976 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



The cymbals now used in the Orient are inucli like those depicted 

 on the Egyptian and Assyrian monuments. They consisted o^:' two 

 large plates of metal with wide, Hat rims, and were played by being 

 strapped to the hands and clashed together. Others were conical, or 

 cup-like, with thin edges, and were played by bringing down the one 

 sharply on the other, while held stationary, eliciting a high-pitched 

 note. Cymbals were made of brass, and it is probable that they were 

 the first among musical instruments made of metal. They were repre- 

 sented by a specimen from Cairo, Egypt, called by the Arabs Ka's. 



(5) Castanets. — (See plate 1, fig. 1.) Some scholars apply the 

 Hebrew names for cymbals, ^el^elim and Megiltayim, which denote a 

 jingling sound, also to castanets; others think these are meant by the 

 ^ilgele-stema (R. Y. "Loud cymbals") Psalms cl, 5. But this is by no 

 means certain. 



II.— wind instruments. 



(1) Ram's horn (Hebrew, Shofar). (See plate 2, fig. 2.)— The Shofar, 

 in the English versions usually inaccurately translated trumpet, or 

 even more inaccurately cornet, is first mentioned in the Bible in con- 

 nection with the giving of the law on Siuai.^ Its use is ordered in the 

 Pentateuch for the announcement of the new moon and solemn feasts^ 

 and the proclamation of the year of release.^ New Year's Day (the 

 first of the seventh month, or Tishri) is called a ',' memorial day of 

 blowing."* The Shofar also served in religious processions,^ and is 

 mentioned, along with other musical instruments as a proper accom- 

 paniment of psalmody: "Praise Him with the blowing of the shofar, 

 praise Him with the psaltery and harp.'"' But the most ancient and most 

 frequent use of the shofar was for military purposes, to give the signal 

 for the rallying of the people and for attacking and pursuing the 

 enemy. Animal horns were similarly used in tlie Roman army." The 

 shofar is not only the sole instrument of those mentioned in the Bible 

 which is still employed by the Jews in their religious services of the 

 synagogue during the penitential month of Elul (July-August), on 

 New Year's Day, or Rosli ha-Shanah, the first of Tishri (August-Sep- 

 tember), and on Atonement Day, or Yom Kippur, the tenth of Tishri, 

 but is also, according to authorities on musical instruments, the oldest 

 form of wind instrument known to be retained in use. It is usually 

 made of a ram's horn, though the goat's horn is also employed." 



' Exodus xix, 16; xx, 18. 



2 Numbers x, 10 ; compare Psalms Ixxxi, 4. 



^ Leviticus xxv, 9. 



* Leviticus xxiii, 24; Number xxix, 1. 



s II Samuel vi, 15 ; I Chronicles xv, 28. 



•* Psalms cl, 3 ; compare xcviii, 6. 



' Varro, De lingua Latina v, 117; ea (cornua) quae nunc sunt ex aere, tunc fiebant e 

 bubulo cornu. 



» Cyrus Adlc.r, "The Shofar, its use and origin (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XVI, pp. 

 287-301; Report U. S. Nat. Mus., 1892, pp. 437-450). 



