32 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 45 



Song picture 

 NO. 3. It is in- 

 teresting to 

 note that the 

 drawing sug- 

 gests the skele- 

 ton of a bird 

 rather' than a 

 living bird. 



Before initiation the candidate is taken into the woods by the 

 initiators and given an ''instruction/' each man talking to him for a 

 long time. Only one such instruction is given to a candidate for the 

 first degree, the number of instructions corresponding 

 to the degree to be assumed. In the first degree the 

 instruction is chiefly of a moral nature, the candidate 

 l)eing enjoined to lead a virtuous and upright life. He 

 is taught also the names and uses of a few simple herbs 

 which he is expected to secure and carry in his Mide' 

 bag. He may find these herbs for himself or procure 

 them from some other member of the order. In the 

 higher degrees the instructions pertain to the mysteries 

 of the Mlde', the properties of rare herbs, and the 

 nature of vegetable poisons. 



During the days which precede the ceremony it is cus- 

 tomary for the leading members of the Mlde'wlwin to 

 hold preparatory meetings. Any man may prepare a 

 feast and invite others to attend, each guest bringing a 

 pan or plate in which he carries away a portion of the food. 

 At the close of such a meeting the host rises and says, "We will 

 all sing and dance before you go." The principal • guest lifts his 

 pan of food, then all rise and sing the following song, the words of 

 which mean "I am raising it up." This refers to the pan of food, 

 which is considered to be offered to the manido'. The same song could 

 be sung if a sick person were to be treated by the Mide' and were 

 present in the lodge. The words would then be understood as refer- 

 ring to the sick person. 



After the singing and dancing the principal guest leads and all 

 follov '>"*"" ts he walks around the lodge and out of the door. 



No. 4. Preparatory Song (Catalogue no. 190) 



Sung by O^deni^gun 



Anali/sis. — This song moves freely along the tones of the 

 fourth five-toned scale. The basis of the song consists of two 

 major triads on G flat, one in the upper and one in the lower 

 octave, with E flat as the passing tone, but the presence of 

 A flat as an accented tone classifies the song as melodic 

 rather than harmonic. We can not safely infer a chord 

 unless more than one tone of it occurs in the melody, and 

 there is no contiguous tone which can be associated with A 

 flat in diatonic chord relation. 



The chief musical interest of this song lies in the fact 

 that the metric unit is the measure, not the individual 

 part of the measure. There is no apparent relation between the metric 

 units of voice and drum. 



