Sometimes these Drums, instead of being mere cylinders, are carved into the most strange and fantastical patterns. I possess one of these curious Drums, brought from Ashanti, and carved out of a solid piece of wood.
The strange point in it is, that it represents a double head carrying, after all negro fashions, a sort of vessel upon it. One part of the head represents a human head (not that of a negro), while the other merges gradually into an eagle’s head and beak. It is, in fact, a Gnostic gem, and would pass muster as such if it had been engraved on chalcedony, cornelian, or other semi-precious stones which are employed in the seal-engraver’s art.
Upon this composite head is placed the Drum itself, which is also cut out of the solid block, and which, after the fashion of West African Drums, has a hole on one side.
This remarkable instrument was given to me by an old merchant captain, who brought it himself from West Africa, and who, when I made his acquaintance, had actually painted it all kinds of colours, planted it in his garden, and was using the Drum as a flower-pot. Of course, as soon as it came into my possession, I put it in “pickle,”—i.e. a strong solution of alkali,—brushed off the paint, and placed it in my museum, where it is now.
On the left hand of the illustration on page [514] is given a sort of map or chart of the human Ear, with its internal Drum, or Tympanum, as it is scientifically termed.
It is by the vibration of this Drum that hearing is made possible, the vibrations of the air being transmitted to the Drum by means of a beautiful bony apparatus, termed the Hammer, Anvil and Stirrup. Sometimes the action of the Drum is partially checked, and then the sufferer is said to be “hard of hearing.” Sometimes it is broken, or its action totally clogged, and then he is said to be “stone deaf.” There have been cases where an artificial tympanum has been inserted, and answered its purpose fairly well.
The String and Reed.
It has previously been mentioned that all sounds are owing to vibrations of the air. But there are many ways of producing these vibrations, and each mode gives a different quality of tone. We have already seen, by means of the drum, how sound is produced by percussion. We shall now see how sounds can be produced by the vibrations of a String.
If the string of a bow be pulled and smartly loosed, the result is a distinctly musical sound, higher or lower according to the length and tension of the string. Perhaps some of my readers may recall the passage in Homer’s “Odyssey,” where Ulysses strings the fatal bow:—
“Heedless he heard them; but disdained reply,
The bow perusing with exactest eye.
Then, as some heavenly minstrel, taught to sing
High notes responsive to the trembling string,
To some new strain when he adapts the lyre,
Or the dumb lute refits with vocal wire,
Relaxes, strains, and draws them to and fro;
So the great master drew the mighty bow,
And drew with ease. One hand aloft displayed
The bending horns, and one the string essayed.
From his essaying hand the string let fly,
Twanged short and sharp, like the shrill swallow’s cry.”