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theirs. The women sing two and sometimes three or four parts in alto and soprano. Often a single female voice will depart from the others for a time to give a shrill, wild call like that of a piccolo, in the same way that the tenors sometimes do. No instruments are used by way of accompaniment; only the full rich tones of the wonderful voices are heard.

Three and four times a week the people so gather, impelled by sheer love of their vocal art. Scores of songs are sung, all of them known only by tradition. Very few indeed of even the better educated natives understand written or printed words. But when mere babes they go with their parents to the houses of song, and thus gradually acquire the tribal knowl

A circle of natives beating the ground with their hands to give the rhythm for the dances of the maidens in the center

edge of music. Ordinarily it is one of the women who leads. After there has been an interval of chatting and smoking, this leader starts with two or three high notes, and then the others join with their proper parts as though an orchestral conductor directed them with movements of his baton. From the first-sung notes, all recognize the melody and know through their continual practice what are their allotted parts.

At the time of the Great Feast in July the people of Tahiti come together in Papéete for a week's enjoyment, during which they compete, village by village, for prizes bestowed for the best singing and dancing, for accuracy in throwing the spear and for other accomplishments. In preparation for this great time, singing practice has been beld almost

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nightly; food has been collected for days; and with all their finery the natives come in schooners or canoes or on foot to lodge simply in the barracks of the town. On the appointed day they are called group by group into the public square which is bordered by hundreds of friends and rivals, everyone stimulated by all the circumstances to do the utmost for the honor of his district. It is at such times perhaps, when the singers may number two hundred or more, that their music is heard to best advantage; yet the setting of their own villages far away is somehow more pleasing and congruous. If the chorals are analyzed, they fall into two general classes. Most of them are in the major strain, and their words recount the prowess of old-time warriors and tribes, or describe religious personages or events, as in many of the modern chants. In these there is the quick beating rhythm of the war-time tread or of the dance. More interesting are the songs in minor key: they express the) sorrow of a people wailing for those killed by cyclone and tidal wave, or mourning for the old order which has passed away forever. For well they know that the future has no place for their fast-vanishing race, and they voice their sadness in wild melodies.

Each large section of Polynesia has its own characteristic forms of song as well as of the dance. In Hawaii the "hula-hula" seems to have a great effect upon the melodies; the "haka" of the Maori sets a measure that is carried out in the songs of that people. In Samoa the natives sing as they swing at the oars of their whale-boats during their journeys around the shores of the islands, and a slower rhythm is thus imparted to their music. In all groups of the islands however, the major and the minor chant can be found, although differences in form and effect have been developed in each case.

WHERE THE BEAVER IS PROTECTED

By Barnum Brown

The following personal observations on the American beaver in Alberta in 1911 present an optimistic outlook as to the increase of this important fur-bearing species under protection. Mr. Brown had unusual opportunities to gather accurate knowledge of the condition of the beaver during two consecutive summers, when he slowly drifted with a houseboat down the Red Deer River hunting for Cretaceous fossils.- Editor.

HE American beaver formerly had a wider distribution than any other mammal except the puma. Its range extended from Alaska

TH Τ

to California and Arizona, across Canada, from Hudson's Bay along the Atlantic Coast as far south as Georgia and northern Florida, thence along the Gulf of Mexico as far as the Rio Grande, and some distance into Mexico. Inland it inhabited many rivers and small lakes over most of the states. At present comparatively few colonies are left within the boundaries of the United

States, although most states in which they are found have laws protecting them.

From the earliest explorations the history of Canada has been interwoven with the beaver. The unit of barter between the Hudson's Bay Company and the Indians was formerly a beaver skin and to-day the crest of the Canadian Dominion is a beaver. In the northwestern part of Canada beavers are still quite numerous, especially in the "muskeg" regions. They are protected in New Brunswick until July 1, 1912, and in Alberta until December 31, 1912. In the unorganized territories there is an open season from October 1 to May 15. Laws to protect the beaver during a period of several years or indefinitely are most urgently needed and it is unfortunate that there should be any open season at present, for streams are now being repopulated where since settlement, beavers had almost completely disappeared.

Most of

Small poplar grove cut down by beavers. the trunks and branches have been dragged to the river one hundred yards distant

In a journey of two hundred and fifty miles down the Red Deer River, Alberta, in 1911, I counted thirty-seven occupied beaver houses, five of which had been built since 1910 when a half of this distance was traversed. One particularly large colony observed the year before and known to contain eight individuals had been destroyed, presumably trapped as the burrow had been opened.

A large dam and two colonies were seen in one of the small tributaries, but dams are unnecessary because the river is sufficiently deep not to freeze solid and the lodges or houses are built near deep holes. The beaver's main sleeping-burrow is underground but above water, while the entrance to the burrow is below water, and on this river at least is invariably covered with willows interlocked in such inextricable manner as to resist the force of ice jams during the spring thaw.

On the Red Deer River, beavers apparently feed only on the bark and twigs of young poplar trees. Birch trees growing in poplar groves had not been touched. These skillful little "woodmen" gnaw down whole groves of poplars, and I rarely saw any tree that had lodged in falling even where they had cut trees on both sides of a deep ravine. After the tree falls they cut it into sections from two to four feet long. Some trees were eight inches in diameter and the sections weighed no less than a hundred pounds each. Where a considerable number of trees had been cut some distance from the river, there was always a regular runway, well beaten and cleared of all stones and brush. Reputable witnesses told me that they had seen beavers drive their front teeth into logs to drag them backward to the water. Although I did not see this operation, I did see several logs with scars of front teeth on them in such position that it seems most probable that this is the beaver's method of taking logs down the runways. As soon as the log reaches the water, it is pushed in front of the swimming beaver till it reaches the house. After the bark bas been gnawed off, the log is cast adrift. I never saw logs on shore that had been gnawed.

We rarely saw beavers during the day as they are nocturnal in habit, but on moonlight nights we often watched them from some clump of willows. No matter how skillfully we concealed ourselves however, their keen scent detected us within a short time. There would ensue a great splashing near shore, accompanied by many a resounding "whak," as the beavers in diving struck the surface of the water with their broad tails.