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Qinnguq
(c. 1900/1905 - 1930s)
of Wager Bay and Repulse Bay.
Husband of Airut.
Biological son of George Cleveland
Mother unknown.
Also known as: Matthew Qinnguq / Kinnguq / Kinnuq / Qinguu / Kringo / "Madeye"
Qinnguq was born about 1900-05 in Wager Bay. While his mother remains unidentified, he was a half-brother of Taqaugaq through his mother.
Qinnguq worked aboard ship with the whalers, to whom he was called "Kringo" and "Madeye," and is known to have travelled around Igloolik, Repulse Bay, Wager Bay, and Coral Harbour. Although he was born and raised in Wager Bay, he later lived in Repulse Bay, and was living there in 1930. He is buried in Wager Bay.
Qinnguq was remembered as having a short build with fair skin, curly hair, and blue eyes. A granddaughter notes that he was short tempered, joked a lot, and laughed a lot, too. He is remembered as looking like a white man with his big blue eyes and curly hair. He was sometimes known as "the half white man." As one family member relates, "One Repulse Bay resident who remembered him as a child thought he was a white man and wondered 'why did he speak in Inuktitut?'" Later she learned that he was an Inuk.
According to one granddaughter, "his eyes were huge and blue he was one of the men that had special powers. My mother once stated that because he was a good shaman. He was often challenged by other shamans that were evil that is how my father lost his life so young (32). ... Some elders thought he was a womanizer, short tempered, loud, & was a good shaman.”
He married Airut of Repulse Bay / Wager Bay area or Igloolik. She had curly hair and darker skin tone. They had at least six children.
He is said to have given his name to Qinnguq Island, located a few kilometers southeast of Repulse Bay. His son was reportedly born on this island.
Dudley Copland writes about Qinnguq as a crewmen in 1925 in his book Copalook:
“One of our crewmen – Madeye he had been named by the whalers who had a gift for giving remarkably appropriate names to some of the Inuit – started to rig a whaling iron on a length of rope which he had tied to a short piece of lumber in the boat. We saw the possibility of Madeye making a strike and securing the boat to a large young whale which might then decide to sound. Even a young Greenland whale looks big from a twenty-eight-foot boat. It took some persuasion to have Madeye content himself with a few rifle shots at our unwelcome convoy. The whale soon departed and allowed us to continue down Roes Welcome with one less danger to think about.
“About half way down the coast between Repulse Bay and the mouth of Wager Bay, Madeye pointed out to me a remarkable stone that looked like a large outcrop of rock. He called it Ooyarashikjoualook – the largest of stones. It was venerated by the people of that area and it was the custom to make an offering of fat to it, if, on approaching it from a certain angle, it appeared to be thin. To see it first in an emaciated condition was a bad omen, Madeye said, but as we approached it the stone appeared to be robust and not at all in need of nourishment. This portended a successful journey, Madeye informed us.”
The following interview from Vol. 4 (Cosmology and Shamanism) of the Interviewing Inuit Elders series mentions a shaman named Qinnguq:
Ijituuq: In those days, there was a certain area in the house where qilaniq would take place. I know Qinnguq used to perform qilaniq where the igluit were joined together. Qinnguq was trying to find out whether or not his mother had died. His mother was up in the Aivillik area while we were living down in Salliq.
When he was asking whether or not his mother was alive, when did his
wife’s head become heavy and when was it light?
Ijituuq: After he had performed qilaniq he found out she was alive. When the answer was yes to her being alive, the head was light.
Ujarak: In those days, performing qilaniq was like talking through a radio to collect news.
Ijituuq: They wanted to find out how other people were.
Ujarak: Especially if they had not heard from them for quite a while.
Ijituuq: Because Salliq is on an island, it was isolated for parts of the year.
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