THE ORIGIN OF AFRICAN CIVILIZATIONS. 641 



recur in Melanesia and frequently in Polynesia. Their home obviously 

 must be the same as that of the lofty bamboo cane, for these drums 

 are developed from the bamboo. 



The stringed instruments of the Africans follow the drums most nat- 

 urally. The Africans possess a greater variety of these instruments 

 than any other peoples living in a state of nature. Every foreign form 

 adopted by them brings forth an enormous progeny. We shall men- 

 tion only the more important considerations, the most, important, first 

 of all, that despite their love of music the Africans invented no 

 stringed instrument. Their wealth of forms arises from modifications 

 of foreign patterns, derived chiefly from India, West Asia, and the 

 Malay Archipelago ; that is, Indo-Ohina or Melanesia. The instrument 

 from West Asia resembles the guitar, and is distinguished by a souud- 

 ing-board covered with skin, by strings made of sinew, hair, or strips 

 of skin, and by the presence of a peg. It has spread through North 

 Africa from Senegambia to Abyssinia. More than that, penetrating 

 farther than other importations from West Asia, it has reached the lands 

 along the Ogome and the Sande. We note a preponderance of ani- 

 mal material in contrast with the Malayo-Negrito stringed instruments, 

 the original form of which is preserved between the Niger (Ibo) and 

 the Congo (Bateke). It is made of reed, or the stem of the raphia, or 

 bamboo (bamboo palm). Several strips are loosed along its whole 

 length except at the two ends, where they are furthermore secured by 

 rings of rattan (rotang). These rings, together with a board or rod in 

 the middle, interposed between the strips and the reed so as to form a 

 bridge, serve to brace the strips. On the underside of the bridge a 

 sounding-board in the shape of a gourd (calabash) is attached. Numer- 

 ous as the forms are that have developed from this simple instrument, 

 they are all characterized by vegetable strings, a bridge, a vegetable 

 sounding-board, and mostly by rattan rings. The stringed instrument 

 just described is the direct descendant of the well-known Indonesian 

 bamboo instrument. The area of prevalence of the Malayo-Negrito 

 features pointed out is coextensive with that of the Malayo-Negrito 

 drums. 



Ratzel was the first to recognize the bows of the Africans as excellent 

 material for classification. There are three kinds. Through old as 

 well as recent illustrations we are most familiar with the Asiatic 

 weapon, consisting of two limbs, each arched, with a depression in the 

 middle where the limbs meet. It is spread from north to south, approxi- 

 mately as far as the bearers of Islam penetrated and in the Nile terri- 

 tory even beyond their settlement. The second variety is the East Indian 

 weapon, which was obviously developed here at the point of contact 

 between the two chief forms of the bow, that is, the North Asiatic form 

 just mentioned, and the Malayo-Negrito form. The typical Malayo- 

 Negrito form has but a single arch, a bowstring of vegetable fiber, a 

 groove on the inner side, and buttons plaited of rattan or carved out of 

 Sm 98 41 



