BANTU NEGROES 



665 



this kind are, like the 

 bottle gourds, open at 

 both ends, with a large 

 blow-hole cut near the 

 point of the horn. The 

 bigger horns of this kind 

 have their large apertures 

 partially closed with 

 skin. In the eastern 

 part of Uganda and in 

 Busoga pan-pipes are 

 made out of the reeds 

 that are suitable for 

 flutes. 



The harp of Uganda 

 is interesting because 

 its identical form is re- 

 peated in the paintings 

 of ancient Egypt, where 

 the instrument must 

 have had its origin, 

 reaching Uganda by way 

 of the Nile, or by the 

 roundabout route which ancient trade followed from Egypt to Somaliland 

 and from Somaliland to Uganda. This type of Egyptian harp may also 

 be noticed in the possession of the Sudan tribes along the Congo watershed 

 and in the vicinity of the Niger, and I am not sure but what it does not 

 turn up again in West Africa. The harp is constructed as follows : A 

 curved, shallow basin of wood, in shape like the shell of a tortoise,* has 

 a thin piece of sheep or antelope skin strained tightly over it. To one 

 end of this basin or sounding-board is securely fixed a long, smooth, 

 curved stem of wood, the skin being neatly fastened by some kind of glue 

 all round the junction of this stem of the harp with the sounding-board. 

 There are usually eight strings, which are strung from the turning-pegs 

 along the stem to the opposite end of the sounding-board, where they are 

 securely fastened. The turning-pegs tune the strings to the requisite 

 note. The Baganda ha\e also a lyre of a kind very common in Negro 

 Africa, and met with in many other countries besides Uganda. In this 

 there is a sounding-board with a hole in it, composed of a shallow basin 

 of hard wood, across which skin — very often a lizard's skin — has been 

 tightly strained. This sounding-board is of an oval shape. Two smooth, 

 * And tortoise-shells are often used for this purpose. 



373. A BAKD OF MUSIC : DEUMS AND TRUMPETS 



