‘Ataŋauraq went to Jabbertown [a Euro-American whaler/ trader station from 1898 to c.1908, about five miles south of Point Hope] to see the trader, Bayne. He stood holding his pipe behind his back. But Bayne thought that Ataŋauraq had a pistol there. Ataŋauraq wanted to talk to the trader, but Bayne took his pistol and struck Ataŋauraq, cutting his head a little.’ Told by Asatchaq Jimmie Killigivuk, Point Hope 1976.

While nineteenth-century Euro-American explorers, traders and whalers have described their encounters with the Iñupiat in their journals and reports, there are no comparable texts by the Iñupiat. Thus, engravings depicting Euro-Americans may offer fascinating insights into the Iñupiat's perception of Euro-Americans at that time.

Only a few of the pictorial engravings in the collection of the British Museum seem to represent Euro-Americans, apparently characterized by their brimmed hats and caps (Fig. 1). The most detailed depiction is found on a drill bow collected by Sidney J. Spark, paymaster on the HMS Rattlesnake, who wintered in Port Clarence in 1853-4, and visited Barrow in summer 1854.

This engraving, apparently unfinished, shows Natives and Europeans at a summer camp with tents. With regard to the Europeans, the focus is on technology: guns and metalworking. A group of men, four of them armed with guns, are bird hunting. Two other men, perhaps sailors, work at an anvil. At the centre of the camp, several seated figures are smoking pipes, while another group of people is making or repairing a kayak.