Introduction-E

Piunngittuq. Piunngittuq up to his death was a very respected elder from
Kangitugaapik. Besides Piunngittuq, Palluq had a number of children and most of his
descendants live in Kangitugaapik. I have really no information about Qaumauq’s
daughter except that Pauloosie thinks that her name was Amarualik or something close
to that.
Qaumauq and Sivuga also adopted my mother, Nubija, from the family of
Qulittalik and Pakak 1 . We were told that Inuit did not adopt children from just anyone;
it had to be from their family, either direct or extended. Qaumauq was related to the
Qulittalik family. The Qulittalik family is a well-known family in the Iglulik area with
many descendants. One of the court cases that the well-known Judge Sissons dealt with
involved a man charged with assisting Qulittalik’s suicide. Qulittalik apparently
ordered some men to help him to commit suicide and thus charges were laid. I do not
know what happened in the end.
Paniaq thought that Qaumauq left the Iglulik area in the 1940s, although he was not
completely sure. Nunuji had been working with the Hudson’s Bay Company and when
he was no longer working there, he took his father and my mother to the
Mittimatalik/Kangitugaapik area. Qaumauq and his son never returned to the Iglulik
area. Nubija had, however, returned several times to that area to visit her siblings from
the Qulittalik family. Nubija had also visited Javagiaq on at least one occasion. I do not
know if Sivuga was alive at the time that they left the Iglulik area. I am guessing that
she might still have been alive, as Elisapee said that when the family was living close to
the Mittimatalik area, Qaumauq was an Anglican and his wife was a Catholic. When
Qaumauq was baptized, he was baptized as Juanasi.
I have been able to figure out that Qaumauq first went to the Mittimatalik/
Kangitugaapik area from the Iglulik area. He then went to the Cumberland Sound area.
He returned to the Mittimatalik/Kangitugaapik area again and then returned to
Pangniqtuuq with my mother for her to go to the hospital. Apparently my mother was
sick so she had to go to the hospital. According to Appitaq, she might have fractured her
ribs. After that the ribs were visible as there was no skin in that area. According to
Pauloosie, the first time Qaumauq went to the Cumberland Sound area his wife was
with him, as were his son and daughter. The next time he went to Pangniqtuuq was with
my mother. I found out from Appitaq that Qaumauq’s wife is buried between
Kangitugaapik and Mittimatalik in a place called Kangiqtualuk (Sam Ford Fiord).
Paniaq told us that Qaumauq was known to be a very fast runner. He said that it
has been said that Qaumauq was once chased by wolves but the wolves could not catch
up with him. The way that Paniaq said that, it sounded as if he was amazed.
Pauloosie elaborated further on this. Qaumauq had told the story of being chased
by wolves to Pauloosie. He was being chased by wolves and to get away from the
wolves he jumped onto the ice of a lake. When the ice is melting on the lakes, it usually
Essays – Qaumauq 147