42 MAN: PAST AND PRESENT. [CHAP. 



homophones (like-sounding monosyllables), that to indicate their 

 different meanings several distinguishing tones have been evolved, 

 exactly as in the Indo-Chinese group. In Ewe (Slave Coast) the 

 root do, according as it is toned may mean to put, let go, tell, 

 kick, be sad, join, change, grow big, sleep, prick, or grind. So 

 great are the ravages of phonetic decay, that new expedients have 

 been developed to express quite simple ideas, as in Tshi (Gold 

 Coast) addanmu, room (addan house, mu interior); akwancherifo, 

 a guide (akwan road, cheri to show, fo person) ; ensahtsiabah, 

 finger (ensah hand, tsia small, abbah child = hand's-little-child) ; 

 but middle-finger = "hand's-little-chief " (ensahtsiahin^ where ehin 

 chief takes the place of abbah child). 



Common both to Sudanese and Bantus, especially about the 

 western borderlands (Upper Guinea, Cameruns, 

 & c> ) * s tne "drum-language," which affords a striking 

 illustration of the Negro's musical faculty. "Two 

 or three drums are usually used together, each producing a 

 different note, and they are played either with the fingers or 

 with two sticks. The lookers-on generally beat time by clapping 

 the hands. To a European, whose ear and mind are untrained 

 for this special faculty, the rhythm of a drum expresses nothing 

 beyond a repetition of the same note at different intervals of 

 time ; but to a native it expresses much more. To him the drum 

 can and does speak, the sounds produced from it forming words, 

 and the whole measure or rhythm a sentence. In this way, when 

 company drums are being played at an ehsddu [palaver], they are 

 made to express and convey to the bystanders a variety of 

 meanings. In one measure they abuse the men of another 

 company, stigmatising them as fools and cowards ; then the 

 rhythm changes, and the gallant deeds of their own company 

 are extolled. All this, and much more, is conveyed by the beat- 

 ing of drums, and the native ear and mind, trained to select and 

 interpret each beat, is never at fault. The language of drums is as 

 well understood as that which they use in their daily life. Each 

 chief has his own call or motto, sounded by a particular beat 

 of his drums. Those of Amankwa Tia, the Ashanti general 

 who fought against us in the war of 1873-4, used to say 

 Pirihuh, hasten. Similar mottoes are also expressed by means 



