Ohfervations &c. 26^9 



tiquity ; aS is alfo the Gafpah, which is only a common Reed,^'^^^ Girpji. 

 open at each End, having the Side of It bored^ with three or 

 more Holes, according to the Ability of the Perfon who is to 

 touch It : though the Compafs of their Tunes rarely or ever 

 exceeds an 06iave. Yet fometimes, even in this Simplicity 

 of Harmony, they obferve fomething of Method and Cere- 

 mony. For in their Hiftorical Cantatas ' eijjecially, they have 

 their Preludes and Symphonies ; each Stanza being introduced 

 with a Flouriili from the Arahehhah, while the Narration It- 

 felf is accompanied with the fofteft Touches, they are able 

 to make, upon the Gaff ah. The Tarr, another of their Ιη-τΖηΤ-π, 

 ftruments, is made like a Sive, confifting (as ^<^(3r^' defcrib- 

 eththe Tympanum) of a thin Rim or Hoop of Wood, with 

 a Skin of Parchment ftretched over the Top of It. This 

 ferves for the Bafs in all their Conforts , which they accord- 

 ingly touch very artfully with their Fingers, and the Knuckles 

 or Palms ^ of their Hands, as the Time and Meafure require, 

 or as Force and Softnefs are to be communicated to the fe- 

 veral Parts of the Performance. The Tarr is undoubtedly .. Tym^a- 

 the Tympanum of the Antients, which appears, as well from""™' 

 the general Ufe of It all over Barhary, Egypt and the Levant, 

 as from the Method of playing upon It , and the Figure of 

 the Inftrument Itfelf, being exadly of the fame Fafliion with 

 what we find in the Hands of Cyhele and the Bacchanals a- 

 mong the Bajfo ReUevos and Statues of the Antients. 



But the Mufick of the Moors is more artful and melodious, "^'^^ ΜοοπΩι 

 For moil of their Tunes are lively and pleafant ; and if the ^irtmZs. 

 Account be true, (which I have often heard feriouily affirmed, 

 but could never fee a Proof of) that the Flowers ^ of Mullein 

 and Mothwort, will fall from their Stalks, at the playing of 

 their M'lzmoune, they have fomething to boaft of, which our 

 modern Mufick doth not pretend to. They have alfo a much 

 greater Variety of Inftruments than the ^rahs ; for beiides 



I Tlic 5ί>•ββ<η^ Bedoweens [like the antient hOli^Ol or Κ^ΆψίοάΙΟ.^) are chiefly converfant in 

 this fort of Mufick^, who after they have got together a Crowd and placed them in a Circle, begin to 

 chuntover the memorable Actions of their Prophet &c. or elfe lajing before them the Plans o/Mecca, 

 Medina &c. floiirij}} over , in lik^e manner, their fcvcral Dcfcript'ions. ζ Tympanum eft 

 pellis vel corium lignoex una pai;tc extenlum. Eft enim pars media Symplionia: in fimilicu- 

 dincm cribri. Tympanum ^intern a\&.\im, quod medium eft. Iful. ΟΐΊξ. 1. j. cap. 21. 

 3 Tympana tenfa tonant Palmis & Cymbala circum 



Concava. Lucret. 1. 2. 1. diS. 



4 Something like this is mentioned by Ovid. 



llicibus glandcs, cantataque vitibus uva 



Dccidit. Ovid. 1. 3. Amor. El. 7. 1. H- 



Υ y y feveral 



