isS TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



fkin, and being braced on their fides like a drum, were prd- 

 foably the inftrument called the tabor, or * tabret, beat upon 

 by the hands, coupled in earlieft ages with the harp, and 

 preferred ftill in Abyilinia, though its companion, the lait- 

 mentioned inftrument, is no longer known there. 



In three following pannels were painted, in frefco, three 

 harps, which merited the utmoft attention, whether we con- 

 fider the elegance of thefe inftruments in their form, and 

 the detail of their parts as they are here clearly expreffed, 

 or confine ourfelves to the reflection that neceflarily follows, 

 to how great perfection mufic muft have arrived, before an 

 artift could have produced fo complete an inftrument as 

 either of thefe. 



As the firft harp feemed to be the moft perfect, and leafl 

 fpoiled, I immediately attached myfelf to this, and defired 

 my clerk to take upon him the charge of the fecond. In 

 this way, by fketching exactly, and loofely, I hoped to have 

 made myfelf mafter of all the paintings in that cave, per- 

 haps to have extended my refearches to others, though, in 

 the fequel, I found myfelf miferably deceived. 



My firft drawing was that of a man playing upon a harp; 

 he was Handing, and the inftrument being broad, and flat 

 at the bafe, probably for that purpofe, fupported itfelf eafdy 

 with a very little inclination upon his arm ; his head is 

 clofe fhaved, his eye-brows black, without beard or muf- 



tach )cs. 



* Gen. xxxi, 27. Ifa. chap. xxx. ver. 32. 



