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TRAINING HUSKIES IS NOT THE WORK OF A LAZY MAN
By Howard Rock
Times Editor
In my early years I was the most
surprised youngster in our little
sod igloo, when, after some vigor
ous persuasion by Aunt Muman
geena. Uncle Nayukuk consented to
train our litter of young huskies
' for a team.
I imagined jus ineptness would
be so colossal that the dogs would
never get trained. When one under
took such a job. he was definitely
asking for trouble. Half-grown
huskies when being trained for the
first time have no respect for any
one or anything.
In previous articles some people
have gotten somewhat acquainted
with Uncle Nayukuk. They have
found that he was rather lazy both
in work and in hunting; that he
was rather handsome with a good
Chare of dignity. He had enough of
this dignity that one would feel
rather uncomfortable if he saw him
knocked down just for the fun of it.
On account of this no one joked or
Jested with him.
Fine Potential
It was the latter part of one Sep
tember that the snow had fallen in
sufficient amounts for dogteams
to drive on. Winter ice on the
ocean had not yet formed so there
Was a lull in hunting.
The ice on rivers was just start
ing to freeze. Men had some time
to do incidental things. They pre
pared their weapons for the winter
hunt. Some trained young huskies
for dogteams. Uncle Nayukuk be
came one of them although he was
most unwilling and reluctant at
first.
His wife. Mumangeena had said.
• “We have a fine bunch of young
d6gs now and it's about time we
have a good team. We haven't had
one for so long.”
She had decided to have a good
team ninths before when one of
our dogs had a litter of pups.
, WtRipir father is one of the best
in th* village. What a fine !
team they Will make when they
grow up.”
Fine Care
During their growing period.
Aunt Mumangeena had taken fine
care of the pups. It was a wonder
ful experience to watch her. She
talked to them as if they were j
children.
“Umaa, (You there) don't be so
greedy. Leave some for your little
brother. How can he grow up if
you keep doing that?" she would
reprimand.
Complete Opposite
Aunt Mumangeena was about
five feet twro inches tall. For an
Eskimo woman, she had a rather
long face, prominent cheek bones,
and a definite roman nose. She
had a tattoo that ran down her chin
about a half inch wide with a nar
row stripe on each side. When
she walked she waddled and the
reason for that was that she had
very bowed legs.
In spite of her physical appear
ance, Aunt Mumangeena was un
ually sweet natured. She cooed at
anything that was young, usually
babies^and puppies. She was sym
pathetic to anyone who was unfor
tunate. She never stopped talking,
a complete opposite of Uncle Na
yukuk.
Once in a while she would get
annoyed at her husband's reticence.
“Even a seal can say more things
than you do,” she would complain.
Devout Woman
Aunt Mumangeena was a very
religious woman. She was so sincere
about it that it kind of rubbed off
on one. When she felt a little ill
she never failed to ask me to pray
for her.
In the evening before I went to
bed, she would ask me over to
where she was lying, take my right
hand in hers and would make me
kneel beside her to pray. I would
do her bidding and would concen
trate as mightily as 1 could. The
next day when she felt better, she
would credit me by telling people
that it was I who was responsible
for her improving health.
Named After Grandmother
1 Less than two weeks before I was
born, my grandmother passed
away. When I came along. I was
promptly named after her. Ever
since I could remember Aunt Mu
mageena called me “mother.” As I
grew older, I began to resent being
called that. When I was around
nine years old, boys made toy boats
and raced them across a little slough
in the center of the village. Out of
driftwood bark, I made boats all
the time. They were made so well,
according to my aunt, that she
would proudly say. “Ahqang, (mo
QUESTIONS ANSWERED ABOUT
7^e tyxeat ^xuUL
By Clarabell Charlie *
Nenana, Alaska
The Tundra Times has been j
receiving many letters from the
lower states asking questions
from the Fairbanks Chamber of
Commerce. Each letter is per
sonally answered by an Eskimo
or Indian, and some of the ques
tions and answers are chosen for
this column. Anyone who has a
question about Alaska is asked
to write: The Great Land, Ques
tion Box, Tundra Times, Box
1287, Fairbanks, Alaska. In to
day’s column, questions are an
swered from school children in
White Plains, N.Y.
‘ U'H true that Eskimos laugh
zhore in a week than we do in a
da j"?—Fred Feudale, Durham, North
Carolina.
This statement may be a little
exaggerated but, on the whole, Es
kimos ere very happy people.
Our teacher says that you only
j go to school in the winter because
you do not have clocks. So, in the
summer It atayg sunny all day,
even si midnight. Is this true? —
David Schwartz, White Plains, New
york.
We have many clocks in Alaska;
how are we to tell time otherwise?
d school in the winter and
have our vacation in the summer
just as any other school. We have
continuous daylight in the summer,
but the shining of the sun depends
largely on the location. Up north,
in Barrow, the sun shines continu
ously for 54 days.
Do Alaskans have houses like us? j
— Mary Helen Hoag, White Plains,
New York.
The homes in cities of Alaska are
modern, but in the outlying vil
lages, houses are built out of logs.
Very few Eskimos live in sod igloos
today. Many of the homes up north
are well-insulated wooden-framed
houses. There is a misconception of
the fact that Eskimos live in gnow
igloos. This is not the case in Alas
ka, but is true of the Eskimos in
some regions of the northern part
of Canada.
The aim of every artist is to ar
rest motion, which is life, by arti
ficial means and hold it fixed so
that a hundred years later, when
a stranger looks at it, it moves
again, since it is life . . . This is
the artist’s way of scribbling “Kil
roy was here” on the wall of the
final and irrevocable oblivion
through which he must someday
pass . . , —William Faulkner
ther) show them the boats you
made today.”
Fall time had come upon us and
people began to drive their dogs
to get wood down the coast. Our
young huskies were almost full
grown. Aunt Mumangeena became
insistent to have them trained. “We
will need them this winter so you
better train them right away,” she
told her husband.
The Consent
After much persuasion and out
right demands by Mumangeena,
Uncle Nayukuk finally got ready to
train the frisky young dogs. As part
of the preliminary training they
had been tied to posts when they
got too big to run loose and had
gotten used to it.
There had been nine in the litter
and being out of good stock, two
females had been given away to
the families who wanted them. A
team of huskies out of the same
litter is considered to be the best,,
once trained. They work well to
gether probably due to the fact
that they know each other well.
However, this intimacy is a defi
nite drawback when one starts to
train them. They know each other
too well.
It was now time to harness the
young team. First he harnessed our
leader that was around six years
old. This was most necessary be
cause inexperienced huskies need
a leader that will help to keep some
semblance of order in the process
of learning.
“Greenhorn Team”
Then Nayukuk harnessed the first
young husky. When it was on, the
dog began to squirm and twist. The
strange feeling of the harness was
just too much. He started to bite
at it, spinning round and round
and it soon tangled himself with
other harnessed. Uncle Nayukuk
tried to calm it down. He might as
well have ordered rain in January.
Mumangeena came out of the
igloo to help. She held the har
nessed young husky to keep it
from tangling any further while her
husband finished the rest. He put
another of the olded dogs in the
team in hopes of steadying the
young ones.
Unheeded Commands
Finally the team was ready to
go. Aunt Mumangeena untied the
anchor line and as soon as she
did, Uncle Nayukuk commanded.
“Mush!” At the command the two
experienced dogs lunged forward.
His order fell on deaf ears as far
as the young huskies were concern
ed.
They did not have any idea what
“mush” meant, nor did they make
any attempt to go forward. They
were much too busy squirming in
their harnesses, rolling on the snow,
yelping and nipping at each other,
turning around to play with the
ones behind, and trying vigorously
to pull their heads out of their
collars. The sled moved forward
for about five feet.
In about 15 minutes time, Uncle
Nayukuk traveled about 300 feet.
Most of the distance was taken up
untangling the overactive young
dogs that nipped at each other
and got into frequent tussles. He
constantly hollered “Mush" which
the leader and the other older dog
faithfully obeyed while the half
grown dogs wanted to go in all
directions.
One of the young dogs somehow
got his leg tangled in the harness
of the one in front of it and start
ed a wild commotion. While he was
trying to extricate it, a dogteam
approached from behind and to the
right which Uncle Nayukuk did not
notice.
Wild Chase
One of the young huskies spied
the team and suddenly swung
around from behind catching Nayu
kuk on the calves of his legs with
its trace pulling them out from
under him. He fell on his rear on
the thinly snow-covered frozen
ground. At that moment his right
foot tangled among the traces.
The frisky and over-anxious
young huskies made a mad dash
toward the passing team dragging
the driver, the leader, and the other
older dog. Uncle Nayukuk kept
hollering “whoa”, but it didn't
do any good.
The dash did not stop until the
disorganized team covered about 500
feet dragging and bouncing Uncle
Nayukuk over the hard ground.
They slowed and stopped when the
dogteam outdistanced them. The
500 feet was quite an improvement
from the previous 300 and they
made the distance in about a min
ute.
The driver extricated himself
wearily, rested a minute and re
sumed the training, which at that
moment seemed hopeless. By now.
Uncle Nayukuk was getting quite
an audience among the villagers
who snickered and laughed in a'
muffled manner.
Small Progress
The strenuous effort by the young
team calmed them down somewhat.
They were panting heavily and a
little bit tired after dragging Uncle
Nayukuk unceremoniously with a
leader that kept trying to go the
other direction.
After this, the trainer began to
make better progress. The team
moved in spurts and stops but it
was moving forward. In an hour’s
time, Uncle Nayukuk and his team
could be seen about a mile from
the village. The farther he got the
better the performance of his team
seem to be. It would be speeding up
now and then, especially when
there was another team somewhere
near it.
Slow Going
Another hour passed and the team
was just a pinpoint in the distance.
Soon afterwards, ft started com
ing back toward the village. The
speed of it was erratic with fre
quent stops. Nayukuk could be seen
working with the dogs, apparently
untangling them. Once the team
got away from him and he ran
with great speed after it. He caught
up with the young team due to its
erratic behavior.
The trainer approached the vil
lage. His team was moving rather
slowly but it was going something
like a dogteam. A loose dog came
runing close to it and the young
huskies responded by wanting to
chase it, which they didi n a half
hearted manner.
At last the team reached our ig
loo. Every member of it looked
as if it had gone through a rough
70-mile trip. Nayukuk looked tired.
He had been sweating. The leader
was spent.
The additional strain of trying
to lead a bunch of erratic young
! huskies was almost too much. The
other older dog had fared better.
Along the way it had apparently
lost its patience and sharply maul
ed the young husky next to it be
cause It had a bloody ear.
Hard Training
As soon as the team stopped at
the igloo, a great change had taken
place in the young huskies. They
were utterly exhausted. There was
no frisking around. Instead they
laid flat on their sides and panted
heavily. They hardly moved a mus
cle when their harnesses were tak.
en off. The first day of training
had taken a heavy toil but in do
ing it they had made mincing steps
towards becoming a team. The next
training session would be some
what easier and there would bs
several days of it.
Surprisingly, and with unex
plained determination, Uncle Nayu
kuk kept on training the young
huskies for the next two weeks.
Aunt Mumageena vdae elated. I
was allowed to go along on the
training sessions. I rode in the sled
while Nayukuk rode the runners
and directed the team.
Remarkable Progress
As the days went by, the fledg
ling team began to show remark
able improvement. They relished the
drive, tails curled, and they yipped
happily as they went. They still
tired easily but time would take
care of that. Later on, they were
actually yipping anxiously as soon
as they saw the harnesses taken out
for the hitching. Yes, the young
team had plenty of spirit, a de
finite indication of a fine team in
the future.
Aunt Mumangeena was a picture
of happiness with the result of the
training. She complimented her
husband freely. There was hardly
any sign of acknowlegement from
Nayukuk. He neither looked pleas
ed nor was he saying anything.
Fine Team
In spite of his aversion to work,
it would seem reasonable that Un
cle Nayukuk saw the real need for
a good team — that of its need in
survival. Once he started, his de
termination to train the difficult
young huskies was indeed another
one of the surprises that one would
not have expected of Uncle Nayu
kuk. During the process his reputa
tion of being lazy fell by the way
side and as a result, he wound up
with one of the best dog teams in
his village.
Eskimo Music Impresses
College Music Professors
About 40 college music professors
and students expressed great in
terest recently at the American
Musicological Society meeting at
the University of Oregon by Eskimo
music.
Mrs. Lorraine Koranda, who is
making an extensive study of Es
kimo music, presented a paper,
“Some Traditional Songs of the
Alaska Eskimos.’’
She also played a tape song by
each of six Eskimo singers. The
songs covered a wide range of in
teresting topics and types of songs,
including wolf dance songs of the
messenger feast, the challenge song
from King Island, a children’s song
et cetera.
The music professors discussed
the characteristics of the music and
expressed amazement at the great
variety of the songs.
Taped soings played by Paul
Green, Nome; the late Abe Lincoln
of Kotzebue; Charlie and Lucy
Jensen, of Pt. Hope; Thera Kacha
tag, Unalakleet; William Oquillook,
from Nome, formerly of Mary’s Ig
loo; and, Aloysius Pikougama, of
King Island.
The music that Mrs. Koranda is
collocting will be preserved by the
Alaska Festival of Music and the
University of Alaska under the pro
visions of a grant from the Z. J.
Loussac Foundation.
Recently Mrs. Koranda made a
trip to Barrow, Nome, and. Kotze
bue and will discuss and play Es
kimo music at the forthcomiing
Alaska Festival of Music. After the
festival, she will go to the Kuskok
wim area to collect Eskimo music in
that area. i
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