Slightly cloudy. Not very cold. Calm pm. Mr. Chipman had a snow-house (not roofed) built for an astronomical observatory. Also another roofed snow house for balloon apparatus.
About noon two sleds arrived from the east (Kogluktualuk, Port Epworth) – Kannoyuak and his wife, and Tagluk and his wife. Kannoyuak brought back my 20-gauge shotgun. He said he had killed one caribou fawn with it. They also brought two Wolverines (unskinned), two Red Foxes (unskinned), several White Foxes (unskinned), and two caribou (head and legs unskinned). Also a Coronation Gulf Kayak for sale.
Rudolph M. Anderson
Zoologist and Head of the Southern Party
Diary of Rudolph M. Anderson © Canadian Museum of Nature
The men of the CAE were quick to learn the importance of snow houses. Knowing how to build a snow house or iglu was a necessity for safe travel in winter. Snow houses were also of practical importance for many other purposes as Dr. Anderson records. When studying muskoxen on Bathurst Island in the 1970s, we used a snow house as an observation blind. I was initially frustrated at the difficulty of building one, then amazed at the simplicity and functionality of the structure once we learned the correct technique.
Dr Anderson met Kannoyuak at Tree River on the Arctic coast in October 1915 and offered to purchase several specimen skins and his Kayak. Anderson knew that Copper Inuit kayaks, used in lakes to spear caribou and for crossing rivers, were rare. Kannoyuak wanted a supply of powder, lead and primers in exchange for the kayak.
When Kannoyuak brought his kayak to the CAE camp to trade, I’m sure that he had no idea of how famous his kayak would become. It has been described in journal articles and a book, and has appeared in several exhibits and on a poster of Inuit kayaks. It is interesting that the basic information on this kayak, including its original owner, was actually lost for many years. In preparing for the CAE exhibition, I discovered the kayak’s story in Dr. Anderson’s field notebook, not in anthropologist Diamond Jenness’ records as we all had expected.
David
