Franz Boas among the Inuit of Baffin Island, 1883-1884: Journals and Letters

331 Pages·1998·16.04 MB·English

by  Ludger Müller-Wille (editor)

Franz Boas among the Inuit of Baffin Island, 1883-1884:
Journals and Letters
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Franz Boas among the Inuit of
Baffin Island, 1883-1884
JOURNALS AND LETTERS
Edited and introduced by Ludger Muller-Wille
Translated by William Barr
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
www.utppublishing.com
English translation © University of Toronto Press Incorporated 1998
Toronto Buffalo London
Franz Boas's original texts and material © American Philosophical Society.
Reproduced in translation with permission.
First published as Franz Boas. Bei den Inuit in Baffinland 1883-1884. Tagebiicher
und Briefe, arranged, edited, and annotated by Ludger Muller-Wille. (Volume 1
of Ethnologische Beitrdge zur Circumpolarforschung, ed. Erich Kasten.) Berlin:
Reinhold Schletzer Verlag 1994. English translation published by permission.
Printed in Canada
ISBN 0-8020-4150-7 (cloth)
Printed on acid-free paper
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Boas, Franz, 1858-1942
Franz Boas among the Inuit of Baffin Island, 1883-1884 : journals and letters
Translation of: Franz Boas bei den Inuit in Baffinland 1883-1884.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-8020-4150-7
1. Boas, Franz, 1858-1942 -Journeys - Northwest Territories - Baffin
Island. 2. Inuit - Northwest Territories - Baffin Island - Social life and
customs. 3. Baffin Island (N.W.T.)-Social life and customs. I. Barr,
William. II. Muller-Wille, Ludger, 1944- . III. Title.
E99.E7B6598131998 917.19'5042 C98-931821-4
This book has been published with the financial assistance of the Publications
Committee, University of Saskatchewan, and the Department of Geography,
McGill University.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publish-
ing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.
Contents
Foreword ix
Preface to the Original German Edition xi
Preface to the English Edition xv
Introduction: Germans and Inuit on Baffin Island in the 1880s 3
The Simple Relationships between the Land and the People 3
Boas and German Polar Research in the Early 1880s 6
Human Environmental Relations in the Arctic: The Ecological
Approach 11
Fieldwork Methods: T am now truly just like a typical Eskimo' 15
Journals and Letters, 1882-1884: The Source Material 18
Transcribing and Editing the Texts 23
Franz Boas and the Inuit Today 27
Abbreviations 29
JOURNALS AND LETTERS (MAY 1882 - SEPTEMBER 1884) 1884)
Period of Preparation in Germany, 1882-1883 33
Formulating and Securing the Research Plans 33
The Third German Geographers' Conference in Frankfurt a. M. 37
Logistical Preparations for the Sojourn in the Arctic 38
On Board the Germania from Hamburg to Baffin Island,
June-July 1883 45
vi Contents
Across the North Sea and the Atlantic 45
Off Greenland 52
In the Drift and Pack Ice off Baffin Island, July-August 1883 55
Reaching K'exerten, Tinixdjuarbing: Meeting the Whalers and Inuit,
August-September 1883 71
Winding Down the German Polar Station, K'ingua, September 1883 79
First Boat Trip with the Inuit to the North End of Tinixdjuarbing 79
The Last Days of the German Polar Station 85
At the Scottish Whaling Station at K'exerten and Germanids
Departure 90
Late Fall Boat Trips in the Sound, September-October 1883 95
K'exerten 95
Journey to Kingnait Fiord 96
On Board the Catherine: The First Voyage to Naujateling and
Milixdjuax 101
Trip to Pangnirtung Fiord 113
Trip to Ujarasugdjuling and Exaluaxdjuin 120
Investigations at K'exerten, October-December 1883 126
Science and Epidemics: Between the Environment and People 126
Geographical Names and Maps: Comprehending the Area 129
Tidal Observations in the Harbour at K'exerten 135
The Inuit's Fall Festival: The Sedna Ritual 137
Discontinuation of the Tidal Observations 138
Sickness and Death among the Inuit 140
Hikes across the Ice: Surveying the K'exerten Archipelago 141
By Dogsled across the Pack Ice 147
Inuit, Igloos, and Dogs: Journeys on the Ice of Tinixdjuarbing,
December 1883 - May 1884 150
First Trip to Anarnitung and K'ingua 150
A Bitterly Cold March to K'ingua 152
The First Time in an Inuit Camp: Anarnitung 156
Second Trip to Anarnitung and K'ingua 161
Contents vii
K'exerten 167
Third Trip to Anarnitung and K'ingua 170
First Attempt at Crossing the Kingnait-Padli Pass 177
Fourth Trip to Anarnitung and K'ingua 180
Trip to Milixdjuax 186
Second Trip to Naujateling 188
Trip Southeastward to Saumia 192
The First 'White' among the Inuit of Ukiadliving 194
Return Trip to K'exerten 197
Trip to the Northwest to Nettilling Lake 200
Second Attempt at Crossing the Kingnait-Padli Pass 204
Trip to the West Coast of Tinixdjuarbing: Tarrionitung 206
The Last Trip on the Ice of Tinixdjuarbing: Nuvujen 209
K'exerten: Preparations for the Trip to Davis Strait 210
Overland to Davis Strait: From Kingnait to Padli,M ay 1884 215
Along the East Coast of Baffin Island: Survey Trips on the Sea Ice,
May-July 1884 221
From Padli to Padloping 221
Northward: From Padloping to Tunirn 225
Establishing the Base Camp at K'ivitung 230
From K'ivitung to Siorartijung 232
The Inuit Settlement of Siorartijung: The Most Northerly Point 238
Southward: Excruciating Sledging on Late-Summer Ice 240
At K'ivitung: Waiting for the Whalers, July-August 1884 246
Completion of the Cartographic Work 246
Ethnographica, Dictionary, and Stories: Last Notes 249
Whalers in Sight 254
Leaving the Inuit and the Arctic, August-September 1884 257
With the Wolf to K'armaxdjuin and St John's 257
On Board the Ardandhu to New York 260
Appendix 1 Dog Names 267
Appendix 2 Names of Ships and Boats 268
viii Contents
Glossary 271
English Words 272
Inuktitut Words (Eastern Canadian Arctic) 273
References 277
Index 285
Illustrations and maps follow page 112.
Foreword
I have always wanted to read my great-grandfather's Baffin Island journals
and letters, so it was with enormous excitement and anticipation that I
first opened the pages of this translation this past summer. Written more
than a century ago, the bulk of Franz Boas's earliest ethnographic writ-
ings remained unedited and untranslated until only recently. The publi-
cation of Muller-Wille's edited and annotated volume of these texts in
German in 1994 was aimed primarily at a German readership in order to
reintroduce Boas's work to German scholars after it was banned by the
Nazis in the 1930s. Now the translation of this volume into English makes
these writings available to a much wider group of interested people. It
also makes them available to contemporary Inuit, whose cultural tradi-
tions and legacy have always been of vital importance to their present
lives.
Muller-Wille's skilful arrangement and sensitive editing of the Baffin
Island material highlight the rich detail and insight with which Boas
wrote about this field experience and its significance for him at the time.
Moreover, Muller-Wille's introduction provides an important backdrop
for our own appreciation of the original text. It is widely recognized that
this trip signalled a crucial turning point for Boas personally, intellectu-
ally, and professionally, and that it was the primary context within which
he developed his ethnographic field methods and began to articulate the
more fundamental philosophical and moral attitudes that would form
the core of his mature anthropological viewpoint. Yet until now few of us
have had the privilege of reading for ourselves, in Boas's own words, how
and under what circumstances this process took place.
Boas was a dauntingly prolific writer, and he generated an enormous
amount of textual documentation of this trip, including journals, corre-