While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
The study of aboriginal folk-lore cannot
reach its highest scientific value until some method is
adopted by means of which an accurate record of the stories
can be obtained and preserved. In observations on the
traditions of the Indian tribes, the tendency of the
listener to add his own thoughts or interpretations is very
great. Moreover, no two Indians tell the same story alike.
These are sources of error which cannot be eliminated, but
by giving the exact words of the speaker it is possible to
do away with the errors of the translator.
I
believe that the memory of Indians for the
details of a story is often better than that
of white men. There may be a reason for
this, in their custom of memorizing their
rituals, stories, and legends. The Kaklan, a
Zuņi ritual, for instance, which is recited
by the priest once in four years, takes
several hours to repeat. What white man can
repeat from memory a history of equal length
after so long an interval Phonetic methods
of recording Indian languages are not wholly
satisfactory. It is very unlikely that two
persons will adopt the same spelling of a
word never heard before. Many inflections,
accents, and gutturals of Indian languages
are difficult to reduce to writing.
Conventional signs and additional letters
have been employed for this purpose, the use
of which is open to objections. There is
need of some accurate method by which
observations can be recorded. The
difficulties besetting the path of the
linguist can be in a measure obviated by the
employment of the phonograph, by the aid of
which the languages of our aborigines can be
permanently perpetuated. As a means of
preserving the songs and tales of races
which are fast becoming extinct, it is, I
believe, destined to play an important part
in future researches.
In order to make experiments, with a view of
employing this means of record among the
less civilized Indians of New Mexico,1
I visited, in the month of April, the
Passamaquoddies, the purest blooded race of
Indians now living in New England. The
results obtained fully satisfied my
expectations. For whatever success I have
had, I must express my obligation to Mrs. W.
Wallace Brown, of Calais, Me., whose
influence over the Indians is equalled by
her love for the study of their traditions.
The songs and stories were taken from the
Indians themselves, on the wax cylinders of
the phonograph. In most cases a single
cylinder sufficed, although in others one
story occupied several cylinders. None of
the songs required more than one cylinder.
I was particularly anxious to secure the
songs. The Passamaquoddies agree in the
statement that their stories were formerly
sung, and resembled poems. Many tales still
contain songs, and some possess at this day
a rhythmical character. I am not aware that
any one has tried to set the songs to music,
and have had nothing to guide me on that
head.
In sacred observances it is probable that
the music of the songs preserves its
character even after other parts have been
greatly modified, while the song retains its
peculiarity as long as it continues to be
sung. The paraphernalia of the sacred dance
may be modified, as in the case of many New
Mexican pueblos, into church festivals, but
the songs must remain unchanged until
superseded. It is noteworthy in this
connection that in many of the songs archaic
words occur.
The following list indicates the variety of
records which were made:
1-3. The story of how Glooscap reduced the
size of the animals. These cylinders give
the story in substantially the same way as
published by Leland in his "Algonquin
Legends."
4. A collection of Indian words
corresponding with those found on page 82 of
the schedule of the United States Bureau of
Ethnology.
5. English words with Passamaquoddy
translations.
6, 7. An old tale of how Pookjinsquess stole
a child.
8. Song of the "Snake Dance."
9. "War Song."
10. Song sung on the night when the
governor's election is celebrated. This song
was sung by proxy, and contains compliments
to the feast, thanks to the people for
election, and words of praise to the
retiring chief. It is a very old song,
unknown to many of the younger Indians.
11. Numerals from 1 to 20; the days of the
week; also, a "counting-out" rhyme.
12-14. Tale of Leux and the three fires.
15. Tale of Leux and Hespens.
17. An ancient war song, said to have been
sung in the old times when the
Passamaquoddies were departing for war with
the Mohawks. A second part contains a song
said to have been sung in the "Trade Dance,"
as described below.
18. War Song.
19. Pronunciation of the names of the
fabulous personages mentioned in
Passamaquoddy stories.
20-22. Story of the birth of a medicine-man
who turned man into a cedar tree.
23. An ordinary conversation between the two
Indians, Noel Josephs and Peter Selmore.
24-27. Modern Passamaquoddy story,
introducing many incidents of ordinary life.
29-35. Story of Pogump and the Sable, and of
their killing a great snake. How the former
was left on an island by Pookjinsquess, and
how the Morning Star saved him from Quahbet,
the giant beaver.2
It appears to me that the selections above
given convey an idea of some of the more
important linguistic features of the
Passamaquoddy language, but it is needless
to reiterate that these results and
observations are merely experimental. In
another place I hope to reproduce the
stories in the original, by phonetic
methods. I have here given English versions
of some of the stories recorded, as
translated for me by the narrator, or by
Mrs. Brown, and added some explanations
which may be of assistance to a person
listening when songs or stories are being
rendered on the phonograph.
The majority of the remnants of the
Passamaquoddy tribe are found in three
settlements in the State of Maine,-one at
Pleasant Point, near Eastport; another at
Peter Dana's Point, near Princeton; and a
third at a small settlement called The
Camps, on the border of the city of Calais.
The manners and customs of this people are
fast dying out. The old pointed caps,
ornamented with beads, and the silver disks,
which they once wore, are now rarely seen
except in collections of curiosities. The
old games, dances, and songs are fast
becoming extinct, and the Passamaquoddy has
lost almost everything which characterized
his fathers.
There still remain among the Passamaquoddies
certain nicknames borne by persons of the
tribe. These nicknames are sometimes the
names of animals, and in older times were
more numerous than at present. Possibly
these names are the survivals of the gentile
or clan name once universal among them as
among other Indian tribes.
I spent several days at Calais, while
collecting traditions with the phonograph,
and also visited Pleasant Point, where I
made the acquaintance of some of the most
prominent Indians, including the governor.
Most of them speak English very well, and
are ready to grant their assistance in
preserving their old stories and customs.
The younger members of the tribe are able to
read and write, and are acquainted with the
ordinary branches of knowledge as taught in
our common schools. I should judge from my
own observations that the language is
rapidly dying out. The white women who have
married into the tribe have generally
acquired the language more or less
perfectly. In their intercourse with each
other, Indians make use of their own
language.
In taking these records with the phonograph
I had an interesting experience. The first
time I met Noel Josephs, I greeted him after
the Zuņi fashion. I raised my hand to his
mouth, and inhaled from it. He followed in
identically the same manner in which a Zuņi
Indian would respond. I asked him what it
meant. He said that it was a way of showing
friendship. He remembered that, when he was
a boy, a similar mode of greeting was common
among Indians.3 Mrs. Brown
recalled having seen a similar ceremony
after she was received into the tribe. The
meaning of this similarity I leave to others
to conjecture. In a legend mentioned by Mrs.
Brown concerning a game of "All-tes-teg-enuk,"
played by a youth against an old man, the
latter, who has magic power, has several
times regained his youth by inhaling the
breath of his young opponent.4
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