INDIAN MUSIC. 
289 
wild notes of which it consists, mingled with 
the sound of their pipes and drums, sometimes 
produce, when heard at a distance, a pleasing 
effect on the ear; but it is then and then only 
that their music is tolerable. 
The first night of our arrival at Malden, 
just as we were retiring to rest, near midnight, 
we were most agreeably entertained in this 
manner with the sound of. their music on the 
island of Bois Blanc. Eager to hear more of 
it, and to be witness to their dancing, we pro¬ 
cured a boat, .and immediately crossed the river 
to the spot where they were assembled. Three 
elderly men, seated under a tree, were the prin¬ 
cipal musicians. One of these beat a small 
drum, formed of a piece of a hollow tree co¬ 
vered with a skin, and the two others marked 
time equally with the drum, with kettles form¬ 
ed of dried squashes or gourds filled with 
pease. At the same time these men sung, in¬ 
deed they were the leaders of the song, which 
the dancers joined in. The dancers consisted 
solely of a party of squaws, to the number of 
twenty or thereabouts, who, standing in a cir¬ 
cle, with their faces inwards and their hands 
folded round each other’s necks, moved, thus 
linked together, sideways, with close short 
steps, round a small fire. The men and wo- 
men never dance together, unless indeed a 
pretty squaw be introduced by some young 
von, ii, * xj . 
