450 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1892. 



performers usually being Hindus of the lower caste. In the villages 

 of southern and central India the watchmen blow it at sunset and at 

 certain hours of the night, like the German nachtwachter. In large 

 cities a horn-blower is always attached to the police. There is seldom 

 a guard or detachment of native irregular troops without one. It is 

 employed in all processions, temple services, marriages, and other 

 festive occasions, and at funerals.* 



Another trumpet of the same class is the kurna, used chiefly in reli- 

 gious processions, or in festivals in honor of local divinities. Only 

 Brahmins and persons of a certain rank are permitted to use the kurna. 

 It is esteemed by all Brahmins to be the most ancient instrument of 

 music in existence, and the sound of it to be especially pleasing to the 

 gods in various particular ceremonies and at solemn parts of the sacri- 

 fices (Cf. Ibid. loc. cit.). 



CONCLUSIONS. 



In conclusion, the following deductions, which seem to be legitimate, 

 are drawn, though, all are not advanced with equal confidence: 



(1) The oldest wind instrument used by inland peoples was the horn 

 of an animal, with a natural cavity, and a mouthpiece formed by cutting 

 off the end. Horns which required hollowing came later into use. 



(2) These horns were originally used as signals in time of danger 

 and for making announcements in general. 



(3) Many of these important announcements had a religious charac- 

 ter. The antiquity of the instrument caused its permanent adoption 

 for sacred purposes. 



(I) The shofar, speaking especially of the instrument of that name, 

 was originally a wind instrument, made of the horn of a wild goat. Its 

 sacred character may be connected with sacrificial use made of the 

 goat. 



(5) The etymology of the word is to be sought in the Assyrian sappar, 

 a species of wild goat; sappartu (the feminine form) meant originally 

 the horn of the sappar, and it may afterwards have been used for horn 

 in general. 



Tribes dwelling near the sea used shells for the same purpose. Bib- 

 lical Hebrew }iossesses two other words for the horn of some special 

 animal, qeren and yobel, which were originally applied to animals. It 

 is interesting in this connection that Hebrew qeren, Latin cornu, and 

 English horn are all used both for a wind instrument and for the horn 

 of an animal. 



* Cf. Capt. Meadows Taylor. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. 

 ix, PL 1, p. 110. 



