Here is a text written by an inuk from Povungnituk. He explains the traditional uses of inuksuit on the tundra. Around Kangiqsualujjuaq the land is not flat so inuksuit are not too important. There are not many inuksuit around our village.
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Some inuksuit were used by those hunting caribous, when the caribous were coming the young ones were fed milk not to make noise. The land without trees was called the place for feeding by the elders.
Many inuksuit together are called nalluni. We placed nalluni where we would want the caribous to swim before they reach the end of the lake or reach the other side.
Almost all the land had inuksuit, all of them were useful. Some
inuksuit were on the way where caribou herds were walking, beside
lakes or at the end of big lakes.
When they start to swim, we will go to them by kayak. Before they reach the shore, they will be hunted with harpoon (kapuutinut) This was the way to get many caribous. In the summer the skin and the fur were good and used for clothes. The meat was buried underground, that way that would be the food for the winter, it was like that in the past.
Some inuksuit were there for people not to get lost when they were moving around; for example, inuksuit were followed to go to a lake or anywhere.
On lakes where there are fish, there are rocks who point to the lake. The two rocks are on top of the flat rock point to the fishing whole. We should try to fish where it is pointing. But we don't even notice it because we don't know what our ancestors did. Back then they built these pointers to a lake where there is fish. We never worry about them, we just hunt when we are camping.
All the big places have an inuksuk. We use them to recognize where we are. Even to this day, they are used. Inukshuk building was taken seriously by our ancestors, they were build to be used. If there were no inuksuk, many people would get lost, especially in the blizzard. When we see an inuksuk we are thankful and we feel more confident.
