Back in 1930, Maurluq, Arnaq and I were getting ready for our big adventure on the river. We brought enough food for us to eat, and other stuff that we needed for our trip. We didn't bring too much because we were traveling on a little raft, but we brought enough to survive for two whole weeks or maybe a little longer. Before we left we told our parents that we were going for an adventure ride on our raft. Then we took off on our big trip. We were all really excited because of the many things that could happen out on the river.

While going down the river we saw different kinds of animals, mostly birds, beavers, muskrats, and plenty of fish. At the time we didn't really care what we saw. We just wanted to learn about the living things around us. When evening came we decided to stop and set up our camp. After we had our tent up we went back upstream a little and looked for something to eat besides dryfish. When we saw some muskrats we made little bows and arrows to catch them with. We made them out of willows and used some sinew for the string. We also tied a pretty long piece of sinew to the bow so when we caught a muskrat we would just have to grab the sinew and pull it towards us. Then we would have muskrat for dinner. After catching enough for us to eat we headed back to camp, ate our muskrat and got some rest.

The next day we decided to continue down the river again. Before we took off, Maurluq said that we should learn what the fish did when they traveled upstream to spawn. So while we were going downstream we were watching for fish. We didn't see anything at first and we began to get bored, so we started playing a little game called cat's cradle with some of the extra sinew we had. While Maurluq and I were playing, Arnaq glanced at us then back into the water and told us to look. When we looked into the water we saw so many fish there were too many to count. Before we went any further we landed and quickly put up our tarp as a sail. After that we sailed upstream with the strong wind that was blowing upriver. We didn't find the fish for a long time, but when we caught up to them we followed them all the way upstream until they got to the mouth of a creek. Pretty soon the creek got too small for our raft, so we parked it and started walking along the bank, excitedly watching the fish slowly swim by. After awhile evening came and we wanted to get some rest for the next day. We'd gone the whole day without eating anything but a few snacks, so we were a little hungry by the time we fell asleep.

The next morning we got something to eat, then checked on the fish. We saw some had already laid some eggs, and we watched how the process of egg fertilization worked. But we couldn't stay too long because we were running out of food. Then we decided to go home, but planned to return to the same place once in a while to learn more about what happens after the eggs hatch.

When we got home our parents asked us what we'd been up to, and we told them that we learned a little about what fish did in late spring. We told them a little about our journey and what we experienced out in the country. They asked why we took so long, and we told them that we'd followed a bunch of fish upstream to find out about what they did.

About a week later we planned to check the fish out again to see what they were doing. When we went back to the creek with our raft we saw that some of the adult fish that had been spawning were now dead, and some were eaten by animals. When we saw that some were eaten we thought we'd better be careful because whatever had eaten the fish had pretty big teeth and claws.

While looking at some of the eggs in the water we suddenly heard trees breaking. We all tried to stay calm but Arnaq was the type of girl who came apart when she was scared by something she couldn't see. When she screamed both Maurluq and I told her to be quiet so that whatever was making the noise wouldn't come charging after us. Then I took one of the old dead fish and threw it into the trees where we heard something start eating it. For awhile we could hear the sound of bones cracking and other scary noises, but then we didn't hear any sound at all, only the sound of the wilderness. When that silence came we decided to go back home and return another time.

When we went home we told everyone what happened. They told us we should have left immediately because something bad could have happened to us. We might have been eaten by a bear, they said.

The last time we went up the creek we saw that the eggs had turned into little things with tails on them. We wondered how they would change when they got bigger? Every once in a while we would go up there and check on the little fish and we would always learn something knew about them.

Tatiana Sergie