Tin: Mi:i)i('i.\r. riri-: _'.' 



must alwMVs he (»|)fii('il at tin- lii'st sound of lluiiidcr In tlic spriii;^-, liow it 

 may l)t" oprnt'd liy a \()\\ or to cnrc the sick, and liow it nnist \h- cai-cd t'oi-. 

 \ ft \v(> wanted more; tlic ritual for that pi|)f contains |)raycrs and >on^> 

 in a fixed order which we wished to I'ecord with a phonograph. 



Hetore our friend was confronted with thi^ ordeal we made him ae- 

 (liuiinted with tlie ])honourapli. 'I'he instrmneiit was not new to him for 

 e\cry trader at his a.iicncy owned one; on trade ilays they iiroiiiid out 

 tile latest and hest in solo, chorus and oi-ehcstra, all no doiiht a ui-eat din 

 to his Iiuhan ears. 'I'hat the machine talked like a white man lie knew well 

 enough, it was hut in keei)iiiij,' with otlu-r pei-formances of that reniarkahle 

 race. One day when he called we e\])lained that we wished to record his 

 voice, to ha\i' it always to keep in memory of him and liope<l he would 

 consent to sing a song into the hoin. He eoniplied rather inditt'erently, 

 selecting a common song of his people. At the end he leaned hack in his 

 chair with the iinmistakahle air of one who listens. \Ve adjusted the 

 reproducer to the cylinder just taken and turned on the motor. He h'stened 

 rather curiously To the scraping and hu/.zing that always precedefl the 

 hiM'sting tone of the record hut when the first ])hrases of his own song 

 struck his ear there was a flash of light from his eyes that we can ne\"er 

 forget. That tiie machine could speak the language of the Indian was, 

 he said, almost heyond helief. He asked many (piestions, hut was partic- 

 ularly anxious to know how we came hy such a machine. The fact that its 

 originator was yet ali\e impressed him. 



He sang other songs for us and always asked to hear his records when he 

 called. He even went so tar as to repeat certain ])rayers we heard him 

 ofler uj) at the sun dance, l)Ut cautioned us that siu-h were not to he trifled 

 with and asked that they l)e not rei)eated to his or other Inchan ears. At 

 last as time went on, we found ourseKes working out with him the ritual 

 for a medicine pipe and when we came to the songs, we suggested the phono- 

 graph. He considered the matter for some minutes, then in a low hut 

 distinct voice made a long |)rayer to the spii'its of all the de|)ai'ted medicine 

 pipe keepers, the inij)()rt of which was that he was ahout to do something 

 (piestionahle, hut that our purpose was nohle and honorahle and not a 

 niockei-y, and that he hegged their indulgence to do this thing. He then 

 announced himself ready to proceed. Now there are ahout a hundred 

 songs in this ritual, too many for one sitting; so we stoi)j)ed hefore half 

 of them were recorded. He seemed (|uite enthusiastic and promised to 

 return on the morrow to his task. 



We were happy for we could see in our jxissession the long line of wax 

 records hearing the ritual of this great ])i|)e Iml on the inoriow he came 

 not. On the following day he appeared, amioiincing that he would sing 



