128 
THE IMNAPOK. 
The capital punishment with them, as with us, seems 
in general to be reserved for offences of the higher 
grade. For those of minor dignity, such as form the 
staple of our civilized forums, and even those which 
might find their way profitably into a court of honor, 
the Imnapok is the time-honored tribunal of redress. 
The original meaning of this word, I believe, is a 
native dance or singsong; but the institution which 
now bears the name is of much more dignity, and 
is found, with only circumstantial differences, among 
many other tribes within and beyond the Arctic circle. 
An Esquimaux has inflicted an injury on one of his 
countrymen: he has cut his seal-lines, or harmed his 
dogs, or burnt his bladder-float, or perpetrated some 
enormity equally grievous. A summons comes to him 
from the angekok to meet the “country-side” at an 
Imnapok. The friends of the parties and the idlers 
of many miles around gather about the justice-seat, it 
may be at some little cluster of huts, or, if the weather 
permits, in the open air. The accuser rises and pre¬ 
ludes a few discords with a seal-rib on a tom-tom or 
drum. He then passes to the charge, and pours out in 
long paragraphic words all the abuse and ridicule to 
which his outrageous vernacular can give expression. 
The accused meanwhile is silent; but, as the orator 
pauses after a signal hit or to flourish a cadence on 
his musical instrument, the whole audience, friends, 
neutrals, and opponents, signalize their approval by 
outcries as harmonious as those which we sometimes 
hear in our town-meetings at home. Stimulated by 
