The makers of the Australian songs, or of the combined songs and dances are the poets or bards of the tribe and are held in great esteem. Their names are known to the neighboring peoples, and their songs are carried from tribe to tribe until the very meaning of the words is lost as well as the original source of the song.
Such an instance is a song which was accompanied by a carved stick painted red, which was held by the chief singer. This traveled down the Murray river from some unknown source. The same song, accompanied by such a stick, also came into Gippsland many years ago from Melbourne and may even have been the above mentioned one on its return.
SECTION 5.
TRADITIONS.
Even since the Columbian discovery some tribes have employed devices yet ruder than the rudest pictorial attempt as markers for the memory. An account of one of these is given in E. Winslow’s Relation (A. D. 1624), Col. Mass. Hist. Soc., 2d series, IX, 1822, p. 99, as follows:
Instead of records and chronicles they take this course: Where any remarkable act is done, in memory of it, either in the place or by some pathway near adjoining, they make a round hole in the ground about a foot deep and as much over, which, when others passing by behold, they inquire the cause and occasion of the same, which, being once known, they are careful to acquaint all men as occasion serveth therewith. And lest such holes should be filled or grown over by any accident, as men pass by they will often renew the same, by which means many things of great antiquity are fresh in memory. So that as a man traveleth, if he can understand his guide, his journey will be the less tedious by reason of the many historical discourses which will be related unto him.
In connection with this section students may usefully consult Dr. Brinton’s (f) Lenâpé and their Legends.
As an example of a chart used in the exact repetition of traditions, Fig. 167 is presented with the following explanation by Rev. J. Owen Dorsey:
Fig. 167.—Osage chart.
The chart accompanies a tradition chanted by members of a secret society of the Osage tribe. It was drawn by an Osage, Red Corn.