NO. II MUSIC OF TULE INDIANS OF PANAMA DENSMORE 21 



studying Indian music, to have the words of a song translated from 

 the phonograph record of the song, but in this instance a different 

 method was followed. The wedding customs were described before 

 the song was recorded, and when the interpreter was asked for a 

 translation of the dictaphone record he said : " Him sang just what 

 we told you. Him sang how the father gets the presents ready, the 

 chief tells the people, the chief musician makes a new flute to play 

 at the wedding and everybody sings and dances at the wedding. He 

 sings that in the song." A general translation of the words showed 

 they were, as the interpreter said, an account of the festivity but 

 condensed so tliat the record of the song would not be too long. The 

 description already given was therefore paraphrased and read to the 

 Indians who added some details and adjusted the sequence of minor 

 events where correction was necessary. 



The manner of playing the flute at a wedding was demonstrated 

 by Igwa and Alfred Robinson, representing the chief musician and 

 his assistant. The}- pointed the flutes upward as though they were 

 trumpets, then bent low and went through the actions which are 

 associated with players of " jazz." They jumped upward with both 

 feet and came down facing in the opposite direction, then reversed the 

 action. The musicians wore feather head-dresses, the feathers being 

 fastened erect in a band aroimd the head. An example of this orna- 

 ment is in the ]\Iarsh Collection. Two scenes at a wedding are shown 

 in a drawing made by Igwa when in Washington (pi. 4). The pur- 

 pose of the drawing was a map of the region in which his people 

 live and the drawing was made on a large white cloth. After com- 

 pleting the shore line and its adjacent islands, the open space of the 

 ocean attracted his attention and he drew, in the center, a picture &i 

 the chief musician and his assistant playing the flute and rattle at a 

 wedding, surrounded by a circle of people. At the left may be seen 

 the bringing of a pole for the house of the young couple, as de- 

 scribed at the close of the wedding song. At the top of the picture 

 is the name of the present chief, Golnian, and the name of Igwa in 

 the neat printing which he learned while in the United vStates. 



The words of the wedding song mention the burning of cocoa 

 beans in front of the musicians to protect them from harm. These 

 were placed in little braziers with openwork tops, raised above the 

 ground a few inches by supports, examples of these being in the 

 Marsh Collection. The " man in charge of the stoves " carries coals 

 on a long spade from a large fire and replenishes the fire in the 



