520 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 189(5. 



He says in his appendix (A), page 185: 



I had prepared a catalogue of the African tribes with Avhich wo are acquainted, to 

 discover whctlier the ahsencc of stringed instruments iirevailed in the center, the 

 north, or in what direction it nught l>e, of the continent. * " "* But this tabula- 

 tion I was obliged to discard, owing to the conflicting accounts of travelers; and, 

 Avithout endeavoring to trace the topography of the instruments, let us be content 

 with the broad assertion that most of the tribes of Africa are in the lyre stage, and 

 some are prematurely in it; that is to say, they are unacquainted with the use of 

 pipes, which, in all strictness, should have preceded the knowledge of strings. 



And he acknowledges his perplexity: 



We have found that the lyre belongs to a very high stage of human development. 

 We have found it in the hands of barbarians who Avere just emerging into civiliza- 

 tion; yet in Africa Ave find it known to the most degraded savages. 



This statement by Kowbothani throws doubt upon the correctness of 

 his assumed order of development. 



The collections of musical instruments in the United States National 

 Museum and in the Eoyal Conservatory of Music in Brussels seem to 

 verify his statement of the prevalence of the lyre among certain tribes 

 of Africa where the pipe, or pipe and drum, are absent. 



All this goes to show the dift'ereuce between theory and fact, and is 

 complimentary to Mr. Eowbotham in recognizing it. 



Wallaschek wrote ^ after Eowbotham, and assailed strongly his theory 

 of tlireefold development of aboriginal musical instruments. He denied 

 the drum to have been the earliest or first invented, and asserted that 

 which is demonstrated in this i^aper, that Avind instruments (whistles, 

 flageolets, and horns) were first invented and antedated drums. He 

 reversed Rowbotham's order of simplicity and argued that the lyre or 

 harp of Africa, formed as it might have been from a bent twig or the 

 two branches of a tree with a string stretched taut between the ends, 

 was not only more primitive and easier and quicker made, but, as con- 

 fessed by Eowbotham in his appendix, it was in fact invented and in 

 use among the most degraded savages of the country; that it spread 

 over a large portion of the continent of Africa before the pipe or drum, 

 and that it was in use among many other tribes in connection with 

 pipes, but without drums. He cites the fact that the shepherd boy 

 can with ease and in a short time, while tending his flocks, make, with 

 the aid only of his pocketknife, a willow whistle, which is not ditficult 

 to be transformed into a flageolet of considerable musical scale; while 

 all drums, so far as known, among primitive peoples, Avhether prehis- 

 toric, as shown in this paper, or modern, as among iDrimitive or savage 

 peoples, are machines or instruments of considerable complexity, requir- 

 ing labor and thought, with much preparation, in order to perfect them. 

 The log must be hollowed and wrought out, and is usually decorated 

 in a more or less elaborate manner (fig. 233). The skin drum requires 

 the preparation of the hoop and then of the skin, both of which require 



' PrimitlA'e Music : Its Origin and Development, Avith Songs, Instruments, and Pan- 

 tomimes of Saxajic h';ices. 



