348 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [ETH. ANN. 18 



of the (lend are beard at all festivals to departed shades, and at times 

 are of an inexpressibly mournful character. 



Almost invariably songs of every description, when sung in the 

 kashim, are accompanied by the beating in regular time of one or more 

 tambourine-like drums in the hands of old men, and the drummers, 

 who are usually the leaders, sometimes sing a song, phrase by phrase, 

 a repetition by the rest of the people following. At other times they 

 are the only singers; this is particularly the case when dances are being 

 performed. 



Songs for the great festivals of a religious character and often those 

 in honor of the dead, or for the bladder feast, are practiced for a long 

 period by the villagers so that they may be given correctly at the proper 

 time, the composer of the song usually teaching it to the others a few 

 words at a time. Others of the songs have been handed down from 

 ancient times, being transmitted, like the folktales, from generation to 

 generation. 



During one of my sledge journeys I chanced to stop at a village near 

 Cape Vancouver where the people were learning a song for the feast to 

 the dead. In the evening the lights were all extinguished in the 

 kashim and in complete darkness an old man gave out the song, a few 

 words at a time, and about twenty-five men, ranged around the middle 

 of the room, united in singing the words to the time of a single drum 

 beaten by another old man. The burden of the song I did not catch, 

 but the refrain was a repetition of the syllables un -ai-ya-liai -ya-ya, 

 which serve for this purpose in many different songs over most of this 

 region. 



At another village in the same district a song was rendered in parts, 

 the bass being sung by a number of men who kept excellent time 

 to the beating of several drums, while the women and the boys, who were 

 all arranged together on one side of the room, joined in the chorus 

 every few minutes, producing a very pleasing effect. One song that is 

 sung in a long, wailing chant is very effective, calling on the shades of 

 the dead to enter the offerings that may be given them during the fes 

 tival in their honor. The part of this song recorded at St Michael is 

 as follows: 



Tu-ko -mitl-u-g i -d tai -kin-d. A-la -ai-ya . Mu-kluy-u-muk kan-ukh -kun-Am -Mn. 

 Bead ones come here. (Chorus.) Hair sealskin tent you-will-get (fora) 



A la -ai-ya . 



(Chorus.) 



Tai -kin-d-ka ; tun-tu -muk clto-y okh -kiln-urn -kin. A-la -ai-ya . Tai -kin-a-ka . 

 Come here, do ; reiudeer skin bed you will get (for a). (Chorus.) Come here, do. 



During one festival to the dead that was witnessed the mourners who 

 were making the gift offerings to the namesakes of their deceased rela 

 tives, entered and, dancing together in the center of the kashim, sang an 

 invitation to their dead ones to return. The burden of the song was 

 that the absent ones were missed and were begged to return as their 

 friends were lonely. The loud, wailing manner in which this song was 



