HANDBOOK OF THE COLLECTION OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 75 



the under side. After the rawhide had dried the free ends of the 

 strings were attached to tuning pegs in the neck of the instrument, 

 and their various lengths probably produced differences in pitch. 

 The strings were plucked by the fingers. A somewhat similar con- 

 struction is seen in 174757 (pi. 32a), but this instrument has an 

 elliptical body with a rounded back, and the neck turns sharply 

 upward about 4 inches from the body. The five strings are of grass 

 or vegetable fiber. An ambitious design appears in 95161 and 95162. 

 The neck projects sharply upward and beneath it is carved a human 

 head. One instrument is covered with antelope hide having the 

 hair on it. These instruments are from the Gaboon River in West 

 Africa. It is said, " formerly this instrument was played only dur- 

 ing the ceremony of initiation into the mysteries of the Bieti. Now 

 they are played at any time." Probably no person living at the 

 present time can describe from personal knowledge the strange rites 

 with which this particular specimen was associated in the wilds of 

 Africa. An Egyptian lyre (95137, pi. 326) has eight strings of 

 twisted gut. 



A lyre from Senegambia (96842) has a body consisting of half a 

 gourd shell with a rawhide belly. A large triangular sound hole is 

 made in one side of the gourd shell. It has 10 strings of material 

 that looks like some sort of vine. The bridge is a thin piece of wood, 

 placed almost upright. The strings are wound several times around 

 the neck and tied, and are tuned by sliding upward and downward 

 the coils placed around the neck of the instrument. 



The design of 14260 is remotely suggestive of a triangular harp. 

 The base is a portion of a spherical gourd and above it is a tri- 

 angular frame of sticks. It probably had seven strings of vegetable 

 fiber of graduated lengths running from the upright to the diagonal 

 standard, parallel to the spreader which extends between them. 



An Ethiopian lyre of different outline is the kissar (95178, pi. 

 41c), which resembles the Hebrew kinnor and the Greek kithara or 

 lyre. Representations of this type of instrument are seen on ancient 

 Egyptian and Assyrian monuments, small forms of it being carried 

 in processions. The kissar has a body resembling a very shallow 

 bowl. The belly of rawhide is secured by lacing to a coil or loop on 

 the back of the instrument. Two posts, set in the back of the instru- 

 ment, diverge and are united by a crossbar at the top. Between the 

 posts is a string of shells. The five strings are of camel gut and are 

 tuned by turning the cloth rings on the crossbar. Engel states that 

 the strings are vibrated alternately by the fingers and by a horn 

 plectrum. 



Musical instruments with one string are akin to the musical bow 

 of primitive people. The collection contains numerous specimens 



