Linton — TJie Marquesas Islands 409 



XYLOPHONE 



According to Handy, the natives of Nuku Hiva used an instrument called 

 palm kon haii which consisted of ten flat pieces of hau wood resting upon two 

 slender transverse sticks. It was beaten with two sticks held in the hands. This 

 instrument was evidently a primitive xylophone and, if aboriginal, is of con- 

 siderable interest. 



COMPARISON 



Two quite distinct types of large drum were used in Polynesia. In 

 Hawaii, the Marquesas, the Society and Cook islands, the drums were tubular, 

 with a skin head, and stood on end; most of them were provided with a pierced 

 base cut in one piece with the body. They were beaten with the hand. In 

 Samoa and Tonga, on the other hand, the large drums were canoe shaped, closed 

 at the ends, but with a long opening en one side. They were laid on the side, 

 and were beaten with short clubs. In New Zealand, where one might expect to 

 find the tubular, skin headed drum, the drum was of western Polynesian type. 

 The great wooden gongs of New Zealand appear to have no Polynesian parallel 

 The large tubular drum is unknown in Melanesia, although the principle of 

 this drum is used in small hand instruments. The long slotted drum on the 

 other hand is almost universal. It seems possible, therefore, that the use of 

 the long slotted drum in Samoa and Tonga is due to Fijian influence. 



Wooden trumpets appear to have been vised in only two Polynesian 

 localities, the Marquesas and New Zealand. The instruments from these regions 

 have little more than the principle in common, however, the Maori examples 

 being much more elaborate. The wooden trumpet does not seem to have been 

 used in Micronesia, and its Melanesian occurrence is limited to a single locality; 

 the interior of northern New Guinea on the Sepik River. 



Shell trumpets were used everywhere in Polynesia. In Hawaii the trumpet 

 was made from a species of Cassis, in the Marquesas of both the Cassis and 

 Triton, and in the Society Islands and New Zealand from the Triton. A separate 

 mouth piece was used in the Marquesas, the Society Islands and New Zealand. 

 In Melanesia trumpets made from the Triton shell are almost universal, and a 

 species of Cassis is used in a few localities, but separate mouth pieces appear to 

 be unknown. 



The nose flute appears to have been used everywhere in Polynesia except 

 Samoa. Mouth flutes, on the other hand, are found everywhere except in 

 Hawaii, although Kramer believes their presence in Samoa to be due to Fijian 

 or Tongan influence. Cook noted a tunable nose flute in the Society Islands. In 

 Melanesia the nose flute is found in Fiji and in one or two other localities, but 



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