2 24 
A Specimen Day 
to causer but to danser. At times, when King 
Fitevanga condescended to show his agility, the 
uproar of applause became deafening. The or¬ 
chestra consisted of two men sitting opposite each 
other,—one performed on a caisson, a log of hol¬ 
lowed wood, four feet high, skin-covered, and fanci¬ 
fully carved; the other on the national Anjya, a 
rude “ Marimba,” the prototype of the pianoforte. 
It is made of seven or eight hard-wood slats, 
pinned with bamboo tacks to transverse banana 
trunks lying on the ground : like the grande caisse , 
it is played upon with sticks, plectra like tent-pegs. 
Mr. W. Winwood Reade (“Savage Africa,” chap, 
xiii.) says: “The instrument is also described by 
Froebel as being used by the Indians of Central 
America, where, which is still more curious, it is 
known by the same name—‘ marimba/ ” Of course 
they borrowed the article and the name from the 
negroes : most tribes in Africa have their own 
terms for this universal instrument, but it is every¬ 
where recognized by the African who knows 
Europeans as “ marimba.” Thus Owen tells us 
(p. 308) “ that at the mouth of the Zambesi it is 
called ‘ Tabbelahf ” evidently the Arabic “ Tablah” 
Another favourite instrument is a clapper, made of 
two bamboos some five feet long, and thick as 
capstan bars,—it is truly the castanet en grand . 
Highly gratified by the honour, but somewhat 
overpowered by the presence and by that vile 
