332 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



The most elaborate one of this kind is shown in Figs. 301, Plate lviiI, 

 and 319, Plate LXi, both being views of the same instrument, the latter 

 in detail and the former put together for use. It consists of six pieces 

 of wood, forming a kind of trumpet, with five openings. Through these 

 is stretched a continuous narrow band of silk. When blown through it 

 gives forth a noise like a deer call, each section being pitched slightly 

 different, although not in any musical scale. Fig. 299, of which Fig. 

 326, Plate lxi, is another view, is a whistle pure and simple, being- 

 blown by applying the lips as in a fife. The other instruments shown 

 are blown like a flageolet, some of them having several finger-holes to 

 change the note. Fig. 324 has a reed or vibrating piece within, as shown 

 in one section of corresponding type in Fig. 327. Dawson states that 

 among the Haida " certain secrets are reputed to appertain to the ofiflce 

 of chief, among which is the possession of various articles of property 

 which are supposed to be mysterious and unknown to the rest of the In- 

 dians, or common people. * * * * When my informant was about 

 to engage in the dance, the chief took him aside, showing him various 

 articles of the mysterious chief ^s properties, among others a peculiar 

 whistle, or cell with vibrating reed tongues, which, concealed in the 

 mouth, enables the operator to produce strange and startling noises, 

 that may be supposed by those not in the secret to indicate a species 

 of possession in the excited dancer. These things are explained by 

 the chief to his probable successor, and are also known to some of the 

 more important Indians, but not to all. They are, no doubt, among 

 the devices for obtaining and holding authority over the credulous 

 vulgar." * 



SUMMARY. 



It can not be said that in a musical way, according to our standard, 

 these Indians have made much progress, but the music, such as it is, 

 has the nature of an accompaniment to their dancing, or is at least 

 subordinate to other forms of entertainment. Instrumental music 

 pure and simple, as an enjoyment in itself, is practically unknown, but 

 the passion of these Indians for vocal music has been commented upon 

 by nearly every visitor to the coast who has published the account of 

 his experiences. In the art of painting, drawing, carving, and sculpt- 

 ure they stand at the head of the savage tribes of the world. In the 

 wealth of their traditions, in the abundance of their industrial products, 

 in the range of their capabilities as a people, there is so much that is 

 ■worthy of illustration and description that what has been said here 

 seems as but the bare outline of a subject worthy of the special study 

 of all ethnologists. 



* Dawson, Report, B, p. 120. 



