Cold comfort: my love affair with the Arctic // Review

The story began with a visit in 1935 by Tom Manning, explorer and Cambridge graduate, to that university in search of members for an expedition the following year to Foxe Basin, off the west coast of Baffin Island. The objectives of the expedition were to complete the mapping of the Baffin Island coastline and to study the archaeology and biology of the region, including Southampton Island. Five young men joined Manning, all with some relevant expertise, and all but one with some experience of the Arctic. That one was Graham Rowley, the expedition archaeologist. Tom Manning is described as someone who "seemed to enjoy discomfort of any kind" (p. 30), and the grim experience of the Polecat trip convinced [Reynold Bray] and Rowley that they would be better off travelling with the hospitable and protective Inuit. It was a fortunate decision, leading to a sustained, intimate experience of life with Inuit who were, in most respects, living in the ancient way. Rowley describes hunger, with breakfast a spoonful of raw, frozen brains; string games played by the light of a seal-oil lamp; dancing in the igloo; and the boy who preferred to stand rather than sit, in order to have strong legs for the hunt. The description of youths who achieved a high by self-strangulation anticipates the gasoline-sniffers ofthe present. Rowley's sojourn with the Inuit resulted in lifelong friendships, and the rags-to-riches story of his protege, Mino, is a treat. Despite its haphazard character, the expedition achieved its main objectives. Bray and Manning added to the ornithological record of the region; Bray and Rowley completed the mapping of the Baffin Island coastline, often working with little more than watch, compass, and an eye for perspective. Rowley mapped two routes across Baffin Island and made significant archeological discoveries that confirmed Jenness's theory of a Dorset culture preceding that of the Thule whalers. Rowley also anticipated the now-accepted view that the Thule people were direct ancestors of the Inuit.