CULTURE OF PEOPLE OF SOUTHEASTERN PANAMA 127 



Miss Densmore, who has made a study of Tule Indian music, is 

 of the opinion that recognized standards of music are shown by the 

 statement made to her by Chief Igwa Nigdibippi, who said certain 

 persons were " good singers," while others " could not sing." The 

 songs have a compass of three to six tones, though the melody is 

 usually within a compass of five tones. Each song concludes with 

 a prolonged tone. 



Miss Densmore has succeeded in recording several songs as sung 

 by the chief. Two are given here, cited in the Smithsonian Miscel- 

 laneous Collections, 22 as follows : 



SONG FOR RELIEVING HEADACHE 



I bring sweet-smelling flowers and put them in water, 



I dip a cloth in the water and put it around your head. 



Then I bring a comb, part your hair smoothly and make it pretty. 



Everyone comes to see you get better, 



And I tell you that you will never be cold again. 



Go to sleep and dream of many animals, mountain lions and sea lions. 



You will talk with them and understand what they say. 



When you wake you will be a doctor, like me. 



SONG OF A DYING MAN TO HIS WIFE 



The fever returns. I drink the medicine and throw it on my body, 



The fever grows worse. I am going to die. 



My breath grows difficult, my face is pale; 



The medicine does not help me. I am going to die. 



Talk to my two children about me, after I am gone. 



I leave the coconut farm for my children. 



After I die you will go to the coconut farm and take the children with you. 



There you will think of me. 



If people go to our coconut farm and cut the trees 



You must track them and find who did it. 



I am leaving the plantain farm. 



There will be plenty of property for the children. 



I leave the small fruits, the mangoes, the bananas, and other fruits, 



Think of me when you gather them. 



The careful observer, Wafer, narrates at length his observations 

 regarding the songs, dances, instruments, and ceremonies associated 

 with the music of the natives of the interior. 



The women have dancings and merriments by themselves, when their 

 husbands' pastimes are over ; for they never feast nor play together with the 

 men. But they will drink by themselves till they are fuddled. 



They hum also when they dance, which they do many times, 30 or 40 in a 

 ring, men only together. They stretch out their hands, laying them on one 

 another's shoulders. Then they move gently sideways round in the same 

 circle, and shake all the joints of their bodies with a wriggling antic gesture, 

 as they move along the ring. 



They pipe and drum often, even at working times ; but their dancing they 

 use chiefly when they get together to make merry. 



22 Vol. 77, No. 2, p. 119. 



