2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 'J'] 



These men know all the songs and teach them for pay when re- 

 quested to do so. The four musicians do not attend the same gather- 

 ing in their official capacity ; thus at a wedding there is one chief 

 musician and one assistant. At social gatherings there is only one 

 singer, who sings alone for the entertainment of the people. He has 

 no instrumental accompaniment, but six men standing in a row play 

 on bamboo flutes during the prolonged tones of the song. Dancing 

 is accompanied by two players on the panpipes, and the dancers 

 often sing and clap their hands. 



Distinct from the songs for entertainment, there are songs which 

 aid in the accomplishment of a definite purpose. Such are the songs 

 used in the treatment of the sick, and the songs used with the 

 " charms " which are sold by the doctors. Music is not absent from 

 the everyday life of the home and the women sing when at their 

 work and sing to the little children. The words of all Tule songs 

 are in the form of narratives. In the songs of the " official musi- 

 cians " and the doctors the substance of the words is established, but 

 the songs of the women are concerning their daily work or the work 

 of the men on the plantations. 



The principal musical instruments are the panpipes and flute which 

 are easily made from reeds and bamboo. 



There are " talented amateurs " among the Tule who learn the 

 songs from the professional musicians but do not " sing in public," 

 and who learn the songs used by doctors but do not treat the sick. 

 Such a man is Igwa Nigdibippi (pi. i) who recorded the Tule songs 

 and instrumental music in Washington. Igwa said that he began the 

 study of music when he was ten years old, learning a song from a 

 teacher named Contule Nigdibippi, who was about 30 years of 

 age. He learned the song that brings success in turtle catching 

 (No. 5, page 27) and paid the teacher $15. It took him a long time to 

 learn the song as the Tule have no written language and nO' musi- 

 cal notation. Seven years later he went to a man named Ina Yidepela, 

 his first teacher having gone away in the meantime. He studied four 

 years with this teacher, first learning a love song (No. 9, page 34), 

 then the song concerning the boat race (No. 6, page 29), and then 

 many miscellaneous songs including those concerning the sunrise, the 

 sea lobster, river lobster, redheaded woodpecker, and the roach. After 

 these he learned the songs that are used by medicine men, though he 

 is not a doctor. He learned the songs to make medicinal herbs effec- 

 tive, the songs for the cure of headache and other ailments, and the 

 songs that are sung after a man's death. In all, he acquired about 30 

 songs from this teacher. 



