safford: pax-pipes of peru 191 



hand on a drum suspended from the left arm. On some of the 

 ancient Peruvian burial vases, instead of a drum, a hollow gourd 

 is represented as the instrument for marking the rhythm. 



The question as to whether the syrinx was invented independ- 

 ently by the aborigines of South America or whether it was 

 brought to the western hemisphere from elsewhere is an interest- 

 ing one. Certainly the instrument was wide-spread before the 

 dawn of history. Syrinxes are found not only in Europe and on 

 the southern shore of the IVIediterranean but also in Java, on 

 many islands of the Pacific Ocean, among certain tribes of North 

 American Indians, as well as in northern South America, Brazil, 

 Peru, and Bolivia. Whether their occurrence bears upon the 

 problem of the origin of the x4merican Indians is a question. The 

 greatest caution should be exercised by the student of ethnology 

 in tracing the origin of tribes by means of any one instrument or 

 any single art. Often very similar arts are the result of similar 

 conditions of climate and resulting raw materials. The art of 

 weaving among the ancient Peruvians is very similar to that of 

 the aborigines of Asia and Europe, yet it does not follow that this 

 art was brought to Peru in prehistoric times. Llamas, alpacas, 

 and vicunas, are endemic in South America: why should not the 

 art of weaving the wool obtained from these animals be equally 

 of South American origin? It is a remarkable fact that the pan- 

 pipes which are most closely similar in construction to those 

 played by the Indians of Peru and Bolivia are found among the 

 Solomon Islanders, especially those inhabiting the Florida Group 

 — black-skinned, woolly-haired cannibals, in no way allied to the 

 Indians of South America. Just as the orchestras of the Quichuas 

 and Aymaras are composed of instruments of several definite sizes, 

 so those of the Florida Islanders are similarly grouped; the shrill 

 treble pipes being called galevu-soniruka; those of medium tone, 

 half their size, galevu-kahauinamu; and the deeper, baritone 

 instruments twice the size of the latter by the suggestive name 

 galevu-ngungu. The instruments themselves, like those described 

 above, consist of a double row of graduated pipes the reeds of 

 one row being closed at the bottom by a natural joint, those of 

 the other row being open. 



