On the Eskimo Music. 29 
the chorus continues, to sing the refrain, whilst the soloist utters 3 
rhythmic shouts. W. Thalbitzer is of the opinion that such a chord 
is not restricted to this single case. 
Tempo. The songs are sung more slowly than one would expect 
from the contents of the text. Even in the drum-songs of contestants 
the tempo is not increased when the singer wishes to make an effect. 
This is most frequently done by raising the voice. No. 129 is sung 
very slowly, whilst several of the children’s songs have a very 
quick tempo. 
The foregoing investigation will have shown, that the East 
Greenlanders have not reached the stage of having a definite scale, 
quite naturally, as such could only with difficulty arise among 
people who know no musical instruments, which can produce that 
definiteness not to be obtained by ear and human voice alone. Each 
single song has its own special scale, determined by the individuality 
of the singer or composer, and here as a rule there is no uncertainty 
in the fixing of the tone, as among many primitive folk." The same 
intervals are retained as a rule throughout the melody. The range 
of the melody is but small — in most cases a fifth or a sixth. 
Excluding the finer intervals, we find certain types of melody 
and degrees of tone preferred: 1) the first, fourth, fifth — 2) first, third, 
fifth. Such short intervals as half-tones seem preferably avoided by 
the East Greenlanders. Where such occur, it is almost always as 
transitional tones. 
That the Greenlanders on the east coast of Greenland are a 
musical race is evident, not only from their generally accurate intona- 
tion, but more especially from the artistically developed rhythm of 
their melodies. 
II. Melodies of the Smith Sound Eskimo. 
The earliest mention of the dance and song music of the Smith 
Sound Eskimo is due to Лонм Ross, who discovered them in 1818. 
He gives an account of the facial and bodily distortions of two 
dancing Eskimo, which reminded him of the movements of an 
epileptic, and mentions that they sang “Amnah ajah” and “Hejaw, 
! Charles Kasson Wead, Contributions to the history of musical scales, р. 422. 
(Report of the United States National Museum 1900, Washington 1902.) 
Erich Fischer, Patagonische Musik (Anthropos Vol. III), p. 941 et seq. 
