E-text prepared by Thierry Alberto, Linda Cantoni,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
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The study of aboriginal folk-lore cannot reach its highest scientificvalue until some method is adopted by means of which an accuraterecord of the stories can be obtained and preserved. In observationson the traditions of the Indian tribes, the tendency of the listenerto add his own thoughts or interpretations is very great. Moreover, notwo Indians tell the same story alike. These are sources of errorwhich cannot be eliminated, but by giving the exact words of thespeaker 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 isoften better than that of white men. There may be a reason for this,in their custom of memorizing their rituals, stories, and legends. TheKāklan, a Zuñi ritual, for instance, which is recited by the priestonce in four years, takes several hours to repeat. What white man canrepeat from memory a history of equal length after so long aninterval?
Phonetic methods of recording Indian languages are not whollysatisfactory. It is very unlikely that two persons will adopt the samespelling of a word never heard before. Many inflections, accents, andgutturals of Indian languages are difficult to reduce to writing.Conventional signs and additional letters have been employed for thispurpose, the use of which is open to objections. There is need of someaccurate method by which observations can be recorded. Thedifficulties besetting the path of the linguist can be in a measureobviated by the employment of the phonograph, by the aid of which thelanguages of our aborigines can be permanently perpetuated. As a meansof preserving the songs and tales of races which are fast becomingextinct, it is, I believe, destined to play an important part infuture researches.
In order to make experiments, with a view of employing this[Pg 2] means ofrecord among the less civilized Indians of New Mexico,[1] I visited,in the month of April, the Passamaquoddies, the purest blooded race ofIndians now living in New England. The results obtained fullysatisfied my expectations. For whatever success I have had, I mustexpress my obligation to Mrs. W. Wallace Brown, of Calais, Me., whoseinfluence over the Indians is equalled by her love for the study oftheir traditions.
The songs and stories were taken from the Indians themselves, on thewax cylinders of the phonograph. In most cases a single cylindersufficed, 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 Passamaquoddiesagree in the statement that their stories were formerly sung, andresembled poems. Many tales still contain songs, and some possess atthis day a rhythmical character. I am not aware that any one has triedto set the songs to music, and have had nothing to guide me on thathead.
In sacred observances it is probable that the music of the songspreserves its character even after other parts have been greatlymodified, while the song retains its peculiarity as long as itcontinues to be sung.