Tundra times., 1963-12-02
Page 4
By Howard Rock Times Editor

'hS eiouiid tiie iledu. ne was nOld- ing on to a floating paddle" said Weyahok sadly
 He was telling about the tragedy that happened when he was around l3 years old. He had never liked to tell about it because it had af- fected his profoundly.
 It had been around the middle of May. The ever exciting whale hunt was in progress. Chief Attungow- ruk, as well as another crew, had gotten whales and every crew was still trying to get more They were trying to get more meat for the com ing year.
 Anticipation
 There had been a considerable excitement, especially for me, some time before tn whaling season start ed, said Weyahok. "One evening my father, Kakairnok, said to me. My son, you are growing up and you should start to do what men do. How would you like it if I took you on as member of my crew."
 Needless to say, I was the hap piest boy in the village. The antici- patton of whale hunting with my father and his crew was very excit- ing. Another happy thought was that l would be in company of two other boys, Akniachak, around 16 years of age and veteran of three was going to do this so Koonook who was bit younger than I was and who was going whaling for the first time also.
 Mother was excited also but a little worried at the same time. She had said to me, I will make you some warm clothing to wear She had told Koonook's mother that she was going to do this so Koonoook was to have warm clothing also. Akniachak already had his from the past season."
 Heavy Clothing
 Weyahok's mother had made him a parka of heavy winter caribou skin and pair of knee-length pants of the same material Koonook's mother had done the same for him. The parkas and pants were not much for looks but they were very warm.
 The season was now half over and Kakairnok and his crew had not had any luck.
 One day, just before midday, my father said to us, We are not doing very well here. I think we should move our camp up north away from the other crews We might do bet ter up there.'
 We broke camp and loaded our gear in the umiak and started north. padding along the edge of a lead. We passed two whaling camps along the way. Beyond the last camp was the shore ice that jutted out sea- ward. When We rounded it. we must have been over mile away from the last whaling camp we passed.
 Whale Surfaces We were leisurely cruising along about 90 feet from the shore ice looking for suitable place to set up camp, when a larger than aver age sized whale surfaced about 75 feet directly ahead of us.
 Father looked back to us quickly and motioned for us to paddle. The crew consisted of my father, Ka- kairnok, two other adult men, one of which was the helmsman. a woman who prepared meals, and three of us boys.
 We started to paddle after the whale with all the energy we could muster to catch up with it. on one of three or four series of surfaces it makes to breathe. We caught up on the third surfacing and my father raised his whale harpoon. My fathers whale harpoon had stout wooden shaft fastened to a bone shank rounded to a dull point at the end. On the end of the shank was the harpoon head of sharpened slate made oI,f of ix,orv ooJ ;< bod