ADDITIONS TO THK ETHNOLOGICAL COLLECTION — ETHERIDGE. 307 



in the village square (Amil), and it is used in signalling or calling 

 the people in the event of war; or, announcing the deaths of men 

 (not women); or, also used along with others of different timber 

 to supply music for dances. 



War Call (Nahurra) — 



teen teen, teen teen, teen. 

 II II I 



Death Announcement (Memisien) — 



teen, teen, teen teen teen, teen teen teen. 

 I I III III 



Dr. H. B. Guppy suggests" the name of " Melanesian Drum" for 

 those made of a portion of tree trunk, hollowed and placed length- 

 wise on the ground. He says: — "Similar drums are employed by 

 the inhabitants of the New Hebrides." I have already stated 

 that there are at least two types in the New Hebrides, both 

 upright drums (we have examples in this Museum), and probably 

 possessing an entirely different significance to Dr. Guppy's 

 horizontal drum, hence his proposed terra cannot be accepted to 

 embrace the whole series, as he evidently desires it should. 



The two types may be summarised as follows: — 

 Upright drums or gongs. 



(a) Enlarged somewhat upwards, and carved into the 



semblance more or less of a human head and face. 



(h) Tapering more or less upwards, and without human 



representation; either plain, or perhaps carved into 



the rough semblance of a shark. 



A village scene is depicted at Lakarere, Aurora Island, by the 

 late Capt. W. T. Wawn,*^ showing upright drums, with these 

 remarks: — "In an open space at one end of the village, stood 

 half-a-dozen native drums — hollow logs, having an opening cut in 

 one side — planted on end in the ground. This was the 'sing-sing' 

 ground, where dances and festivities were carried on." 



The drums on Fila Island, off Vate Island, are referred to by 

 Mr. F. A. CampbelP as "groups of hollowed-out trunks of trees 

 or posts, fixed in the ground in a circle, a space being cleared all 



round them upon the largest one of the circle some rude 



kind of figure was generally traced." 



An example of the non-facial upright hollow log drum is figured 

 by Edge-Partington^" as a "gong" from Fila Island, and is similar 



7 Guppy — The Solomon Islands and their Natives, 1887, p. 143. 



8 Wawn — The South Sea Islands and the Queensland Labour Trade, 1893, 

 p. 59. 



9 Campbell— A Year in the New Hebrides, Loyalty Islands, and New 

 Caledonia, n.d [1873], p. 108, sketch, p. Ill, 



10 Edge-Partington — Album, 2nd ser., pi. Ixxvii., fig. 6. 



