348 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [ErH. ANN. 18 
of the dead are heard at all festivals to departed shades, and at times 
are of an inexpressibly mournful character. 
Almost invariably songs of every description, when sung in the 
kashim, are accompanied by the beating in regular time of one or more 
tambourine-like drums in the hands of old men, and the drummers, 
who are usually the leaders, sometimes sing a song, phrase by phrase, 
a repetition by the rest of the people following. At other times they 
are the only singers; this is particularly the case when dances are being 
performed. 
Songs for the great festivals of a religious character and often those 
in honor of the dead, or for the bladder feast, are practiced for a long 
period by the villagers so that they may be given correctly at the proper 
time, the composer of the song usually teaching it to the others a few 
words at a time. Others of the songs have been handed down from 
ancient times, being transmitted, like the folktales, from generation to 
generation. 
During one of my sledge journeys I chanced to stop at a village near 
Cape Vancouver where the people were learning « song for the feast to 
the dead. In the evening the lights were all extinguished in the 
kashim and in complete darkness an old man gave out the song, a few 
words at a time, and about twenty-five men, ranged around the middle 
of the room, united in singing the words to the time of a single drum 
beaten by another old man. The burden of the song I did not catch, 
but the refrain was a repetition of the syllables wn/-ai-yd-hai!-yd-yd, 
which serve for this purpose in many different songs over most of this 
region. 
At another village in the same district a song was rendered in parts, 
the bass being sung by a number of men who kept excellent time 
to the beating of several drums, while the women and the boys, who were 
all arranged together on one side of the room, joined in the chorus 
every few minutes, producing a very pleasing effect. One song that is 
sung in a long, wailing chant is very effective, calling on the shades of 
the dead to enter the offerings that may be given them during the fes- 
tival in their honor. The part of this song recorded at St Michael is 
as follaws: 
Tii-ko'-mal-ti-g’t'-d tai'-kin-d. — A-la’-ai-ya'. ~~ Mii-kliig-ti-miik kéin-tikh'-kein-tim'-kin, 
Dead ones come here. (Chorus.) Hair sealskin tent you-will-get (for a) 
A la'-ai-ya'. 
(Chorus.) 
Tai'-kein-d-ka!; tun-tu'-mik cho-g okh'-kini-tim'-kin. A-la'-ai-ya'. Tai'-kin-d-ka'. 
Come here,do; reindeer skin bed you will get (for a). (Chorus.) Come here, do. 
During one festival to the dead that was witnessed the mourners who 
were making the gift offerings to the namesakes of their deceased rela- 
tives, entered and, dancing together in the center of the kashim, sang an 
invitation to their dead ones to return. The burden of the song was 
that the absent ones were missed and were begged to return as their 
friends were lonely. The loud, wailing manner in which this song was 
