Page:Natalie Curtis - The Indians' Book.djvu/33

THE INDIANS’ BOOK engrave the old tales upon the minds of a younger generation. All realized that they walked in the sunset hour of their native life and that the night was soon to come.

The Indians sang the songs directly to the recording pencil. Theirs are the explanations and the tales connected with the songs. Of the drawings, every one is Indian.

At first the noting of the music was, to the recorder, though a musician, a task of no small difficulty. In the beginning the songs were first taken upon a phonograph, but the machine soon was abandoned as inadequate and unnecessary, and note-book and pencil, a camera, and a color-box for the use of the Indians made the sole equipment carried into camp or village. The songs were written down by the light of the tipi fire or under the glare of the desert sun; in adobe houses while the women ground the corn, or in the open camp where after some festival or ceremonial gathering of the people a leader resang for the book a characteristic song.

Many Indian songs are sacred to certain occasions or ceremonies. Respect was always shown, therefore, for the natural and sometimes superstitious reluctance of the people to sing such songs at other than the proper time, or even to consent to the recording of them. When a singer chose such a song for his contribution, it was well, indeed; but no one was ever urged to desecrate anything held sacred, no matter what the motive. This book, it is hoped, may serve as an encouragement to educated Indians to carry on the work of record, for their access to their peopled holiest rites, and their understanding of Indian thought, make possible for them, as for no white person, a full exposition of Indian religious life. This hope is augmented by the fact that it has been physically impossible, in this collection, to represent every tribe.1 Many of the songs in this book are traditional and of lost origin; some are current songs of the day, still others are quite new, taken down, indeed, from the lips of their own composers. Each con-