92 BULLETIN 13G. UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



strings cut from the cuticle and left attached to the bamboo at both 

 ends. Small pieces of wood are crowded between the strings and the 

 body to lift up the strings, each bit of wood being like a bridge. A 

 braided hoop of split rattan is placed around the bamboo over the 

 ends of the strings to prevent their further expansion. 



An instrument that attracts the attention is 95121. from Celebes 

 Island. It consists of a body made of a section of bamboo with a 

 resonator made of a palm leaf. Eighteen brass wires are attached 

 to tuning pegs with arrow-shaped heads, -which arc arranged in two 

 rows around the bamboo body. By their structure the two last- 

 named are classified as psalteries. 



The dulcimer resembles the psaltery so closely in its form that one 

 description might serve for both instruments, but the manner of play- 

 ing is entirely, different. The psaltery, as already indicated, is 

 picked with a plectrum and the dulcimer is struck with hammers, 

 the heads of which are covered with hard leather on one side and 

 with soft leather on the other side. The player holds one in each 

 hand and uses them as desired to produce certain effects. 



The oldest dulcimer in the collection is 95290 (pi. 405), made in 

 1600. It is an Italian instrument, painted with cupids and wreaths 

 in colors that are now dim and faded. It has a compass of 33 tones. 

 An Italian dulcimer of the eighteenth century (94868) has 80 brass 

 wires arranged in groups of four, one of which is of doubled and 

 twisted wire. Probably the three single wires of each group were 

 tuned in unison and the twisted wires an octave below. A dulcimer 

 from Calcutta is of a sort sometimes called the " hundred-string 

 vina " on account of the large number of wires. This specimen 

 (92693) is supposed to be tuned in the diatonic scale from — 3G to G. 



Four Chinese dulcimers are exhibited. The most ornate is 96493 

 (pi. 40a) with its body of lacquered blackwood, shaped in many 

 curves. It has two circular sound holes filled with openwork ivory 

 carvings. There are fixed bridges at each end and two rows of seven 

 bridges with an open space between each row. It is strung with 14 

 groups of brass wires, 10 of which are doubled and twisted, and it is 

 played with two slender elastic strips of bamboo, their heads pro- 

 jecting from one side of the handle. Two circular sound holes filled 

 Avith openwork alabaster plates distinguish 125897. It has two 

 bridges, the wires passing alternately through holes in one bridge 

 and over the other. It is played with two wooden hammers of a 

 peculiar shape. The tuning key is in a small drawer in the body 

 of the instrument. Other Chinese dulcimers are 54025 and 96642. 



An American dulcimer made about the year 1875 is 94872. It has 

 44 wires tuned in pairs. With it are two hammers having bone 

 handles, a flat steel spring shaft and stuffed buckskin heads. An 



