64 BULLETIN 136, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



and the entire length of the specimen is more than 81 inches. The 

 end of the handle inside the drum is carved to represent a loon's 

 head. The drum has one head supposed to be seals' intestines. This 

 is stretched over the hoop and pressed into a groove by means of a 

 thong wound several times around the hoop. When played, the hoop 

 and not the head is struck by the drumstick. The inside of the hoop 

 is painted in alternate sections of white and red. 



An Eskimo drum from the same locality as the preceding is 93877. 

 The handle is 45 inches long, its inner end carved to represent the 

 head and beak of an albatross. The single head is supposed to be 

 made from a whale's bladder. The inside of the head is decorated 

 with a rude pictograph in black representing the hunting of a whale. 

 The back edge of the hoop, not the head, is struck when this drum i> 

 played. 



Two Tlingit drums from Sitka, Alaska, are 20733 and 74436. The 

 inside of the latter is painted with a conventionalized figure of 

 Hoots, the bear, in red and black. 



An interesting Shoshone drum (22013) was the gift of Maj. J. W. 

 Powell. The head is of tanned deerskin, stretched over and inside 

 the hoop and stitched through and through. The face is painted red. 

 Two cords of twisted skin crossing diagonally at the back form a 

 handhold. The head of this type of drum is tightened by holding it 

 near a fire, where it is gradually warmed. Another Shoshone drum 

 (22301) is from Fort Hall. The head is nailed in place with brass- 

 headed nails. On the head is painted in colors an open teepee, etc. 

 A drum of the Yankton Sioux (8390) was received in 1869. The 

 rawhide head is stretched over and round the hoop. Two thongs 

 crossing each other diagonally and their centers passing through a 

 wooden spool form the handhold. All drums of this class are played 

 with a drumstick. 



A particularly interesting drum from Zanzibar is 95239. The 

 shell is hollowed from a block of wood, both ends being open. One 

 head of rawhide is closely laced with a leather thong to a cap of 

 rawhide drawn over the base. It is played with a pair of drum- 

 sticks. From the lower Congo is 76251 (pi. 27&). which has one 

 head of goatskin laced to a goatskin cap with a large hole in the 

 center, placed over the lower end of the drum. 



DRUMS WITH TWO HEADS 



An interesting group of double-headed drums from the Nbrtli 

 American Indians is in the collection. These drums arc broad and 

 shallow, and their uses were as varied as the life of the Indian-. 

 They accompanied the war songs, were played during dances, and 

 also when games were in progress. Some specimens show the two 



