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Nunaga: Ten Years Among the Eskimos
Book by Pryde, Duncan
- GenresNonfictionTravelCanada
288 pages, Paperback
First published February 28, 1972
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
July 13, 2025
A fantastic book in which the author describes he taking up employment in 1955 as a trader in the Northwestern Territories of Canada (as it was known then - now Nunavut, which is largely the area Pryde lived, is a separate territory).
As a brief introduction (given in the book blurb, and covered at pace at the beginning of the book), Duncan Pryde is a Scotsman who left school at 15 and joined the Merchant Navy. He was involved in an accident that resulted in some damage to an eye, which meant he had to leave his job. The details of this aren't explained and he describes no effects of this on his time in the North. After working in a factory and finding that dull he responded to an advertisement by the Hudson's Bay Trading Company for a trader in Canada's frozen north.
For a man with limited schooling, Pryde proves himself very able to write, and his meticulous learning of the Inuktituk language (this book makes use of the terminology Eskimo throughout, although the reader will be aware this is not used as any slight, it was simply the usage of the time) through recording words in phonetics his own dictionary, one not being available at the time. Prydes writing is nothing short of excellent in his ability to communicate complex concepts, describe techniques for sled and canoe setups, fishing and hunting etc, but also to explain to the novice the Eskimo culture and way of life.
As Pryde gains experience with running the trading station, and beginning to learn the Eskimo way of life he changes his own lifestyle, understanding that it is far more suited to the environment he is living in. He is respected for his eagerness to be involved in learning the language, in participating in hunting and fishing and in genuinely bonding with the people. Soon Sandy retires, and a new trader is brought in while Pryde remains for the transition, and is then transferred to run his own trading station at Spence Bay.
Before long he is asked to take on a more remote trading station at Perry Island, where there are some significant issues that the previous trader was unable to resolve, and in fact contributed to with his lack of control. This involved many of the local men giving up trapping to draw welfare, excessive drinking and violence. The trading stations, probably because they were intimate with the community, also administered the welfare payments (as well as playing a role in medical care and also radio communications for the community). So Pryde had to come in with a heavy hand, cut all welfare, stop supply of the raw product being bought to make the dodgy booze (methyl hydrate, provided for the lighting of kerosene primus stoves in the very cold) and force the men back out to trap to earn money to survive. This is a tough role for a young man without the support of another whiteman (another of Prydes terminologies he uses for non-Eskimo people in the NWT) for hundreds of miles. There were some touchy moments and violent reprisals to be dealt with for the rules he instigated - again all very well told in this book.
Wrapped around the story of Pryde's trading life are stories of his many hunting, trapping and fishing expeditions, his dog sledding and canoe explorations and very good descriptions of Eskimo life. The period of late 1950s and early 1960s was a major cultural shift for the Eskimo people. Pryde describes how the way of life has already changed by the introduction of the traders. The Eskimo have gone from being subsistence hunters to being trappers because the traders have product they want, and their only currency is furs. They have gone from running three husky's to needing teams of 13 husky's to carry the furs. The consequence of which is needing to hunt and fish extensively to feed the dogs.
In the 1960s they were on the cusp of the motor age with the first introduction of snowmobiles. Rifles were already established of course, and outboard motors. When Pryde arrived the only permanent buildings in the places he lived were those of the trading company. The Eskimo lived in snowhouses in winter and tents in summer.
Also well described in the book are the birds and animals of the area, of which the Eskimo have a deep understanding. Caribou, seals, polar bears, artic foxes, wolves, wolverine and the multitude of birds in particular.
Towards the end of the book Pryde is convinced to enter politics, and due to the time constraints of that role he ends his employment with the trading company, but with a significant reduction in income he maintains living in the Eskimo lifestyle, trapping to make up his earnings. In his role as a member of parliament Pryde and his other far northern colleagues provide meaningful representation for the Eskimo. They effect change to the remote schooling and hunting quota system.
There was much more covered in this book than I have touched on here (albeit I have rattled on into quite a long review, even for me). Clearly this book preserves clear description of a way of live now forever changed, and as such is important. Obviously, I recommend this anyone with an interest in this culture and way of live, or is interested in a well written biography. The only note I would add it that the Eskimo way of life involves hunting and killing of animals - this in intimately described in the text, so those sensitive to this are unlikely to want to persist with reading.
5 stars.
As a brief introduction (given in the book blurb, and covered at pace at the beginning of the book), Duncan Pryde is a Scotsman who left school at 15 and joined the Merchant Navy. He was involved in an accident that resulted in some damage to an eye, which meant he had to leave his job. The details of this aren't explained and he describes no effects of this on his time in the North. After working in a factory and finding that dull he responded to an advertisement by the Hudson's Bay Trading Company for a trader in Canada's frozen north.
Fur traders wanted for the far north... single, ambitious, self-reliant young men wanted... far north of Canada... must be prepared to life in isolation... willing to learn native language... fur trade... salary $135.00 per monthAnd so begins his time, first as an apprentice trader in Baker Lake, under the watch of Sandy Lunan.
For a man with limited schooling, Pryde proves himself very able to write, and his meticulous learning of the Inuktituk language (this book makes use of the terminology Eskimo throughout, although the reader will be aware this is not used as any slight, it was simply the usage of the time) through recording words in phonetics his own dictionary, one not being available at the time. Prydes writing is nothing short of excellent in his ability to communicate complex concepts, describe techniques for sled and canoe setups, fishing and hunting etc, but also to explain to the novice the Eskimo culture and way of life.
As Pryde gains experience with running the trading station, and beginning to learn the Eskimo way of life he changes his own lifestyle, understanding that it is far more suited to the environment he is living in. He is respected for his eagerness to be involved in learning the language, in participating in hunting and fishing and in genuinely bonding with the people. Soon Sandy retires, and a new trader is brought in while Pryde remains for the transition, and is then transferred to run his own trading station at Spence Bay.
Before long he is asked to take on a more remote trading station at Perry Island, where there are some significant issues that the previous trader was unable to resolve, and in fact contributed to with his lack of control. This involved many of the local men giving up trapping to draw welfare, excessive drinking and violence. The trading stations, probably because they were intimate with the community, also administered the welfare payments (as well as playing a role in medical care and also radio communications for the community). So Pryde had to come in with a heavy hand, cut all welfare, stop supply of the raw product being bought to make the dodgy booze (methyl hydrate, provided for the lighting of kerosene primus stoves in the very cold) and force the men back out to trap to earn money to survive. This is a tough role for a young man without the support of another whiteman (another of Prydes terminologies he uses for non-Eskimo people in the NWT) for hundreds of miles. There were some touchy moments and violent reprisals to be dealt with for the rules he instigated - again all very well told in this book.
Wrapped around the story of Pryde's trading life are stories of his many hunting, trapping and fishing expeditions, his dog sledding and canoe explorations and very good descriptions of Eskimo life. The period of late 1950s and early 1960s was a major cultural shift for the Eskimo people. Pryde describes how the way of life has already changed by the introduction of the traders. The Eskimo have gone from being subsistence hunters to being trappers because the traders have product they want, and their only currency is furs. They have gone from running three husky's to needing teams of 13 husky's to carry the furs. The consequence of which is needing to hunt and fish extensively to feed the dogs.
In the 1960s they were on the cusp of the motor age with the first introduction of snowmobiles. Rifles were already established of course, and outboard motors. When Pryde arrived the only permanent buildings in the places he lived were those of the trading company. The Eskimo lived in snowhouses in winter and tents in summer.
Also well described in the book are the birds and animals of the area, of which the Eskimo have a deep understanding. Caribou, seals, polar bears, artic foxes, wolves, wolverine and the multitude of birds in particular.
Towards the end of the book Pryde is convinced to enter politics, and due to the time constraints of that role he ends his employment with the trading company, but with a significant reduction in income he maintains living in the Eskimo lifestyle, trapping to make up his earnings. In his role as a member of parliament Pryde and his other far northern colleagues provide meaningful representation for the Eskimo. They effect change to the remote schooling and hunting quota system.
There was much more covered in this book than I have touched on here (albeit I have rattled on into quite a long review, even for me). Clearly this book preserves clear description of a way of live now forever changed, and as such is important. Obviously, I recommend this anyone with an interest in this culture and way of live, or is interested in a well written biography. The only note I would add it that the Eskimo way of life involves hunting and killing of animals - this in intimately described in the text, so those sensitive to this are unlikely to want to persist with reading.
5 stars.
August 11, 2022
Brilliant!
Does what it says on the tin, really. This is the account of the author's ten years living among the Inuit at remote outposts in the Canadian Arctic. He arrived in the 1950s to be a fur trader for the Hudson's Bay Company and the book ends in the 1960s, by which time he is married to a local woman and elected to represent a huge Arctic constituency on the Territorial Council. For much of this time he was the only European in more than a hundred miles.
The book covers his efforts to learn the Inuit language and dialects, to learn how to hunt fur and food in the Arctic and to fit in with the culture of the locals. Although he gives us a good chronology of his time, the book is arranged thematically, with one chapter on hunting polar bears, another on fishing, the next on clothing, then a look at looking after a dog sled team and so on. We follow at least some of his personal life - one or two close brushes with death, fights with Inuit toughs and encounters with shamans as well as his amorous adventures.
In itself it is a cracking adventure tale of derring do, but it is also a window on to a vanished world. The author is aware that Arctic life is changing as he watches it, and maybe this is why he keeps his eyes open and records what he sees and experiences. Nor is he blind to the good and evil that Europeans have brought in their wake.
A fascinating book.
Does what it says on the tin, really. This is the account of the author's ten years living among the Inuit at remote outposts in the Canadian Arctic. He arrived in the 1950s to be a fur trader for the Hudson's Bay Company and the book ends in the 1960s, by which time he is married to a local woman and elected to represent a huge Arctic constituency on the Territorial Council. For much of this time he was the only European in more than a hundred miles.
The book covers his efforts to learn the Inuit language and dialects, to learn how to hunt fur and food in the Arctic and to fit in with the culture of the locals. Although he gives us a good chronology of his time, the book is arranged thematically, with one chapter on hunting polar bears, another on fishing, the next on clothing, then a look at looking after a dog sled team and so on. We follow at least some of his personal life - one or two close brushes with death, fights with Inuit toughs and encounters with shamans as well as his amorous adventures.
In itself it is a cracking adventure tale of derring do, but it is also a window on to a vanished world. The author is aware that Arctic life is changing as he watches it, and maybe this is why he keeps his eyes open and records what he sees and experiences. Nor is he blind to the good and evil that Europeans have brought in their wake.
A fascinating book.
December 10, 2025
In 1959, Duncan Pryde, a 20 something, Scotsman and former sailor, joined the Hudson Bay Company. He requested and received a remote northern territory. Within a few years he had fully “gone native”.
Along with him, you learn what a trader does. While he is a buyer of fur for the company, he is also a shopkeeper of what feels like a general store and serves as something like an EMT with drug store medicine and access to radio communication.
He learns the local language and hunts and traps with the Eskimos. In the book he shares his learning about how to set traps, find and kill prey, buy dogs and train dogs for sled pulling. He learns to build an ice house (AKA: igloo). He shares in all aspects of Eskimo life including birth, death and “wife exchange” rituals.
It is amazing that he lived there 11 years and left alive. In addition to everyday hazards, he had two close up encounters with bears and made two long trips with a danger every hour. In one he survived a 4 day blizzard but his dogs did not. He survived a 1400 mile trip in a 20 foot canoe facing winter’s onset with water freeze ups and high winds pushing floating islands of ice.
Arctic life and culture were changing. Prior to his arrival hunting that once required bows and arrows changed to hunting with guns. Pryce met one member of the clergy, but the future saw more clergy and the decline of“wife exchange”.
His last chapter is about changes. Dog sleds gave way to snowmobiles which provide faster checking for 400 mile trap lines. Children go away to school and when they come home for the summer there is a clash of values. Eskimos no longer live snow houses or what seemed like sheds. They live in pre-fab government homes. People shop in stores like those elsewhere in Canada, and are not limited to the inventory of the Hudson Bay Company which received stock only once or twice a year.
Readers will be amazed at the experiences of this young man as he learns to survive in this harsh climate. He shares significant signs of the environment (for danger, food, weather changes, navigational landmarks, etc.) and can identify a dizzying number of helpful and harmful plant and animal species.
The title of this book: “Nunaga” is the Eskimo word for “My Country” and you see how this northern part of Canada became a part of Pryce and is a fitting title.
Anyone interested in life in the Arctic will page turn through this book. Cable TV has a good number of contemporary Alaska reality shows and fans of them will be interested in this book which shows how life was before roads, TV, schools, churches and stores.
Along with him, you learn what a trader does. While he is a buyer of fur for the company, he is also a shopkeeper of what feels like a general store and serves as something like an EMT with drug store medicine and access to radio communication.
He learns the local language and hunts and traps with the Eskimos. In the book he shares his learning about how to set traps, find and kill prey, buy dogs and train dogs for sled pulling. He learns to build an ice house (AKA: igloo). He shares in all aspects of Eskimo life including birth, death and “wife exchange” rituals.
It is amazing that he lived there 11 years and left alive. In addition to everyday hazards, he had two close up encounters with bears and made two long trips with a danger every hour. In one he survived a 4 day blizzard but his dogs did not. He survived a 1400 mile trip in a 20 foot canoe facing winter’s onset with water freeze ups and high winds pushing floating islands of ice.
Arctic life and culture were changing. Prior to his arrival hunting that once required bows and arrows changed to hunting with guns. Pryce met one member of the clergy, but the future saw more clergy and the decline of“wife exchange”.
His last chapter is about changes. Dog sleds gave way to snowmobiles which provide faster checking for 400 mile trap lines. Children go away to school and when they come home for the summer there is a clash of values. Eskimos no longer live snow houses or what seemed like sheds. They live in pre-fab government homes. People shop in stores like those elsewhere in Canada, and are not limited to the inventory of the Hudson Bay Company which received stock only once or twice a year.
Readers will be amazed at the experiences of this young man as he learns to survive in this harsh climate. He shares significant signs of the environment (for danger, food, weather changes, navigational landmarks, etc.) and can identify a dizzying number of helpful and harmful plant and animal species.
The title of this book: “Nunaga” is the Eskimo word for “My Country” and you see how this northern part of Canada became a part of Pryce and is a fitting title.
Anyone interested in life in the Arctic will page turn through this book. Cable TV has a good number of contemporary Alaska reality shows and fans of them will be interested in this book which shows how life was before roads, TV, schools, churches and stores.
January 1, 2024
During the yearly garbage-disposal event, I went hunting for thrown-out books, and I have found this treasure! Reading the whole book just took a couple of days, since it was quite immersive. I read a large part of this book out loud for my kids and they also loved it. Duncan, a Scottish teenager from the orphan house notices a job advertisement in a newspaper. The events quickly unfold and soon we found ourselves with him at the arctic regions of Canada. We can read a truly heart-felt report on how was he working as a fur trader, and how did he manage to adapt to the unusually harsh conditions, and to the Eskimo culture radically different to his original Western. After he self-taught the Inuit language, he got to know the life and habits of this admirable people. In his books he shares his experiences when meeting with Inuit traditions, and his adventures when living together with them for fifteen years. 10/10
January 6, 2025
Simply brilliant, one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. Duncan Pryde, lured from Scotland by a taste for adventure, works for the Hudson Bay Company at remote outposts, but it’s his immersion into the life of the Eskimo people that makes the story so interesting to read.
This man learned the language of the Eskimo people, learned their ways, lived much like them and in essence became one of them. Though he was no missionary, he was an advocate and probably knew the people better than any missionary ever could.
He tells one good story after another and you find yourself wishing the book wouldn’t end. So many good adventures, so many good stories. I’m thankful someone like him lived among the northern people before their world irrevocably changed. This book is a real treasure.
This man learned the language of the Eskimo people, learned their ways, lived much like them and in essence became one of them. Though he was no missionary, he was an advocate and probably knew the people better than any missionary ever could.
He tells one good story after another and you find yourself wishing the book wouldn’t end. So many good adventures, so many good stories. I’m thankful someone like him lived among the northern people before their world irrevocably changed. This book is a real treasure.
September 28, 2022
I loved this passionate and detailed account, it's a remarkable life lived and has splendid clarity and respect for the culture it explores.
Somewhat bittersweet, it teeters on the edge of romanticising the Canadian arctic whilst also keeping the reality completely lucid.
A few passages are surreal and difficult to read due to the culture shock, but essential for anyone interested in anthropology, adventure novels or incredible life stories.
Somewhat bittersweet, it teeters on the edge of romanticising the Canadian arctic whilst also keeping the reality completely lucid.
A few passages are surreal and difficult to read due to the culture shock, but essential for anyone interested in anthropology, adventure novels or incredible life stories.
September 25, 2023
This was an exceptionally well written book about the author's decade living with the Eskimos in the far north of Canada in the late 50s to the early 70s. He writes of the traditional way of living, which has now long gone, in a very sympathetic way and brings the Arctic to life wonderfully. Fantastic.
May 5, 2017
I loved every page of this. Each chapter takes you through a different theme of life in the Arctic. The first person accounts are incredible and learning about a culture that is all but lost is important. Would highly recommend.
January 1, 2022
I read this book years ago, and it still inspires me. The honest approach, and fair view of cultures so unknown to most provide a beautiful and inspiring story about fascinating peoples. Written with deep knowledge and so much respect.
October 20, 2020
Avete presente l'immagine degli eschimesi che ridono fanno naso naso e passano le giornate a inventare nuovi nomi per la neve? Ok... sono leggermente più incazzosi....
August 2, 2021
Fascinating.
October 18, 2021
Fascinating access, captivating writing and a unique look at what early trader and relationships were like in the Canadian North.
January 4, 2023
Good, but extremely dated.
July 25, 2023
Interesting snapshot on a culture now vanished.
October 13, 2016
Tragic, yet touching. A true story of a way of life that was disappearing as it was being lived. I don't enjoy many memoirs yet I definitely found this one to be humorous & also revelatory.
January 15, 2025
Truly one of the most interesting non-fiction books I've ever read! Loved hearing about 'Eskimo' culture as it was changing and evolving in the 60s as he was writing and (truly) experiencing it. He deep dives into their traditions and culture and values as he was living amongst these people for years in the remote arctic. This book wasn't researched, it was lived! I appreciate the deep and abiding respect he had for these individuals, while also being able to point out things that would be considered different for the white man! some of it is dated for sure, but this felt respectful, not pandering. He has such a deep love and respect for the people, and spent the later years of his life in the government truly advocating for them. It was written really well- had depth but didn't linger too long. Enough info to be very informative but not drag. The pages turned themselves! I wish he had written more, but maybe it's best he put his all into this one. All his good stories, brutal (they make you very grateful for a warm bed and hot meal!) yet deeply nostalgic stories of the people and land he loved and embraced. I just loved this to bits. Wish I could have met him.
March 26, 2016
I read this book about 10 years ago and found it fascinating and now having re-read it I find that it is even more absorbing because the culture of the Inuit has changed dramatically in the last 60 years as have the lives of ordinary Canadians but moreso for these aboriginal people. I think people reading this book from a 21st century mind set may find some of the passages to be politically incorrect...but keep reading as it is a true account of life as it was in the 1960's, much as Mark Twain wrote about life as it was in the 1800's. We cannot judge the point of view nor the way of life as that is the way it was. That is the beauty of the book...it is simple, straightforward and enlightening. Only one white man's point of view but a white man who lived amonst the Inuit for many years and became one of them. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who has a serious interest in cultures different from their own. Things have changes dramatically...some say not for the good...but change is progress...so some people say.....hmmmm.....
May 5, 2009
I'm a dude that trolls thrift stores for forgotten gems like this. . .a Scottish dude ends up in Alaska during the tail end of self-sufficiency and writes about all the amazing stuff he experienced.
I absolutely loved this book - clearly it's not written by an anthropologist so he's not above getting elbow deep into the culture. He happily takes part in the strange (to us westerners) free attitude towards sex and marriage. Basically if you think someone's husband or wife is hot and you want to have sex you just check in with the spouse who's gonna always say, "Yeah - go for it." So that's titillating.
Otherwise it's an amazing fish-out-of-water story that really made an impact on me and I'm giving it my highest recommendation here.
I absolutely loved this book - clearly it's not written by an anthropologist so he's not above getting elbow deep into the culture. He happily takes part in the strange (to us westerners) free attitude towards sex and marriage. Basically if you think someone's husband or wife is hot and you want to have sex you just check in with the spouse who's gonna always say, "Yeah - go for it." So that's titillating.
Otherwise it's an amazing fish-out-of-water story that really made an impact on me and I'm giving it my highest recommendation here.
January 15, 2013
This largely unknown arctic classic is a must-read for those interested in the north country, and in particular the cultural shifts that took place in the fur trapping era before many permanent native settlements & villages were established, but long after first white contact. This is my second time through this book, and after seven years living in Fairbanks I drew much more from it than in that first heady read when we had just moved there. It is a jewel of information about the values and priorities of those struggling to survive in an harsh land, a perspective lost to most of the world as we know it today.
November 30, 2024
I purchased this book for a dollar on the Friends of the St. Helens Oregon Library shelf. This is one of the best book purchases I’ve ever made. Duncan Pryde an orphan from Scotland who makes his was to the Canadian Arctic’s via several years in the Merchant Marine wrote an exceptional book that captures a way of life that has largely disappeared. This book is anthropological, history, and memoir. Yes, this picture is told through the eyes of a “white man”, but his telling is well balanced and without judgement. If you have an interest in arctic lands, Inuit culture, the impact of a changing world as a cautionary tale this is a great book to read.
March 31, 2009
There is so much value in this anthropological study of the far North that I am at a loss for words. Of the many books on the North that I have read, Nunaga is one of the top five. Duncan Pryde, who worked for Hudson Bay Company--and who was a remarkable linguist--writes with insight about the life of the Inuit. This is his only book. Pryde disappeared for a while and then later reemerged. I'd love to read a book about his missing years.
January 1, 2022
Ever had the urge to pick lice out of your hair and eat it? Ever felt like drinking fresh seal blood? No? Well then, you're probably not an Eskimo. The Eskimos in this book are pretty hardcore, and like this book, are anything but ordinary.
March 24, 2015
An all time favorite book of mine. It is a wonderful discourse on a disappearing way of life. Duncan Prude, an 18 year old Scot answers an ad that puts him in the Arctic living the life of the Eskimo as it slowly disappears.
April 14, 2012
Read it in 1972 and just went through it again. Home-spun anthropology, honest, entertaining.
April 13, 2014
One of my all-time favs! Found out about this gem when reading joe mcguiness' book "going to extremes" in Alaska where he meets Duncan in Barrow.
October 1, 2015
Amazing.Sobering. Beautiful. I got so blissfully lost in the Arctic.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews