Evening star., 1902-03-10
MUSIC OF ESQUIMAUS
SONGS AND SINGERS IN THE COLD
NORTH LANDS.
Natives of Greenland Do Not Alto
gether Live to Eat and Sleep
Ear for Tune.

Robert stein. United States Geological Survey, In
the New York Tribune.
One of the items of knowledge which our
teachers. some thirty years ago, were care
full to impress on our plastic. youthful
minds was that mankind was divided In
t. three cIasses-civilized, barbarian and
savage. The division seemed entirely salts
factory, and we never doubted our ability
- assign any human being to one OF these
three classes the moment We laid eyes on
him The savage was supposed to care
for nothing but eating and sleeping, the
civilized man cared for something besides
eating and sleeping, and the barbarian was
midway between these. Too bad that SO
simple an arrangement should ever need
revision, Since then, however. facts have
become known in regard to savages. bar
barians and civilized men. too. which tend
to obliterate the lines of division that
seemed so clear cut.
Today these terms continue to be used
from mere force of habit just as natural
lists continue to talk about species and
genera when they know very well that
there Is not and cannot be any sharp dlvid-
Ing line between any two species. We now
know that there Is hardly feature In
civilized life that is not present. at least In
a rudimentary form. among the so-cai1ed
savages. while on the other hand, We have
come to the conclusion that there are hosts
of human beings able to read and write
and to count to million, having the bal
lot. using the telephone and holding their
possessions between thumb and forefingsr
In hand book, who nevertheless are not
civilized at all, but merely domesticated,
and who, IL an epidemic were to carry OF
all the real active brains of civilization,
would instantly relapse into the Stone Age,
if they did not die of starvation.
Advance of Humankind.
That there could not be any human beings
ryy, hiply IF h,Ir eating and
ing might have been evident from the
first. for the higher animals have got be-
yond that stage. All that was needed was
to listen to the song Of a canary bird.
Were there any representatives of the
Pithecanthropus of Java still in existence,
should doubtless find them using some
kind of decoration. having some traditions
In set form the beginning of literature)
and some regularly recurring intonations
or rhythns repeated for the sake Of pleas
ing the ear tthe beginning of music. In
point of fact the lowest human beings now
in existence represent an immense advance
over the earliest that might claim the
name human. Nine times, most likely, has
nature wiped the lower races off the earth
to make room for some improved breed,
the inferior ones being either exterminated
or absorbed as the superior ones spread
by virtue of their Slightly better brains.
And thus 1t will probably go on indefinite
ly, and 1t may be that we have no business
to try to stop 1t.
A glance at the Esquimau coat suff1ces
to show that we are dealing with a race
which does care for something besides eat
ing and sleeping. Two-thirds of the seams
on this coat are solely for the sake Of or
namentatfon: the sagloreneng on the mans
back. the igta down his throat, the nuga
across his head. the tunuka on the wom-
ans back. the manuka under her chin. the
ersi below the breasts. the tungawing
around the lower border-all decidedly
handsome patterns, even to the civilized
ava hot md ante oil hoo
the same imprint Of long development.
I am not aware that any record has yet
been made of their music, except their
choral song, the commonest Of all, which
Inevitably attracts the notice of any one
who stays with them more than a day or
two The Esquimaus Of Danish Greenland,
indeed, are known to posses keen mu-
steal ear and admirable voices, but the
songs they now sing are said to be all of
Danish origin. The first mention of song
among the tribe to the north of Cape York
occurs in the report of Sir John Ross. who
discovered them In 1918.
Songs and Dances.
We then tried to discover II they mad
among them any amusements, such as
music or dancing, and, after some diff
Guilty, succeeded in persuading two Of the
strangers. who, We We're made to under
stand. were nephews Of Ervik, TO give US
a specimen of their dancing. One Of them
I
his face. and turn up his eyes exactly
resembling the appearance of a person in
a MT OF epilepsy that we were convinced
this accident had happened, and I was
about to call for assistance from the sur
geon. / was. however, soon undecaived, as
he Immediately proceeded to execute. in
succession, variety of extraordinary ges-
lures and attitudes, accompanied by the
most hideous distortions Of counlenance.
Like the similar amusements Of very differ
ent climates, these contained the Indecent
allusions which are well known to form
an essential feature in the dances Of many
nations, in other respects far ad-
yanced in civilization. The body was gem
orally in STOPPING posture and the hands
resting on the knees. After a few minutes
the performers began to sing 'Amrah
aIah, and in a very short time the sec
ond performer. who had been looking at
the other in silence, began, as If inspired
to diStort his face, and initiate the indeli-
cate attitudes of the first, and soon after
to sing as chorus. "Hejaw, he1aw." After
this had continued with increasing energy
for ten minutes the tune was suddenly
changed to a shril note in which the
words ''Wehee, wehee" were uttered with
great rapidity. They then approached each
other by slipping their feet forward. grin
ming and In great agitation. until their
noses touched when a savage laugh ended
TINS extraordinary performance.
Kane, who visited the tribe in 1886
describes a similar song
They sang ANNA Ayah'' for US, their
rude. monotonous song. till our ears
cracked with the discord: and improyised
a special eulogistic chant, which they re-
peated over and over again with laughable
gravity OF utterance. subsiding always in
to the refrain Of ''Nalegak, nalegak. male