ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 197 



brought with them, uncouth as they might look, hid wonder- 

 ful harmonies of chords and of flute-like notes for those who 

 could invoke them. They were self-taught ; but to hear 

 a trained band of native musicians playing their own music 

 is a treat not to be forgotten — it is hauntingly beautiful. 

 Try as one may, it is impossible to reproduce anything in 

 the least approaching to the gradations in their scale either 

 on the piano or with the voice. I was told by a skilled 

 flute-player, who was acquainted with Western music, 

 that the formation of the throat is different in us, so that 

 we cannot graduate the scale as they do, and that their 

 instruments follow suit. He made his meaning quite clear 

 to me when he said that while our music has tones and semi- 

 tones, theirs has tones in between these, and he drew a line 

 upon a piece of paper to represent the Hindu scale— con- 

 tinuous, without any break at all ; a thing impossible to our 

 voices, but he sang it himself in one continuous thread or 

 line of sound — I can describe it no plainer. Our scale he 

 drew as a series of dots, and as he sang it, it sounded dis- 

 jointed and broken, just as it looked on paper as compared 

 with his line. He also said that they had to acquire our 

 scale by long practice ; their own came natural to them. 



In Hyderabad and in Madras and elsewhere I have heard 

 wonderful music. On one occasion especially the musicians 

 were all seated in a circle on the ground to begin with ; for 

 their mode of playing obliges many changes of posture — 

 they even lie down to it sometimes. Some had reed flutes, 

 some ivory ; others violas and guitar-like instruments ; 

 innumerable cymbals, too — tiny silver ones giving out a 

 chiming sound, as well as huge brazen things deafening to 

 be near ; while some, and those the greater number, had 

 earthen water-pots by way of drums, a few of which were 

 but six inches in diameter, others being eighteen inches or 

 more. The pots were round, with a small opening only large 

 enough for the performer to put his hand in to hold it by. 



