Bygds, Umiaks, Kayaks And An Angakok

The Merman's Children, Book Three, Chapter VI.

In Greenland, the Norse have three settlements:

the Eastern, the Ostri Bygd;
the Mid Bygd;
the Western (really northern), the Vestri Bygd.

Chapter VII
"An umiak was traveling with land to starboard, at the center of a school of kayaks." (p. 156)

(My daughter has had some kayak lessons in the river Lune, after which Lancaster is named: "Lune Castle.")

"The umiak was a big canoe, leather across a framework of whalebone and driftwood, paddled by a score of women. As many kayaks accompanied it, each bearing its man." (p. 157)

These are Inuit. (p. 156) The singular is "...Inuk." (p. 158)

In the umiak:

"The hull was ladend and bloody with a catch of auks." (ibid.)

There is "'...an angakok...'" (ibid.), described as:

shaman
sorcerer
familiar of ghosts and demons
healer
foreseer
wreaker of harm on enemies -

- and a Norse woman who refers to Markland. (p. 16)

The angakok put a tupilak on one of the Norse settlements - and, since this evening has been spent watching Superman Returns (and see here), there has not been time for any more Poul Anderson research.

Addendum, 16 November 2017: see here.
Addendum, 31 March 2019: see here and here.