Appendix. - 199 
the Yodda Valley, among the Autembo and other tribes, 
the wooden trumpet is apparently used more frequently 
than the conch. ‘The ordinary conch shell trumpet 
varies in size up to about 20 inches long and about 9 inches 
across in the largest part [apparently 77zton trzttonzs]. A 
hole from 1 inch to ? inch in diameter is made about 
3 inches from the apex. Over water the reverberating 
note can be heard a very considerable distance.” 
The details of the notation of trumpet blowing, given 
by this writer, are of considerable interest. It is based 
upon the long-short blast system ; and the significance 
varies according to the district. Examples are given of 
shell-trumpet calls from the Binandele tribes of the 
Mamba and Gira rivers, the significance of which, accord- 
ing to notation, are: “killing in a fight when in camp or 
dancing” ; “calling to a fight”; “conveying the news 
of a death”; “men are bringing a pig.” The second 
example, which consists of a “long blast, short, short, etc., 
and repeat,” is generally used nowadays “to call in the 
people from their gardens, say, for example, on the arrival 
of European or other strangers, or, again, half-a-dozen 
long blasts may convey the news that a Government 
party or Europeans are approaching.” 
The use of shell-trumpets, in Peru, Samoa, and else- 
where, to herald the approach of some important per- 
sonage, has already been described (antea pp. 45 and 46). 
It is important to note that the photograph of the 
native blowing a wooden trumpet, reproduced by Beaver, 
shows the man wearing a string of large white “ cowries ” 
(Ovulum ovum). 
From Malinowski’s recently published account of the 
natives of Mailu Island, off the coast of New Guinea,’ it 
is apparent that certain shells, including shell-trumpets, 
play an important role in the “ magico-religious ” practices 
of these people. More especially is this the case at the 
Madina, or great annual feast of the Mailu, which is 
connected, amongst other things, with agricultural activi- 
ties. Elaborate preparations are made, and a number of 
® Trans. and Proc. Roy. Soc. S. Australia, xxxix., Dec., 1915, pp. 494 
seq. 
1° Madina means distribution, the allusion being to the distribution of 
foods which forms an essential feature of the proceedings (Malinowski, 
p- 665). 
