Re: [Paddlewise] Inuit Discovery of Scotland

John Winters wrote:

<  snip  >

> the Angmassalik elders finally gave them three kayaks
> (named the Pamela Anderson, the Fergy and the #62) and a three day supply
> of muktuk. Bidding them farewell they promptly  forgot about them.
> 
> It was a good thing they did (forget about them) because two of the boats
> turned south and discovered what is now called New York where they
> cohabited with the natives and after generations of inbreeding developed a
> race of taxi drivers.

Careful, some of us are New Yorkers!!!  And the folks on NYCKayaker might get offended 
if you said they were related to the cab drivers.


> None was capable of speaking and intelligent word in the Inuit language no
> matter how much he waved his arms about. Even more discouraging was the
> discovery that there was no fish and chips batter nor even a warm beer to
> be had. The natives survived on a diet of haggis and a smoked cured
> beverage made from peat they called "uisge beatha".
> 
> The tragedy is that our Euro centric history has failed to recognise this
> hero for discovering Scotland and bringing religion to its inhabitants. A
> small  remnant of his feat remains in the Scottish national trait of
> frugality (you have to be pretty frugal to paddle from Greenland to
> Scotland on three days worth of muktuk) and in Presbyterianism.
> 

>From what I've heard about muktuk, you could paddle even farther on three days supply, 
because you wouldn't ever want to eat any of it.  Though whether it's worse than haggis 
I couldn't say for sure - haven't actually tried either.  Geez, just think of pulling 
out muktuk on one of those breaks in a long paddle, on a hot summer day!  I think I'll 
stick with power bars and gatorade, myself.  


But Joq, I think these paddlewise folks may have something here to rival sterno 
paddling, you know.  Use muktuk instead of sterno to light the torches on the boats as 
you paddle up ego alley under the mistletoe on the winter solstice?



Joy Hecht
former New Yorker (but once a New Yorker, always a New Yorker?)
now in Arlington, VA
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