MOONEY] 



THE COTTONWOOD SONG 967 



Translation 



How bright is the moonlight! 



How bright is the moonlight! 



Tonight as I ride with my load of buffalo beef, 



Tonight as I ride with my load of buffalo beef. 



The author of this song, on meeting Lis friends in the spirit world, 

 found them preparing to go on a great buffalo hunt, the prairies of 

 the new earth being covered with the countless thousands of buffalo 

 that have been swept from the plains since the advent of the white 

 man. They returned to camp at night, under the full moonlight, with 

 their ponies loaded down with fresh beef. There is something pecu- 

 liarly touching in this dream of the old life— this Indian heaven where— 



"In meadows wet with mi'i.stening dews, 



In garments for tin- chase arrayed, 

 The hunter still the deer pursues — 



The hunter and the deer a shade." 



13. Ha'ti iNi'hat — E'he'eye' 



Ha'ti ni'biit — E'he'eye ! 

 Ha'ti ni'biit — E'he'eye'! 

 Na'nibii'tawa', 

 Na'nibii tawa . 

 He'yaya'ahe'ye! 

 He'yaya'ahe'ye ! 



Translation 



The cottonwood soug — E'he'eye' ! 

 The cottonwood song — E'he'eye' .' 

 I am singing it, 



I am singing it, 

 He'yaya'ahe'ye.' 

 He 1 yaya tthe ij> ' 



The cottonwood (Populus monilifera) is the most characteristic tree 

 of the plains and of the arid region between the Rockies and the 

 Sierras. It is a species of poplar and takes its name from the white 

 downy blossom fronds, resembling cotton, which come out upon it in the 

 spring. The cottonwood and a species of stunted oak, with the mes- 

 quite in the south, are almost the only trees to be found upon the great 

 plains extending from the Saskatchewan southward into Texas. As 

 it never grows out upon the open, luit always close along the borders 

 of the few streams, it is an unfailing indication of water either on or 

 near the surface, in a region well nigh waterless. Between the bark 

 and the wood there is a sweet milky juice of which the Indians arc 

 very fond — as one who had been educated in the east said, "It is their 

 ice cream" — and they frequently strip off the bark and scrape the trunk 

 in order to procure it. Horses also are fond of this sweet juice, and in 

 seasons when the grass has been burned off or is otherwise scarce, the 



