Part 67 (1/2)

I sat and wept on the hillside, I wept till the darkness fell; I wept for a maiden afar off, A maiden who loves me well.

The moons are pa.s.sing, and some moon, I shall see my home long-lost, And of all the greetings that meet me, My maiden's will gladden me most.

”The poetry of the Indians is the poetry of naked thought. They have neither rhyme nor metre to adorn it,” says Schoolcraft (_Oneota,_ 14).

The preceding poem has both; what guarantee is there that the translator has not embellished the substance of it as he did its form?

Yet, granting he did not embroider the substance, we know that weeping and longing for an absent one are symptoms of sensual as well as of sentimental love, and cannot, therefore, be accepted as a criterion.

As for the Mexican and other poems cited, they give evidence of a desire to be near the beloved, and of the all-absorbing power of pa.s.sion (monopoly) which likewise are characteristic of both kinds of love. Of the true criteria of love, the altruistic sentiments of gallantry, self-sacrifice, sympathy, adoration, there is no sign in any of these poems. Dr. Brinton admits, too, that such poems as the above are rare among the North American Indians anywhere.

”Most of their chants in relation to the other s.e.x are erotic, not emotional; and this holds equally true of those which in some tribes on certain occasions are addressed by the women to the men.”

Powers says (235) that the Wintun of California have a special dance and celebration when a girl reaches the age of p.u.b.erty. The songs sung on this occasion ”sometimes are grossly licentious.” Evidences of this sort might be supplied by the page.[245]

An interesting collection of erotic songs sung by the Klamath Indians of Southern Oregon has been made by A.S. Gatschet.[246] ”With the Indians,” he says,

”all these and many other erotic songs pa.s.s under the name of p.u.b.erty songs. They include lines on courting, love-sentiments, disappointments in love, marriage fees paid to the parents, on marrying and on conjugal life.”

From this collection I will cite those that are pertinent to our inquiry. Observe that usually it is the girl that sings or does the courting.

1. I have pa.s.sed into womanhood.

3. Who comes there riding toward me?

4. My little pigeon, fly right into the dovecot!

5. This way follow me before it is full daylight.

9. I want to wed you for you are a chief's son.

7. Very much I covet you as a husband, for in times to come you will live in affluence.

8. She: And when will you pay for me a wedding gift?

He: A canoe I'll give for you half filled with water.

9. He spends much money on women, thinking to obtain them easily.

11. It is not that black fellow that I am striving to secure.

14. That is a pretty female that follows me up.

16. That's because you love me that rattle around the lodge.

27. Why have you become so estranged to me?

37. I hold you to be an innocent girl, though I have not lived with you yet.

38. Over and over they tell me, That this scoundrel has insulted me.

52. Young chaps tramp around; They are on the lookout for women.

54. Girls: Young man, I will not love you, for you run around with no blanket on; I do not desire such a husband.

Boys: And I do not like a frog-shaped woman with swollen eyes.[247]

Most of these poems, as I have said, were composed and sung by women.

The same is true of a collection of Chinook songs (Northern Oregon and adjacent country) made by Dr. Boas.[248] The majority of his poems, he says, ”are songs of love and jealousy, such as are made by Indian women living in the cities, or by rejected lovers.” These songs are rather pointless, and do not tell us much about the subject of our inquiry. Here are a few samples: