42 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
No. 7 is a trumpet made from the shell of a Triton. Shells of Triton, 
Ranella and Cassis are generally used for this purpose simply by making 
a hole in one of the upper whorls for the mouthpiece. The sound of this 
instrument can be heard for the distance of half a mile or more, and is 
still often used to signal the approach of a vessel. It is the favorite 
musical instrument at all native gatherings and feasts. Nos. 8, 9, 12 
and 13 are native knives with wooden handles and obsidian blades. 
These are in common use for all sorts of purposes, and are extremely 
serviceable implements. Many primitive peoples have employed obsid- 
ian, or volcanic glass, in different ways, but chiefly in the form of knives 
and points for weapons. ‘The striking physical characteristic of obsidian 
is its conchoidal fracture, a property which makes it a comparatively easy 
matter to detach from a core, long flakes which often have keen edges. 
‘The wooden handles are decorated with engraved designs, the depres- 
sions painted or filled with lime. No. 10 is an elaborately carved dagger 
made from the leg bone of a cassowary. No. 11 is a Pan-pipe of reeds. 
Pan-pipes among primitive peoples had wide distribution, as we should 
expect. What is more natural than to blow into a piece of bamboo 
or cane and produce a tone; later on the experiment would be repeated 
with a cane differing in length from the first, and a note of different pitch 
would result. ‘The tying together of two or more canes of different 
length would be but a short step forward, and then we have the Pan-pipe. 
No. 14 is a lime-gourd and spatula for holding and mixing the shell-lime 
which is chewed with the betel. The decoration on this gourd, which 
is quite elaborate, has been burned in. 
C. W. Mean. 
THE SOUTH AMERICAN BLOW-GUN. 
HE blow-gun for propelling a poisoned arrow is the favorite 
weapon of the Indian in many regions of northern South Amer- 
ica. Although these curious weapons vary in construction in dif- 
ferent localities, they are alike in principle, consisting of a tube from 
eight to twelve feet in length which generally tapers from one to two 
inches in diameter at the mouth end to about three-quarters of an inch 
at the farther extremity. The bore of this tube is about three six- 
teenths of an inch in diameter. In some localities a cup-shaped mouth- 
piece of hard wood is attached to the larger end. 
