Page:The Melanesians Studies in their Anthropology and Folklore.djvu/361

] bamboo, pipes of the Banks' Islands, wegore, produce a plaintive little music. The corresponding nggore of Lepers' Island is longer, some three feet, and has four holes, so that native songs can be played. The waru, double flute, of the same island consists of two lengths of slender bamboo with the knot between them; on either side of the knot on the upper side is a hole, and at both ends two holes above and below. When the instrument is played the knot with its two holes goes into the performer's mouth, his outstretched hands support the bamboo, and he modulates the sound with his fingers and thumbs on the holes at the ends. The bamboo used is not more than two-thirds of an inch in diameter, for a strong sound is not liked; the music of the waru is 'excellent to hear' in native ears. In the Solomon Islands the bamboo jew's-harp, the nene of Florida, is common, which is unknown in the Eastern Islands. A stringed instrument is known in the Solomon Islands, the kalove of Florida. It is made of a piece of bent reed or bamboo a foot long and of half an inch diameter. From end to end of this two strings are stretched, passing over little bridges which are pushed up towards the end to tighten them; the strings are tuned to one note. The performer holds the curved back of the instrument in his mouth, and strikes the strings with a little plectrum of reed held in his right hand; with the fingers of his left hand he holds the kalove so that he keeps one of the strings permanently stopped, and to produce higher notes can stop the free string as the tune requires it. The music thus produced is not very audible to any one but the performer, to whom it gives great delight. Among musical instruments must be included the castanets, of shells of nuts and seeds, worn upon the ankles in dancing, upon the wrists, and, as in Santa Cruz, hung upon dancing-clubs, for these are important accessories, especially in a stamping dance such as the Banks' Island qat. In the preparation for a feast in San Cristoval men sit together to scrape the cocoa-nuts, and as they scrape follow