HISTORY OF MUSICAL SCALES, 427 



to by Wilson (p. 526). So far a.s i.s known not one of the peoples 

 from whom these instruments have come has an}^ musical theory, but 

 some of them do have a principle of instrument construction; for a 

 partly educated yoitno- Kiowti Indian, in Washington a few years ago, 

 in a party under charge of Mr. James Moone}^ showed the writer how 

 the holes on a flute on which he played were located by measuring- 

 three tinger-breadths from the lower end to the lower hole, and then 

 taking- shorter but equal spaces for the succeeding holes. The inter- 

 preter added that he had seen the holes spaced by cutting a short stick 

 as a measure. The late jNlr. F. H. Cushing has furnished the addi- 

 tional fact that measurement by finger-breadths is very common among 

 Indians: and Dr. Fewkes' gives a figure to show how the prayer 

 sticks, used by the Hopi Indians in the Snake ceremonials at Walpi, 

 are measured off into seven parts bj' the distances from creases on the 

 hand to the tip of the finger. On the Kiowa flute (Plate 4. No. 2) the 

 distance between the centers of the holes is 32 mm., which is two 

 medium finger-breadths. Some instruments of this type belonging to 

 the U. S. National Museum are shown in Plates 3 and 4. 



But it is not only among primitive and prehistoric peoples that 

 such a succession of holes is found. The common military fife has it. 

 The ])agpiper recently seen on the streets of Washington used a 

 chaunter (oboe), the holes of which were at sensibly equal distances, 

 so conforming to the well-known fact that the bagpipe scale is inten- 

 tionally unlike the harp scale. A Japanese Fouye with 7 holes figured 

 in the catalogue of the Kraus collection at Florence shows to the 

 eye holes at nearly equal spaces, and has, as reported, the steps of 

 the scale increasing in length as the pitch rises. From Egypt' there 

 have come twenty-five 3- and 4-hole ancient flutes, or more exactly, 

 oboes, and a few of 5, 6, and more holes. One of the 4-holed instru- 

 ments from a tomb of about 1100 B. C. shows the holes 35 mm. apart 

 and the lowest hole twice this distance from the bottom. Villoteau's^ 

 plates of modern Egyptian instruments show various types of tubes 

 with cqualh' spaced holes. 



Flutes of the second or B type with two groups of equal-spaced 

 holes were sold in quantities at the Java \illage at the World's Fair 

 held in Chicago in 1S03 (Plate (i, No. 1). No two of the instruments 

 seemed to have the same length or location of holes, but this group- 

 ing was unmistakable. Of this type is also a curious ancient Chinese 

 instrument, the Tche^ described by Amiot,* closed at both ends with 



'Journal of American Ethnology and Archaeology, IV, 1894, p, 25-2r>. 



-Loret, Journal Asiatique, 8th ser., XIV, 1889, pp. Ill, 197. Musical Times, Lon- 

 don, XXXI, 1890, pp. 585, 713. 



^Description de r Egypt, Etat moderne, II, 1809, plate cc. 



*Memoires concernant I'histoire .... des Chinois, VI, 1780, p. 76, pi. vi, fig. 42. 

 Mahillon, Brussels Conservatory Catalogue I, No. 865. 



