26 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. "J"] 



Let everyone be happy. 



The bride sees a speck of dust on her dress. 



Quick, bring another ! She may change her dress every hour — blue and orange, 



white and pink. 

 Other brides may wear one dress for all the days of their wedding 

 But my daughter may change as often as she likes, 

 She may wear new shawls, new dresses and new kerchiefs of silk. 

 The young girls bathe in the ocean three or four times a day, 

 Then lie down and rest, put on fresh dresses and dance again, 

 The young men do the same, putting on fresh finery to please the girls. 

 The music is always playing in the big wedding house. 

 And all may dance as they wish, by day or night. 

 Three, four, or five daj's the dancing and feasting may continue, 

 With plenty of fruit and cakes and chee-sa for everyone. 



After the feasting, the singing and dancing are finished. 



After the distant guests have gone away in their canoes 



The friends of the boy will help him make his house. 



His brothers will help cut and carry the main poles 



And all his friends will put on the thatch. 



Then there will be another feast. If he has killed some game 



The bride will cook it for their guests. 



The chief will sing at the feast, giving good advice, 



Telling the boy that he must work hard and the girl that she must keep her 



house and dishes clean. 

 Three days they will feast and sing. 

 Then the}^ will go away in their canoes across the water. 

 The little bride will arrange her cups and other things 

 And the boy will go to gather cocoanuts and sell them, 

 He will try to gather many and sell them to a sailing boat from Panama City. 



TURTLE CATCHING 



At the ?eason for catching turtles the men prepare a certain 

 " charm " to attract the turtles. It is not the custom to kill a turtle 

 but to catch it, remove the shell, and put it back in the water. It is 

 said " If a man kills a turtle he never can catch another, but if he 

 treats the turtles right he can go every day and get two turtles." In 

 the proper season a man can work a month and secure about 50 

 turtles, removing the shells which have a commercial value. 



The following song was sung during the preparation of the charm 

 for catching turtles, in order to make the charm effective. As in 

 other Tule songs, the words relate a succession of events. In the 

 music with the portion of the words marked (A), the third is some- 

 times a minor and sometimes a major third above the keynote, but 

 in the latter portion, marked (B), the third is always major and 

 the melody is particularly lively. Between these parts of the song 

 there are three measttres in a slower tempo. 



