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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 123 



^'' The last three words are said to have no 

 real meaning, but to indicate that the song is 

 finished. This is a common ending of Ch'uan 

 Miao songs. 



2^ In this story and in the others that have 

 been written in the international script, it will 

 be noticed diat there are discrepancies both in 

 tones and in pronunciation. After these stories 

 or songs had been written down, they were 



gone over several times with the person from 

 whom they were secured, in the presence of other 

 Ch'uan Miao. All agreed that they had been re- 

 corded correctly. When asked why there were 

 variations of tone and of pronunciation, they 

 explained that it was due to the swing of the 

 phrases and that the words preceding and follow- 

 ing a word sometimes cause variations in tone 

 or pronunciation. 



