We shall now turn to a consideration of literature, music and dance. It
is a noticeable fact that a rich literary art is much more universally
distributed than well developed decorative art. While among tribes
like the Bushman and the eastern Eskimo very few manufactured objects
of artistic value are found, these same tribes produce an abundance
of literary work. Volumes of Eskimo lore have been collected and if
it did not require a most intimate knowledge of the people and an
endless amount of patience to collect songs and poems, their number
would undoubtedly equal that of tales. The collections of Bushman lore
are also quite extended. I believe the reason for this difference is
not far to seek. Decorative art requires rest and quiet, a stationary
abode. There must be opportunity to continue steadily the work which
requires the use of tools; or at least there must be a chance to lay it
aside and to take it up again. The life of hunters is not favorable to
the prosecution of such work. First of all the weapons of the hunter
must be kept in order. The supply of provisions is generally so scanty
or the possibility of laying by stores for future use is so limited,
that the hunter is compelled to spend the greater part of every
day in pursuit of the game. Little time remains for domestic work.
Furthermore when camp is shifted which is frequently necessary, bulky,
half finished work can be carried along with difficulty only. It is,
therefore, not surprising that the household goods of the hunter are
few in number and easily transported. The property of a Bushman family
might be carried in two hands.
Quite different are conditions under which literary work and music
develop. It might be imagined that the hunter has just as little
time for poetic work, as for the manufacture of decorated articles.
This opinion is based on an erroneous conception of the work of the
hunter. He is not all the time following strenuously the tracks of
the game, but often he resorts to trapping, or he sits still, waiting
for the game to appear. The Eskimo, for instance, sits for hours by
the breathing-hole of the seal. During such times his fancy is free to
wander and many of his songs take shape during these moments. There are
other times of enforced idleness in which manual work is impossible but
when the people may give free range to their fancy. An instance of this
stands out clearly in my mind: An Eskimo youth was carried away in the
fall on the drifting ice. After a few days he succeeded in reaching
land. During these days of danger and privation he composed a song in
which he mocked his own misfortunes and the hardships he had endured,
a song which appealed to the fancy of the people and which soon became
popular in all the villages.[118]
[118] See Journal of American Folk-Lore, Vol. 7, p. 50.
“Aya, I am joyful; this is good!
Aya, there is nothing but ice around me, that is good!
Aya, I am joyful; this is good!
My country is nothing but slush, that is good!
Aya, I am joyful; this is good!
Aya, when, indeed, will this end? this is good!
I am tired of watching and waking, this is good!”
We must remember that the first condition for the development of
artistic handicraft is leisure. No matter how strong the art impulse
may be, it cannot find expression so long as man’s time is entirely
taken up by procuring the barest necessities of life. The paleolithic
hunter who painted on the walls of the caves must have been able to
spare sufficient time from the labor of getting his food supply to
devote himself to the joy of painting the animals of the chase. We
recognize in a study of the art products of each people that the amount
they produce is in direct relation to the amount of their leisure.
Therefore tribes that procure their main food supply in one season and
store it up for the rest of the year and who enjoy, therefore, seasons
of leisure, will be found to be most productive in works of art as well
as in ceremonial affairs and other manifestations of social life that
do not contribute to the mere need of food and shelter.
These conditions are more easily fulfilled for those arts that do not
require manual labor than for those based on industrial occupations;
hence the wider distribution of literary art.
The two fundamental forms of literature, song and tale, are found
universally and must be considered the primary form of literary
activity. Poetry without music, that is to say forms of literary
expression of fixed rhythmic form, are found only in civilized
communities, except perhaps in chanted formulas. In simpler cultural
forms the music of language alone does not seem to be felt as an
artistic expression, while fixed rhythms that are sung occur everywhere.
We may even recognize that in all parts of the world songs are found
in which the words are subordinated to music. As we sing tunes without
words, either because the words are not known,—or, more significantly,
on a refrain, on vocables consisting of syllables without meaning,—so
songs carried along on a meaningless burden are found in all parts
of the globe. They are not often recorded because the collection of
material of this kind is quite novel, but the data that we have in hand
prove that the connection between song and burden is universal. The
Eskimo have songs carried along on the syllables _amna aya_, _iya aya_,
and other similar ones. In some cases there is a certain emotional
significance inherent in the burden, as on the Northwest coast of
America where the songs refer to different supernatural beings, each
having its own characteristic syllables: the cannibal spirit _ham ham_,
the grizzly bear _hei hei_ and so on. According to the usual definition
of poetry we should perhaps exclude these songs, but that is impossible
because the transition from songs carried along by the burden alone
and others that contain significant words is quite gradual. In many
cases a single word is introduced at a definite point of the tune and
the verses contain each one single word. This may be the name of the
supernatural being to which the song refers.