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SECOND CONTACT: PATTERNS OF "SECOND ENCOUNTERS” WITH THE INUIT IN EARLY MODERNITY AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CASES OF HENRY HUDSON AND WILLIAM BAFFIN —40>— MIKLÓS VASSANYI' ABSTRACT On the basis of case studies concerning Henry Hudson and William Baffin, this paper tries to find some general rationale for events that used to take place during second encounters between Canadian Aboriginals and European explorers in the early 17" century. Our attention will focus on the barter-andmassacre case reported by a survivor of Henry Hudson’s fourth voyage (161011) and on the kidnapping-and-murder case partially witnessed by William Baffin on his first voyage (1612) to today’s Baffin Bay. Putting ourselves into the shoes of Second Nations, we shall attempt to find out what they might experience upon the intrusion of newcomers into Aboriginal lands and what might cause the aggressive behaviour of both parties in these conflicts, as we endeavour to reconstruct the broader moral and anthropological context of the tragical events that often happened between explorers and the Inuit who had already met alien races before. On the basis of two case studies concerning Henry Hudson (cca 1565-1611), and William Baffin (cca 1584-1622), respectively, this paper looks into the moral and rational motivation behind tragical events that more often than not took place during “second encounters” between Greenland and Hudson Bay Inuit on the one hand, and European explorers on the other, in the early 17" century. By applying a term “second encounter” or “second contact” I am suggesting that there may be a difference between how a group of Aboriginal people experience an encounter with a race they have never seen before — in this case, European explorers — and how they meet such companies afterwards, when on the basis of previous experience they may already know what to expect and may form plans to fend off an essentially incalculable 1 Karoli Gaspar University of the Reformed Church in Hungary. * 209 +
