Kylik immediately inspired confidence. Around thirty years old, trim and fit with a big grin, he managed our closed in aluminium power boat like it was part of him. He was of Inuvialuit descent, and he spoke perfect English. His stories were the best part of the trip. We took off from Inuvik in the early morning with the water still glassy and clear, and headed up the East Channel of the Mackenzie Delta for the town of Tuktoyaktuk on the Beaufort Sea (same latitude as Deadhorse, AK).   We spent five hours in the boat, winding our way through the Delta, and then out across the wide mouth of the river to get to Tuk. On the way we climbed a sand moraine, and visited a whaling village, where the locals (his people) go during the summer to hunt Beluga whales. The animals are hunted for subsistence use by a group that has intentionally decided to live as their ancestors did. Only a few whales are killed each year. One beluga keeps an extended family in meat and blubber for a year. We tried eating the blubber and dried whale meat. Not bad, but I wouldn't want that as a large proportion of my diet!

On the way back we flew for an hour over the maze of lakes and waterways that make up this huge delta . Its the summer resting place for many southern birds such as the sand hill crane and the loon (we saw both).

And again I was reminded of Ellie and her One Person Show: "One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye."  So true about the Arctic North. With all this moisture, why don't the trees grow big?    In this land of lakes and marshes, how does the soil stay put?   In the absence of major tectonic movements, how come we see hills rising out of the flat delta? Why are houses on perfectly flat ground built on stilts ? How do you make the world's cheapest refrigerator?

The answer to all these questions is: PERMAFROST. Hidden from view, twelve to fifteen feet below the earth's surface, this layer of ice controls land use. This underground ice melts (and the land sinks) when the earth's surface is warmed in some way. Global Warming will slowly wreak havoc on the Arctic environment, through this process. But even now, strange things happen. Tree roots get to the ice layer and stop -- ergo, small trees. Houses would warm the earth and sink, unless stilted. Dig a tunnel down to the permafrost, and carve out a cave -- lo and behold you have a permanent refrigerator. Lakes warm the earth. As lake water recedes through evaporation or for other reasons, the permafrost returns, freezing the earth under an ancient lake and causing it to expand upwards. This forms a small hill, known as a Pingo. Whatever people want to do in this region -- building roads, houses or farms, they have to think through how it will affect the unseen frost.