demg] THE ASSINIBOIN 619 



Songs of the SlOTTx", Crow, and Assiniboin Nations — Continued 



Their drums are of two kinds. The most common is made like 

 a tambourine without its bells, the skin forming the head being 

 stretched over the hoop while wet and kept there by sinews being 

 passed through it and the hoop a few inches apart. (PL 80. fig. 1.) 

 The inside portions of the skin have cords made of sinew extending 

 across from several places, meeting in the middle and forming a 

 handle to hold it up by (2). It is held up in one hand and beaten 

 with a stick by the other, no more beats being made than are neces- 

 sary to correspond with the accents of the notes, thus preserving the 

 time. 



The other kind of drum is made of a piece of hollow dry tree 

 about 21,2 feet long, scraped to a shell and smooth inside and out, 

 resembling in shape a start' churn (3). The head or skin is stretched 

 on the smaller end with a hoop, which is retained in its place 

 by sinews passed through. The other is left open. When beaten 

 but one stick is used, the drum being set on end. Both are often 

 painted with different devices. The rattles, wag-ga-mT> (Sioux) or 

 Chi-chi-quoin (Cree), were originally and in a measure still are 

 gourds dried with the seeds in. or after being dried the seeds, etc.. 

 are taken out and pebbles put in (4). Others are made of the 

 rawhide of elk stretched over a slight frame of woodwork while wet 

 and dried in that shape, pebbles being put therein at holes left in the 

 top or in the handle (5 and 0>). No. 7 is the rattle used by the 

 " braves " in their dance. It is made of rawhide like the rest, but in 

 the form of an open ring. 



No. 8 is the rattle made out of deer and antelope hoofs scraped thin 

 and light, reduced in size, and a number of each attached to small 

 strings, so closely that they clash together when shaken. The 

 flute (9) is made of wood, and the whistle (10) is the wing bone of a 

 swan. These have before been described. From what has preceded 

 it will be understood that there are no verses in their songs evincing 

 their patriotism, or other chants representing their triumphs; that 

 all is chorus and tune. Their laments for the dead are of the same 



