Chap. VI. 



MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 



171 



wise has not been handed down. They have had their 

 minstrels too, but mere tradition preserves not their 

 effusions. One of these, and apparently a genuine poet, 

 attached himself to our party for several days, and when- 

 ever we halted, sang our praises to the villagers, in smooth 

 and harmonious numbers. It was a sort of blank verse, 

 and each line consisted of five syllables. The song was 

 short when it first began, but each day he picked up 

 more information about us, and added to the poem until 



(a) Calabash sounding-board. (ft) Calabash ornamented with figures. (c) Sansa. 



our praises became an ode of respectable length. When 

 distance from home compelled his return he expressed 

 his regret at leaving us, and was, of course, paid for his 

 useful and pleasant flatteries. Another, though a less 

 gifted son of song, belonged to the Batoka of our own 

 party. Every evening, while the others were cooking, 

 talking, or sleeping, he rehearsed his songs, containing a 

 history of everything he had seen in the land of the 

 white men, and on the way back. In composing, extem- 

 pore, any new piece, he was never at a loss ; for if the 



