466 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [ETH, ANN. 38 
tions of tne circumference. These are the modern counterpart of 
the painted sticks mentioned by Gumilla on the Orinoco. The 
Indians struck these sticks on the ground and thus beat time with the 
music (G, 1, 193). 
577. Columbus found drums among the natives (SR, nm, 136). 
When Juan Ponce de Leon was attacking the Arawak Islanders at 
Porto Rico in 1510, mention is made of their war conchs and drums 
(WI, 785). These instruments are again recorded among the Carib 
Antilleans in the middle of the seventeenth century as made of a 
hollow tree with a skin stretched over one end only like a Basque 
drum (RO, 509). In the early part of last century, among the 
Arawak of the Corentyn, St. Clair recorded a drum made of part 
of a hollow tree, with a skin tied over it at one end (StC, 1, 328). 
[And finally, during the seventies, at Mucaja village, on the River 
Mauhes, apparently among the Mundurucu on the Amazons, Brown 
and Lidstone speak of two drums made of long hollow logs, with skin 
stretched across one end only, upon which the drummers performed 
as they sat straddle-leg upon their reclining instruments (BL, 315). ] 
The existence of such “ one-sided ” drums is indisputable and their 
relationship to the hollow cylinders with skin-covered end (sec. 576) 
‘a close one. At the same time it must not be forgotten that the 
Negroes had similar drums (St, 1, 287). 
578. In Gumilla’s day the Orinoco Indians took to battle hand 
drums made like those of Europe, which also served them for their 
dances and days of feasting (G, m, 104), as is the case throughout 
at the present day. With the Makusi, Wapishana, etc., a man may 
carry it with him and on his return home signal on it. Differences 
in staccato and sustained strokes are recognized, as I have noticed 
among the Makusi. The body of the instrument is invariably made 
from the hollowed-out trunk of the tree itself after removal of the 
bark. One of the trees so utilized is the silverballhi (Vectandra sp.) ; 
another is the karuhoho of the Arawak (identical with the simaruba 
of the Warrau and the muratatau of the Carib); and a third, the 
omu of the Warrau. Schomburgk says that in the neighborhood 
of Pirara the Mauritia flexuosa is employed. An 18-inch-long hori- 
zontal section is placed in water and the sap thus easily removed 
after a few days (SR, 1, 136). It is possible, however, that he is 
in error, because the Warrau, who probably know more about the 
adaptability of this particular palm than any other Indians, assure 
me that it is an impossibility to utilize its timber after this fashion. 
The method of fixation of the two skins with hoops and cross string 
is similar to the European style (pl. 170). The one skin, the silent one, 
which is never struck, is crossed with a twisted string, which grips 
at its center a small wooden tongue, the “ resounder ” of the North 
