HANDBOOK OF THE COLLECTION OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 41 



Several instruments in this group have inverted double reeds, these 

 being 20690, 89057, and 89059. 



WIND REVOLVING REKD 



A peculiar type of instrument is the " wind revolving reed," the 

 principal example being the " bull-roarer " or " whizzer " of the 

 North American Indians, which consisted of a wooden blade at- 

 tached to a long cord. This cord may be held in the hand as the 

 blade is swung in the air, but it is usually attached to a handle. 

 Simple as this contrivance may appear, it has a deep significance in 

 many Indian tribes. It is a sacred implement, associated with the 

 winds and the thunder. To the Navaho its whizzing sound repre- 

 sents the voice of the thunderbird, while to the Hopi it represents 

 the wind that accompanies a thunderstorm. At a Papago ceremony 

 in petition for rain the bull-roarers gave the signals for the people 

 to assemble. Sixty or more of them were used at a time, and the 

 sound as they swung through the air was said to be like " the sounds 

 in the clouds " before the coming of rain. The specimens exhibited 

 are considerably smaller than those used in this ceremony. No. 

 325401 is from the Yuma and has the blade stained dark like a 

 storm cloud and notched like the lightning. This blade is attached 

 by a long cord to a stick which was held in the hand. From the 

 Ute Indians we have 10773, collected by Maj. J. W. Powell. 



From the Apache we have two blades (215672) attached to cords, 

 suggesting that they were swung from the hand instead of a stick. 

 One blade has the top cut in the outline of a human head, the mouth 

 being perforated for the cord. On the reverse of the other blade are 

 long, wavy lines, said to represent lightning and also the hair of the 

 wind god. The blade with the cord is also used by the Makah, living 

 on Cape Flattery. 



BAGPIPE 



The bagpipe occupies a peculiar place among musical instruments, 

 as it contains tubes with fixed tones, tubes on which a melody can 

 be played, and a windbag which holds the air and delivers it to 

 these tubes. The windbag is inflated either by the player's breath 

 or by a small pair of bellows placed beneath one arm, while the wind- 

 bag is under the other arm. In this form the instrument contains 

 all the essentials of an organ. This principle of tone production has 

 come down from antiquity. Nero is said to have played on it, and 

 the bagpipe appears on a coin of his time. 



Although the bagpipe is widely distributed, it has been from 

 early times the special instrument of the Celtic races. It appears 

 to have been in use in Ireland in the year 1300, and a Celtic pipe of 

 the fifteenth century is still in existence, but the instrument is most 



