19 14] Northwestern Denes and Northeastern Asiatics 179 



expansive. Hence their great foible for singing. Their songs I charac- 

 terized in a former paper as "little more than polished yells ";^ yet they 

 have at least one merit, that of originality. Although their "melody" 

 always follows a certain strain proper to aboriginal music, both tune 

 and words are of the singer's own composition. Especially is this the 

 case when it is a question of those which may be described as love- 

 songs. 



"The women," writes W. H. Dall of the Yukon Indians, "are fond 

 of making up songs of their own, which they hum over their work. 

 Some of these are full of sentiment and not unworthy of preservation. 

 The chorus always forms a prominent part".^ 



Now Wrangell says of the Yukaghirs, a Siberian tribe of the Anini 

 valley: "They are passionately fond of music . . . Their singing is 

 quite peculiar and wild; but, after the ear becomes accustomed to it, 

 it is not unpleasing. They generally improvise both the words and the 

 air ".3 



On the other hand, we read of the Kamtchadale women that "dans 

 leurs chansons galantes elles d^couvrent a leurs amans leurs craintes, 

 leurs esperances et d'autres passions; ce sont encore les femmes qui en 

 composent les airs".* 



I make bold to observe that such a sociological trait is of a purely 

 psychological nature, and has nothing to do with environment. Its 

 propriety as a basis for an ethnological argument is, of course, all the 

 greater. 



^ "The Western Denes", p. 156. 



* "Travels on the Yukon and in the Yukon Territory", p. 198; London, 1898. 



' "Narrative of an Expedition to the Polar Sea", p. 182. 



^ Grieve and Jefferys, op. cit., p. 75. Before we leave the subject of marriage, a 

 word on the marital relations will not be out of place. We have often read of the momen- 

 tary lending, or exchange, of wives as a token of friendship or generous hospitality. 

 Hearne writes of the Eastern Denes: "It is a common custom among men of this 

 country to exchange a night's lodging with each other's wives. But this is so far from 

 being considered as an act which is criminal, that it is esteemed by them as one of the 

 strongest ties of friendship between two families" {Op. cit., p. 129). Now we 

 read in an old "History of Genghizcan the Great" that a law by that famous 

 conqueror having been promulgated, which punished adultery with death, "the Inhabi- 

 tants of Caindu murmured against this Law, because they had a Custom amongst 

 them to testify their Respect and Love to their Friends by offering their Wives to them 

 whentheycametoseethemandregale them with their Company" {Op. cit., p. 85). So 

 inveterate was with them this custom that, in answer to several petitions, the Mongol 

 Emperor had to rescind his edict, as far as that particular people was concerned. 



As to the Yukaghirs, of whose easy morals mention has already been made, it is, 

 even at the present day, their custom to offer the bed of a girl to any stranger to whom 

 they may give hospitality (Jochelson, op. cit., pp. 62-65). Yet these aborigines are 

 pronounced by the same author to be, morally, much superior to the Yakuts who, he 

 declares, "are known for their lack of modesty" {Ibid., p. 67). 



