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SECOND CONTACT: PATTERNS OF “SECOND ENCOUNTERS”...
Labrador (by and large, the area where in the early 1920’s, Robert J. Flaherty
shot the documentary titled Nanook of the North). Since, then, there is no
evident motive for the violence, we shall have to look for indications in the
circumstantial evidence by examining the chain of events leading up to the
massacre. A lonely Inuk made the first contact with the crew, after which the
Nunavimmiut withdrew, setting “the woods on fire” in the Captain’s sight.
This arson is implicitly viewed by Prickett as a harbinger of bad events to
come — “the people” clearly did not want to see or help the English, which
is in itself a neutral kind of behaviour. But as the mutinous crew sails north
to approach the breeding places at the outfall of Hudson Strait, immediately
the Nunavimmiut — quite probably another group — reemerge. This could
very well be a sign that this group dwelt closely around the nestling area,
very likely in order to have food at hand but perhaps also in order to protect
the place as a food reserve. Digges Sound is, parenthetically, an Important
Bird Area site even today. At this juncture, one is inclined to think that the
reason for the set-up may lie with the capital question of food resources.
The birds, as it comes clear from Prickett’s text, were also a food staple for the
Aboriginals. This fact might loom larger if we consider that with the advent
of summer (these events took place at the end of July) ice hunting for big sea
mammals on Hudson Bay had become difficult. The intrusion of newcomers
into ancient Inuit habitat, and their hunt for the edible animals certainly
posed an imminent threat to vital food supplies. While it is true that the
intruders disposed of a number of metallic weapons and instruments that
were effective and desirable tools in the eyes of the Nunavimmiut, it is also
true that they could procure many of those things by bartering, had they
wanted to — but they did not, which suggests that the mainspring for their
violence was simply protection of habitat and food.
THE DANISH RECOVERY OF GREENLAND IN 1605
In order to frame William Baffin’s experience of James Hall’s death at the
hand of a Greenland Inuk, we need to go back to 1605, when the Danish
King Christian IV issued a Latin journey form (or royal pass) for Admiral
Godske Lindenov and associates, among them Hall as a pilot under the
command of Captain John Cunningham, to sail to Greenland, in order that
the Christian religion and the Danish jurisdiction might be restored there.*®
In the introductory part of the document, the King also pointed out that
the sailing routes to Greenland had become obsolete and uncertain because
3° “Nostri vero muneris inprimis esse arbitremur ut statum istius nostrae ditionis exploremus,
quo eidem et de religione et administratione iuris et iustitiae, si quae necessaria essent, in
posterum prospiciamus.” (Bobé [ed.], Diplomatarium Groenlandicum, 13.)
* 219 +