464 
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 
on an iron or stone anvil and is laid hold of by iron pincers. In spite of the 
inefficient implements with which the native works his iron he achieves extra¬ 
ordinary results. When these people are instructed by a European smith, and 
have a proper forge to work at, their skill is quite remarkable. The chief things 
made of iron are spears, knives, axes, arrow-heads, musical instruments known 
as “Sansi,” hoes, tools for working metal, and various articles used as ornaments. 
The musical instruments are the drum; the horn ; a viol-like instrument 
called the “ Pango” j 1 a “ limba” ; a “ kalirangwe,” a one-stringed banjo ; a kind 
of wooden piano ; a flute ; and an instrument called in Nyasaland a “ sansi ,” 2 
which I here illustrate. 
Drums are of nine or ten kinds. One is often as much as five feet long. 
It may be supported on a rest made of a forked stick, or a man may straddle 
across the lower end of it with a leather band going round his waist, so that 
he holds up the drum while it is beaten by his hands. Other smaller 
drums are held under the arm, or slung round the chest. In some cases the 
drums are beaten with drum-sticks, but more often they are struck with the 
fingers. Sometimes they are constructed in rather a graceful shape like a huge 
cup or calyx of a flower standing 
upright. A drum of this descrip¬ 
tion will be probably encased in 
hide with the hair remaining on 
it, and ornamented by strings 
and strips and loops of twisted 
skin. Although ordinarily stand¬ 
ing on its smaller end this drum 
is generally supported on a man’s 
stomach, with the skin loops 
round his neck while it is being 
played. Some of the little 
drums that are held under the 
arm are not more than eighteen 
inches long. They are often 
covered with Varanus lizard 
skin. The parchment of the 
larger drums is made of the 
skin of various mammals, ox¬ 
hide being used for the largest. 
The skin is, of course, entirely 
free of hair, and is very tightly 
stretched over the mouth of the 
hollow wooden tube. Frequently 
they put dabs of india-rubber 
in the centre, as I have already 
stated. 
Natives have a regular 
“ Morse ” system of communication by drum taps, so that they can send 
messages to one another at distances of a mile or under. 
Trumpets are made of elephant tusks in the countries to the north and west. 
I give here an illustration of a Mu-lungu of South Tanganyika blowing an 
1 These names are the Chi-nyanja forms, common however to many of the other tongues of British 
Central Africa. - In Chi-yao, lulimba ; the “ Marimba” of the Congo and Angola. 
