SEWS BY DRUM-BEAT

Hokitika Guardian, 11 March 1921, Page 4

SEWS BY DRUM-BEAT

ICKER THAN THE TELEGRAPH. ' JJ (By A. E. Crawley). Sh< \ recent correspondence in “The ily Mail” has raised the question of 3 rapidity with which news travels in to rica by native agency, beating the tei egraph system and suggesting tele- Co thy. giu But to experienced travellers the th cret is an open one. th: The explanation of the mystery is—urns. s u The natives of Central Africa have a C ] mderful system of signalling from b; 11age to village by drum-beats. Generally the property of the ehiet, * >ese official drums, which arc many, irming a set of varying size, are as a rr lie of the species known as incision- P« rum. p This is a long, narrow, hollow cylin- f er, made from a tree trunk, with the fi mis closed. J ° A narrow longitudinal slit is made on ne side, nearly the whole length of the t [rum; in the big specimens it is about r , hree inches wide. The lips are carefully tapered, for it - s here that the drum-stick is applied, md the tone and “carry” depend on his tapering. The drum is placed in either a horizontal or vertical position, the former the best results. Big drums •airy more than ten miles. 7 Bv “relay” a message may travel a thousand miles in little more time than the velocity of sound. « * • * * The drum-telephone depends upon an elaborate code of sounds. European travellers often order their dinner and night’s lodging at the next village by a drum-message. The villagers use it as we use a postal, telegraph, and telephone service—and there are no charges. For the home service, the drum plays the part also of the church-bell, the dock, the town crier, and the daily newspaper. For instance, the Rev James Rescue, whose African adventures and discoveries have recently been exclusively reported in “The Daily Mail, ’ notes that it announced a birth or a death ; the new moon, and weekly fast day. But the home-service drums are of the membrane-head type. To help understanding of the marvellous code, as complete as a language, the remarks of Sir Arthur B. Ellis i writing of \\ est Africa) are in point. “To a European the rhythm of a drum expresses nothing beyond a •c----petiLion of the same note at dilfeient intervals of time; but to a native it expresses much more. To him the drum can and does speak, the sounds produced from it forming words, and the whole measure of rhythm a sense. Tims, at a dance of “companies,” “in one measure they abuse the men ot another company . . ■ then the rhythm changes, and the gallant deeds of their own company are extolled. All this, and much more, is conveyed by the beating of drums, and the native ear. trained to detect and interpret each beat, is never at fault.”