ACCOUNT OP THE INDIANS. 305 



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never urge their guests to eat more than they 

 please) both men and women join, in singing sev- 

 eral songs. The airs of many of these songs, 

 •which have been composed and set to musick, by 

 their poets, expressly for the occasion, greatly 

 resemble those which I have heard sung, in Ro- 

 man Catholic churches. After singing is conclud- 

 ed, each guest rises, with his dish and whatever 

 it contains, and returns to his own dwelling, and 

 thus the festival ends. At these feasts, there are 

 frequently Indians, who will drink at least a 

 quart of melted bear's oil, merely to show how 

 much they can drink. 



At some of their festivals, the men and women 

 join in a dance. Their musick on these occasions, 

 consists of the singing of one person or more, ac- 

 companied by the shaking of the she-she-qui, 

 which is, ordinarily, a covered dish, with a han- 

 dle ; but sometimes it is curiously made in the 

 form of a bird, and within it, are either gravel 

 stones or shot. Others beat on a drum, with but 

 one head; and these are all the musical instru- 

 ments, if they can with propriety be so denominat- 

 ed, which I have ever seen among them. When 

 they dance, they paint their faces, and put swan's 

 down on their heads, and while they are dancing, 

 others are almost continually blowing more through 

 * both their hands, on the dancers; They have not 



