654 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



the South American Indians, evidently refers to this class. His 

 description is here given : 



ycveiiil of these barbaious contrivances scarcely deserve to be classed with musi- 

 cal iustrunicnts. This may, for instance, be said of certain musical jars or earthen 

 vessels producing sounds, which the reruviaus constructed for their amusement. 

 These A^essels Avere made double, and the sounds imitated the cries of animals or birds. 

 A similar contrivance of the Indians in Chile, preserved in the museum at Santiago, 

 is described by the traveler S. S. Hill as follows : " It consists of two earthen vessels 

 in the form of our india-rubber bottles, but somewhat larger, with a flat tube from 

 4 to 6 inches in length uniting their necks near the the top and slightly curved 

 upward, and with a small hole on the ui^per side one-third the length of the tube 

 i'roni one side of the necks. To produce the sounds the bottles were filled with water 

 and suspended to the bough of a tree, or to a beam, by a string attached to the 



middle of the curved tube, and then 

 swung backward and forward in such 

 a manner as to cause each end to be 

 alternately the highest and lowest, so 

 that the water might pass backward 

 and forward from one bottle to the 

 other through the tube between 

 them. 15y this means soothing 

 sounds were produced which, it is 

 said, were employed to lull to repose 

 the drowsy chiefs who usually slejjt 

 away the hottest hours of the day. 

 In the meantime, as the bottles were 

 porous, the water within them dimin- 

 ished by evaporation, and the sound 

 died gradually away." 



The remarks in the quotation 

 regarding the production of 

 sound, i. e., by partially filling 

 the bottles with water and 

 swinging them back and forth, 

 applies equally as well to the 

 vessels in the museum collec- 

 tion. This has been demon 

 strated by experiment. The musical notation of these instruments ( ?) 

 has, however, as before stated, been obtained by blowing in the open 

 neck. Perhaps, as Engel says, they "scarcely deserve to be classed 

 with musical instruments." 



Fig. 313 represents a vessel of painted ware with one chamber, col- 

 lected by Admiral Charles Wilkes, United States Exploring Expedition. 

 The ground color is dark yellow, upon which is laid in narrow stripes 

 a red pigment of sufficient body to produce a slight relief effect. The 

 spout or neck rises from one side of the vessel, and a handle curves 

 from it to a projection opposite, representing a human figure sitting 

 cross legged. The handle is enlarged near where it Joins the figure 

 and forms an air chamber, which has a small opening, with the upper 

 edge made thin and sharp. Opposite to this opening is a narrow slit 



rig. 313. 



WHISTLING VASE, PAINTED WARE, ONE CHAMBER. 



Peru. 



Cat. Ni). nm, U.S.N.M. g natural size. 



