CULTUEE OF PEOPLE OP SOUTHEASTERN PANAMA 121 



Rio Negro, where the cylinder is not necessarily of the same diameter through- 

 out, and may or may not be provided with a distinct handle, (p. 465) 



The Choco tubular rattle is provided with a loop cord handle at- 

 tached to the ends of the rattle. 



Trumpets. — A reed cornet, "kammu," (Tule). (Cat. No. 327392, 

 U.S.N.M., pi. 6, No. 3), is used by the Tule of the San Bias coast. 

 The instrument is fashioned from a hollow tube of bamboo 

 64.5 cm. (25.4 in.) long with a diameter of 3.6 cm. (1.4 in.)- 

 This reed cornet differs from the tubular reed cornet em- 

 ployed by the Guiana tribes in several particulars. The basal end 

 is open, there are four finger holes burned through the lateral sur- 

 face near the basal end ; the front or operating end is closed with 

 a black paste cement of the gum of Ceroxylon andicola and black bees- 

 wax and is reinforced by a series of cord wrappings embedded in the 

 paste. There is a short mouthpiece of bone inserted into and em- 

 bedded in the paste cement stopper at an acute angle diagonal to 

 the longitudinal axis of the flute. 



On comparing the reed cornet of the San Bias coast Tule with one 

 from Dutch Guiana such as is employed by the Taruna (Cat. No. 

 278597, U.S.N.M., pi. 6, No. 4), a similarity of types becomes at 

 once apparent. The Guiana cornet is a tubular section of 37 cm. 

 (14.5 in.) in length with a sectional diameter of 3 cm. 

 (1.2 in.). The instrument is open at the basal end an cut off at a 

 diagonal to the longitudinal axis of the instrument. At the operat- 

 ing end of the instrument the central portion of the nodular septum 

 is removed and a short section of hollow bone, the mouthpiece, is 

 inserted. The juncture is sealed around the edges with a black ce- 

 ment paste. There is a hole burned through the surface of the instru- 

 ment 3.3 cm. (1.5 in.) below the mouthpiece end. This is not a finger 

 hole, but produces a vibration of the impinging air current and the 

 consequent musical tone. 



A peculiar variant of the reed cornet is the trumpet made 

 from a young shoot of the guarumo {Cecropia arachnoidea) , or 

 " trumpet tree." The wood is light as cork and easily worked. One 

 of these trumpets from Bocas del Toro province in western Panama 

 was collected by Frank E. Reed (Cat, No. 253703, U.S.N.M.). The 

 instrument measures 56.5 inches in length and not more than four 

 inches in sectional diameter throughout its course. There are no 

 finger holes and the basal end is open. A small wooden tube mouth- 

 piece is fitted into the orifice at the top end of the trumpet. The 

 similarity of this trumpet from western Panama to the bamboo cornet 

 employed by the Tule is obscured by the difference in the materials 

 used in its construction. It is, with the exception of the absence of 

 finger holes, essentially the same instrument. The similarity of the 

 Guiana and Tule reed cornets in method of construction is quite 



