« Return to the Inuit legends list

Nunamiut: Inuit on the Land

Artist: Elisapee Inukpuk In the days before Inuit had four-wheelers and motor-powered boats for summer travel, they traveled by foot and by kayak. In the late spring and summer, they traveled inland in search of caribou. Sometimes they walked and paddled great distances.

When the caribou hunting party were traveling along a river or lake, the men paddled the kayaks on the water [qajartutuit], while the women walked along the shore [qutiruqtuit]. Their dogs walked along with them, tied on leashes [tasiguartuq].

Inuit carried all of their belongings with them when they traveled. The dogs carried packs on their backs. The women carried the young children on their backs. When the men had to travel over land to reach the next lake or river, they carried their kayaks on their heads [maqittuq], their small sons on their shoulders, and packs on their backs.

When the hunters found caribou, they stopped and set up camp. Then they ate fresh caribou meat and caribou fat [tunnuq]. They also stored tunnuq for later use, and dried caribou meat to make nikkuq.

They scraped and cleaned the caribou skins, chewed them to make them soft, and sewed them to make clothing.

When they had finished all the work of drying the meat, and cleaning, smoothing, drying and sewing the skins, they packed up everything and traveled back towards the coast.

Excerpt from: Unikkaangualaurtaa (Let's Tell a Story)