by Glenn Taylor
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Aug 29/97) - Kittigazuit is abandoned now, but it was once the largest community in the region, populated by perhaps 1,000 Inuvialuit during the summer and early winter.

Waves of epidemics later turned the ideal whaling spot into a cursed place, and survivors abandoned the community for Tuk, Aklavik and elsewhere.

Little is known of this abandoned community some 20 kilometres west of present-day Tuk. But the Inuvialuit Social Development Program (ISDP) is working on a project to learn more, to preserve for future generations to understand and enjoy.

In 1978, Kittigazuit was declared a National Historic Site by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. The ISDP decided in 1995 that some organization should get to work identifying ways to commemorate the site. Why not them?

According to co-ordinator Cathy Cockney, much archeological work had been done at the site, but little has been learned from elders themselves, the descendants of Kittigazuit, besides a few tape recordings of interviews of elders made during the 1970s.

In late 1995 the ISDP began rounding up elders with stories about the community, and last summer until May of this year the interviews took place. A two-week visit of the camp was also held last year with the elders, and some archeological work and mapping of cultural features was done as well. A draft of the interviews running nearly 200 pages is now complete.

An archeological study of the area by Robert McGhee was published in his book, The Beluga Hunters, in 1974. It offers tremendous insights into life at Kittigazuit.

Sir John Richardson first came to Kittigazuit in 1826, and called it "the place favorable for the capture of whales."

During the summer hunt, people from across the region would gather here, because of the peculiar shape of the coast that allowed the hunters to actually herd the whales to the slaughter. The flat silty bottom of the ocean there is rich with fish, and makes a perfect lure and trap for the whales.

In 1848, Richardson estimated that 200 kayakers came to greet him from the settlement. It is believed by McGhee that during large hunts, the kayaks were launched one by one from Kittigazuit, so when the first ones reached the Richards Islands, about eight kilometres away, the last few were still just leaving Kittigazuit. Each boat was separated by about 40 metres.

After the fleet assembled for the hunt, a leader was chosen who would launch the first kayak in pursuit. Once the belugas were in the circle trap of kayaks, the hunters would yell and launch after the whales, slamming their paddles on the water to scare them. The panic-stricken whales would rush headlong onto the silty sandbank, and be trapped.

The oldest hunter would then be chosen to lance the largest trapped beluga. Perhaps several whales would be killed at a time this way. Whales were butchered on the beach and the meat smoked or air-dried. Blubber was rendered by burning driftwood.

People lived in tents of caribou skin, along the beach and away from the mosquitoes. Men spent much of their time in the "men's house" or kajigit, which was a large building some 20 metres in length and covered with beluga skin. The tents were abandoned in winter for large sod houses, which housed up to eight families.

Fishing with gill nets was also done, and a few caribou, small mammals and birds were also hunted here.

Celebrations took place in December, when people would gather around and feast, play athletic games, dance, tease children with stuffed polar bears and make animal puppets.

By February, most people would abandon the settlement and move to fishing camps on lake or river ice. The settlement was empty, until the people returned for the new hunting season in June and July

What happened to Kittigazuit? A mass of epidemics spread through the community after contact with the whalers. Hundreds of people died from measles, tuberculosis and other conditions. The dead soon outnumbered the living, and it became a cursed place.

The stench from the dead bodies buried under logs soon overpowered the settlers, and made it an unattractive place to live. The survivors moved on to Tuk and other communities, and the people never looked back.

Today, one cabin, several shallow graves and a few bone tools are all that's left behind to tell the story of this amazing community of not so long ago.