Nunaga: Ten Years of Eskimo Life | Book Review (Polar Bear Defense)

AmmoLand ^ | February 28, 2025 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

Nunaga: Ten Years of Eskimo Life by Duncan Pryde 285 pages, 1971, Walker Publishing Company, Inc. New York, 1972 American edition.  Available at Amazon from about $10 used.

Nunaga is extremely well written, a riveting story of a young man from Scotland who goes to Canada in 1955, seeking fortune and adventure. He answers an ad for fur traders by the Hudson Bay Company.

In 1955, eighteen-year-old Duncan Pryde answered the Hudson Bay Company ad. “Fur traders wanted for the far north,…single, ambitious, self-reliant young men wanted…”  Pryde lived the Eskimo life for years, becoming adept at survival in the Arctic with a dogsled, snow knife, rifle, and harpoon, using Eskimo techniques. He earned a worldwide reputation for being a genius in the Eskimo language. He fathered children with Eskimo women as part of the Eskimo social wife exchange culture.  The draft version of the book is said to have been cut back considerably because of too much sex. This correspondent does not recall exactly when he first read Nunaga. It was decades ago.

The book includes an episode in which Duncan Pryde shoots a polar bear at six feet in defense. His rifle was a Savage model 99 in .250/3000 caliber.

Studies of defenses against bears have come to occupy this correspondent’s time. A copy of Nunaga was obtained to evaluate the polar bear shooting. It was worth the time to determine if the event was included in the Polar Bear/Human Information Management System (PBHIMS), obtained by AmmoLand with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The PBHIMS was created with taxpayer dollars to gain an understanding of polar bears and human interactions, including conflicts in the Arctic. This famous event, from a credible source in a very popular and widespread title, was somehow missed.

[marktwain]

Duncan Pryde spent ten years inside Eskimo culture in Canada. Nunaga is his biography. It is considered one of the most detailed and authoritative sources on Eskimo life.

[bert]

Are they Eskimo or Inuit

[Hot Tabasco]

The Eskimos make great pies.

[nathanbedford]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Freuchen

Here is the life of a Dane who led a remarkably similar adventurous life in Greenland at an earlier age, well worth reading his books.

[marktwain]

The book says Eskimo. Inuit is another mispronunciation. The Eskimo language uses a different set of sounds than English.

Pryde writes about the difficulties of mastering the language in the book.

One of the things Pryde mentions is that he finds the serial fabulist Farley Mowat to be unreliable in his claims about learning Eskimo. Mowat is the writer of the book “Never Cry Wolf”, a fabrication which is immensely popular, which has done enormous harm.

[edwinland]

Fascinating. Which book would you recommend to start?

[P.O.E.]

There's also a disco version.

[nathanbedford]

I would recommend hisVagrant Viking for sheer adventure and descriptive value of state of life before it was revolutionized by white culture.

I read his book on the 7 seas and found it thoroughly enjoyable, informative and stimulated an interest in learning about the oceans for which I'm grateful.

[ansel12]

How good is the book as an insight into Eskimo life aside from the bear shooting?

[Quickgun]

I have that book. I’ve had it since about 1974.

[marktwain]

It is considered one of, if not the best insight into Eskimo life.

[ansel12]

I hope so, I ordered a used copy before I posted the question.

[dennisw]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_Pryde#Later_life ....... So strong and tough but only made it to 60 years.

BUT>>>> “He also fathered a number of children with Inuit women.”[1]

[dennisw]

You can log in to read the book here. Then might be able to PDF download.

https://archive.org/details/nunagatenyearsof00pryd/page/n1/mode/2up

also>>>> https://annas-archive.org/slow_download/9e3c27192c9772056081261a7eff6b38/0/0

[Bob434]

We’re you able to dload from Anna’s? Kept failing for me

[Dartoid]

You realize the [1] is a footnote number that references the book mentioned by OP?

“BUT>>>> “He also fathered a number of children with Inuit women.”[1]”

[edwinland]

Thanks!

[dennisw]

My fault.... I posted a smart alec shortcut>>> go here https://annas-archive.org/search?q=Nunaga%3B+ten+years+of+Eskimo+life it is 15mb pdf that can be converted to ePub with the ePub calibre program

[Jeff Chandler]

I like their kisses.

[Bob434]

i was able to get to it with the first link- but the download kept timing out- i did manage to get a different book downloaded from the site- but it also failed a few times- but i kept hitting ‘retry’ and it finished eventually-