Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlvi. (1902), No. VX. 27 



legists as the " bull-roarer." The specimen in question is 

 probably of ancient date, the whalebone of which it is 

 made being honeycombed with decay. It is broad and 

 flat, and the edges are notched, while at one end there is 

 a larger notch, presumably for fastening a string ; the 

 broad, flat surfaces are ornamented with grooves. Much 

 has been written of late years about the " bull-roarer," 

 which, as a toy, is familar to many an English schoolboy. 

 It is essentially a noise-making instrument. The school- 

 boy takes a thin wooden lath, notches the edges, ties a 

 string to one end, and whirls it round rapidly in the air, 

 thereby producing a peculiar humming sound very 

 suggestive of wind. 



In different modifications the "bull-roarer" is distri- 

 buted amongst primitive races over perhaps the greater 

 part of the habitable world, and is used for an extraordinary 

 variety of purposes, especially in connection with sacred 

 rites or mysteries. For some reason or other it was 

 commonly " tabooed " to women. Professor Haddon has 

 written an extremely interesting chapter on the subject 

 in his work on the " Study of Man," and has there tabu- 

 lated the uses and distribution of this remarkable 

 instrument. What the Morioris used it for will probably 

 now for ever remain a mystery. Mr. Shand had never 

 heard of such an instrument existing amongst them, but 

 this might readily be accounted for if, as amongst the 

 Australians, the " bull-roarer " was sacred. Probably, 

 indeed, amongst the Morioris it was highly "tapu," for 

 according to our authority these people " possessed the 

 ' tapu ' in all its forms and terrors." Whatever they may 

 have used it for, however, the fact that they possessed 

 such an instrument in such a remote corner of the earth's 

 surface is in itself extremely interesting, and its somewhat 

 peculiar form may, perhaps, eventually throw some light 



