NO. II MUSIC OF TULE INDIANS OF PANAMA DENSMORE 2^^ 



(The father of the bride speaks) 



I buy the wedding gifts for you, my daughter, 



And add them to the store that I have saved for many years, 



Preparing for this feast. 



I buy silver spoons, large and small, from Panama City, 



Steel knives and small, sharp pocket-knives. 



Scissors and blankets, silk shawls, and kerchiefs for the head. 



All these must come from Panama, 



With dresses of pretty colors and strings of beads. 



Strings of silver money, and a string of gold beads that I will put over your 



head, 

 Earrings of gold, bracelets and anklets of bright colored beads 

 And narrow combs, such as our women use. 

 Cups made of gourds I may buy from our neighbors. 

 And ladles of gourd with long wooden handles. 

 Your mother will make hammocks for you. 



Gathering the cotton, spinning the cord, and weaving them for her daughter. 

 Your cousins are even now making baskets for the wedding cakes and fans for 



our guests, 

 Your brothers will bring fish and game for the feast. 

 We are collecting jugs to hold the chee-sa, 

 There will be enough for all to drink. 



Now I will go to the chief and tell him we are ready for the wedding. 



He invites the villages, sending his canoes across the bay. 



The young men will make flutes to play at your wedding. 



Flutes of cane and panpipes made of reeds. 



I ask the chief musician and he brings his assistant. 



I choose the men who make the chee-sa, carry the water and prepare the feast, 



They also tend the little fires in which we burn cocoa bean. 



Putting one burner before each musician the first day. 



Two the second, three the third, and four the fourth, according to our custom. 



So that no harm will come to them from playing. 



Bring the kettles for making the chee-sa, 



Put them in a row over the long fire, 



Mix the banana juice, sugar-cane juice and corn juice, 



Watch it boiling until the taster says it is ready to put in the jugs. 



Seal the jugs and cover them with leaves. 



Now let the leader sing, if he knows the songs that make good chee-sa, 



Night and day he and his helpers must stay near the jugs. 



If the taster is not satisfied the mixture must be corrected. 



After a few days the leader says that the chee-sa is ready. 



Now we will have the wedding feast. 



The morning sun is halfway up the sky, 



Come ! it is time for the wedding. 



The chief musician and his assistant are in their places. 



Four men trot across the room and blow smoke on the two musicians, 



Smoke from a great cigar of our tobacco, rolled one leaf upon another, 



