Arctic Bay, Canada  - Emily Emudluk strides up to the microphone and explains that "kattajjaq", the Inuit art of throat- singing, has always been important to the womenfolk of this Canadian Artic people.

"In the old days when the men were out hunting polar bears and whales for months on end, we women didn't just stay at home and work. We had our own entertainment", says Emily before snuggling up so close to her friend Mae Ningiuruvik that their faces nearly touch each other.

Suddenly the listeners on this Artic voyage hear strange sounds coming from the throats of these attractIve teenagers. The room is filled with a deep rhythmic sighing and groaning until the two voices seem to merge into one. Kattajjaq, the Inuit practice of throat- singing, imitates the sounds of animals and the Artic environment. Those who take a voyage with Cruise North Expeditions can learn about it and other aspects of Inuit culture at first hand.

The organisation run by aboriginals in the north of Quebec Province aims to attract more visitors to this remote region and to train young Inuit for jobs in the tourist trade. The charted MV Lyubov Orlova, a 100-metre-long vessel which dates back to the Soviet era, is their floating classroom.

On the voyage between Resolute and Kuujjuaq Emily, Mae and her contemporaries are learning skills on the job and in the evening they like to talk about their culture. The decor of the cabins harks back to the severity of the late Soviet era but it is compensated for by the friendliness of the Russian personnel on board. The ship drops anchor in Arctic Bay, one of the rarely-visited settlements on Baffin Island, and half the village turns out to see the "hallunaq" as the white visitors are known.

Leona Aglukark, an elderly resident, screws up her eyes before recalling: "I was born at my family's winter camp. Back then our men hunted seals and we girls used to tan the skins." But times have changed: "These days the youngsters prefer to watch satellite television", sighs Leona and trots off home.

Indeed the problems in this artic region are plain to see. Unemployment is high, the population is growing at an alarming rate and the environment is blighted by global warming.

"When I came here three years ago it reached up to here", said Joseph Jonas and pointed to the Sermilik Glacier, one of the attractions of the new Sermilik National Park on Bylot Island some ten metres behind him. Tourists trudge their way through a kind of lunar landscape in order to reach the snout of this natural wonder. Joseph, who was hired to ward off polar bears, finds it hard not to show his concern. "Back then the bay was brimming over with icebergs", he says.

The next landfall is in Auyuittuq National Park where a carpet of dazzling blooms lights up the tundra. Joseph has come across some fresh polar bear tracks and accompanies the group with his gun cocked and ready.

Geela Kooneeliusie, who works for the national park authority, plucks the leaves of a "Qungulit" plant, a kind of artic buckwheat.

"It tastes sweet and only grows in summer when it is warm like it is now", says Geela. The temperature currently stands at one degree celsius but for Geela this is the equivalent of a summer day.

Polar bears are encountered for the first time on Akpatok Island, home to the world's largest guillemot colony. An estimated million birds make their nests in the limestone cliffs which rise up to 250 metres. Many of their eggs tumble to the ground - straight into the jaws of hungry polar bears.

Expedition leader Brad Rhees soon spots a female bear and her two offspring. He switches off the outboard motor of the rubber dingy and glides to within 50 metres of the trio. The female bear raises her powerful head, wrinkles her moist nose in the wind and stares at the visitors before turning away. Rubber dinghies represent no danger to these giant mammals and not only that, they are not edible either.

Internet: www. cruisenorthexpeditions. com, www. canada. travel. dpa