﻿NO. 2 SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I924 121 



tend to create a rhythmic pattern in the melody, causing it also to be 

 repeated with exactness. 



The chief said that he began the study of songs when he was ten 

 years old. The first song he learned was the first he recorded for 

 the writer. He gave the name of the man who taught him, saying 

 it took him a long time to learn that first song. Seven years later, 

 this man having gone away, he went to another from whom he 

 learned about 30 songs. First he learned miscellaneous songs, and 

 later learned those sung when preparing medicines and treating the 

 sick, though he is not a doctor. Recognized standards of music were 

 further shown by the statement that certain persons were " good 

 singers " while others " could not sing." 



INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC 



No drum is used by the Tule, neither do they pound upon a pole 

 or other object. In this respect they are unique among primitive people. 

 A neighboring tribe uses a tall wooden drum with a hide stretched 

 across one end, but the Tule have never adopted this instrument. The 

 statement concerning the absence of a drum was confirmed by Major 

 H. B, Johnson, formerly a Lieutenant of the Black Watch, B. E. F., 

 whose acquaintance with these people extends over three years. Major 

 Johnson went to Panama with a British expedition in 1921 and became 

 especially interested in the Tule. He was also a member of the Marsh 

 Expedition in 1924. 



The musical instruments used by the Tule are the conch-shell 

 trumpet, bone whistle, pan-J)ipes, flute and gourd rattle. The first 

 named is made by piercing a mouth-hole in the tip of the shell. The 

 only variety used in this manner is the Casis cameo Stm. (fig. 123). 

 This instrument, with its far reaching tone, appears to have been used 

 only as a signal. 



Whistles are made of the wing-bone of the pelican and king buz- 

 zard. They have four finger-holes and are decorated with lines burned 

 with a hot iron (figs. 124, 125). These, as well as the other instru- 

 ments illustrated, are in the Marsh Collection at the U. S. National 

 Museum. 



The pan-pipes are made of a diflferent, smaller reed than the flutes. 

 A set consists of two parts, each of which has three or four reeds 

 bound together with a cord, and the two parts are connected by a cord 

 nine or more inches long. In the two sets under observation the 

 shortest reed is 4^ inches, and the longest 14^ inches, in length. It 

 was said that pan-pipes in the native villages frequently contain reeds 

 9 



