ng savage tribes are in many
instances now (and doubtless this has always been the case) simply the
expression of animal joyousness.[213] They are like the caperings of
young animals--only, the human feeling of rhythm asserts itself, the
movements are often measured and graceful. There is naturally an
accompaniment of noise--shouting and beating on pieces of wood, bone, or
metal, with songs or chants, the beginnings of vocal and instrumental
music.

Words and melodies are simple and rude; they are the productions of
individual singers, often, of course, made from a stock of material
common to all members of the clan or the tribe. In Australia songs are
thought to be obtained by bards during sleep from the souls of the dead
(sometimes from Bunjil), or the bard is possessed by the soul of a
beast; chants are employed in magical ceremonies, and there are
lullabies and other children's songs.[214] The Muscogee "Song of the
Sabbea" is very sacred.[215] In West Africa minstrels recite
song-stories, every story being attached to an object (bone, feather,
etc.).[216] Songs are chanted at festivals in Guiana (and at night men
tell endless stories).[217]

+107+. The movements of the dance are sometimes in imitation of those of
animals,[218] sometimes spontaneous, and sometimes from our point of
view indecent. The indecency and obscenity originated and has continued
in a period when no moral element entered into such performances--they
simply follow animal instincts and impulses, are controlled by them, and
appear usually not to affect the customs relating to marriage and
chastity (so in the Areoi festivities of Tahiti, and among the Central
Australians[219]).

+108+. In accordance with the law by which religion appropriates social
customs, the dance is devoted to religious purposes and acquires a
sacred character.[220] It is a common ceremony as a preparation for war:
the warriors of the tribe jump about with violent gesticulations and
shouts, brandishing weapons and mimicking the acts of attacking and
slaying enemies.[221] Here, doubtless, the object is partly to excite
the men to fury and thus prepare them for combat, but there is also the
conviction that the ceremony itself has a sacred potency.[222] A similar
occult power is attached to dancing in Timorlaut, where, when a ship is
at sea, the girls sing and dance on the beach daily to bring the men
back.[223] There are dances in commemoration of the
dead[224]--apparently a