404 Memoirs Bcniicc P. Hisliof' Ilfiiscuiii 



the diameter seems to have been uniform. The bodies of at least 90 jier cent of the (h-ums were 

 decorated with a series of shallow horizontal grooves, apparently made with an adz. In a few 

 drums the upper part of the body was decorated with simjjle anyular-i^eometric desis:ns of 

 the sort used on house posts. It is possible that the bodies of some of the temple drums were 

 smoothly finished. The lip of the drum was somewhat recurved, as in round bowds of normal 

 type, the g^reatest width of the interior being one to two inches below the rim. The bottom of 

 tlie excavation was bluntly conical. The thickness of the walls varied in difl^erent specimens 

 but rarely, if ever, exceeded one inch. 



The body and base of the drum were hewn in one piece. The interior of the base was cut 

 aw-ay and its sides were pierced at intervals so that the body seemed to rest upon six to eig'ht 

 thin, flat legs connected at the bottom by a broad ring. The ring was commonly decorated 

 w^ith a few broad shallow horizontal grooves. As a rule, the legs of the drum were smoothly 

 finished, but a few seem to have been decorated with simple angular designs. Through the 

 top center of each leg two holes were pierced, one above the other, for the attachment of the 

 hoop lashings. In drums of ordinary size the base w^as wider than the body and tapered in- 

 ward toward its top, but in the temple drums the diameter of base and body seems to have 

 been uniform. 



.\ wooden hoop made of a split withe encircled the base of the drum just below its 

 juncture with the body. It was attached to the drum bv means of ornamental lashings of small 

 sennit, which were passed through the holes and around the sides of the legs. In all the elrums 

 seen natural color sennit was employed and the design was a sim]:)le diamond. In one specimen 

 tufts of human hair had ajiparently been laid upon the outside of the hooiJ liefore the lashings 

 were put on. 



The drumhead was made of thin shark skin, put on wet. In the edges of the skin, 

 which extended for some distance down the sides of the drum, vertical slits were cut at re- 

 gular intervals. A heavy cord of flat braided sennit was passed several times around the drum, 

 threaded in and out through the slits in the skin. This lashing was so arranged that there 

 was always an equal number of strands inside and outside. Thus, if we designate four suc- 

 cessive slits in the skin as A, B, C, and D, the cord on the first circuit w^ould lie outside be- 

 tween A and B, inside, against the wood, between B and C, and outside again between C and 

 D. On the second circuit it would lie inside between A and B, outside between B and C, and 

 inside again between C and D. In this way a ring of sennit was formed around the lower edge of 

 the head. The arrangement of the lashings connecting this ring with the wooden hoop on 

 the base of the drum is clearly shown on Plate i.xxii, A. The lashings consisted of a series 

 of loops of heavy sennit cord. The upper ends of the cord passed under the outer lashings 

 of the ring on the outer sides of each ]»ir of slits. The cords forming the outer sides of ad- 

 joining loops thus crossed each other at the slits and were carried down nearly parallel. For 

 approximately the lower third of their length the cords were united into a single strand by 

 wrappings of sennit. According to one informant, carved tubes of luunan bone were some- 

 times threaded upon the paired cords just above the sennit wrapping. When it was necessary 

 to tighten the lashings these tubes would be forced upwards, drawing the cords together, thus 

 increasing the tension. A different method of tightening the lashings appears to have been em- 

 ployed ordinarily. A number of turns of ribbon-like sennit were wrapped around the body of 

 the drum about midway between the ring and hoop. When these were drawn taut the 

 vertical loops of sennit were forced inward against tlie body of the drum, tightening the head. 



Stewart (59, p. 258) says that the small drums used at dances were made of kou w'ood, 

 and had a small hole in the center of the bottom. He also says (59, p. 257) that the heads 

 of the temple drums were made of ray skin instead of shark skin. No drums with a hole in 

 the bottom were found, but Stewart is a thoroughly trustworthy observer and his statement is 

 sufficient to establish their existence. 



Even the large temple drums appear to have been beaten with the hand. P.ecause of 

 their great length they were placed on the ground beside special platforms on which the 

 drummers stood. 



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