124 BULLETIN 134, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



A bone flute, 16.1 cm. (6.3 in.) in length (Cat. No. 327390, 

 U.S.N.M., pi. 7, No. 3), is made by the Tule Indians from the 

 skull of an armadillo, " tede," (Tule), and the ulna, or long wing 

 bone, of the pelican. The two bones are joined end to end and at 

 the place of juncture are tied together with cord lacing and covered 

 over with a black gummy paste resembling black beeswax. The 

 mouthpiece is an orifice incised at the top of the skull. The basal 

 portion of the flute for a distance of 4.7 cm. is not covered with 

 cement paste, except at the basal orifice of the long bone, which 

 has been been partially closed with cement, leaving a small finger 

 hole. The flute thus becomes a two-note instrument ; the lower tone 

 is produced with vent closed, and the higher tone when the finger 

 is removed from vent. The zygomatic arches at the sides of the 

 armadillo skull have attached to them a string of j^ellow and white 

 beads for suspension. 



Another similar two-note bone flute, made by the Tule from the 

 skull of an armadillo and the long wing bone of a pelican (Cat. No. 

 327389, U.S.N.M., pi. 7, No. 4), is in the Museum collections. The 

 length of the flute is 15.6 cm. (6.1 in) and the diameter near the 

 mouthpiece orifice is 4 cm. (1.6 in.). 



A peculiarly shaped pottery flute similar in shape and size to 

 the head of the bone flutes previously described, but lacking their 

 extended length, was collected by the Marsh-Darien expedition 

 from the San Bias coast (Cat. No. 327375, U.S.N.M., pi. 7, No. 5.). 

 The flute is 7.2 cm. (2.8 in.) in length and 5.3 cm. (2.1 in.) in sec- 

 tional diameter. The similarity of the headpiece of this pottery 

 flute to the bone flutes (pi. 7.) in form, size, and in the placing of 

 vents is so striking as to lead to the conclusion that conscious imita- 

 tion existed on the part of the maker of either the pottery or the 

 bone instrument. The pottery flute of southeastern Panama is 

 fashioned after the type of pottery flute found in the ancient Dor- 

 askean graves of Chiriqui, in western Panama, described by Dr. 

 W. H. Holmes in the Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ameri- 

 can Ethnology, as follows : 



Our collection contains several dozen three-note whistles or pipes (flutes). 

 Most of these represent animal forms which are treated in a more or less 

 realistic way, but with a decided tendency toward the grotesque. Nearly all 

 are of small size, the largest, an alligator form, having a length of about 

 eight inches. In the animal figures the air chamber is within the body, but 

 does not conform closely to the exterior shape. The mouthpiece and orifices 

 are variously placed to suit the fancy of the modeler, but the construction and 

 the powers are pretty uniform throughout. There are two finger holes, 

 placed in some cases at equal and in others at unequal distances from the 

 mouthpiece, but they are always of equal size and produce identical notes. 

 The capacity is therefore three notes. The lower is produced when all the 

 orifices are open, the higher when all are closed, and the middle when one 

 hole — no matter which — is closed. (P. 104. ) 



