. Kitchi-Gami : wanderings round Lake Superior. d pains, and was comfortably sitting on hisbed, smoking his morning pipe. The stones he hademployed in order to produce the steam were stilllying before him. They were collected in a hole, andcovered with green twigs of the Arbor vitce, ensigne de gratitude et pour marquer son respect pour leGrand Esprit. The book, or birch-bark cover, which he showedme, and on the inner side of which were the drawings,was about five inches wide, and consisted of two lids,each one inch and a quarter in length, so that thewhole was two inches and a half. My Indian
. Kitchi-Gami : wanderings round Lake Superior. d pains, and was comfortably sitting on hisbed, smoking his morning pipe. The stones he hademployed in order to produce the steam were stilllying before him. They were collected in a hole, andcovered with green twigs of the Arbor vitce, ensigne de gratitude et pour marquer son respect pour leGrand Esprit. The book, or birch-bark cover, which he showedme, and on the inner side of which were the drawings,was about five inches wide, and consisted of two lids,each one inch and a quarter in length, so that thewhole was two inches and a half. My Indian told me that they were nagamowin-ninin, or songs. I first asked him who made the books and wrotethe songs down. He said it was his brother-in-law, un Indien de la folle avoine, or a brother-in-law had kept possession of the book along while, and only given it to him on his death-bedon his most earnest prayer. He added, that it hadcost him much time till he had learned it all. He hadstudied and practised the songs for months. u2. When I asked him if he could teach me some of hisknowledge, and explain the leading features, he repliedthat it was very difficult to learn. I assured him MUSICAL NOTES, 293 that I should be satisfied if I could only reach so farwith my weak understanding as to see how difficult itwas, and why it was so; and he then condescended togive rne a few explanations. I will repeat themexactly as I received them from him, and only inter-rupt them here and there with a parenthesis andmarks of interrogation : The crooked sign at a is the sign that the songcommences here. The bear (at b) begins the dance: II marche lapour signe de la At c stand a boy and his teacher (father, uncle,or grandfather), who instructs him. You see the heartof the good teacher, and the stream of discourse whichflows in a serpentine line from his heart through hismouth to the head of the boy, as well as the boysanswers, which flow back from his mouth to the heartof his
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade186, booksubjectindiansofnorthamerica
