18 BULLETIN 136, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Among the Yaqui Indians of Arizona the writer saw a rattle 

 similar to 9394 (pi. 9A) used in the deer dance. It was not shaken 

 aloft in the usual manner. The dancer's arm hung at his side and 

 the rattle in his hand was shaken lightly as he danced. 



VIBRATING BARS 



Many centuries ago a bar of wood or metal was suspended and 

 struck with a mallet, after the manner of a bell or gong. Although 

 a bar of wood or metal is more primitive than a gong or bell, its 

 practical use, so far as recorded, does not appear to be any more 

 ancient than these instruments. 



When Saladin, the Turkish emperor, conquered Jerusalem he 

 commanded that all the bells, great and small, should be broken 

 in order to remove the means of calling the people together. This 

 was also done in Greece and other conquered countries, after which 

 the Greeks used bars of wood or iron in place of bells. One bar 

 of this sort was 90 inches long, 18 inches wide, and 3 inches thick, 

 and was attached to a tower with iron chains and struck with a 

 heavy hammer. Bells are not allowed in Mohammedan countries 

 (according to the Century Dictionary), so bars of wood or metal 

 are used to summon worshippers. A bar of iron was used like 

 a bell in the Greek Church as late as the eighteenth century. 



A specimen of metal bar and beater (1125) was obtained by 

 Lieut. C. Ringgold, United States Navy, on the northwest eoast 

 of the United States, on the " Exploring Expedition of Wilkes," 

 dated 1838-1842. The bar and beater are both of polished steel, 

 the former with one end flattened and perforated, possibly for a 

 cord to suspend it, the latter of the same diameter and slightly 

 longer. 



We can readily understand how the " musical bar " was bent to 

 form the triangle (55756). This instrument made its appearance 

 in the Middle Ages and at that time it was about the same shape 

 as the present instrument, but had some ornamentation on the 

 metal. In the seventeenth century this instrument was used by 

 the Turkish janissaries, or militia. Each company of janissaries 

 had a musician at its head, and the military band organized in this 

 connection had two triangles among its instruments. 5 The triangle 

 is frequently used in modern orchestral music for brilliant and 

 sparkling effects. 



A modern xylophone consists of a number of vibrating bars of 

 wood or metal, producing different gradations of pitch, placed 

 side by side according to their sequence of pitch and struck with 

 one or more hammers. This instrument is familiar to musicians. 



6 Mahillon, vol. 2, p. 189. 



