The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-08-14
CURIOUS VOCAL STUDIES.
The Character Of tho North American In.
dams as Revealed by tho Voice.

dams Revealed by the voice.
The idea that one could read the
character of an individual from the
tone of his voice was advanced by me in
magazine article two or three years
since. In the article classified the va
rious types of voice, not from their
musical pitch or pleasant quality. but.
1nsUeao, from the mental character1S-
idea to be correct by experiments car
ried on between two and three hum
dred students of elocution in this city.
The subject of the Indian voice has
interested me whenever opportunity
was afforded for hearing the red men"
peak. Having lived among the Cher
kee Indians in the south, and relying
upon the voice as an index of char
acter, certain qualities possessed by the
Indian voices at once interested and
surprised me. Prior to 1850 l spent
four weeks in a camp of Cherokeea
There were some four hundred and
fifty in the tribe, their ages ranging
from infancy to ninety-one years.
Pleased with the result of my investi-
cations with this tribe, pursued my
studies farther, with the Blackfoot
tribe, the Seminoles and Sioux. l
found typical Indian voice, notwith-
standing the fact that they vary very
much in pitch and quality. Their emo
tional lives being necessarily simple,
the tutorage of civilization had not
taught them to conceal the real state
of their feelings, and their ordinary
mental habits were accurately re-
vealed in the tones of their voices,
particularly when they spoke the
languages peculiar to their tribes. The
voice of the Indian is usually sad and
reticent. 1t is indicative of mind
given to marveling rather than reason
ing. The voices Of the women are gen.
orally mezzo-soprano. clear, and re-
semble somewhat those of the Spanish
women. The voices of the men vary
with age; the older having a weird,
strange sound, which reminds one OF
the voices heard among a certain class
of patients in hospitals for the insane.
1t is the voice of the early state of par
alytic dementia. The voices OF the In
dian children resemble much the voices
of negro children. They are, however,
less musical and much more quiet.
Even in childhood mirth seems want
ing in the Indian character. They sell
dom laugh with that hearty merri-
nent for which the negro is famed
The Indian voices are dreamy in ordi-
nary conversation. When angry they
usually shrek without articulating
words. One hears among the Indians
very few Enthusiastically individual
voices. Comparing them with their
more civilized brethren, we find that
the French voices show complex emo
tional lives. Those of the Englishmen
vary in pitch great deal, as do those
of the'American people. With the In
dian voices there is less variety both in
register and pitch. and the undertones
reveal similar emotional states. CON-
parison with the Indian voices with
those OF the Chinese is rather favorable
to the latter. The voices of the edu-
Gated Chinese are flexible. and indica-
tive OF great shrcwdness. The voices
of the educated Indians, of which l
have known between twenty and
thirty, are whining and uninteresting.
Through the courtesy of Hoa.
William Cody had the opportunity of
listening recently to the voices of some
OF the Indians in his famous company.
1 wished TO delineate their characters
by their voices. so did not know any
thing OF the history OF those presented
to me previous to hearing them speak.
i also requested that they speak in
their own language, rs could not then
judge of their character by what they
said.
The first Indian, named Rocky Bear,
had a rich haryt tone voice 1t was mrsi-
cal, and indicated e greater degree Of
intelligence than Is possessed by the
average Indian. The agent was much
surprised when / told him. knowing
nothing of Rocky Bears history. thai
his voice indicated man brave, quick
in action and clear IL his logical de-
auctions, OF kindly temperament and
naturally aifectionate- He informed
me that my estimate of Rocky Bears
character was quite correct, and added
that he had always been friendly to
the whites. rendering valuable as
sistance to the United States govern
r,ent 1T one time.
The next Indian presented had the
voice OF an old man / told the agent