Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/112

Rh 12 Ra'-wa — A call for attention, at the moment.

ha'-wa — once more.

u-ra-sha-ru — name.

we — I.

tat-ki'-wa-ti — change.

13 Hi-ri — harken.

ta-tux — we used to.

ta-pa-ki-a-ho — speak of him.

ha'-wa — once more.

Ra-ruts-ka'-tit — the former name, meaning black-feathered arrow.

Hi-ri — harken.

ra-ro — owner.

rik-cha — lying. These words refer to the achievement commemorated by the name about to be thrown away.

ro re — vocables.

14 Hi-ri — harken.

wȧ-ko-ru — now we are.

ra-to-ra — all people.

pa-ke'-oos-to — speak out and say.

15 Hi-ri — harken.

a-ki-ta-ro — tribe.

hi-wȧ — in the.

we-ra-ta-we-ka — prominent

16 Hi-ri — harken.

Sha-ku'-ru Wa'-ruk-sie — the new name now announced ("Sacred Sun").

hi-ri-wa — in the process of making.

wi-ti — himself.

ra-ka-wȧ'-ka-ru — what he is.

ko re — vocables.

This dramatic poem is in a rhythmic form impossible to reproduce in English. Our language does not permit of the treatment which the Pawnee tongue receives in the ritual; there, words are cut apart, combined, or represented by a single syllable in order that the rhythmic flow may be uninterrupted. Neither is a literal

Mr John B. Dunbar, an authority on the Pawnee language, writes: "It [the language] may rightfully challenge eminent position for its beauty as well as for its detailed flexibility. Even in its daily use careful attention is given to the euphonic element, in the employment of euphonic syllables, in the omission of syllables or letters, and in the substitution of letters; while its system of verbal inflection frequently admits of the compendious expression of shades of meaning which has usually quite