OCR Text |
Show 2 8 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [ BULL. 75 instruments in Pima rain ceremonies that they are usually spoken of as "' rain sticks." ll Serrated instruments, with rasping sticks, were also used by the Negroes of central Africa and by the Chinese. Hand drum.- This instrument is used with songs of the Lame dance ( pp. 105- 111), Double dance ( pp. 118- 119), and Iron- line dance ( p. 120), as well as with war songs ( pp. 146- 160) and parade songs ( pp. 166- 173). A specimen of the hand drum ( pi. 6) was obtained and is described as follows by Mr. Hawley: " Small drum. H. 3f in., dia. 12J in. Shell of bent wood, the joint lapped and nailed. The inside is reinforced with a strip of bent wood 1{ in. wide, •& in. thick; its ends do not quite meet; one skin head stretched over the shell when wet. It extends halfway down the outside of the shell. Holes are made in the edge of the skin If in. apart, also corresponding holes in the median line of the shell and its reinforcement. Two buckskin thongs are passed in and out through these holes in opposite directions and tied inside. A handle of two strips of cotton cloth cross each other at right angles. A handhold is formed by bringing these together for about 1{ inches at the center and wrapping them with a strip of cloth ( pi. 7). Near one end of the reinforcement a buckskin loop to suspend it is attached to the thong that binds the skin head to the shell. Both outside and inside have been colored yellow. The skin is so heavy that its shrinkage has misshaped the shell. Drumstick, handle, a round stick like a section of a grapevine. Head of white cotton cloth wrapped several times around one end of stick, held by tying its ends together. Stick, L. 12£ in., dia. ^ in.; head, L. 4J in., dia. 1£ inches." Large drum.- It is interesting to note that the large drum is used with the Turkey dance and Woman's dance, the former, and probably the latter, of these dances being introduced among the Utes from other tribes. This drum is of the usual type and is placed on the ground, the singers sitting around it and drumming as they sing. The usual size permits the seating of 8 or 10 drummers around it, but it is said that 14 men are sometimes seated at a drum. Flageolet.- In general construction this instrument ( pi. 5, a) resembles the flageolet used in many other tribes. It is made of a straight section of wood which has been split lengthwise, the pith removed, and the two pieces glued together. In length it is about 11 inches and in diameter 1J inches. It has a whistle mouthpiece with the windway outside. The sound holes are in two groups of three each, those in the group farthest from the mouthpiece being slightly nearer together than those in the other group. The instrument was played for the writer, and had an extended range and a pleasing quality of tone. It is said that a much better tone is produced if the instru-u Russell, Frank, The Pima Indians. Twenty- sixth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 167, Washington, 1908. |