40 SARAWAK ETHNOGRAPHICAL COLLECTION. 



long tube passed. Ling-Roth (I.e. vol.11 p. 259) figures a 

 Dyak engkerurai with seven reeds and states: — " Some of the 

 notes appear to beFACF — F octave nearly; two holes in one 

 reed, note unascertainable ; two reeds appear to have no note 

 [? defective vibratory apparatus. R.S.] Longest reed (one which 

 has no note) to junction with gourd, 31 in.; diam. of gourd, 3| 

 in. (Edinboro' Mus)." 



The Kenyah mouth-organ is known as Slidap. The Dusun 

 mouth-organ has eight reeds set into the gourd in two rows 

 of four, four are short and equal, four are longer and unequal, 

 there are no stops but the fingering is performed on the ends 

 of the four equal short pipes, the others acting as drone-pipe 

 (cf. Ling-Roth I.e. vol. II p. 260). 



There is no specimen of a Dusun mouth-organ in the Sar- 

 awak Museum. 



JEWS-HARPS. 



The jews-harp of the Borneans are made either of Palm 

 wood such as Arenga sp. {Aping), Arenga saccharifera (ijoh) 

 and Omnia macrocladns (ibid) or else of brass. In all, sound 

 h produced by causing the tongue of the instrument to vibrate, 

 either by jerking upon a string attached to one end of the in- 

 strument or else by jarring the frame of the instrument by re- 

 peated taps with the finger. "A single note is thus produced, 

 and, in order to gain a variety of notes, the instrument is held 

 to the performer's mouth, which also performs the function of 

 a resonator. To quote Sir George Grove, ' A column of air 

 may vibrate by reciprocation with a body whose vibrations are 

 isochronous with its own, or when the number of its vibrations 

 are any multiple of those of the original sounding body. On this 

 law depends the explanation of the production of sounds by the 

 jews-harp. The vibration of the tongue itself corresponds with 

 a very low sound ; but the cavity of the mouth is capable of 

 various alterations ; and when the number of vibrations of the 

 contained volume of Jiir in any multiple of the original vibrations 

 of the tongue, a sound is produced corresponding to the mod- 

 ification of the oral cavity.' " (H. Balfour Journ. Anth. Inst. Vol. 

 XXXII p. 169, 1902). The Sea-Dyaks employ wooden and brass 



Jour. Straits Branch 



