PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED 



SOCIETIES. 



THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



A special meeting of the Anthropological Society of Wasliington was 

 held February. 3, 1914, in the National Museum, the President, Mr. 

 Stetson, in the chair. About eighty persons were present. 



Miss Frances Densmore, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, read a 

 paper on Sioiix War Songs, using the stereopticon, the phonograph, and 

 vocal selections in illustration of her theme. She first showed lantern 

 slides of the prairie, where the long war drama of the Sioux was enacted, 

 then portraits of some old Sioux warriors, and, last, a nmnber of native 

 drawdngs of war incidents. Many war customs were illustrated by the 

 details, as well as by the subjects, of these dra\\ings. One phonograph 

 record of a woman's voice was given in connection with the portrait of 

 a woman who sang a song in honor of a relative killed in war. The 

 remaining songs were given vocally, the melodies being those sung by 

 the Indians, but no effort being made to imitate the Indian manner of 

 singing. Each drawing had one or more songs which were either sung 

 at the time the incident occurred, or composed in honor of the event. 

 These songs were phonographically recorded by the men who made the 

 drawings, and were afterward transcribed in musical notation by the 

 writer. 



It is said that the Sioux, among all the Indian tribes, were the best 

 as friends and the worst as enemies. They were indeed men to be 

 feared in the old days. One of their societies was well named the 

 "Strong Hearts." They were trained from childhood to have "strong 

 hearts," and thej^ held to a purpose when others failed. The warriors 

 of a certain society carried in war a lance to which was fastened the skin 

 of a crow. When that lance was planted in the ground they dared not 

 retreat from it. So in loyalty to a friend, or in hatred of an enemy, 

 they struck their lance into the ground and staid by it. 



War among Indians had an aspect different from that which it has 

 among civilized nations. It was not an occasional calamity, it more 

 nearly resembled a steady occupation. To the individual it offered a 

 career. A man could best become rich and honored by going to war. 

 A man was rated according to his generosity, and having given away 

 his goods there must be some way of securing a new supply of wealth. 

 A war party afforded this opportunity. War was a means of revenge, 

 and Indian revenge was a terrible thing. War was for the defence of 

 the home, and the protection of the hunting ground which meant the 

 food supply. Indian warfare was, after all, the physical expression of 



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