RELIGION. 



ones are placed in plaited baskets in the smoke of the fire place. H.OI'.ST [1893, 146] has 

 erroneously, and probably through ignorance of the objects themselves, classed thèse 

 baskets with the figures of sun and moon, which VAN BALEN [1886a, 65] describes as a 

 roof ornament of the riiiu seram of Jendé. In Humboldt Bay the flûtes are never used 

 outside the temple; more towards the west (HoRST [1889, 247], SCHMELTZ [1903, 243, PI. XIV]) 

 this custom is not strictly adhered to; it is also principally at night that they are played on. 

 KONING [1903, 260], however, thought wrongly that they were not used in the daytime; the 

 members of the expédition hâve several times heard the flûtes in the daytime. BlNK [1897, 

 170] and KONING hâve already described how the long flûtes with the opening at one end 

 are played; I point to the fact that the opening is not placed in the mouth as HoRST thought 

 [1889, 243] and as MaCLAY [1S76, 321] reports of the Astrolabe Bay. The flûte is grasped 

 close to the opening between both hands, as can be seen on fig. 189, held in front of the 

 mouth, the thumbs generally being stretched along the corners of the mouth and lying on the 

 cheeks, in which way the current of air is directed inside the hollow of the hands against 

 the edge of the bamboo opening. The opinion of BlNK that a tone is produced as well with 

 the inhaling as with the exhaling is incorrect; as a tone is only obtained with the exhaling. 

 Young people like the novices cannot produce on thèse narrow flûtes the desired high 

 tones, they hâve not sufficient command of breath, and even older people bend forward 

 somewhat at the production of 

 each tone, in order to streng- 

 then the current of air by the 

 aid of the abdominal pressure; 

 usually the body is then turned 

 round a little, one of the 

 shoulders coming down some- 

 what more. It appears that 

 never one flûte only is used 

 at a time; two men, their faces 

 turned towards each other, 

 produce in turns a tone on 

 their differently tuned flûtes. 

 With the legs somewhat spread 

 out, they walk, one backwards 

 and the other forwards, round 

 the central pôle, in the direc- 

 tion opposed to the hands of a 

 clock. They take twice as 

 many steps as the tones pro- 

 duced, one tone generally coin- 



cidinc with the putting down of the right foot. Occasionally two or three pairs walk round, 

 but always a number of men and youths join in the walking, in the same tempo, but in 

 a wider circle, stamping on the rattling floor. The tempo is for both flûtes from 40 to 60 

 notes to the minute, but accellerates towards the end. The playing on the narrow flûtes is, 



Fig. 191. Playing bamboo flûtes: Nimbûran. 



