68 BULLETIN 136, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



and below is a bas-relief of an African wrought-iron bell, the insignia 

 of a chief. Below this carving the shell is shaped in seven sides in 

 a spiral around the body. The upper head is of goat or antelope 

 skin stretched over the large end without a hoop, and is laced back 

 and forth with a twisted thong of rawhide to a cap or head of raw- 

 hide drawn over the lower end. It is beaten with a short cylindrical 

 stick and is used on festive occasions and at dances to signalize a 

 welcome. When a chief dies these drums are beaten incessantly for 

 weeks or months. Concerning a similar drum, it is said, "When in 

 service the drum is carried on the shoulder of one man while a 

 second walks behind beating it." 



A curious Hindu drum (125561) was fastened to the forehead, 

 being held in place by a curved iron plate. It consists of a hoop 

 covered by a parchment head and was beaten with the hands. 



DBUMS WITH JINGLES 



An Indian drum with jingles set in the frame is an instrument 

 which resembles the tambourine. Such an instrument is 8484. It was 

 collected by Dr. J. P. Kimball, assistant surgeon. United States 

 Army, in 1869, from the Assiniboine Indians at Fort Buford. in 

 Dakota. This was not shaken but beaten with a drumstick, the 

 jingles adding to the sound. These jingles are of brass and are hung 

 in four rectangular holes in the hoop of the drum. The head is of 

 tanned skin tacked to the hoop and painted on the outside with a 

 red dish and on the inside with designs in red, yellow, blue, and 

 black. 



A Korean drum with two heads (95622) has a jingle attached to 

 the handle. 



TAMBOURINES 



The structure of a tambourine is like that of a one-headed drum 

 with jingles set in the frame, but the tambourine is an individual 

 instrument of great antiquity, probably older than the drum. The 

 frames are of three sorts — frames of bent wood, of turned wood, 

 and of sections of wood sawed and fitted into a circular form. 



Spain is the country with which the tambourine, like the castanet, 

 is most closely associated and the collection contains two Spanish 

 tambourines. These are of the small size used by professionals who 

 prefer tambourines with heads of goatskin and shells neither painted 

 nor varnished. The frames are of bent wood and the instruments 

 are strongly made, as the professionals often use so much force in 

 their playing that the instruments fly to pieces in their hands. No. 

 95557 is Qy 8 inches in diameter. The shell is a bent hoop of maple 

 reinforced with three half-round hoops. It is mortised for eight 

 pairs of flat, tin jingles, arranged in four groups of two each. A 



