Book Review: Nunaga - Ten Years of Eskimo Life

Nunaga: Ten Years of Eskimo Life by Duncan Pryde 285 pages, 1971, Walker Publishing Company, Inc. New York, 1972 American edition. 

Nunaga is extremely well written, a riveting story of a young man from Scotland who goes to Canada. He answers an ad for fur traders by the Hudson Bay Company.

In 1955, an eighteen year old Duncan Pryde was seeking fortune and adventure. He found both, and earned a reputation for genius with the Eskimo language. He lived the Eskimo life for years, becoming adept at survival in the arctic with dogsled, snow knife, rifle and harpoon, using Eskimo techniques. He fathered children with Eskimo women as part of Eskimo nomadic wife culture. The original version of the book is said to have been cut back considerably because of too much sexuality.

This correspondent does not recall exactly when he first read Nunaga. It was decades ago.  The book includes an episode where Duncan Pryde shoots a polar bear, at very close quarters, in defense. He used a Savage model 99 in 250/3000 caliber, as I recall.  

Studies of defenses against bears have come to occupy this correspondent’s time. A copy of Nunaga was obtained to evaluate the polar bear shooting. It was worth the time to determine if the event was included in the Polar Bear/Human Information Management System (PBHIMS), obtained by AmmoLand with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The PBHIMS was created with taxpayer dollars to gain understanding of polar bear and human interactions, including conflicts in the Arctic. This famous event, from a credible source in a very popular and widespread title, was somehow missed.

After nearly dying in a canoe trip along a icebound shoreline, Duncan and his companion find a narrow access to shore in a dense fog. With great risk, they mange to enter and find a safe, but small beach.  There is a steep, but climbable access to get off the beach. Duncan’s companion goes up to see if he can observe  a Dew Line outpost they had spotted earlier. Duncan decided to stay on the beach in a tent.  Some time later, Duncan hears a sound. He thinks it is his companion. He speaks, then yells, expecting to be answered. He looks out of the tent, to see a large polar bear six feet away, next to the canoe. The polar bear sees him.  Here is how Duncan Pryde described the event p. 264: 

It pawed at the ground and I pawed at the inside of the tent, trying to locate my rifle.  Finally my hand closed over it and I eased my shoulder back inside the tent so I could get both hands on the gun. I levered a cartridge into the chamber, and in the silence between me and the bear, the click was the loudest sound in the world.

The bear turned toward me and reared up. I still wasn’t sure what it would do, but it was so close if it decided to come my way, there would be little time for me to do anything. I swung the rifle up and fired. I shot it right through the heart with a .250/3000, and it flopped over against the canoe with a high pitched scream like a woman’s.

Nunaga is an epic biography of real life high adventure in the arctic, as it transitioned from dogsled to snowmobile. Duncan eventually was elected to the Northwest Territories council, as representative for the Eskimo’s in the area, from 1966 to 1970. Nunaga is full of Duncan Pryde’s ten years in Eskimo culture. It is foundational reading for anyone attempting to understand what has happened in the Canadian arctic. He is remembered as the foremost expert on the Eskimo language, pronunciation, and grammar. 

One of the things this writer found of interest, is Duncan Pryde’s evaluation of accounts by Farley Mowat, the widely debunked author of the fraudulent work: Never Cry Wolf. Pryde mentions Mowat on page 33: 

When Farley Mowat claims in his books and articles that he went to the Arctic and in a matter of a month or two was able to speak a basic form of Eskimo and discuss shamanism and religion, I just can’t believe him.  I know that when he came to Baker Lake he didn’t communicate at all in Eskimo.

It was another data point about the lack of credibility of Farley Mowat, who  said, “I never let facts get in the way of a good story.”

Duncan Pryde has plenty of credibility. His credentials are legion. Pryde joins with numerous others who have impeccable reputations, to point out exaggerations and fabrications published by Mowat. 

If you are interested in fact and real life Arctic adventure, Nunaga is a fascinating read.

©2025 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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