52 CYPRUS. 
instruments at Larneca : we bought one of thenij 
The more antient Testudo is not yet quite 
extinct : we procured one from a Lacedcemonian 
family, who were natives of Misitra, near to 
the remains of the antient Sparta. It is a shell 
of the land-tortoise, to which a wooden neck 
has been adjusted, like that of a guitar, or 
Cithara ; and it has two strings, like the Russian 
Balalaika. The different names of Testudo, 
Lyra, and Cithara, were all given to the chorded 
shell '; and this was also the (po^y^y^ of Homer. 
It seems to have been the parent of all the 
stringed instiniments known in music. With 
its lengthened neck, the Testudo became, either 
Cithara or Lyra : afterwards it passed through 
the various modifications exhibited by the 
viol, the violin, the lute, guitar, dulcimer, 
harp, hurdy-gurdy, harpsichord, and many 
other, as the strings were multiplied, and 
the means of exciting their melodies were 
varied. Thus we find the singing- women, 
who came to meet Saul, when David was 
returned from the slaughter of Goliath', 
(playing upon •' the ordinary and antient in- 
struments of their country) described as coming 
(l) " When Jubal struck the chorded shell. "Dn/den. 
(3) 1 Samuel, xviii. 6. 
