46 SARAWAK ETHNOGRAPHICAL COLLECTION. 



two perpendicular borders consist of incised lines bounding a 

 series of diamond shaped figures, the horizontal border is similar 

 to that on the other side. 



There are two drumsticks also of tapang (Abauria excelsa) 

 wood ; each is bored at the top with a hole and they were once 

 joined together by a length of string ; they are slightly decorated 

 with incised lines but the patterns which it was intended to form 

 have never been completed. Length 61 cm. ; breadth at top 7*5 

 cm, ; breadth at bottom 11 cm. ; height 22 cm. ; length of stick 

 24 cm. 



Catalogue No. 57. Brooke Low collection. 



The instrument has been figured by Ling-Roth (1. c. Vol. II 

 p. 263.) A large block of wood shaped like a pig and hollowed 

 out, hangs by the antimony works of the Borneo Co., at Busau, 

 Upper Sarawak ; it is beaten to call the men to work and emits 

 a very loud resonaut sound ; it was made by a Malay. 



Class II— Metal Gongs. 



From a native point of view these are the most important of 

 all musical instruments. Formerly certain varieties of gongs 

 were in universal use as currency and at the present day fines 

 levied on natives by the Sarawak Government are paid in many 

 cases in gongs, brass ware, and old jars. The large heavy gongs 

 known as taivaks are worth any thing from $30 to $100, not 

 only their weight but their tone and resonance being taken into 

 account by the appraisers. The wealth of a chief consists chiefly 

 of gongs and jars, and his collection of the former, is if he is in 

 prosperous circumstances, always increasing. They are played 

 at ceremonies and festivals of every description and the noise 

 produced by the beating of twenty or thirty gongs all at the 

 same time can be better imagined than described. The Land- 

 Dyaks of Quop have definite names for the different rhythms 

 with which a series of gongs can be beaten and I have no doubt 

 that the same is the case amongst other tribes. 



The four principal varieties of gongs are : — 



1. Gongs proper ; large shallow gongs with flat boss or 

 none at all. 



Jour. Straits Branch 



