Nain

I spent the month dutifully working with the children at the igloo and over time I found myself spending more time with Gilbert. He had just returned back from Western Canada on a walk about. He was back to take care of his family after his father Peter had fallen while working as a carpenter. It was hard to be back after a long time on his own but he and his brother George hunted and fished on the good days and he made carvings in the cracks. I asked if I could come along and as time went on I was asked to come on a regular basis. I was useless of course but I was enthusiastic. I was young and strong so I was relegated to un skilled labor unlike George and Gilbert who labored twice as hard as I ever could.

Summer was winding down and fall was upon us. Travel to and from Young’s Harbour Dog Island (44km each way) to fish was over but now it was seal hunting and duck hunting time. My memory has faded over time so I don’t remember what had transpired but I bought three primary rifles. A Winchester 243, a Remington 22 single shot 22 and a 3” magnum 12 gauge shotgun. Both Gilbert and George spent a lot of time showing me how to shoot, how to site in the rifles and how to hit what I was looking at. More and more we traveled south to Edwards Place, Edward Noah had a cabin where he lived full time by himself. When Gilbert first came back from the south he spent a lot of time with Edward relearning place names in Inukitut and how to best exploit his new understanding of the landscape and it’s wildlife.

If I remember correctly we traveled mostly by trap skiff boats that were 28-30 foot long powered by (in our case) Lister diesel engines. The boats that cobbled together and often leaked like sieves. There was lots of time to contemplate the world as we motored from Nain to Edwards approximately 3-4 hours south (63km), depending on hunting.

Time to freeze ones ass off as well. Every so often one of us would jump up and bail the water out of the bilge and scan around for seals and ducks. We usually traveled the inside route (Tabor Island way)which was protected from most winds and Gilbert always liked to travel at the change to the slack tide. When we approached Kamarsuk,Voisey’s Bay we were far enough away from Nain speed boaters that the animals were less shy and we often brought fresh seal meat and few ducks to Edwards place (Anunsikak) which was always welcome. We’d throw our caribou hides on the floor and roll out what ever form of bed rolls we had and slept like the dead. During the night the fire would go out and I was always happy to have an old down sleeping bag that kept me warm. Up early fire going and coffee/tea all around then we’d depart again. Edward was shy with me at first but over time he made me feel very welcome. At that time I didn’t realize that we were to become neighbors.