XOSA ARTS AND CRAFTS. 449 



Thoiioh the Kaffirs at this low sta.s^e of civilisation had done 

 little or nothing- in the way of mnsical composition, yet they are 

 naturally very musical, always singing in parts. ^lost of their 

 musical instruments were stringed, consisting essentially of a bow 

 of w^ood. in-jikzve, and a string, u-singa^ made of the tendons of 

 an ox, with the addition sometimes of a quill, n-siba, sometimes of 

 a calabash, i-sel-a'a, which acted as a sounding board, and played 

 upon sometimes with the fingers, sometimes with the mouth, 

 sometimes with a reed or straw of grass, mn-ciuya. They in- 

 cluded the In-kinge, a sort of banjo; the n-gwali, a glorified mouth 

 organ ; the n-i^7vali, a kind of harp ; the urn-rube, a kind of violin ; 

 the igubitj a stringed instrument which sounded like a dnmi. 



Wind instruments included im-bande, the whistle or pipe or 

 fife, as old as primitive man, made of the shinbone of an animal; 

 another kind of whistle, made from a branch of the quinine tree. 

 um-jela, by removing the pith ; a trumpet, i-xilongo, made out of 

 a pumpkin stem or of a hollow reed, to sound which was uku- 

 xilonga^ and a horn or trumpet made of a ram's or ox's or ante- 

 lope's horn, isi-godlo. 



The only instrument of percussion among the Xosas seems 

 to have been the dried ox-hide, in-gqougqo, or drum, which was 

 beaten by women as an accompaniment to circumcision and other 

 dances. 



To play an instrument was to beat it, beta, or blow it, vutela. 

 Even in whistling with the mouth without instrument boys were 

 said to beat the whistle, ukuheta ikivelo. 



Salt Water as a Preyentiye of Epidemic 

 Influenza. — ^Dr. W. Watkins Pitchford, Director of the 

 .South African Institute for Medical Research, Johannesburg, 

 discusses in The Medical Journal of South Africa* the preven- 

 tive value of systematically gargling and douching the nasal 

 cavities with normal saline solution during an epidemic of in- 

 fluenza. After the epidemic of last October and November the 

 Institute appealed through the public press for personal reports 

 from all who had adopted this measure. Reports concerning 786 

 individuals were received. Of these 150, or 19.08 per cent., were 

 attacked by the epidemic, and 3 died, i.e., the case-mortality was 

 2 per cent. The general population of the Union is 6.1 15 millions : 

 of these 2.617 millions, or 42.79 per cent., were attacked, and 

 139.471 died, the case-mortality being therefore 5.32 per cent. Dr. 

 Watkins Pitchford concludes that the frequent and regular douch- 

 ing of the nasal and naso-pharyngeal cavities with salt water was 

 dehnitelv beneficial, and that in communities in which pneumonia 

 is prevalent, and for which specific immunisation by Dr. F. S. 

 Lister's method is not available, the adoption of this simple and 

 inexpensive expedient is worthy of trial. 



*18 [8], 398-401 (iqtq). 



