HIgh in the Arctic .. .. Eskiimo !!

[ann]

speachless but a double wow (which is not a word )

 

[donbga]

Hello ! my name is David I am originally from Boston Ma. I am / was an electrican with an obsession for photography that had consumed me literally. I moved to Alaska.. working as an electrican I was sent to this tiny Eskimo village called Point Hope Alaska. For just 3 weeks, to wire two construction camps. When the job finished, I quit and stayed here.

....

All this incredibly hard work, no PAY FOR THIS WORK, but just the RIGHT TO EAT !

A wonderful story and inspiring work. You have my admiration.

Have you ever submitted your work for publication? I would also suggest you start your own photo blog! Great work!

 

[coriana6jp]

Awe inspiring work and one heck of store!!!

Your work is truly inspiring.

Welcome Aboard!

Gary

 

[Majik_Imaje]

Thank you all.. so much.. for that amazing set..

of comments, (blushing) !

first to answer some of the questions. I would not ever dare to trust anyone with the processing of this film, Even after this film was processed and images were shown to very important companies in anchorage, I was met with a bunch of thieves, United Bank of Alaska (now bankrupt) stole two albums, British Petrolium (like they have to steal?) they stole 75 images.

Alaska printing company stole a complete set of color seperations I had made, suddenlly when they called me to come pick them up, they dissappeared. Give us another negative, I said bye!

Graphics Art Publishinig Company Portand Orgeon, ripped me off big time, they published a huge white coffee table type book Alaska's Arctic.
My images start at page 128.

Sommerville Mass. ?? ha ha I have worked in Somerville mass, Many times.

Have I ever considered writing a book, yes sure, but publishers want material, I am not going to trust anyone ever again, not unless I have solid proof of not just another scam. I have been published in many books, magazines, and other type of periodicals, and such.

Back out.. ... to the ocean ice.This is a different world out here, a different planet, a frozen planet of ICE. So much of your world doesn't apply here and so much of our world doesn't apply to where you live. But we have time tested tricks. to keep warm way out here, we do things that you would never think of. We have ways to keep warm you would never or could ever experience either.

18 whaling camps are spaced out 1/2 - 3/4 a mile apart along the lead opening, some families stay together, but all in all, over 600 people are living out here at this very moment in time.

Hunting for food to last until next year.

Why did I use film instead of digital ? well in 1982 there were no digital, now a days, ha ha ha. go ahead, bring that digital rig down to the ocean ice and mount it on a tripod in that wind @ 50 below zero. THAT CAMERA won't last 12 hours, never mind 12 weeks, out in that cold, NO PLACE TO GO to warm it up and if you did, once inside you would not be able to take that camera back outside for many hours due to the sweating of the camera once it gets back inside.
Out here, all the manufactures hype and advertisements do not mean squat.
I had to literally chip ice out of the viewfinder every morning once the sun came up to reveal a camera totally encased in ice some 1/16" thick. the controls would work, sluggish and the ice would crack when the focus ring or aperture ring or shutter controls were moved.

Changing film was an excercise in pure torture ! I would scream, when I had to change film, especially on this day. I remembe it well it was 60 below, actual temp, wth winds at 45mph or greater.

See that ice on the other side of the lead opening ? it is moving very quickly from right to left in this image due to the strong north wind. It is very easy to hallucinate out here, do not watch that ice moving.They would alwys break out in great laughter watching me fall over because I was watching that ice too much. This is what happens, as you begin to focus and watch that ice, suddenly, it will STOP and you will begin to "feel" as though your moving in the opposite direction and I fell over, time and time again.

When the wind shifts to south wind, we must evacuate, run like hell, run for your lives, ice is coming and it will run right over everything in its path crushing without mercy anything and everything that is out there. so when that wind shifts, we have less than 20 minutes to scramble, 600 people trying to get off that ice as fast as possible this is what is heading our way

When we evacuate the ice. everything must be taken off that ice. every person must be accounted for, it is very easy to get caught on the wrong side of the ice. when this happens you usually find out, when it is too late. Drifting off to no where, no way to get back. some have survived this and lived to tell strange tales of their rescue.

This has to be a first, delivering free 11 x 14 gorgeous color prints down to the ice to pass out to everyone, no charge !

This is another typical whaling camp, that wind is fierce, but this is home for 8 weeks or longer, and we wait, watch, listen, and hope we have a successful year, last year we caught no whales, no whaling festival, other villages shipped down at great expense shares to feed the village.

The tents in the background are for the women only, and the boyer. The hunters sleep at edge of the ice. NO TENTS !

The children when they play out often mimic their parents. It doesn't matter what the temperature is, these children will stay out and play out for days and days.

Out here on the ice. you experience some bizarre feelings, one side of your face is sweating from the blinding intense sun and the other side is being frost bit.
Wait,watch,listen. this is the Eskimo way, wait!

Always vigilant, ever watching, for any sign of animal activity. As far as the eye can see and out here that is a lot of distance to cover.

more to come soon!

 

[xford35mm]

that's the most amazing thing I've seen and heard in a long , long time!!!!Welcome to APUG.

 

[papagene]

Wow! Just wonderful.
Welcome to APUG from the western side of Massachusetts (Springfield).

gene

 

[Steve Sherman]

Surely you have found Heaven on Earth!

 

[MurrayMinchin]

I see Sean gave you a free subscription

You've earned it!

Murray

 

[copake_ham]

I see Sean gave you a free subcription

You've earned it!

Murray

Yes.

And that means you can upload some of your best to The Gallery so everyone can see them!

 

[Frank R]

Should someone contact a gallery or museum or something?

This is really something special.

 

[Majik_Imaje]

Well I am just stunned and amazed by all your comments.

Gosh I don't know what to say! WowoW !

Lets start by getting rid of a few myths.!

If I type the word "Igloo" I bet you think you know what that means or is.

I bet your wrong.

Canada & Greenland use an ice type block structure to create a dwelling place.
But above the Arctic circle in Alaska, siince eons ago, thousands of years, an Iglu is made using whale bone, and sod ! when covered over with snow, a mount like appearance is seen.

In the Inupiaq language there are no O's or E's there are letters and combination of letters to produce those sounds.

So the proper spelling is Iglu

Iglu - one dwelling unit, Iglut = two dwelling units, Igluk - three or more.

Lets look at some real authentic "time share" condo units !

These are all recent digital images except the first unit, which is film and that unit once had electricity running to it, the service drop is on the left side stick

This is what Old Town site looks like today, in the summer time, on an overcast day. This is now a Federally Protected Land Mark and $10,000 fine if caught digging in this area. All sorts of artifacts wash up on these beaches aruond here. some are guite puzzling..

Well this "saw" type tool of some sorts fits perfectly into the hand, it appears to be a small womans hand by the way the hand and the fingers fit. it is very thin, made out of ivory and extremlly flexible, the elders say it was used for "sawing frozen fish". I shook my head, and showed them my idea. the handle is put into the hand and this tool is inserted into a bowl and turned around and around and around, then you can easily pick up your spaghetti !!
Everyone got a big chuckle out of that.

This black ivory fossilized heavy knife was quite amazing to look at and hold, it was not sharp or such it was too thick and we just coulldn't resist cutting it open to see the pattern. fossilized ivoryis rare and very expensive and gorgeous to make Ivory ear rings and bracelets and watch bands and other native Arts & Crafts.

Way outside the village in an unknown area, there is a preserved complete mastadon skeleton complete with 20 foot Ivory tusks still in tact. frozen into the hill side. Partially exposed enough to see what it is. The elders do not want anyone to touch it or photograph it. They are afraid, that someone will come, and just "take it"!


Clyde Harris In Kotzebue 200 miles south of here, was walkng along the beach one day, headed to work, he saw a tiny stump sticking out of the mud and he tried to kick it and almost broke his toe, He reached down to try and grab it and the earth moved 10 feet away, Clyde ran home and grabbed his shovel and dug this up. He was immediately offered $15,000 for that, he said NO!

There is plenty of Gold on the bedrock on the ground visible outside of Point Hope in an undisclosed area, no one will touch it. many have tried but have become very sick. Dogs were used to haul it out.but the dogs died.

I have stranger stories to tell, and lots more images to post,then I will upload

Thank you all so much. when this thread is finished then I will explain my technique, I never use a light meter, I use my eyes and I only take one exposure per composition. using film!

 

[Síle]

Welcome from Ireland, I am truly fascinated and in awe at your story and amazing images..
And waiting with baited breath for the next installment..

Síle

 

[Gay Larson]

very interesting, thanks and keep it coming.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Have you ever considered posting a portfolio here? I would love to see a greater body of the work. Very nice job.

 

[Majik_Imaje]

Lets Pause here for just a moment (pun intended)

DANGER: Polar bear - Nanuq (Nanook of the north) Nanuq is pronouned just like that old "fake" movie Nanook of the north made decades ago.. what is so ironic is that the persons name was not really Nanook and that in real life he died by being eaten by a polar bear!

Sob.. I had a very close friend in Point Lay (100 miles+ north here) Charles Stalker Jr. III He was my electrical apprentice in that village. Dec 1990 Sob.. .. A polar bear was going after his pregnant girlfriend. Chalres was only armed with a knife when he distracted that bear away from his girlfriend. He never had a chance, one swipe of the LEFT paw, literally cut him into two pieces and he was eaten. The bear was killed and his girl-friend survived that attack because of the heroism that Charles displayed.

Allan Rock was out on the ocean ice and was attacked by a polar bear. Armed with only a large knife. That bear died!

ALL bearsare left handed, they will always swing with the left paw first.

Billy weber was out on the ocean ice and a polar bear was coming after him. armed with only a .22 rifle and only one bullet left. Billly weber ran, His friends could see the predicament he was in but were too far away to help. There is only one place to shoot a polar bear, and that is in the ear. Shoot for the skull and it will bounce off his skull and the bear will get you!
Billy was running for his life, and that bear was gaining on him, while running he merely pointed that rifle back and took his last shot, Billy lived to tell about it.. that bear was that close, that Billy got him right in the ear.


These are all very true stories that anyone in Point Hope will verify.

Last week, ha ha ha... Gus Kowanna (17) bought himself a rifle that was way too powerful for him or anyone else for that matter, he was warned, don't do that Gus, and don't put a scope on it, he didn't listen. .303 weatherbee bolt action. Gus proudly went out to the ice with his new weapon, He was warned, Gus is out on the ice and went up to the tent for something, when he came out of the tent, there was a polar bear, looking at him from about 30 or 40 yards away or slightly further. Gus picked up his rifle and took careful aim and pulled the trigger, That scope punched him right in the eye and now the polar bear is coming after him, Gus loaded another bullet and took aimi and held on for dear life to that rifle.. BLAM.. that scope punched him square in the eye and he is hurting so bad, getting socked like that, he can't think of the pain he doesn't have much time left at all, carefully he loads another round and held it as tight as could be and pulled that trigger.. that bear went down and Gus got rid of that rifle. I wish I could have reached Gus to get a pic of his face. it was sure swollen. black eye real bad.. he learned his lesson, the hard way. but at least he alive.

Even after that polar bear is dead, stone cold dead, that bear can still kill that hunter or who ever opens that bear up for gutting or skinning or whatever it is called. The liver must be destroyed by fire, so that other animals will not eat it. the tubes must be carefully tied and you better know what your doing, if you get any of that juice on your skin, your dead, there is just too much vitamin A inside that bear.

In Barrow Alaska 1940's A very famous Inupiaq hunter was cleaning a polar bear and he was all but finished and his hands were cold and he cupped his hands to blow into them, he got the tinest bit of that juice on his lip.
He lived for many years and everyone in those parts is aware of him, he passed on in the late 80's I think. His skin was bleached pure white and his hair was as white as snow, he lived, and everyone is witness to this bizarre event.

Scientists are concerned about global warming and the recent amount of polar bears that show up in the water drown, dead. They figure it is because of the extended long swims from the ice pack to the next ice pack.
That is not the reason ! There seems to be a shortage of seals further north, and a polar bear will attack anything he can eat. and the biggest mistake a bear can make is to attack a sleeping walrus. A walrus likes to sleep on its back, neck up head back exposing his vital neck region, the walrus is stretched out, asleep and along comes a polar bear, hungry, he pounces on that walrus who merely lowers his tusks around the bears head and rolls over into the water and drowns the bear! The walrus always wins.

Polar bears live on the ice, they follow the ice, sometimes they miss and end up in town, we do our best to get them out of town, but when a bear is going after a child or another person, we have no choice but to take it down quick.

Last month a mother with 3 cubs intered town, the ending was a good one, they were successful in getting that mother out of town and back onto the ocean ice.
The most delicous meat I have ever tasted in all my life has been polar bear meat, It is jet black, grainy like an old piece of garnled wood but it is so sweet and tender, better than the best prime rib I have ever eaten, It was the only time I have ever asked for seconds and everyone all at once said NO!

The hunter takes care of the bear, the women take care of the skin. This skin is worth over 15,000! To properly accomplish a "native" tan, without the use of chemicals, an extremelly sharp Ullu knife is needed, and many women are required to finish this in the course of an entire day.

Sally Killigvuk (left) and Elizabeth Oviok - Postmaster (right) are using all they got with much strength to scrape the skin until it is soft and clean. There are about six women working on this and it will take them most of the entire day.

Once it is cleaned then it must be thrown into the ocean tied up of course to something solid, then it is hung up in the Arctic wind for a few months to dry out.

Well I hope you found this "bear-y" interesting !

I will return with LOTS more. !!

The best.. ... is yet to come.. ..!

 

[Majik_Imaje]

Sorry for the oversight, it won't happen again

98% of what I have shown so far has been film sorry for the oversight in a few images.

EVERYTHING will be film I won't make that mistake again for sure. thanks for pointing it out.

 

[fschifano]

Welcome from NYC. These are some fabulous images and wonderful stories.

Regards

Frank

 

[Krockmitaine]

Welcome aboard!!
Fascinating images and stories.

Please, don't be shy posting your images and use the gallery, it will be easier for everyone to post and look into your portfolio in the future

Marc

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

I think we need a new APUG feature: Picture Story. Perhaps it could be a riff on the current thread model, but with smaller margins and better picture size management.

Like LIFE magazine, you know? I know it's not the most convenient thing to see these pictures in a thread, but the pacing of the words and the pictures is great, so I would hate to see the flow of the story be broken up by putting the pictures in the gallery only.

 

[bjorke]

terrific

 

[Majik_Imaje]

Whales are coming.. .. .. Lets go !

Whales are headed this way, lots of them and everyone is taking off, I am trying to get or catch as many crews taking off as I can, but that is virtually impossible due to the fact that there are 18 crews spaced out along a ten mile or so range. I know these people will catch a whale, they always seem to catch, at least one, In 1989 they caught four ! It was a banner year with much celebration.

Last year we struck out!
other villages that were successful sent down shares for the village at great considerable expense.

Mother nature calls, and when you get back from the privy, oh no! my crew has taken off without me OH NO !!

Some umiaq's are coming back, I wonder why ?

Now,after weeks of waiting, waiting, waiting, everyone is runing around at warp speed. something is going to happen today or tommorrow, believe it or not. the air is filled with a sort of electricity,, I can just feel and see the difference in everyone.

Would you belive it is 1:30 am here in this image ?
We have the greatest summers, the sun and the moon at the same time in opposite ends of the sky constantly revolving around us all day long for months. WowoW!

The sun is low on the horizon so early in the morning and you can see right through the skin in this boat, that is how thin it is, strong, thin, and durable.
It lasted the life of that animal and will go on for many years on this craft.

Irma Oktollik is explaining to me all about the whale, We can't catch that whale she said, A whale is powerful and very smart. Keen eyesight, incredible hearing from great distances and strong sense of smell ! We have to wait for that whale to give itself over to the captain of its choice. Whales are just like children she added, some are boastful and will make a big show when they die, others will give it up right away. Some will hide, some will run north some will run south, but they always match that particular captain each time no matte which year it is. A whale will always match the personality of the Captain, no matter which year it is, that whale will always do the same thing for that particualr captain, according to his personality. Some captains will never receive a whale because of their personality, too mean, will not help others, cheat etc. Somehow the whales can sense this and will avoid that captain. One captain, when he catches a whale, that whale will always hide, and we only have 3 days to find it or the meat will be bad. There is very little meat on a bowhead whale, that whale is 80% fat, blubber, flammable fat.

In that image above, the water, beside the ice? Floyd Oktollik, is smiling at me and I know what he is thinking.. LOL what is that dumb city boy from Boston going to do next. ?? they leave and are out of sight in no time.
I have the habit of making these people fall into fits of uncontrolable fall down laughter,
I walk over to that edge. No one is around, I am the ONLY PERSON, on the ice pack, everyone is gone, in skin boats,

the women in the tents, 1/2 - 3/4 a mile behind the lead opening are all busy, working, I have been out here for about 6 weeks and I am starting to feel very comfortable with my new twilight zone surroundings.

I walk up to that edge and stick the tips of my bunny boots over the edge a couple of inches. I have a camera strap around my neck, Mamiya RB on my chest, I stand a little taller and place my hands /arms behind my back and straighten up just a little bit TALLER, as if to say,, hey this is so kewl, LOOK AT ME! HA HA HA HA h a ha ha ha.. I never saw it.. THERE WAS NO WARNING WHAT SO EVER. That glass - like water never moved as much as a ripple not the slightest. PERFECTLLY STILL GLASS, and then right in front of me was a huge black hole, My leg couldl have easily have fit inside that hole, a huge bowling ball could fit in, with room to spare (no pun intended). WHOOOOOOSSSSSSHHHHHHH! HE blew his blowhole.. ALL OVER ME. OMG... Oh my ever loving sense of smell is forever ruined. what is that facking stink ? whew.. I am soaking wet all over. A huge blast of STINNKING FOUL SMELLING... putrified stink, barf! I am dripping wet, soaked, cold and running back toward the camp area and I got a long way to go.. oh my goodness... I can't even breathe, this stink is everywhere.. my face is wet, all of me is wet. Like a huge firehose was opened on me and tons of water blasted me WHEW WHAT A STINK...as I approach the tent area of our camp two women are working outside of the tent.. as they look up to see me COVERED in ice. they burst into laughter.. It wasn't hard or difficult for these professionals to figure out what had happened just by looking at me.. GET AWAY... STAY BACK.. NO! you can't come in here.. and they fell down laughing in an uncontrollablel hard laugh. I tried to give them the camera to take a pic.. they would not come near me..i HAD TO WAIT.. while they melted snow, and made warm water for me to wash this off.. It was a long time before I was cleaned up enough to even begin to smile..I want to know... whose idea that was ? I want to know!.. WHO laughed the HARDEST... !

Jonah had his story ,it is written in a book called the bible.

I have my true story about a whale, and it has been posted on this and many other web sites.

 

[Majik_Imaje]

The Arctic has many faces

I was posting on one web site about a year ago, and a woman said. Now I know your lying to me, you said it was Feb. and it got light during the day, we all know it is six months darkness and six months light. ROFLMAO.

Well maybe it is that way at the very top of Greenland or the North Pole, But here in Point Hope, here is how the light or sun works. Lets start with Dec.21st the shortest day of the year. It will not get light out until about 11:30 a.m. dusk like, the sun comes up and goes right back down and it is dark again by 2:30 p.m But we have some light every day, this is not so further north in Barrow. The sun goes below the horizon in late Nov and doesnt' come above the horizon until end of Jan. but they do have "light" every day. just not direct sunlight from the sun being above the horizon.

As we move on into January we are starting to pick up more and more minutes each day to increase our daylight. by the time Feb arrives, we are same light / dark relationships as you are where you live, but as soon as March arrives, we are gaining 20 minutes more sunlight each day, When we reach May, we see the midnight sun, mid May, and it will not go below that horizon until the end of August when we start to loose 20 minutes every day until Dec arrives. But our summers are just the greatest in the world, all night long, children playing out, the sound of the village is alive. parents sleep but children are OUT. it was very common for someone to knock @ hour house 3:30 a.m. yawn..... Knock knock .. "Can Isaiah play out?" NO!.. .. he is already playing out.. someplace (close by) .':rolleyes:

-=[Midnight mid May]=-


-=[WINNER]=-

-=[ALASKA PRESS AWARD 1989]=-

Rex Rock - Umailik - Whaling Captain May 14th 1989 Exactly @ Midnight

Rex is scanning the horizon, constant vigil with these hunters, always looking for some sign of animals migrating. 24/7



STORY TIME last sunday.. the crews down on the ice had to evacuate twice during the past three weeks due to south wind.

Upon returning to the ice, Robert Kingik was using Luke Koonuks snowmachine with ten foot sled. Erin Taylor was on the back of the sled. He is 11 years old. Robert is about 27 years stupid.

It was hard to see the existing trail in the ice because the skies are overcast and the new north wind brought snow and covered some of the tracks and the ocean was "slush".. Robert never saw the edge of the ice,

He drove the machine right into the ocean. When 11 year old Erin saw the machine go "down" he quickly rolled off the sled onto the ice. The snowmachine and the sled disappeared instantly into the slush. Robert was trying to tread water and reach the ice and went down, he came back up and yelled, Erin, i know I am going to die today, "down down' , he popped back up and said.. "see you in heaven or in hell " and
went down.. Erin stuck his whole arm into the slush and grabbed Robert by the hair! Somehow this 11 year old superstar hero managed to get Robert back on the ocean ice. INSTANTLY the next thing is to cut off all his clothes, every stitch of clothing must be CUT OFF as quickly as possible without injuring the person or indivduals involved. 100% naked standing on ice @ 30 below soaking wet.

Then the person can start to dress the naked person by removing his clothing and get this person dried, dressed and new clothing at the nearest tent location.

Erin was the only person around, he removed his hat and quickly Rubbed robert down to get all the water /ice slush off him. then Robert wears the hat, and Erin takes off his outerwear, Parky and skipants for Robert to use and they run, 3/4 a mile back to where Robert missed a turn in the trail.

Wait a minute.. ... uses a hat to get water and wet slush off a person? Isn't the hat wet now ? nope dry as can be, Certain furs, hold water, and certain furs repel water, Wolverine & Beaver cannot become wet, just shake it and all the water is gone, fur is dry, wolf fur is not for hunting, it will keep your face wet and cold, same with fox and many other furs, they are only used for Fancy parky's only.

Needless to say. The whaling captain was furious over loosing his new $12,000 snowmachine & home made sled. This loss will place incredible strain on the captain for accomplising all his tasks to maintain the crew of 12 - 15 people he supports all day every day for 2 months!!
Luke Koonuk is an Episcopal Minister here in town.! Believe it or not it is rumored that Luke owns a Stratavarius Violin!
I have been told this by many people here in town.

 

[Ole]

I was posting on one web site about a year ago, and a woman said. Now I know your lying to me, you said it was Feb. and it got light during the day, we all know it is six months darkness and six months light. ROFLMAO.

I spent 9 months at about the same latitude, in Troms, Norway. With the difference that I was far inland and you are on the coast, I know exactly what that light is like!

BTW - I believe the northernmost Apugger is at about 78°N

 

[ricksplace]

Absolutely stunning. Your stories add so much to the pictures. Welcome from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. And I thought it got cold here....

 

[Majik_Imaje]

A whale has been caught !!!

Again I apologize for letting those few digitial iimages creep into add to the view of the story being written here. EVERYTHING is film, for the rest of this amazing story.

when the whale has been caught, the first thing t do is to get it back to the camp. the flippers are taken off, brought back to town, the church bell is sounded and rung over and over and over, EVERYONE left back in town knows what this means. A whale has been caught. The flippers are brought to the homes of the elders for them to inspect and see the "prize".

The whale itself has a huge 4 foot block of blubber taken out, so that everyone on the ice can eat, before the major work STARTS.

A bowhead whale weighs an astonishing TON per foot! We have a 48 foot whale here to bring up onto the ocean ice pack.

Hundres of people are involved in attempting to haul this massive animal onto the ice.

In the lower right corner of this image you can see the huge chunk of blubber that has been removed. This is boiled, we can't eat this when it is fresh, we have to wait. But in the mean time, it is boiled, it is grey, soft, and quite good with mustard!

Forty-Eight TONS using people power only, this is incrediblly hard work, EVERY single body is needed, including mine, get in iine and put that camera away, I got a chance to sneak out of line here, and capture a quick click.

ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN, AT ANY TIME and this is very dangerous work, for sure. Hundreds of people, pulling with everything they got and then some,

ALL AT ONCE. pull,,

See, ? that block & tackle on the far right in the image ?

Barrow Alaska 1991 (no pics) This was the exact situation, at hand, the whaling captain noticed that the "strain" on the O-rnig on the block and tackle was under too much pressure, there were three ladies standing in back of him, far back, but on the side. he told them.. move out of the way, get back, get back, they didn't listen. the O-ring snapped, that block took off like a high powered bullet and de-capitated two of the women standing there, the third woman is alive but will never regain humality, she is a vegtable!
all that mess, had to be cleaned up, and then. back to work.
WHEN SOMEONE SAYS SOMETHING UP HERE. you best listen and obey.

I have seen countless numbers of people die, only because they did not obey the very last words spoken to them.

17 grueling hours of pulling, this was the most exhausting work I have ever done in my 32 years as a heavy industrial electrican.

The ice kept breaking due to the massive weight of the whale, we had to cut huge chunks of blubber off this whale, just so we could get it up on the ice.

Now, somehow the other whales know, we are finished and have met our quota, because now for the first time, since the migration began, all the whales are now lifting their tails out of the water. they do not do this when we are hunting, they only do this when we have used up our quota, This year (1988) we were allowed 4 strikes, we caught 1 whale.

Today, 2007 we are allowed 10 strikes, ten whales per thousand residents.

We are allowed TEN ATTEMPTS, so far, we have used up 4 stirkes or 4 attempts, we have caught 2 whales.

25 foot and 35 foot. We do not want the huge 100 foot whales or larger, they are just too much work and they are too tough to eat.

A few pages ago/ imiages ago there is a young man holding up a polar bear skin (film) That is J.J. Russell Lane, he has caught his very first whale this year, He has struck 3 whales. The very first whalel he struck disappered, no one can find it. Then in the village of Wainwright, crews spotted that whale and went after it, then, they noticed that two whales were protecting it on either side. THIS MEANS ONLY ONE THING.. J.J. is in too much of a facking rush! he is a ONE MAN SHOW out there this year.

There is only one reason, that TWO whales are protecting this whale he injured.. J. J. did a BIG NO - NO.! He harpooned a pregnant whale and that is strictlly FORBIDDEN.

When I was first told about whaling and such, and the fact that they will not ever harpoon a pregnant whale, my first question was, How do you know when a whale is pregnant. That captain gave me a look like. ?? stupid white man! We know he said!