icines " are thought to have supernatural power in influencing the spirits with which the earth, the sea, and the sky are inhabited—finally break into a song and sometimes a chant, in which they invoke Keétch-ie Má-ni-dó, " The Big Spirit," to send down from the North a big flight of ducks for the fall hunt, "to make a good duck season."
"Keetch-ie Má-ni-dó," a word which appears in 'many of the poems, means literally, " Big Spirit,"—broadly, "The Great Mystery." " The Big God." In the mind of the American Indian of pagan faith, the world is full of spirits, good and evil; the spirits of beasts, of birds, and of the dead; the spirits of the four winds, of the storm and of thunder and of lightning,—the several lieutenants of the " Big Spirit." But above all these minor deities rules Keétch-ie Má-ni-dó, the All-Powerful One.
"The Blue Duck" and the other interpretations of Indian dances should be read aloud. Their rhythmic beat should be maintained vigorously and steadily, except where the dancing ceases and periods of chanting are noted.
CHIPPEWA FLUTE SONG
Notwithstanding the seeming chaos and lack of melody in Indian song, the Indian is very musical. Every phase of his life and every aspiration finds expression in some lyric burst of music. There are religious songs, hunting songs, and medicine songs; dream
