covered with skins of beasts. The inhabitants of the Gold Coast have also similar instruments. Those of Benin have, besides, an instrument which may be called a harp. It is strung with five or six reeds; and they play upon it with some taste, singing and dancing to the tune. Some of the African tribes use the Banjore, a stringed instrument of the guitar tribe, played by striking it with the fingers.

The inhabitants of Congo have a lute of a singular kind. The body and neck resemble ours; but the belly, that is, the part where the rose or sound-hole has place in our lutes, is of very thin parchment. It is strung with the hair of an elephant's tail, or the bark of the palm-tree. The strings reach from one end of the instrument to the other, and are fastened to rings. Small iron and silver plates are fastened to these rings, and when the whole is put in motion by thrumming the strings, it produces a murmuring harmony, which is said not to be disagreeable.

Niebuhr says, that in the hands of a Barbari, or native of the kingdom of Dongola, he saw a sort of harp that afforded a very pleasing sound. The body of the instrument was a piece of wood of an oval form, hollowed, with a piece of skin stretched upon it, and mounted with five catgut strings, with a turning handle, to which the strings were fixed, and by which the instrument was tuned. It was played, either by pinching the chords with the fingers, or touching them with a piece of raw leather, in the shape of a bow.

Amongst the Hottentots, a very curious instrument is found, called the Goráh, which is of

great antiquity. It is a slender stick, with a string of catgut, drawn from end to end, so as to give it a slight curve, like the bow of a violin. To the lower end of this string, a flat piece of an ostrich's quill, about an inch and a half long, is attached, which connects that end of the string with the stick. This quill, being applied to the lips, is made to vibrate by strong inspirations and respirations of the breath; and whilst the principle upon which its different tones are produced, may be classed with the trumpet or French horn, the tone itself, in the hands of one who is master of the instrument, approaches to that of the violin. The performers on this instrument, at least some of them, when they play upon it, put one of their forefingers into their left nostril, holding the instrument with that hand, and the other into their right ear.* The music they produce is at times agreeable to the ear, with considerable variety of notes, and displaying a knowledge of musical intervals, and the laws of modulation. A Hottentot will sit and play for hours together upon the gorah, with increasing pleasure and satisfaction, whilst his friends around him listen without growing weary. Lively tunes seem most congenial to a Hottentot's temperature. They sing and dance with great animation; and as an accompaniment to the voice, they use sometimes a species of drum, made of a hollow piece of wood, containing a little water, and having a piece of parchment stretched over the top. This parchment is kept constantly wet, and it is beaten with the right forefinger.

* BURCHELL'S Travels, vol. i. p. 458.

Among the Moors of Sahara, we are told, that "Notes, tolerably harmonious, produced from a rudely fashioned guitar, and languishing songs, would make you imagine, when present at their concerts, that you were among Spanish musicians. As the Spanish and Moorish music were both derived from the same source, Arabia, this coincidence is easily accounted for.

The Tabla, (kettle-drum,) the triangle, the Erb'eb, an instrument similar to the Grecian tyre, but having only two strings, and a rude kind of flute, are the principal instruments in use in Morocco.+

At Tangier the music is chiefly confined to bagpipe players, who have instruments even more clumsy than themselves, which are never in tune, and on which they never keep time. They have no fixed airs, as they do not use notes, and play only from memory.‡

* MOLLIEN'S Travels in the Interior of Africa.
+ See JACKSON's Account of Morocco.
ALI BEY'S Travels, vol. i. p. 28.

K

CHAPTER XI.

AMERICAN MUSIC.

IN the brief notice of the music of savage nations, nearly all has been said, that can be said, of music which is exclusively American. The Indians, as appears from Captain Basil Hall's recent travels in that country, still retain many of their ancient customs; and, with respect to music, are generally in the same state of rude simplicity in which the first discoverers found them: whilst in the European settlements the music of the mother countries has been introduced; and thus the art in Mexico, Peru, Brazils, the United States, and the Canadas, has no pretensions to originality, but has the characteristics, respectively, of the music of Spain, Portugal, England, and France. Even the songs of the Indians, in some instances, have partaken of the qualities of European music. Lieutenant Back, who accompanied Captain Franklin in his expedition for exploring the country from Hudson's Bay to the mouth of the Copper Mine River, has published several Canadian airs, which he noted down as the Indians sung; and he tells us, that "they were gathered in a three years' intercourse with the Canadians; by whom they are sung, as they paddle down the rivers, sotto voce, and in a subdued tone, as they near

the Rapids, but with a burst of exultation when the peril is over." In these airs it is easy to trace the commixture of European science with the wild notes of the natives. The vaudevilles of France, and the ballads of our own country, have manifestly contributed to form their groundwork; and, pretty and melodious as they are, we cannot receive them as genuine specimens of

Indian national melodies.

In the British settlements, and in the United States, there are theatres in the principal towns, and music is cultivated in private families, as it is in England. The Americans have, as yet, produced no native composers, whose fame has reached our quarter of the globe; though, when in that country, we heard some very pleasing airs, composed by native Americans, whose names. have escaped our memory. In New York the Italian opera has been lately introduced by a company of performers from England; and we may expect that the science will improve with the improvement of literature and the other fine arts, which are now receiving much more attention and encouragement in the United States than was the case some years back.

The manufacture of musical instruments is carried on to a considerable extent in the United States, and encouraged by public competition. The Institute of New York every year gives to the manufacturers of pianofortes three prizes; the first and third of which were adjudged, in October last, to Robert and William Nunns, and the second to William Geib. There were several other candidates.