proceedings: anthropological society 409 



this society were given by the speaker, who also outlined the legend 

 of the Terrible Snake who lived in Thunder Butte. 



After describing briefly the life in the old Mandan village the speaker 

 passed to the principal subject of the paper, which was the custom of 

 eagle catching. The tradition of the origin of this custom, as well 

 as of the wolverine fetish owned by every leader of the eagle catchers, 

 had been secured from the last Mandan who owns such a fetish and 

 has the inherited right to sing the songs connected with it. These 

 songs comprised those taught to the first eagle catcher by a wolverine, 

 and include songs given to the wolverine by the buffalo, black eagle, 

 coyote, and snake, as well as songs to be sung when the eagle trap was 

 constructed and the bait prepared, the cord for securing the eagle 

 made ready, and the sweat lodge built in the eagle camp. Other 

 songs were connected with eagle catching, which was an undertaking 

 having a deep significance and a somewhat ceremonial character. 

 Several of these songs were sung by the speaker, who also gave a song 

 said to have been learned from the Moon. A song connected with 

 the legend of the origin of the flute was given in connection with 

 the narrative. 



Charts were presented giving a comparison of Chippewa, Sioux, 

 and Mandan-Hidatsa songs, as studied by the speaker. In these dia- 

 grams were included certain songs of the Hidatsa, who for many years 

 have lived in the same villages with the Mandan, and other songs 

 which cannot be accredited with exactness to either tribe. The musi- 

 cal material obtained on this reservation is therefore considered as Man- 

 dan-Hidatsa when placed in comparison with that of other tribes. 

 Comparison of tonality with Chippewa and Sioux shows the Mandan 

 to contain a larger percentage of major songs than either of these 

 tribes, the percentages of major songs being 57 among the Chippewa, 

 40 among the Sioux, and 65 among the Mandan-Hidatsa. Compari- 

 son of structure showed the percentage of harmonic songs (those whose 

 contiguous accented tones bear a simple chord-relation to each other) 

 to be 24 per cent among the Chippewa, 12 per cent among the Sioux, 

 and 35 per cent among the Mandan-Hidatsa. These comparisons 

 are based upon the analysis of 70 Mandan-Hidatsa songs, while the 

 number of Chippewa and Sioux songs examined is much larger. Fur- 

 ther investigation may somewhat change the results of the comparative 

 analysis. 



The paper was illustrated throughout by lantern slides, and was fol- 

 lowed by two musical numbers under the direction of Mr. Heinrich 

 Hammer, showing the adaptation of Indian themes in musical composi- 

 tion. One of these was a fantasie for violin and piano, composed by 

 Mr. Hammer on a theme collected by Miss Densmore and presented 

 for the first time on this occasion. 



At the 498th meeting, held April 4, 1916, Miss Adela C. Breton, 

 Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, read a paper on A ustral- 

 asian museums and their work. The natives are becoming absorbed 



