PREHISTORIC ART. 565 



liead8 or membranes, litted ou the barrel and secured by a siugbj hoop for each head. 

 The two hoops are then connected by tightening strings. The membranes are 

 invariably made of deerskin in the parchment condition and not of tanned skins. 



The snares or thongs across the heads have pieces of wood instead of quills as 

 rattlers. The drumstick, like that of the Ungavas, is of reindeer horn, or else, as 

 if to add to the din, a gun-cap box is pierced through from side to side and a few 

 pebbles or shot placed within. A stick is then inserted through the hole in the box, 

 and the whole covered with buckskin to prevent separation of the lid and box. 

 This makes a distracting noise. 



Turner, describing the use of the drum, says: 



Nothing is done, nothing contemplated, without sounding the drum. It is silent 

 only when the people are asleep or on a tramp from one locality to another. If a 

 jjerson is ill the drum is beaten; if a person is well tlie drum is beaten; if prosper- 

 ous in the chase a drum is beaten, and if death has snatched a member from the 

 community the drum is beaten to prevent his spirit from returning to torment the 

 living. The drumbeat is often accompanied with singing, which is the most dis- 

 cordant of all sounds supposed to be harmonious. 



NORTHWEST COAST. 



" The Indians of the Northwest Coast " is the title of a paper by 

 Lieut. Albert P. Mblack, U. S. i!^^., based on collections in the United 

 States National Museum and on personal observation in connection 

 with the survey of Alaska in the seasons of 1885, 1880, and 1887. The 

 locality most affected was the coast and islands in southern Alaska and 

 northern British Columbia. The musical instruments which he found 

 were drums, whistles, and rattles, which are described in his paper.' 



Drums. — The usual type of drum is that shown on plate 70 (his plate 

 LVII), which consists of a piece of deerhide or sheepskin stretched 

 across a circular wooden hoop. They are similar, though not identical, 

 with the drum of the Point Barrow and Hudson Bay Eskimo heretofore 

 described. It has the bear as a totem. It is beaten with an ordinary 

 bass drumstick. 



Whistles. — Whistles are shown in great variety on xjlates 71 and 72 

 (his plates LXI and LXII). Some of these devices make a hideous noise, 

 especially such as fig. 1 (plate 71), consisting of a wooden whistle and a 

 bladder like a toy balloon, or flg. 2 (plate 71), a whistle backed by a pair 

 of bellows to furnish the wind. The most elaborate instrument of this 

 kind is shown in figs. 3 and 1 (plate 71), both being views of the same; 

 the former put together ready for use, the latter showing the pieces in 

 detail. It consists of six pieces of wood, forming a kind of trumpet 

 with five openings, a continuous narrow band of silk being stretched 

 through these openings. It is blown from the small end, trumpet- 

 fashion, when each section gives forth its sound on a different pitch. 

 Figs. 1 and 2 (plate 72) are views of the same kind of instrument blown 

 flute fashion. The other instruments are like a flageolet, some of 

 them having several finger holes to change the notes. Fig. 3 (plate 72) 



1 Report U, S. Nat. Mus., 1888, pp. 331, 332, plates lvii, lxiii. 



