he did not want to eat, even a little bit, in order to leave him his share. He took care of his companion, out of love for him. The two of them got their dog team going again. The wind was blowing in their backs but, as they came closer to home, it dusted them with powder snow from the ground.

Arnatuinnaq prepared a meal for the travellers. She melted some snow for tea and chopped off a piece of frozen ujjuk, which she had received as her share of the game caught by another person. She cut it into small pieces, to make boiled meat. Then she went out again, for they were about to arrive. Everyone in the igloo stayed out for a long time as the boiled meat cooked over the oil lamp, whose flame was getting too high.

Sanaaq said to Arnatuinnaq, “Isn’t there an oil lamp smoking in our home?”

“No, not at all!”

Sanaaq went in and shouted, “ Ii! Our oil lamp is smoking! It’s full of smoke… Quick, give the vent hole up there a few blows with the axe! Make it wider! Hurry!”

Arnatuinnaq went in after giving the vent hole several blows with the axe.

“ Autualu! Ii! ” she said, on seeing Sanaaq’s nostrils and face black with soot, from inhaling the smoke. “Your face is all covered with soot and so are your nostrils!”

“No wonder,” said Sanaaq. “It was full of smoke!”

Qumaq was told by her folks to stay outside, so as not to breathe the soot. The travellers had now arrived and were bringing their baggage inside and unharnessing the dogs…

With spring arriving, Qalingu and Ilaijja went hunting on the sinaa. Ilaijja harnessed the dogs and said, “ Autualu! ” on noticing that a dog was missing.

One of their dogs was nosing around in an abandoned igloo. Qalingu, meanwhile, was coating the undersides of the runners with wet snow, using a nanuirvik. When the undersides were completely frozen, he planed them smooth and iced them again. Once they were properly iced, he stood the sled upright and attached a naqitarvik and also a kalirtisaikkut. He lashed his qajaq to the top of the sled. After tying it down, he went inside to put on his dehaired sealskin boots, which were impermeable to seawater. From among his mittens, he took the ones made of black dehaired skin. Finally, he put on sealskin overpants.