Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk - Sanaaq - An Inuit Novel

That evening, Sanaaq and Aqiarulaaq prepared to go line fishing.

“Sanaaq!” said Aqiarulaaq. “Let’s go fishing for kanajuit! ”

Before leaving, they baited their hooks with pieces of blubber — some leftover chewed rubber — and took along a leather strap as a nuvviti. They set off. Sanaaq had to step over several cracks in the ice.

“The water is very murky here! Looks like the pack ice is breaking up… It will be harder and harder to walk over after the high spring tides!”

They began to fish by jerking their lines.

“Feel that,” said Aqiarulaaq. “It feels like a sculpin. Doesn’t seem to be hungry!”

“Listen! I can feel one! Yes! A a a! ” Sanaaq drew it in. “I’ve caught a sculpin ai! ”

“I envy you! I probably won’t catch any. They’re all getting away… I must be scaring them off with my hook!”

Sanaaq caught many sculpins and strung them onto her nuvviti.

“I feel like heading home,” said Aqiarulaaq. “I probably won’t catch any… It’d probably be better if we went to the foreshore, over there ai! Where the ice has broken up.”

“Wait a bit, I’m catching quite a few,” said Sanaaq, as she pulled in another one. “Listen to it! A sculpin!” She drew it in. “ Ii! It’s a dirty ningiurqaluk. I’ll throw it away!”

“ Irq! Don’t throw it away! Give it to me!”

“ Ii! Leave it! Are you in the habit of eating ningiurqaluk? ”

“I’m not, but since I haven’t caught any…”

“ Ai! Then take some qanirqutuit and some ordinary sculpins!”

They went home and, once there, began cleaning the fish.

“I didn’t catch any,” said Aqiarulaaq. “They all got away. I brought nothing back!”

They cleaned the fish and put them into a cooking pot. Qumaq and Akutsiak went to draw some seawater. They dropped their pail down through an ice crack and, when they were done, returned home.

After another hunt for bearded seals, kujapiit were once again placed on a mangittaq. The invited women came together to feast on heart, qalluviaq, and qiaq. Akutsiaq removed the peritoneum from the ujjuk’ s small intestines using a sinew. When she was done, they ate it.

“Is it ever good!” exclaimed Sanaaq.

After eating, they rinsed and dried their hands.

Meanwhile, Qalingu was carrying stones to the hilltop to build an inuksuk. When he was finished, he wiped his telescope with an Arctic hare’s foot and looked through it at the surrounding landscape. Something caught his eye.

“It’s probably an ujjuk, ” he thought. “Down there, near the ice crack… I can’t make it out very well because of the columns of warm air… I’ll get a better look from further below… The two of us will go down to the ice floes!”

He drew closer as he descended and, looking again through the telescope, he could clearly make out the form of an utjuk. He went to his hunting companion and said, “There’s an uuttuq out there! It’s an utjuk! I’ll try to get nearer… Stay here and watch! If I am carried away on the drifting ice, you’ll come and look for me in a qajaq! ”

He made ready to leave with his harpoon and white hunting cap. He set off, carrying the harpoon line and the harpoon head on his back. He crossed the land-fast ice and headed to the ice floes that had come in with the rising tide. When he had almost reached the utjuk, he stopped momentarily to rest and watch from atop an ice cake, using a hummock in the ice to judge his distance. There was no mistaking it. He was next to the uuttuq. He drew nearer, but it was asleep and completely unaware of him. He caught its attention by making some noise… The utjuk raised its head… and Qalingu fired his rifle… He hit it and started running straight to the animal. He was glad that it was not in a hazardous spot.

Taqriasuk, his camp mate, had followed everything from the lookout. He began to descend on foot.

“Maatiusi! Qalingu has killed an utjuk! Take the dogs to him. He’s not far off!”

Maatiusi harnessed the dogs. “ Ha! Ha! Hau! Hau! ” But they were in a poor mood for pulling, their paw pads being in bad shape. He finished harnessing them and set off, holding the lead dog’s tugline and letting the others follow. Eventually he came to the edge of the ice crack. He halted for a while, scared to go across. The ice had shifted considerably. He finally stepped over the crack, taking care to follow Qalingu’s footprints. His dogs followed the footprints until they came within sight of the prey and picked up its scent, whereupon they bounded ahead at full speed — the very same dogs that were previously so loath to get going.

On arriving, Maatiusi said, “I took my time because for a long while I thought I wouldn’t be able to cross the big ice crack, which seems to have widened!..”

“ Ai! ” said Qalingu. “Not surprising. Let’s go! We’ll let the dogs pull it…Hurry, there’s a dark cloud, a sign that an uanniq is coming Uit! Uit! ”

They set off in the direction of dry land. Qalingu wielded his ice chisel to smash away hummocks in the ice that hindered the passage of the utjuk. They advanced toward the coast, above which loomed a large and increasingly visible blue-black cloud.

“Maatiusi ai! ” said Qalingu. “Don’t be afraid! We won’t be carried off with the ice.”

“But we will! I’m afraid! We’re drifting with it!”

“We aren’t! There’s just a little stretch of open water… When the tide comes in later today, it will push the drift ice to shore and we’ll cross straight onto the land-fast ice.”

They were separated from the land-fast ice by a narrow stretch of water. They weren’t afraid, for the sea was very calm. As they whiled away the time, waiting for the rising tide to bring them to shore, they saw a large number of puiji. The open water shrank to nothing and they were finally able to cross over. Their dogs were panting, their tongues hanging out.

On arriving home, Qalingu said, “For some time it was no longer possible for us to cross over to the land-fast ice!”

“But over there,” replied Sanaaq, “to the south, there isn’t any open water… You could have come back that way.”

“Time to sharpen my skinning knife! I’ll skin the animal and make straps out of its skin… Its guts have probably begun to putrefy and its flesh has become all soft.”

They started skinning and everyone received a portion of the meat. Qalingu and his hunting companion had killed many utjuit that spring, thereby procuring large amounts of kiatat and aksunaaksat.

The dogs fought over the scraps on the skinning site.

“Maatiusi!” said Qalingu. “Empty the small intestines and the stomach too. They might contain deadly parasites… Empty them into an ice crack. I’ll make a float out of them for my harpoon!”

“ Ii! They’re disgusting,” shouted Maatiusi, emptying the contents. “All these dirty amaukkaluit! ”

“There’s really nothing to be disgusted about,” said Qalingu. “Hurry up!”

When he was done, he rinsed his hands several times in a little pool of water.

The temperature turned colder that evening and the mushy snow froze again. They went to sleep at nightfall and awoke the next morning. Sanaaq lit her oil lamp and, while still in bed, prepared the morning breakfast by making tea. When done lighting her lamp, she fell back into a deep sleep… only to wake up again.