36 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 
village in the extreme south of the reservation. Photo- 
graphs, specimens. and records of songs were obtained at 
these places. 
The principal subject of study at this time was the belief 
of the Papago in supernatural agencies controlling their 
food supply. Information was obtained regarding two cere- 
monies connected with this belief, i. e., the making and drink- 
ing of “cactus wine,” and the Viikita. Numerous songs 
connected with these ceremonies were recorded. 
Other classes of songs not previously recorded among the 
Papago were those received in dreams, those sung on expe- 
ditions to obtain salt, and those connected with stories told 
to children; also songs for success in the kicking-ball race 
and in hunting. Songs of war and of medicine were recorded, 
as well as others concerning the deeds of Elder Brother and 
including songs he was said to have sung after creating the 
spirits, winds, and clouds. Mention may be made of a song 
that was said to have been sung in order to produce the 
death of an aged woman. It was said that “her grandsons 
decided to kill her by means of a song,” as her advanced age 
made her an encumbrance to them. Many songs have been 
recorded whose purpose was to procure health, but this is the 
first instance of a song intended to cause death. An impor- 
tant phase of the musical work was the hearing of a certain 
class of very old dance songs, a portion of which was in three 
parts, i. e., the voices of the men, the voices of the women 
singing the same melody an octave higher, and the voices of 
two or three women singing (for a brief period) a still higher 
part, different from the melody. This song was accompanied 
by the shaking of a gourd rattle and the striking of a basket 
drum, also by stamping the feet, which is the most primitive 
manner of marking time. This dance is seldom held at the 
present time, but was witnessed on the desert late Christmas 
night. 
As a development of the year’s work Miss Densmore notes 
the importance of recognizing estheticism as a factor in 
Indian music. Her analyses have shown the presence of tones 
whose interval distances correspond to those of the first, 
second, third, and fourth upper partial tones of a funda- 
