Songs of the Copper Eskimos 



3&3 



classified and weather incantations. Possibly some examples have been over- 

 looked, and among those given there are duplicates in the cases of different 

 versions of the same tune.^ 



The scales of these songs have been grouped together. In the main the 

 tones are the seventh, sixth, fifth, third and tonic of the major scale, the play 

 between the third and fifth lending a major character, that between the sixth, 

 third and tonic a minor feeling, while the seventh, sixth, and third, with the 

 j^fth, are the tones which occur most frequently and which give the peculiar 

 tonality that attracted my attention. Sometimes the upper seventh is omitted 

 and the lower substituted for it which gives a different but related effect, and 

 there may be other tones introduced sporadically. This scale effect has not 

 been found in any of the songs which come from the other regions outside of the 

 Copper Eskimo area.^ The Mackenzie, with all their varied melodies, seem not 

 to have developed the fashion, or at any rate, it is not so popular a combination 

 as it is around Coronation Gulf, or we should probably encounter at least one 

 example of it even in so small a collection as twelve songs. I have investigated 

 the exact localities from which songs with this scale come and the singers, in 

 order to see if it is a strictly local phenomenon in the Coppermine River country, 

 or if it might be a style developed by one or two individuals, especially as 

 Haquriyaq, the Puivlik woman, sang so many of the examples. The following 

 list will show that the fashion has now spread beyond any local limits or a few 

 individuals. 



Pisiks 



1 It is interesting to observe, in passing, however, that while the scales of different versions of the same song may, in 

 general, possess the same prominent tones, or otherwise they certainly could not be the same song, there are often enough 



fcfchers introduced in a more elastic version to deceive the student who is examining scales only, into a belief that two songa 

 Ifould not resemble one another, which are in reality only different versions of the same tune. 



2 One interesting example of its use is found in No. 57 which is a version of No. 58. In the former song the seventh degree 

 has been substituted throughout for the true octave which obtains in No. 68, and which is probably nearer the original, 

 and possibly the original itself. 



