VII 
DRUMS 
89 
native villages situated near European settlements, it 
is the practice to permit dancing on Saturday night only. 
The natives have other kinds of musical instruments, 
such as flutes and guitars, but the drum furnishes 
the dance music. Some of the guitars are neatly made 
and the sound box is covered with thin skin, often that 
of the python. The men will often play monotonous 
tunes on such instruments for hours. These guitars are 
sometimes ornamented with the tail of a goat. 
I had heard that in some parts of Uganda a drum¬ 
covering is made from the ear of an elephant. My 
efforts to obtain or see such a drum were unfruitful. 
It is conceivable that the ear of the African elephant 
could be used for such a purpose, for some ears measure 
four feet across. 
There is a tract of country extending from the 
north-west corner of Tanganyika towards the main 
affluent of the Congo in that region known as the 
Manyema Country. Pure cannibalism is practised by 
the Manyema people. They eat their own dead. Thus 
a father would not eat his own son or daughter, neither 
would anyone of the same village, so the corpse is given 
to the natives in a neighbouring village. When 
anyone is very ill and likely to die, word is sent to the 
relations in the nearest village, and they await the 
signal to fetch away the body. The information 
of the death is generally conveyed by drum-signal. 
(Cunningham.) 
Drums also play a part in fetish-worship, and an 
extraordinary drum of this kind comes from Ashanti; 
it is decorated with the thigh bones of human beings 
and the skull of a baboon. This drum was sounded at 
human sacrifices. 
Drums now serve better purposes in Uganda, for they 
are used to summon the worshippers to church. It is 
odd that pious people should require to be reminded of 
their religious duties by means of such discordant sounds 
as the doleful ringing of bells or the booming of drums. 
