678 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



The resonator is a hollow reed about a foot in length, over which is stretched a 

 strand composed of six or eight horse hairs. The strand is, at one end, wrapped 

 around a movable crossbar, Avhich allows it to bo tightened at will. Tlie cord is 

 sounded by means of a bow with a horsehair string. There is some doubt whether 

 this is a genuine aboriginal invention. 



Another example is taken from Adair's History of the American 

 Indians (p. 175), who relates that in 1740 he was among the "Mississippi- 

 Nachee" Indians and witnessed a performance "on one of their old 

 sacred ransical instruments, * * * 5 feet long and a foot wide on 

 the head of the board, with eight strings made out of the sinews of a 

 large buffalo." It was played with a bow which was managed by two 

 Indians, one at each end. 



Another is the " quijongo" of Central America: 



A monocord, made by fastening a wooden bow with a stretched cord over the 

 mouth of a gourd or jar, which serves as a resonator. The bow is usually a hollow 

 reed about 5 feet loug, and the resonator is attached at one-third the distance from 

 one end. The string is then bent down and fastened to the mouth of the jar. The 

 notes are produced by striking the two sections of the string with a light stick, and 

 at the same time the opening of the jar is more or less closed by the palm of the 

 hand, thus producing a variety in the notes. 



His fourth is a specimen from the Metropolitan Museum, New York, 

 and is described as a reed about 5 feet long, with a jar fastened at the 

 middle point, above which is a bridge. To this are attached four strings 

 of different lengths. The specimen is labeled as from the Upper Purus 

 Eiver, Brazil, " Apurman Indians." But Dr. Brinton adds: 



No such tribe and no such instrument are mentioned by Martins, Markham, Ehren- 

 reich, Von den Steinen, or Polak, so I can add nothing to the information on the 

 label. 



Very nearly all interest in the foregoing as aboriginal stringed 

 musical instruments is taken away by Dr. Brin ton's last paragraph : 



It is possible that in all these cases the instruments were borrowed with modifica- 

 tions from the whites or negroes; but there is sufficient probability that they were 

 aboriginal American inventions to make their further study desirable. The stringed 

 instrument sometimes found in Central America, made by stretching cords over the 

 concave carapace of an armadillo, or turtle, must be modern, as it has no native 

 name in either Maya or Nahuatl. 



Professor Mason is sure that the aboriginal tribes of America had 

 no stringed musical instrument whatever. 



Rowbotham^ says that the North American Indians were able to 

 record their music by cutting notches in sticks, and he cites Schoolcraft, 

 1, Chap. VI. He figures one of these sticks, declaring that the rise and 

 fall of the tone necessary to produce the melody is indicated by the 

 position of the notches, that a rising slope indicated a raise of the tone, 

 this as they proceeded from left to right; and that a declivity of the 

 notch or stick indicated a lowering of the tone, and that the abruptness 

 in each case of the slope indicated the rapidity with which the rise or 

 fall should be made. He also cites Kohl's Wanderings Around Lake 

 Superior, pages 287-290, and Tylor's History of Mankind, page 157. 



' History of Music, III, p. 198. 



