Cornelius Nutarak Pond Inlet Baffin Island, Nunavut

Cornelius: Nowadays I stay indoors and I do mostly paperwork and documentation, that occupies my time. I have lost my physical strength, due to age. I was born a long time ago, a really long time ago, in 1924. I was born January 1st. I had my time though, but I had to give up hunting due to respiratory problems, I had to start taking precautions and take better care of myself and so that is my story. 

Interviewer: What do you remember most about hunting narwhal?
Cornelius: I do not recall one significant moment. I recall several episodes and events that have happened in my lifetime, things that I have experienced and witnessed as I have lived through the decades.

Interviewer: Could you tell us about the times you hunted narwhal? Tell us about the times you hunted narwhal. 

Cornelius: I hunted narwhal … just as they do now. But I will tell you that our days were different from today. When I was young the practice was the same but different hunting equipment and techniques, we didn’t use outboard motors like they do today. The narwhal would arrive earlier than they do now, when I was younger, things are different now. There is so much noise that disturbs the narwhal, people at the floe edge, disturbing the natural process … hunters waiting for them at the floe edge, it is noisy for them since it has been years since Inuit started using engines to hunt. Back then the narwhal could arrive to this area before ice break up. Narwhal would come even when the ice was thick that we could dog team, and they would arrive to that point just before Mount Herodier, but these days things are so different now.

Interviewer: Oh yeah, didn’t know that. 

Cornelius: They’d be on ice cracks… yes, they would go up for air in the ice cracks that we call aaijura. Narwhal would come down to Eclipse Sound in the springtime when we were still dog teaming. Nowadays it is not like that at all. These days narwhal migration only occurs during ice break up or after ice break up as their migration routes are disturbed by all the noise on the ice and water. It wasn’t like that at all during my youth. No wonder! I started remembering in 1939 and now we are in the next century (Y2K). So many things have changed during those years.

Interviewer: Are you knowledgeable on adult or mature narwhal and the difference between them?  Do you know the distinction of adult/mature narwhal or have heard about them?

Cornelius: From my understanding and knowledge, we have very few species of narwhal and beluga, in our area anyway, the black narwhal that have tusks, beluga do migrate here too in the spring time, and spend time at the floe edge and they are usually first to arrive, but we are spoiled by narwhal so we hunt narwhal more than the beluga whales, when narwhal is scarce we do eat and hunt belugas too, but not very often. Beluga have different taste and smell than narwhal, belugas have teeth and even their shapes are different.

Interviewer: Really, have you seen the difference between male and female tusks, in the way the tusks are formed?  

Cornelius: Yes, I know the difference between the tusks. The man that raised me, his name was Kidlapik (Killaapik). He was a successful narwhal hunter; as soon as narwhal were spotted he would catch one right away since there wasn’t as much activity down on the sea ice. As soon as their migration reach Mount Herodier, he would catch narwhal, the whales would go up to the surface through the ice cracks and since there wasn’t as much activity, it wouldn’t take the hunters very long to catch some. I know there are three types of narwhal, they are all narwhal, but there different types.

There are those that we call “Qirnajuktat” blackish ones (mostly black), they are bull or male narwhal, stallions they are very big and are much longer than normal and they have long tusks. Then there are the regular narwhals, they are a bit smaller and their tusks are shorter than the bull narwhal. We do see double tusked narwhal too, but not always.

Then, there are narwhal that are shorter, they are male narwhal but they are stubby, even mature ones are not as big as the big bull ones I just spoke of, and their tusks are not as magnificent. Even the detailing of their tusks is not as elegant, the tusks go this way, like this and only in that direction. Every now and then the female narwhal have tusks too, and their tusks are not as wide as the male tusks and their tusks are marvelous, sometimes they can grow to be long tusks but narrower, and they are more beautiful tusks than the male ones. That’s what I know.

Interviewer: The details of the tusks are different between the male and female ones? Pardon me? There is a difference in the tusks between the female and male narwhal the details and the rings of the tusks? 

Cornelius: Yes, you can tell the difference, even by observing the narwhal tusk alone, you can tell when you know how to spot the difference. You can tell between a really good tusk and a lower grade and the length of the tusk, the mature bull narwhal tusks you can spot it immediately. There is also Maiqsinnaaluit and Maiqsaniungitut. We use that term to describe if it is hollow or not, if there is marrow and that is what we call them if they are hollow or not and if it is tusk all the way.

Interviewer: Really? 

Cornelius: Yes, when they become adults, it is hard tusks all the way through and younger ones tusks are hollow.

Interviewer: Have you noticed if the tusks are longer with the size of the whale? Do you know if the tusk size follows the whale size?

Cornelius: I already gave you the details on those and how to tell the difference between the regular narwhal and the blackish narwhal, and the shorter stubby narwhal, there are three types of adult narwhal.  There is the whiter narwhal too, we call them qaulluvisaat. Those out of all the narwhal have the lowest grade of their tusks and the circular rings are more noticeable and usually short tusks, they do not grow long tusks at all. Those bull or stallion males their tusks can go pass our ceiling here, they usually have long tusks.

Interviewer: The female tusks are different too, the length and the detailing?

Cornelius: Yes, but like I said their tusks are more elegant and the detailing of their tusks are much more attractive, that is what I said earlier. 

Interviewer: Have you heard about tusks on the right side on females or male narwhal or have you ever seen this?

Cornelius: The only thing I know, if it is a double tusked narwhal, that is the only time a tusk is on the right side. Their tusks are always on the left side. If it is a double tusked narwhal the other tusks has no choice but to the on the right side. Tusks are always on the left side.

Interviewer:  How often does this occur?  I mean the tusks are always on the left side?

Cornelius: Yes, their tusks are always on the left side. The tusks are on this side when it is double tusks that is the only time a tusk is on the right side. A double-tusked narwhal doesn’t have parallel length tusks though. The other side is always shorter, some not by much, but one side always shorter.

Interviewer:  Double tusked are rare?

Cornelius: Yes, they are rare but a normal occurrence, I’ve seen one with long double tusks. Hunters here usually catch double tusks with that are shorter than the ones I have seen.

Interviewer:  Do you sometimes hear about or notice double tusked narwhal, and are they male or female narwhal that have the double tusks?

Cornelius: Both of them develop tusks, narwhal always get tusks if the whales are not beluga. While the narwhal is all black, their tusk start growing during its growth development stage. The tusks will grow and mature along with the whale. With the growth of the body, so too will the tusk. When the whale reaches adulthood the tusk will stop growing too.  But the blackish narwhal, they are the stallions, so they are always the biggest with the longest tusks too. Their maktaaq are blackish not as dark as the young black ones, they have some white in them but not like the whitish narwhal. They are the cream of the crop.  They are bigger and longer.

Interviewer:  How often or how common are the female narwhal with tusks?

Cornelius: There are many female narwhal that do not have tusks, not all female grow tusks. The arnangaliit are the ones that have tusks. We call a female narwhal that have a tusk an “arnanngalik.” In a pod of female narwhals most will be tuskless but a few will have tusks. 

Interviewer:  Do all the male have tusks or are there males their tusks never grow?

Cornelius: Every now and then we encounter male narwhal that do not have tusks. 

Interviewer: But it is rare?

Cornelius: Yes, those males without tusks are the qaulluvisat. The short, stubby, whiter narwhals.

Interviewer:  Can you tell me more about the arnanngaliit, the females with the tusks? Or, about the double tusked narwhal and if it is true that they are faster, or bigger or skinnier, perhaps leaner, speedier or bigger somehow?

Cornelius: We as Inuit cannot say how fast they go, we just know by hunting them that they can be pretty fast. We cannot tell you like how fast they go with western numerical systems, but I can say that when you hunt them they can go pretty fast; like if you are watching them being hunted, they can be swift in their attempts to get away from the hunters. When they do that we say unguukaaluungmata, when they swim away. I bet you don’t understand that word…when I say ‘unguukkaaluungmata’

We use that term, let’s say when a narwhal dives down and is startled, or spooked, they will swim far away before running out of breath, it can swim long distances. We say they are ‘ungukkaq’ when they can swim/dive long distance and pretty fast, and usually when they have come a long way during their migration or when they are swimming away from killer whales orcas, they go up for air, inhale deep breath and dive right back down, that’s how we tell they come long distances. They can go for a long time. I can use Pond Inlet as an example and Salmon creek over there.  If a narwhal is fearful for its life, if it is an adult, if it comes up for air, the next time it comes up, it can swim a long distance, such as near Salmon creek for example, until it comes up for its next breath of air. It can go as far as Ikpiit point without it hardly coming up for air.

Interviewer:  Swimming all the way without coming up for air?

Cornelius: Yes, when they are on survival mode, they can dive or swim great distances. These days we witness hunters going after them, then the hunters lose them because they don’t know what to expect from the narwhal. Us older folk know they’ve gone a long distance. I can’t tell you in numbers how fast or what distance they go, but I can tell you they’ll dive down and go pretty far when they are running away from killer whales, they can travel great distances.

Interviewer:  Could you elaborate on the weight, swiftness, or if they are leaner or bigger, or if they are smaller which ones tend to be faster ones or are they all the same?

Cornelius: Yes, you would think they are the same, they travel in pods or schools (forget which term) when they migrate. You can tell when they are travelling a long distance, they just barely get up for air and they just keep going, that’s how they travel when they are not stressing about their air. When they stay up longer for air, that’s when you know they need air. It doesn’t matter if they are leaner or plump, they swim the same. When we caught narwhal from the same pod of whales fleeing from killer whales, some would be skinnier than others while others were fatter, so yes.  These days though hunters going after a pod of whales, make them scatter because of all the activity and noise from the outboard motors or snowmobiles. Like I stated earlier, their migration pattern brought them to Eclipse and Oliver Sound in the springtime. When they reached Igarjuaq (Mt. Herodier) area, Kidlapik, the man who raised me, would catch one right away.  Once he pulled the narwhal from the water, he butchered it, he would take a big piece of maktaaq for it to be shared amongst the people in Pond Inlet. Not many people lived here at the time, he would dog team here, share his catch, buy supplies and do his trading. He took me with him that time.

Interviewer:  Wow. Have you heard of or know about narwhals with tuugaarusiq, and if so could you explain it?

Cornelius: I can recite the anatomy of that area. Since I loved to have maktaaq as I child, I grew up on narwhals.

Interviewer:  Yes, sure, that’s what we want to hear.

Cornelius: Narwhals, even when they are tuskless, all have tuugaarusiq. We call it tuugaarusiq, it is inside in the niksiutaq. It is surrounding the cartilage part. In the nose area cartilage, it is always around that in here where that is located. Even if it doesn’t have a tusk, they all have this. Some of them develop later and there are those you can tell that the tusk was going to eventually grow out, and some of them never develop. Even if you do not see a tusk, if you look or inspect the inside you will find a tuugaarusiq.

Interviewer:  If there is marrow to grow it the tusk will grow if there isn’t enough bone marrow the tusk will not grow?

Cornelius: Yes. If both tuugaarusiq do not have enough bone marrow the tusk will not develop and grow.  Even if it is a female narwhal it is the same thing. If the tusk is to develop it will eventually grow.

Interviewer:  Let’s say a group of hunters caught 10 narwhal, how many would have tusks and how many would have fractured or broken tusks? 

Cornelius: I cannot tell you how many would have tusks or how many would have broken tusks. I can only tell you that if a certain number of narwhal is caught, you might luck out and catch a pod of narwhal that have beautiful tusks all around with some of them chipped or broken ones. There are some narwhal with just the tip of the tusks broken off while some are broken almost all the way down near the head. There are narwhal that do not break their tusks at all, that is all that I can tell you. 

Interviewer:  When you encounter broken tusks on narwhals, where on the tusk is it usually broken off? 

Cornelius: Yes, they are all different. Most of them is just the tip is broken or has chipped off, while some are near the tip to the middle of the tusk and others are broken further down on the tusk. I would guess their tusks break off from the ice, not because they fight for a breathing hole or their place in the pod; they are not vicious animals at all.

Interviewer: Is the broken tusk clean cut off or how is it cut or break? Is it jagged cut or smooth? 

Cornelius: I’ve never really seen a freshly cut narwhal tusk, there are those where the cut off part has smoothed. The tusk doesn’t deteriorate or change. If the tusk breaks where it still has bone marrow, the hollow cylinder remains there, and I guess from wear and tear, the broken off part looses the sharpness I have never seen extra sharp broken off tusks.  That is what I used to come across.  That’s what I’ve seen anyway. 

Interviewer:  What does it look like the broken part does it like heal over or is it sharp or does it remain hollow? 

Cornelius: Where it breaks off, it doesn’t heal over.  The Maktaaq gets scarred, though if the tusk fell on it or scraped on it as it broke off, when the maktaaq heals over, it is usually white scar tissue maktaaq. 

Interviewer: The Maktaaq? 

Cornelius: Yes, the Maktaaq.  

Interviewer: I wonder how it breaks. I know you mentioned you figure their tusks break from the ice… 

Cornelius: Yes, I figure it is from the ice, as they wait for their turn on the remaining breathing holes or cracks on the ice, when they go up for air. That’s what I figure anyways, that some of them break up as they go up for air and they hit the ice. Sometimes there are large pods of narwhal; if they winter around here, I would assume they would be gasping for air because they don’t break it on the seabed. They are animals so their first instinct is survival.   

Interviewer: Have you ever seen a broken tusk that is straight up or a broken off tusk that is right side up? Have you come across one?

Cornelius: I’ve never seen one like that or know of such. What I have witnessed however is, when I shot a narwhal, when narwhals were plentiful back in the day. Just before the narwhal died, you know they splash or do a lot of activity before it dies. There was a pod of whales fleeing from killer whales; they swam very close to shore and into shallow areas. I’ve seen more than once, as they were swimming in the shallow parts, they bump into the seabed or rocks and their tusk snap off if they hit the ground; that is the only occurrence I’ve seen. Like in shallow water. That narwhal I fetched the broken-off tusk as it was a long enough piece; it was sticking upright on the bottom of the water, when earlier it was a nice full narwhal tusk.

Interviewer:  I already asked this question but he wants you to elaborate on how the tusk doesn’t heal over. I do not think I need to ask the question again.

Cornelius: Yes, if a tusk snaps or breaks off, it is the same with all tusks. Even on walrus tusk, there is bound to be at least one with a broken or snapped off tusk, I guess from rubbing or what the edge of the tusk gets smoothed over. Since it is dead tissue, that is what I know.

Interviewer:  Narwhals are living beings, could you talk about their life pattern? On behaviour or pattern of behaviour

Cornelius: As an Inuit society we have learned their patterns, not including the anatomy; what they do, how they do, from their tusks breaking off, double tusked narwhal, arnarnngaliit. I already spoke of those, but I haven’t spoken about how they have to eat like us humans do. When they are hungry, they are wonderful to watch on a side of a mountain or on top through binoculars, very interesting to watch; when they are feeding we say they are “angingmiqsaqtut”

Interviewer:  Say it again, angingmiqsaq.

Cornelius: Yes, angingmiqsaq it is when they zig zag up and down or go up for air and back down to the bottom and back up to the same area, we call it angingmiqsaqtuq. When they are feeding they don’t try and flee, they go down, than back up again for air, possibly on shallow grounds. I wanted to find out one time if there is a shallow part just past the point of Mt. Herodier (igarjuaq), down in an area of the sea, that is where we would watch them feeding. They eat nataarnat halibut, the smaller kinds, they gulp them whole, just swallow them. The smaller nataarnat, arctic halibut, we’ve never seen big ones in their stomachs because they are wide little creatures eh, the narwhal just gulps them in.

Interviewer: Interesting, they eat nataarnat?

Cornelius: Yes, they eat natarnat and amiku (halibut and arctic squid). They are about this wide. There are some that are wider they have like thing hanging down (tentacles) at the end, and its head is spear-shaped (squid). Narwhal feed on them, they are squid, we call them amiku. They are pointy on the head and fringe-like things on the bottom, amiku? Amiku.Those creatures of the sea that you see on TV, they are eaten by narwhal.

Cornelius: They don’t eat junk or anything of the sort, since they cannot chew their food too, they gulp them in. When we catch a narwhal and check their stomach contents, and if we find they haven’t been processed yet, we cook them and eat them too, they are really good to eat, delicious.

Interviewer: Do they have slaves or hierarchy ranks, and if they do, do they protect each other? Do they have leaders? 

Cornelius: I cannot tell you for sure; what I can tell you is that I do not know if they have slaves or ranks. They are tight knit groups. I think they have rules of their own, like the older ones are usually the leaders of the pack, and I cannot tell you if they are the bosses, but that the cows (mothers) are followed by their offspring.  They have no choice but to be with their mother. If it is a pod of female narwhal then the eldest is followed by the pack like the yearlings or the adolescents. The pack follows the older ones. That is what we have observed, and from what Inuit have observed nothing’s been mentioned about having slaves, just that we know that the younger ones follow their mothers and so on.  I can tell you that the mother isn’t a slave of its offspring.

Interviewer: They follow their mothers? 

Cornelius: Yes, they stay with their mothers up to when they become maktaaqqiit (maybe 2 years old?). 

Interviewer:  Do they fight with their tusks or use their tusk for protection, or how do they protect themselves? 

Cornelius: I can only say only the reluctant or hesitant ones use their tusks. My canoe was hit before when I was going after narwhal, and punctured a small hole with its tusk and it didn’t go in that deep. When they go on survival mode they can do that, but it is rare occurrence. I’d say they are like people, we say things like that about people that are spoiled or so used to their own ways, and we call them isumaluk, tenacious if you can understand me. 

Interviewer:  Would you call that selfish on a person? Or self-defense?

Cornelius: Yes, narwhals are not normally like that it is a rare occurrence.

Interviewer:  Have you ever seen or heard of narwhals behaving out of normal? 

Cornelius: Never. I have heard of one having an appearance out of the ordinary through stories (oral tradition), but I’ve never come across anything unusual, and the narwhals I’ve seen have remained the same all throughout the decades since I started remembering in 1929. Growing up in Pond Inlet, I’ve never seen anything unusual except for what’s been told to me through oral tradition stories. I’ve never seen anything like that. There was a time when people thought there was one, but we were advised if we come across one that is suspicious not to go after it. That is what we have been taught. I’ve never come across anything like that though.

Interviewer:  What about a sick one or wounded one or an ill one?

Cornelius: Only ones that have survived killer whale attacks, we didn’t shoot it, it was dying and just barely alive, even the maktaaq was yellowish It had been attacked by a killer whale when we harpooned it, it died instantly; this was not too long ago.

Interviewer: They turn yellowish?

Cornelius: Yes, but I’ve never come across one that has odd behavior; that one had survived a killer whale attack

Interviewer: Do you know if they use their tusks to gang up or work together on something with their tusks? And what uses do they have for their tusks?

Cornelius: I do not know if they use their tusks that way, but what I do know of the female narwhals is that I have not witnessed this personally. I have been told to me, my father had told me, when a narwhal delivers, the narwhal with the tusk will it to cut the umbilical cord. That is the only thing I know. They do not have teeth. They are toothless creatures. When you deliver after pregnancy the umbilical cord has to be cut, because there is the placenta and the sack too. Mammals with teeth will bite on it or gnaw at it to cut the cord. I only know that narwhals after giving birth use their tusks to cut the umbilical cord. 

Interviewer: Can you tell us about the lice that live near the tusks and tell us what they do?

Cornelius: These bugs on the edge of the tusks are kumaks. [perhaps sea lice?] They keep that area clean as the tusk grows; there are even those on the body not just the tusk area, you can even find them on the fins and back fins of the whale. One time I caught a narwhal that was infested with those bugs all over; I caught that one on a crack on the sea ice. I am not aware of having lots, but they are spread around the body. Most times they are just around the tusk areas, they keep that area clean. Us Inuit will not eat those lice; I think they are strong for our body.

Interviewer: So does it matter which narwhal has more than the other? I mean do males or females have more, more so in males since they have bigger tusks, or is it just the same?

Cornelius: it is just the same, a tuskless one can have some too.

Interviewer: Does that go for the double-tusked ones too?

Cornelius: Yes, it is just the same. I mentioned earlier that I speculate, I do not know for sure and I am assuming here. The edge of the tusk has lice; I assume those lice have a job to do and that is to keep at area clean so the tusk can grow properly; that is what I think. Those little kumaks on the inside remain in the jaw all the way in there, they look like little worms, and they are thin. There are lots of them but they are almost invisible.  I think some people don’t even see them.

Interviewer: What do narwhals eat?

Cornelius: From what I know they eat only a few things, and what they eat are nutritious. They eat the smaller nataarnat, also called qaliralik (arctic or Greenland halibut). The narwhal just swallow them whole, and they eat amiku (squid), that too we find in their stomach contents. The squid are rich in nutrients, those things that have arrow-shaped heads with lots of things hanging on the other end. We call them amiku, you can see them on TV when nature shows or shows on oceans are on TV.

Interviewer: I think I can picture them.

Cornelius: Yes, I’m sure you’ve seen them. They are rich in oil and they make the narwhal nice and fat; and they eat arctic char too.

Interviewer: The males and female eat the same things.

Cornelius: Yes, they eat the same things. They only eat a few things; they eat nutritious foods, they won’t eat anything else, doesn’t matter if it they are male or female. If you catch a narwhal that just fed you will find one or two of those in the narwhal’s stomach. They eat arctic char too.

Interviewer: The old and young alike eat those?

Cornelius: Yes, but the young ones are fed the mother’s milk. But they follow and learn how to feed, because they go where their mother go.

Interviewer: The younger ones have the mother’s milk and don’t eat as much?

Cornelius: I think they drink the mother’s milk for a long time; their body turns black even while they are feeding off their mother.

Interviewer: What are the tusks used for? What did Inuit use and make out of the tusks?

Cornelius: They were very useful and a force of survival, they were used as harpoons, using them as spears like these ones behind me. The tusks were used as harpoons or spears; the female tusks were preferred for the harpoon since they are narrower than male tusks. Yes, they only used the good tusks for these important tools. Some of the longer ones were used as qanak (for the tents and sodhouses) since there was no wood. When you think about it now, it’s almost a waste; they used the tusks for the tents, the older traditional tents made of skins. The pictures I have of the Qillarjuaq expedition used narwhal tusks for their tents… the pictures I have anyway. Some of the tusks were used for qanak, some were used as harpoons. They were very important to the Inuit and used in every way. Some were used to make snow-knives and smaller knives. They were used a lot, and the tusks played an important role in the lives of Inuit.

I will tell you a story… this story is about three people: a grandmother, who is the old lady… she was an old woman… and her son, who was blind, and the good daughter. They lived alone in a camp, just the three of them. The only male was blind … the story is a bit long, is that okay?

There were just the three of them. The son was blind; they had a bow and arrow. While in their qarmaq, a polar bear came to their camp. It went to the window, and this old woman could see and her daughter could see too. Her son, though, was blind. The blind son had a room in the porch. Since he was in the porch, the mother asked him to come inside. When he entered, his sister gave his the bow and arrow and set up the pisiksik, and pointed the arrow to the polar bear, which was outside their qarmak trying to get in through the window.

Once his sister said go, her brother pulled the arrow and let it go. He hit the bear and it made a sound. The old woman, the mother, said after the blind son hit the polar bear with the bow and arrow, she said “iqquq pisikpat iqquq pisikpat.” She said he hit the iqquq which is the window, since the window was made out of intestines (they were called iqquq) that anchored the window. The old lady said her blind son hit the iqquq, “iqquq pisikpat iqquq pisikpat,” since her son was blind. But outside the polar bear died when the blind boy killed it with the bow and arrow. 

The old woman asked her daughter to go see what was outside. Once she went outside, she told her mother that the polar bear had died, and she told her mother when the mother followed her outside.

Since the polar bear was dead, the mother dragged it away and she skinned it, and they had polar bear meat. Her blind son, who had caught the polar bear, didn’t have any polar bear meat since his mother lied about him missing the bear.

And so, the sister started feeling awful about her brother not eating what they were eating. When the mother gave her meat, she would eat a small piece then hide the remaining inside her sleeve, and hide a piece of meat inside her kamik, so that her brother could eat too. She did this behind her mother’s back, since the mother didn’t want her blind son to know that she had lied.

They did this for a while, and she would secretly feed her brother as she entered the qarmaq. Her brother lived in the porch while the sister and mother lived in the qarmaq. Spring came along and her blind brother asked her, “Is there a lake nearby?” The sister replied, there was a lake up there.  Her brother asked her. “Is there loons or birds in that lake?” She replied that there were birds and loons in that lake. So her brother asked to be taken to the lake since he was blind. So the brother and sister walked up to the lake. When they reached the lake, the sister took him to the edge and said to her brother that they reached the edge of the lake…