126 



G. Holm. 



half turn. Now and then the upper body is twisted in a great 

 number of different contortions. The drum is held out well away 

 from the chest in the left hand; and with the drum-stick in the right 

 hand he makes three small raps in quick succession on the rim of the 

 drum just above the handle. The singer stands with half-closed eyes 

 and with a stereotyped grimace on his face, though every now and 

 then he breaks into a laugh or giggle. 



If the singer is a woman, she stands quite firm on her legs, but 

 keeps moving her hips in a figure that forms an 8. Simultan- 

 eously, but in half time to the song, the drum is alternately beaten 

 on the right and on the left. The drum is held out with an almost 

 fully extended arm and in a downward direction, resting on the right 

 forearm. The head is either bent or held straight up. The eyes are 

 half closed and the face wears a stereotyped smile. 

 1. 



Two melodies noted down by J. Fabricius as the}' were sung for him Ьз' Johan 

 Petersen, our interpreter. 



The songs are monotonous and the melodies vary very slightly. 

 They are the same melodies which are used in drum-matches. 

 Specimens of a couple of these melodies are given above. They 

 have all long refrains of "aja", "ja", introduced by words such as 

 kava, ava, ama etc. The whole audience often takes part in the 

 refrains. (See specimens of these songs in part V nos. 39 and 50 — 52). 



In singing they told us they try to imitate a rushing river. They 

 say that when they lie down to sleep by the side of a river they 

 hear the chant of the dead, and it is this chant that they try to 

 imitate. The young are taught to sing by their elders. Every ex- 

 pression, every tone, every sound, every movement is traditional 

 and is handed down from the old to the young. But though they 

 themselves have such a monotonous and quaint way of singing, they 

 soon caught our melodies and were able to reproduce fragments 

 of them. 



