<p>Between tribes that are strangers to one another ceremonies of greeting are customary which are not adapted to facilitate intercourse. The ceremonies will be described further on (see <a href=&quot;http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42084/42084-h/42084-h.htm#page609&quot;>p. 609</a>). For the present it will be sufficient to say that duels, with varying details, are common between a stranger and a man of the tribe, and these sometimes result in the death of the former.</p>
<p>Among neighboring tribes these ceremonies are dispensed with, for instance, between the Padlimiut and Oqomiut, Padlimiut and Akudnirmiut, while a Nugumio or an Akudnirmio unknown in Oqo has there to go through the whole of the performance. The exception in favor of the former tribes is doubtless due to the frequent intermarriages with those tribes, whereby a constant acquaintance is kept up.</p>
<p>Real wars or fights between settlements, I believe, have never happened, but contests have always been confined to single families. The last instance of a feud which has come to my knowledge occurred about seventy years ago. At that time a great number of Eskimo lived at Niutang, in Kingnait Fjord, and many men of this settlement had been murdered by a Qinguamio of Anarnitung. For this reason the men of Niutang united in a sledge journey to Anarnitung to revenge the death of their companions. They hid themselves behind the ground ice and killed the returning hunter with their arrows. All hostilities have probably been of a similar character.</p>
<p>One tradition only refers to a real fight between the tribes. On the steep island Sagdluaqdjung, near Naujateling, ruins of huts are found on the level summit. They are said to have been built by Eskimo who lived by the seashore and were attacked by a hostile tribe of inlanders. The tradition says that they defended themselves with bows and arrows, and with bowlders which they rolled down upon the enemy. The occurrence of huts upon the top of an island is very unusual, and this tradition is the only one referring to any kind of fights or wars. Even the tradition of the expulsion of the Tornit a [<span class=&quot;pagenum&quot;>466]</span> fabulous tribe said to have lived with the Eskimo on these shores, does not refer to a combat. The details of this tradition will be found in a subsequent chapter.</p>
<p>I wish to state here that my inquiries and my understanding of the facts as they have been reported by other travelers do not agree with the opinions given by Klutschak (Deutsche Rundschau für Geographie und Statistik, III, p. 418), who claims for the Eskimo of the west shore of Hudson Bay reservations which are limited by precise lines of demarkation. In comparing this statement with his own and with Gilder&#39;s narratives I am led to believe that the relations between the tribes are the same in these regions as they are farther east. This opinion is strengthened by Dall&#39;s remarks on the Alaska tribes (Science, p. 228, 1885).</p>