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Back on the Land: Inuit Return to the Arctic
| Article
# : |
14217 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
7 / 1988 |
2,787 Words |
| Author
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Bryan and Cherry Alexander
Bryan and Cherry Alexander are free-lance photojournalists
based in England. |
The five caribou seemed to sense the danger. They stopped grazing, raised their heads, and scented the air uneasily. Lying prostrate on a ridge of snow two hundred yards away, Augustine Taqqaugaq Squeezed the trigger of his old and battered rifle. A shot rang out; the caribou began to run. One faltered, and then fell dead onto the ground. Taqqaugaq stood up and, brushing the snow from his caribou-fur clothing, walked back to his snowmobile, a smile of satisfaction on his face. He started the machine, revving the engine before setting off toward his fallen prey. By the time we reached it, what little blood that had spilled onto the snow had frozen, for this was early March and the temperature was minus thirty-six degrees Centigrade.
Taqqaugaq produced a pocketknife and set about skinning the caribou, a task he performed with remarkable speed. Within fifteen minutes, he had folded the skin and loaded the carcass onto a sled. The wind had picked up, and blown snow was snaking across the tundra. Taqqaugaq pointed to some small, narrow clouds near the horizon. "Maybe later there will be a storm," he said, as he pulled the starter cord of his snowmobile. After checking that I was firmly seated on the sled, he set off for camp.
"Camp" was at Iglurjuat on the west side of Steensby Inlet, Baffin Island. In March it didn't look like much, for the large wooden hut that Taqqaugaq had built was completely covered by snow. If not for some oil drums, a dog team, and a couple of snowmobiles, one would hardly have known it was there. To describe the camp as remote would be an understatement. The nearest shop is the Hudson Bay Company store at Igloolik, more than a hundred miles away. That does not worry Taqqaugaq or the thirteen
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