AMUSEMENTS. 
229 
the pomp and circumstance of war. Being excellent 
mimics, they imitate in many of their dances the 
habits and movements of animals. They also repre- 
sent the mode of hunting, fighting, love-making, &c. 
New figures and new songs are constantly intro- 
duced, and are as much applauded and encored, as 
more refined productions of a similar kind in civilized 
communities ; being sometimes passed from tribe to 
tribe for a considerable distance. I have often seen 
dances performed to songs with which I was ac- 
quainted, and which I knew to belong to distant 
parts of the country where a different dialect was 
spoken, and which consequently could not be under- 
stood where I heard them. Many of the natives 
cannot even give an interpretation of the songs of 
their own districts, # and most of the explanations 
they do give are, I am inclined to think, generally 
very imperfect, as the measures or quantities of the 
syllables appear to be more attended to than the 
sense. 
Of these amusements the natives are passionately 
fond ; and when once they have so far overcome 
their naturally indolent disposition as to be in- 
duced to engage in them there is no knowing when 
they will give over. Dances are sometimes held 
* “ Not one in ten of the young men who are dancing and 
singing it, know the meaning of the song they are chaunting 
over.” — Catlin, vol. 1. p. 126. Also the case in New Zealand, 
with respect to some of the songs. — Vide Dieffenbach, vol. 2. 
p. 57. 
