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THE OMINAKS. 
like a system of feudal sovereignties without hereditary 
descent. 
It is related, however, much as it is in histories with 
which we are more familiar, that the supremacy of the 
“Great Master” sometimes encountered rebuke from 
his barons. The Upernavik reindeer-hunters used to 
ascend the Salmon River, near Svarteliuk, to a point 
from which by a single day’s journey they could reach 
Okossisak, a hunting-station of the Ominaks. It so 
happened upon one occasion, when the Ominaks had 
been more than ordinarily successful in the chase, that 
a band of Upemaviks, with whom fortune had been 
less propitious, determined to pay them a predatory 
visit, attended by their great chief, the liege lord of 
both tribes. They found the Ominaks with their chief 
in company, a short chunky fellow, who proffered the 
accustomed hospitalities of his tent in true knightly 
style. But, in reply to the salutation “ Be seated and 
eat,” the Great Upernavik, whose companions were 
watching for their cue, gave a scowl, the reverse ot the 
uniform formula of acceptance, which is simply to sit 
down and be filled. Hereupon old Ominak strung 
silently a heavy bow, and, drawing his arrow to the 
head, buried it in the narrow cleft of a distant rock, 
soliloquizing, as it struck, “ He who is better than I am 
is my master.” I give his words in the original for an 
exercise in phonetics: “Kinajougenerua.” who is better, 
“Ovanot,” than I am; the rest of the sentence—“is my 
master”—being understood: an elliptical form of ex¬ 
pression very common among these people, and often 
