Letter to Young Eskimo

My son. I come to you as Nuvatqik, a good soul-seeker, a helping spirit. I find the stolen soul and therefore heal the sick.

A white man has come by means of his noisy sled. What he has told us I do not believe. For you are my son, my freest spirit. The white man had come to shores and moved his hands with the prized piece of wood painted yellow and he asked them what they call themselves, and they release the breath from their throats, and the spirits hear what we call ourselves, but not the white men. These white men “write down” how we call our spirits. The white men call this “registration.” Then they round up the families, they put them in strange shelters and then the spirit dies of these people. They no longer hunt walrus and seal. Laughter dies. Men no longer sing, or when they do, it is sad. How many songs I have I cannot tell you. I only know that you, as my son, have many songs. My son, come back and fight with us. You throw the spear stronger and farther than all the men. I have a good rifle from the white men.

I do not trust the white man who marks his strange material with the prized wood. With such a piece of wood I would have carved a bear. It would be a long bear and it would have a thin body and a thick neck.

There is only one way to choose a woman. Go to the large dome. At night you can see it will glow with warm walrus fat as it burns in the stone lamps. You have been away from home for so long you do not remember how we build the dome when the snow is soft. We cover the dome with seal skin. When the hunting is good, the dome is filled with light and heat of the fat of the walrus. My son, there is one way to choose a woman and it is what our people have done since before nothingness. Women wait in the snow house and a man stands outside ready to choose, while masked dancers stand beside the lamp block, singing. This is the only way we choose women. Son, come to the snow house. We have six women from which you can choose.

I give to you these markings. These markings are from Anarqaq. A white man has written on the paper but I do not understand.