April 22, 1887.] 



sciujsrc^. 



385 



The Eskimos have two different types of tunes, 

 the one corresponding to our major, the other to 

 our minor key. In the first group the fourth is 

 wanting, the scale being in reality identical with 

 the wide-spread one : c, d, e, g, a. The minor key 

 has the following notes : B, c, d, e flat, f, g. 



We will give a few tunes from another country, 

 belonging to a people of widely different ethno- 

 logical character. The author collected them 

 among different tribes of Indians of British Co- 

 lumbia. While the Eskimo prefers the solo chant, 

 these Indians either sing the whole song in 

 chorus, or have some kind of responsorium, the 

 first singer singing the whole text, while the rest 

 join in a refrain or in the second half of the verse. 

 As the rhythm is very complicated, and keeping 

 time is one of the principal demands of the Indian 

 chorus, a singing-master, who instructs the men, 

 is found in every village. In the fall, before the 

 time of festivals begins, he gathers the men 

 about him every day, and walks up and down the 

 street of the village, teaching them to sing the 

 tunes which are used at the winter dances and at 

 other feasts. 



The scene of a feast is extremely picturesque. 

 Along the elevated bench, which is built along 

 the walls of the large wooden house, mats are 

 spread, upon which the guests who are invited to 

 partake in the feast sit down, wrapped up in their 

 cedar-bark or woollen blankets, which they wear 



as the Romans wore the toga. The long raven 

 hair is kept back by a gay kerchief or a piece of 

 skin tied round the head. One man has the large 

 drum, which is a good-sized box of bent- wood 

 with the host's crest painted on the side ; several 

 others have carved sticks for beating the time. In 

 the middle of the house a blazing fire is burning, 

 in which stones are heated, to be thrown into the 

 large wooden kettles, thus making the water boil 

 for cooking the meat. When all the guests are 

 in, four songs are sung before dinner can be served. 

 The time is beaten with the drum and the carved 

 sticks, the rest of the men clapping their hands. 

 At the large winter festivals the rhythm of these 

 four songs is prescribed by long usage. The bars 

 of the first are in five-eighths time ; two have a 

 fast movement ; the last one is solemn and slow : — 



i ; 



The rhythm of the songs themselves is very irreg- 

 ular. Here is an example : — 



-N — ^ — ^ — ^- 



H— I — f -I- — H — I W — K— hh — 1-, — I 1 0—i-0 —\-0-T-0 — ^ ♦- i -• 



Ya - hai - ya - ha, hai-ya - ha ... . hai-ya, ha-ya, he - ya, he - ya - he, hai-ya, ha-ya, he - ya, 



Drums, sticks and clapping. 



WW^^ 00SS 



etc. 



i 



i=.^^l 



ya-he, hai-ya, ha-ya, he - ya, he - ya-he, hai-ya, ha-ya, he 



ya, he - ya. 



The text of some songs of these Indians is highly 

 poetical, as that of the following responsorium, — 

 a mourning song that moves in a slow and solemn 

 rhythm. A chief who had lost his child sings, 

 and the mourning tribe respond. 



Chief. — Don't mourn any more, don't mourn. 



Chorus. — We do not mourn any more. 



Chief. — He went up to play with his brethren the stars. 



Don't mourn any more. 

 Chorus. — We do not mourn any more. 

 Chief. — There he is hunting with the hunters the nimble 



deer.' Don't mourn any more. 

 Chorus. — We do not mourn any more. 



1 Hunters and deer are constellations. 



Chief. — We will see his beloved face in the new moon. 



Don't mourn any more. 

 Chorus. — We do not mourn any more. 



In another mourning song, the people, lamenting 

 the death of a great chief, sing, " He fell, the 

 pillar of heaven, and, falling, crushed all our 

 joys." 



These few examples will show that the mind of 

 the ' savage ' is sensible to the beauties of poetry 

 and music, and that it is only the superficial ob- 

 server to whom he appears stupid and unfeeling. 



Dr. Franz Boas. 



