The performance of such a song, in a slow movement, by several hundred savage warriors with their wives and children, singing in unison and octaves, dancing around a large fire, or lying on the ground and gnawing human bones, must indeed be frightful. Tilesius says it almost drove him to desperation, and made him feel as if he heard his own funeral dirge.*

The New Zealanders, or Maories (who, by-the-by are likewise addicted to cannibalism, with the exception, of course, of those who have come under the influence of European civilization and Christianity), appear, from Mr. Davies' account, to be gifted with a remarkably fine ear for distinguishing quarter-tones. Mr. Davies has written a small

* Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, Leipzig, 1805, p. 265. I cannot be answerable for the correctness of the words of this song; I have copied them carefully, as I found them.

essay, the purport of which is to prove that the succession of intervals employed by the Maories bears a close resemblance to the enharmonic genus of the ancient Greeks, which consisted of a succession of a quarter-tone, another quarter-tone, and a major third. As he tells us that he has studied the subject for more than twenty years; that he has carefully written down the Maori songs, with the assistance of a graduated monochord, and that, when he sang them from his notation, they were recognised and approved of by competent judges; and further that the Maories themselves said they should soon make a singer of him, his information must be considered especially trustworthy and interesting. Nevertheless, our confidence in the correctness of his notation of the songs, two of which I shall insert here, cannot be implicit, since he says, "I must also, in justice to myself, add, that the singer did not always repeat the musical phrase with precisely the same modulation, though, without a very severe test, this would not have been discernible, nor then to many ears; the general effect being to an European ear very monotonous."*

Mr. Davies has employed various signs of his own invention to distinguish the different intervals; but I shall here use instead of them those which I have adopted in the previous song, as being more simple and more easily understood.

* Polynesian Mythology of the New Zealand Race, by Sir George Grey.

London, 1855, Appendix, p. 326.

mai-no-hou-e The Hero - a na ah-au- ra te ki ki ni

i-mau-ka ai au.

Mr. Davies states that he has avoided as much as possible employing in his notation of the songs the three-quarter sharps and flats, because "it is evident to the musician that d three-quarters sharp is equal to e quarter flat, at least sufficiently near in practice." This appears plausible enough; nevertheless, it would have been less confusing if he had more strictly adhered to the rules of musical orthography. No musician would think of writing Gb instead of F in the scale of G major, although the intervals are in sound alike. It is therefore for the sake of correctness and clearness that I have permitted myself some deviations from Mr. Davies' manner of notation.

'HE WAIATA AROHA:' OR, 'THE BRIDE'S COMPLAINT.'-AIR OF THE NEW ZEALANDERS.

a-tu- hewai

ke-i- a-ku-kamo. E-hara i a-an na-na-ra-wai

Our diatonic scale, the reader is most likely aware, is by many theorists considered as strictly founded upon nature, because the intervals of which it consists may be derived from the so-called harmonics of a vibrating string, or from the natural series of sounds which are obtained by blowing into a horn or trumpet. This is, however, only the case with the major scale, since we have not the minor third of the tonic as one of the harmonics. And indeed, it is only partially the case even with the major scale, because several intervals of the harmonics deviate in pitch from those employed in our scale. It is unnecessary to enlarge upon this question here, as the reader may easily refer to some theoretical work for information.

The composer Spohr, while sojourning among the peasantry in Switzerland, observed that the people sang, as a rule, the interval of the third slightly higher, that of the fourth still higher, and that of the minor seventh considerably lower than in our diatonic scale; in short, exactly as these intervals are produced from the tube of a brass instrument when their pitch is not modified by inserting the hand into the large aperture at the end, called the bell. Spohr concludes thence that this intonation is the most natural to the human ear, when it has not been from childhood upwards accustomed to the tempered tone-system; and that to these children of nature our scale must appear as incorrect and unsatisfactory as theirs appears to us.*

* As Spohr's observations may be considered especially reliable, I shall transcribe his own words: "Der Knecht aus unserm Hause, und einige Mägde aus der Nachbarschaft, die jeden Sonntag vor unserm Fenster ihre Sing-Akademie

According to Spohr's argument we might expect to meet with the same intervals in many, if not in most, uncivilized nations. But this is not borne out by facts; on the contrary, we continually find intervals at variance with those of the Swiss peasants. Herr Lichtenstein, evidently a man of musical knowledge as well as a careful observer, who lived for several years in South Africa, informs us that the Hottentots, whose performances on their national instrument, the gorah, he had frequent opportunity of hearing, produced always a third standing between our major and minor third; a fifth between our perfect and diminished fifth; and a seventh between our minor seventh and superfluous sixth. Moreover these intervals were not all in the same degree flat; the fifth being considerably more so than the third, was, in fact, almost identical with our diminished fifth. Although the third was but slightly flat, still it was sufficiently so to leave Herr Lichtenstein for some time in doubt whether the music was in major or in minor. He adds that Hottentots invariably adhered to these intervals in their songs.*

Some or other similar deviations exist probably in the music of nations where they have not been noticed by travellers, or have been put down as accidental imperfections in the performance. There is also a difficulty in writing them down correctly in our notation, and new especial signs are sometimes required for this purpose. Of this we have had already some instances in the Marquesas and New Zealand songs.

The Hungarians frequently employ the minor scale with the minor sixth, in which, as has been already pointed out, a step of a superfluous second occurs. Besides, they not unfre

halten, intoniren in ihren Liedern ganz so wie ein Blechinstrument die Töne gibt wenn die stopfende Hand nicht nachhilft, nämlich die Terze ein wenig zu hoch, die Quarte noch höher, und die kleine Septime bedeutend zu tief. Es ergibt sich daraus dass diese Intonation dem menschlichen Ohr natürlich ist, wenn es nicht von Jugend auf an das temperirte Tonsystem gewöhnt ist. Diesen Natursängern würde unsere Tonleiter eben so falsch klingen wie uns die ihrige." Louis Spohr's Selbstbiographie. Vol. i., p. 257.

* Lichtenstein, Reisen im südlichen Afrika. Berlin, 1811. Vol ii., p. 380.

D