Packing and Portaging

by Dillon Wallace

In the far Arctic the natives wear trousers of either polar bear skin or caribou skin, with an upper garment of caribou skin called, in Greenland, the "kulutar;" in Labrador, the "kulutuk." The only difference between the adickey and the kulutuk is that the one is made of cloth, the other of caribou skin. In Ungava I supplied myself with caribou skin trousers, which, as is the custom there, I drew on over my moleskin trousers in windy or intensely cold weather.

The kulutuk takes the place of the moleskin adickey. That is to say, the kersey adickey worn under the kulutuk will be found ample protection in any weather, and often the kulutuk of itself will be found sufficient.

Kulutuk and skin trousers are worn hair side out. Were they worn with the hairy side in, they would accumulate moisture exuded by the body, and the moisture would freeze, presently transforming the hair into a mass of ice. A friend of mine going to the Arctic for the first time as a member of one of Peary's early Greenland expeditions, turned his kulutuk inside out and donned it with the hairy side next the body. The Eskimos laughed, and resenting their levity he assured them it was much warmer worn in that manner than as they wore it. "No," said one of them, "if it were warmer worn that way the animals would wear their fur inside." My friend quickly learned by experience the logic of the Eskimo's argument.

Deerskin kulutuk and trousers are not easily purchased, though along any coast where seals are captured similar garments of sealskin may be procured, which, though not equal to deerskin garments, answer very well. The skin of the young harbor seal (the ranger seal) is best for the purpose, as skins of other species are too thick and heavy. When made of sealskin the upper garment is called a "netsek."

I discovered when traveling among them that some of the Moravian missionaries of the Labrador coast wore a buckskin suit under their ordinary trousers and outer shirt. Such a suit is much lighter than deerskin trousers and kulutuk, and serves nearly as well. It is not difficult to purchase buckskin from which one may have such a suit made. It is wind-proof and very light.

All skin garments, including moccasins, should be sewn with animal sinew. Ordinary thread will quickly break out and will not do. Thread-sewn moccasins are factory-made, and will give very little service.

The types of snowshoes suggested in the chapter on snowshoe and toboggan travel are the types also best suited to dog and komatik work. Long snowshoes would be very much in the way when one has to go to the traces and haul with the dogs or lift and assist the komatik over rough places; and this becomes the rule rather than the exception as one goes North.

Let me insist that the web should be of good caribou babiche, and not the ordinary rawhide used in many of the snowshoes offered for sale. The former will not stretch when wet, while the latter will stretch and bag so badly as to render the snowshoe practically useless.

It is well to wrap the frame on either side where the babiche is drawn around it, with buckskin or sealskin. Otherwise even a slight crust upon the snow will in time cut the babiche strands. Wrapping the snowshoe in this manner will at least double its life.

What was said in reference to tent, small sheet-iron stove and general camp and cooking outfit in the previous chapter will apply here, as well as directions heretofore given for packing in waterproof bags. In selecting the sleeping bag, give first preference to one of deerskin.