HANDBOOK OF THE COLLECTION OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 81 



A beautiful old Italian instrument is 95307 (pi. 35c), its head termi- 

 nating in a small human head. The instrument has three gut strings 

 and is labeled " Giuseppe Mascatto Da Rorere Feelt, 1637." 



An Egyptian mandolin (95240) has no frets and the strings of 

 gut are plucked with a horn plectrum. The outer edge of the body 

 is inlaid with colored wood, ivory, and mother-of-pearl. No 95910 

 is a mandolin from Peru, and 15250 comes from Guatemala. The 

 back of the latter instrument is of gourd, and it has five gut strings 

 and five frets that are also of gut. It was received by the Museum 

 in 1874. 



A primitive two-stringed guitar from the Poonocks in Alaska is 

 15615. The body is made of a block of wood, and the belly of thin 

 wood is fastened to the body with pegs. 



A peculiar instrument of music is the " alligator guitar " from 

 Burma (95492). The body is carved from a block of wood in the 

 form of a crocodile hollowed and left open. It is strung with three 

 strings, one of copper and two of silk, starting from a staple near the 

 neck of the animal, passing over seven blocks of wood on its back, 

 which act as frets, and fastened to tuning pegs in the tail. Similar 

 to this is 94923, from the Malay of Singapore. It is called an 

 alligator guitar, though the exact form of the animal is left to 

 the imagination. 



Among the stringed instruments exhibited with the guitars will 

 be found a Malay instrument (94921), its strings picked by the 

 fingers. It was used at marriage feasts and festivals. Another 

 specimen, from Singapore (94920), was used on similar occasions 

 and is decorated with inlays of stars, crescents, and bands of 

 mother of pearl. These have double bands of rattan around the 

 necks as frets. A Syrian instrument (95144, pi. 35d) is inlaid 

 with triangles of mother of pearl, and ornamented with coins, 

 charms, etc., hung from the head. Nos. 72974 and 72972 are Russian, 

 the latter painted black and both having the finger board inlaid 

 with bone, pearl, and brass. 



Two interesting instruments from northern Africa are made from 

 tortoise shells, the plastrum removed and a belly of parchment 

 stretched across and glued to the back. One of these (94654) is 

 decorated with a painting of a bird in colors, and on the neck with 

 an arabesque design in blue outlined with white on a green ground. 

 The bridge and strings are missing. No. 95741 (pi. 42&) has two 

 strings passing over an oval-shaped bridge. Another Moorish in- 

 strument (93518) has a body carved from a block of wood in a 

 shape suggesting that of an elongated spoon. It has two strings, 

 and the entire instrument is painted in Moorish designs in six 

 bright colors on a deep red ground. It is played with a quill split 

 in two. A second example from Morocco (95748) has half a gourd 



