SONGS 269

until it is accepted by all that he is one of the men who should
be called upon to take part in all rites. If possible, he endea-
vours to legalize his position by a distribution of presents.
Men are always eager to become singers, both for fame and for
emoluments.

New songs are required every year for sisaok and kusiut
dances, necessitating an almost limitless number of com-
positions. Singers frequently make use of fragments of ‘old
tunes, or snatches from half-forgotten songs, but they are ridi-
culed as inefficient if the plagiarism be too obvious. Tunes are
always prepared in advance; in fact, proficient composers spend
much of their time at all seasons of the year in humming over
to themselves possible combinations. When word is passed
around that a song is required, they meet in some lonely spot
and each who has one in readiness hums it, tapping a gentle
accompaniment. After considerable discussion, one is selected
as being the most suitable and the singers make themselves
familiar with it. Words are then put to it, consisting of frag-
ments from the ancestral myth of the person for whom it has
been prepared, or from some other theme appropriate to the
occasion. Sometimes this is done by the composer of the tune:
sometimes by another singer more familiar with the subject.
The provision of words is considered less difficult and less
important than the composition of a tune; no one knows the
source of inspiration for the latter, but the former is said to
come from either the heart or the head. All ceremonial songs
are divided into three sections; kofulo-s or first part, ds-tko-i# or
second part, and 4/ox or third part, separated from one another
by the siutnalos, wordless chorus. The three parts correspond,
approximately, to verses and each contains four, rarely six, sub-
divisions. In mourning songs there are sometimes as many as
six or eight d/ox, and the whole is correspondingly lengthened.

On the night of a ceremony, the singers always take their
places beforehand for a final rehearsal. Each brings his own
beating-stick, a stout baton about two feet long to pound on
the floor in time with his singing. The only other musical