Language and Folklore. 373 
No. 209. Reception Song. 
Ukuttiaq. 
Both Ukuttiaq and Kuannia described the following song as being of a 
special kind, that is, composed to be sung at a distance as the aggressive 
drum singer approaches his opponent's dwelling place from out on the water, 
in a great procession of kaiaks and umiaks. 
Once during his life was Kuannia witness to such a scene. It was in 
the month of July at Oommannaq on the East Coast. Okkarmeer was to 
contend in song with Mikiseerajik. At high noon he was seen on the open 
sea approaching at the head of a flotilla of umiaks and kaiaks. The voices 
of all the rowers and paddlers could be heard from a distance blending in 
song. Mikiseerajik stood in the opening of his tent and sang his song out 
over the water, a preliminary challenge to his opponent, though without a 
drum. As Okkameer landed, the song ceased. He slowly approached his op- 
ponents’ tent, which according to ancient custom afforded him shelter and 
food. Meat was set forth and both men ate together for a little while. As 
evening fell many chance travellers and house-mates from the little hamlet 
gathered in a circle in the open space near the tent. Here, too, was Miki- 
seerajik’s father-in-law to act as second in the contest. At first all the on- 
lookers joined in a chorus, but their voices died away as the song duel be- 
tween the two men began. 
anersarnü'otak'a ile‘rtartikaje: 1 Let me also sing against them, the 
coming singers, 
lnerte ilertartikaje| 2 The coming singers, the attacking drum 
singers. 
3 Let me also sing against them, 
4 Against the dwellers of Sanneq, that time 
sit-aninio” tata 5 When we also came alongside their strand, 
anersarnujortak-a 6 Let me also sing about them! 
anersarntiotak:a 
say’ eme'numin'a 
lo qugüaka ‘ата That time I was near being killed, 
7 
kia.äta isima”¢ 8 I wonder who it was, whose thought 
e:ol.tsimane'ma 9 Had spoken ill of me |? 
it-orartalermata 10 That time they little by little became stiff 
qunatik-a 11 My dorsal vertebrae. 
VARIANTS. — 1. anersarniijortak-a. — 4. san’ermer;nim'a. — 10. ttforartap:- 
alermata. . | 
NOTES. — 1. -nüo (-nüjor), perhaps = -niar?, Or is it the pleonastic ‘also’? 
Cf. 1.5. — 1-2. ile‘r-, cf. WGr. ilior- ‘moves forward. In East Greenlandic 
ile‘rtartin is used of 1) the song of the arriving opponent and his companions, 
2) the singing people themselves. — 4. san-e-me:n ‘the dwellers (inhabitants) 
of Sanneq or Sanneet. — 5. According to Kuannia sit’ape'piot-ar-dwt-a, < WGr. 
sisaniup’og ‘lies alongside the strand with his boat.’ -pio is, I suppose, the 
pleonastic ‘also’ or ‘therefore. — 8. The ending “dt-a == -@Ёа, WGr. -läs’a? 
(Kuannia). — 9. ?< WGr. igup'a: ‘speaks ill of him.’ -е-та = -im a ‘you— me’? 
— 10. Cf. WGr. is‘orpog ‘congeals, stiffens’, е. g. a corpse. 
