90 BULLETIN 136, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



easy to learn. It has a peculiar, somewhat jangling tone, the ten- 

 der charm and coloring of the vina being entirely lacking. It will 

 be noted that the setar has frets on the finger board, though in 

 other respects it resembles the tumbara. The frets are of brass or 

 silver, tied to the finger board, an arrangement which permits their 

 being shifted so as to produce the intervals of any desired scale. 

 The body is usually of gourd, with a belly of thin wood pierced with 

 a certain number of sound holes. The number of strings varies 

 from three to seven. It is played by means of a plectrum of wire on 

 the forefinger, the thumb being usually pressed firmly upon the edge 

 of the instrument. No. 92680 is an example of the " setar." 



Two specimens of the kinnari vina are 92683 (pi. 39&) and 54071. 

 The body of the former consists of half the shell of an ostrich egg y 

 which is the usual material. The body of the latter is the same size 

 and shape, but is of silver, and the neck and head are covered with 

 silver cloth. A similar instrument, called a sauktika vina (92G86, pi. 

 39a) has, as its body a pearly shell, the Nautilus pampilus. A vina 

 which is said to be bowed as well as picked is 92692. The body and 

 neck are made of a block of wood, the sides deep and almost ver- 

 tical. It has six gut strings and seven sympathetic wires which 

 pass through holes in the bridge and are tuned by pegs set in the 

 side of the instrument. 



Other interesting vinas are 92690, which has two fretted finger 

 boards, and 92684, which has a body made of a double gourd and a 

 belly of thin wood. A peculiar little setar with fluted sides is 92682. 

 The first and second strings are of brass tuned in unison, and the 

 third of steel tuned a fourth higher. No. 92687 is a vina with body 

 made of the stem end of a gourd and a head of parchment glued to 

 the body. This is a modern instrument formed from the vina of 

 southern India and the setar. 



A particularly interesting vina is 92699, described by Mr. Hawley 

 as follows: 



The body is a nearly entire gourd held by a trumpet-shaped piece of wood 

 which is surmounted by a small carved peacock. The neck is of bamboo and 

 projects horizontally from the tail of the peacock. The nut is made of thin 

 wood, blackened, tied with a cord and cemented with black wax. The bridge 

 is of bone and rests on the tuined-up tail of the peacock. 



A large vina (92685, pi. 396?), received from the Rajah of Tagore 

 in 1883, has half a gourd as its body. It owes its name to the flat 

 gourd, supposed to resemble the back of a tortoise (kach hapa). The 

 neck is large, half round, and hollowed, the cavity covered with 

 a finger board that has down its middle a sunken panel 3 inches wide 

 in which are seven sympathetic strings tuned by pegs in the side of 

 the neck. Sixteen iron frets span the sympathetic strings. The tun- 



