and his prey are vivid. Remember that this was a time when there was little or no option but to rely on skills and collaboration to find the means to survive. In one memorable exploit after another, the author encourages the reader to summon up the consciousness of the life of the tribe that hunts – a feeling lost in our age of processed meat so anonymous that we can ignore it comes from animals that lived. The tiny trading posts in the Canadian arctic are supplied annually with goods sought from Europe. The annual Hudson’s Bay Company supply ship, the Tyne-built Nascopie, braves the dangerous summer waters to replenish the essentials required by indigenous groups and traders and to return with furs, ivory and ambergris. One year, ice conditions make it impossible for the Nascopie to reach Coral Harbour. David, Nattakkok, Koosherak and Kowjakudluk set off in a whaleboat to pursue a Greenland whale that will guarantee enough meat for all for the entire winter. The expedition is successful though it takes them 28 days. Despite having now provided the community with the bare essentials, they refuse to revert to mere subsistence living, and so eight men with four dogsleds undertake a trek to the trading post at Repulse Bay (now Naujaat). Forty-seven days and 1500-miles later, they return to Coral Harbour with supplies of flour, tea, sugar, molasses, tobacco, coffee and the most coveted item of all – matches. David’s account of leading that expedition accompanied by seven Inuit friends offers an insight into the essential nature of such dangerous travel. Like hunting, long-distance travel is a social affair in which eight men and 33
Issue 02
Devour: Art and Lit Canada
60