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1282 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
shaman, LtiswA't. The latter is certainly our Yakutat
yek, however. The places mentioned in Swanton's version
are Chilkat and an unidentified locality (Lxode't).
Since the meaning of the words is even more confused
than those recorded at Yakutat, I beheve that the
Yakutat version is closer to the original. Swanton's
song is:
L AUA'X ke q^gudiyA' Djilqa't
not through it up I come ChUkat
ktna'uAX qo'a ke qagudi'.
through, however, up 1 come.
Lxode't kina'uAX ke gagu't duyaha'yi aga'x.
(place) through up I wiU come [his ghost''] [cries].
Two Kagwantan Shaman's Songs: Disease Spirits
1954, 5-2-G and H; recorded by Mrs. Chester Johnson
on June 10.
The "words" of these two songs are in Tsimshian.
There were altogether four songs of the Disease Spirits
that had come to the singer's father's mother's father,
a shaman caUed QAlaxetl and Ltunei (see pp. 713-714).
The singer could remember only two of the songs. The
spirits were caUed 'Things of the World [Disease]
Spirits' (Imgit'ani qu yek), and may have been associated
with the smaUpox epidemic of the late 18th
century, traces of which were seen by Portlock near
Sitka in 1787.
The first song is introduced in TUngit (20 seconds)
and lasts 1:13 minutes. It has the foUowing structure:
Refrain: A
Stanza: A
B
B (sung twice)
The only possible "word" occurs in Phrase A of the
Stanza: law-di-yi laknu.
The second song appears to have only vocables, and
has the simple structure: A B C B C'"*" B. It
lasted only 50 seconds; there were no repetitions. In
the last three lines of this song, the drumbeats run
ahead.
The singer ended both with the exclamation "hutc!"
(the end).
Ttuk'^axAdi Shaman's Songs: Fish Spirits
1945, 2-2-C and D; recorded by Frank Itaho on May 7.
These were two of the four or more songs of the Fish
Spirits (xat qwani) that belonged to the famous shaman,
Gutcda, of Dry Bay. He was the maternal grandfather
of the singer. Before he died, Gutcda is said to have
given these songs to his CAnkuqedi children. To sing
them was supposed to kiU disease spirits or avert
epidemics.
The words of the songs are evidently Tsimshian. The
singer refused the drumstick, but accompanied himself
by rapping against the wooden rim of the drum. A plane
was heard just as the recording started; it was not clear
at the time that there were two songs. The first song
(C) lasted only 45 seconds, and consisted of the same
five phrases sung three times. These are:
A yExa, 'ayiya
B, B yExa, yiyaxaxa (repeated)
A' yExa, 'ayixa
A" yExa, 'ayiya
X heho-heyu! (at the end of the 3rd repeat).
The second song (D) was in two parts, and lasted
1:45 minutes. Unfortunately, the pitchpipe was blown
just after the smger had started. It begins with a rather
unstructured Introduction consisting of vocables that
probably represent the shaman's ecstatic cries. Then
foUows a Refrain, sung twice with only minor variations,
and two Stanzas, each sung once. This can be
summarized as:
Introduction
X
Y
Y
Z
A
A
B
B
A
A
B
B
A
A
B
B
X
ye he he etc.
yeheye etc.
{repeated)
yi- yu etc.
Refrain
first
heye 'e 'a etc.
yehe heheha etc.
we 'e etc.
we he etc.
Stanza I
nil aw di yuwa- yuwa- ha nant
{as above)
di 'e 'e yu etc.
ye 'e he 'a etc.
Stanza II
qan qan qan lak nui yuwas yuwa
qan qan qan lak nux yuwa yuwe
hi 'e 'e yu etc.
ye he he 'a etc.
we hu- 'ayux
second
we he etc.
ye he etc.
we 'e etc.
we he etc.
' Swanton renders this as "and," but it means 'his ghost.' I
suspect the last two words mean: 'his ghost cries,' which would
indicate that the whole song is supposedly sung by the ghost.