At the close of this speech the winds blew, the thunder rolled, the lightning flashed, and a terrible storm arose, amidst which the monster disappeared. The other returned to his people, told them the story of his travels, and to this day corn is sacrificed to the Missouri by the Gros Ventres to appease the spirit of the Wau-wau-kah.
Songs; Music[60]
The construction of the Indian flute and music produced by it have already been described, although we are not able to state in what manner, if any, it resembles the Arcadian pipe.
Most ceremonies, dances, public demonstrations of joy or grief, and other matters of general interest are accompanied by songs, which have appropriate names, but these chants are for the most part only tunes or modulations of voices in concert, with the introduction of a few words in some of them. They are in fact a continued chorus consisting chiefly in repeating the meaningless syllables “Hai-yah, hai-yah, hai-ai-ai-yah-ah-ah, hai-yah, he-e-e-ah, hai-yah,” etc., fast or slow as required by the nature of the song. Where words are introduced they are composed of five or six syllables or three or four words, bearing some relation to the event which is honored with the song, but are of no consequence, so that all question regarding their rhyme or poetical compositions may be passed over in silence. The tune is generally begun by one person pitching it, who after singing a few notes, is joined by the whole choir, or sometimes, as in the scalp song, the women add their voices in the second part of the tune, where the name of the warrior who killed the enemy is mentioned. The modulations are bold and wild, by no means discordant or disagreeable, and they are remarkable for keeping very exact time either with the voice, drums, or feet, and where words are added they are so few, and the syllables so separated to accord as scarcely to be understood or distinguished from the rest of the chant.
The songs are measured, accents occur at fixed and regular intervals, being mostly the same in beats as the Scotch reel time. The effect intended is produced by action, energy of voice and motion, costume, and the wild intonations of the time, not from words repeated. These songs are suitable to the occasion, and the whole when well got up has a decidedly unique appearance, singularly correspondent in all its component parts. These chants are very difficult for us to learn and scarcely less so to describe, but are preferred by them to any music, vocal or instrumental, of white performers yet presented to them. The length of a tune is about equal to eight bars of our common time, and the syllables to each beat vary from four to eight, but in some of the medical songs the intonation is so rapid as scarcely to admit of being counted. Songs for dancing, medicine (that is, the practice of healing), and on other assemblies are generally accompanied with drums, bells, rattles, flutes, and whistles, of all of which the drum is the principal instrument, for though on some occasions all of them and several of each kind are used, yet there are none in which the drum is not used, but several where the rest are dispensed with.
Independent of public songs, singing is a very common amusement for the young men at nights, principally to attract the attention of the females, and often intended as signals for secret assignations.
Subjoined is a list of most of their songs, in reading over which it will be observed that there are none denominated “Hunting songs,” that employment not being celebrated in song in any way, either for success or failure, unless the incantative song by the Master of the Park to bring the buffalo toward it would be construed in that light. The uses of the others can be traced in their names, taken in connection with what has already been written concerning their ceremonies. The words “do-wan” attached to all means “a song.”
| Indian name | Interpretation | Occasion, etc. |
|---|---|---|
| Wah-kit-tai´ do-wan | Scalp song | More than ten different kinds. |
| Chan-du´-pah do-wan | Incantation Pipe song | Two or three varieties. |
| Tah-tun´-gah do-wan | Bull song | In the Bull dance; also used in the park. |
| Te-chagh´-ah do-wan | Incantation Lodge song | Religious. |
| Cong-ghai´ do-wan | Crow song | In Crow dance and before starting to war. |
| Pai-hun-ghe-nah do-wan | White Crane song | Incantation—in the song of that name. |
| Nap-pai´-she-ne do-wan | Song of the Braves | In the dance of “Ceux qui sauve pas.” |
| Ah-kitchetah do-wan | Soldiers’ song | Used at the soldiers’ dance. |
| To-kah-nah do-wan | Foxes’ song | In the dance of that band. |
| Ah-do-wah | Diviner’s song for the sick | About 20 different kinds. |
| At-to-do-wah | Tattooing song | Sung while performing that operation. |
| Opah-ghai do-wan | Gathering of the kins | Called also the thunder song (incantation). |
| Och-pi-e-cha-ghah do-wan | Buffalo Park song | Incantation. |
| Shunga-tunga do-wan | Horse song | In the whip dance. |
| Shunk to-ka-chah do-wan | Wolf song | Sung on starting to war. |
| To-shan do-wan | Drinking songs | More than ten varieties. |
| We do-wan | Sun song | Religious. |
| We-chah-nauge do-wan | Song to the dead | Lament. |
| Hoonk-o´-hon do-wan | Song of thanks | Several. |
| Wah-ghunh´-ksecha do-wan | Bear song | Medicine. |
| We-coo-ah | Love song | About 10 varieties. |
| Nap-pai-e-choo do-wan | Hand gambling song | |
| Hampah-ah-he-yah | Moccasin gambling song | |
| We-hhnoh´-hhnoh | Incantation song and feast | |
| Tsh-kun do-wan | Women’s dance song | Where women only perform. |
| Opon do-wan | Elk song | Medicine for elk, religious. |
Their drums are of two kinds. The most common is made like a tambourine without its bells, the skin forming the head being stretched over the hoop while wet and kept there by sinews being passed through it and the hoop a few inches apart. (Pl. 80, fig. 1.) The inside portions of the skin have cords made of sinew extending across from several places, meeting in the middle and forming a handle to hold it up by (2). It is held up in one hand and beaten with a stick by the other, no more beats being made than are necessary to correspond with the accents of the notes, thus preserving the time.
The other kind of drum is made of a piece of hollow dry tree about 2½ feet long, scraped to a shell and smooth inside and out, resembling in shape a staff churn (3). The head or skin is stretched on the smaller end with a hoop, which is retained in its place by sinews passed through. The other is left open. When beaten but one stick is used, the drum being set on end. Both are often painted with different devices. The rattles, wag-ga-mó (Sioux) or Chi-chi-quoin (Cree), were originally and in a measure still are gourds dried with the seeds in, or after being dried the seeds, etc., are taken out and pebbles put in (4). Others are made of the rawhide of elk stretched over a slight frame of woodwork while wet and dried in that shape, pebbles being put therein at holes left in the top or in the handle (5 and 6). No. 7 is the rattle used by the “braves” in their dance. It is made of rawhide like the rest, but in the form of an open ring.