A CURIOUS MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.


THE Hindoos have a number of musical instruments, some of which claim a high antiquity; but there is one which is extremely curious, not so much from its form or structure as from the fact that it is played neither with the mouth nor an air bag, nor with strings, nor by striking. It consists of two small silver trumpets, with a very delicate apparatus within. There are no holes as in a flute.

When the Prince of Wales was in India, the Baboo Rally Prosonno Bannerjee played on these instruments before him, and excited the greatest interest, completely puzzling all to conceive how the sounds were really produced; for he did not place the mouth of the trumpet to his lips, but to his neck. Some thought him a ventriloquist, and that the trumpets were merely used to create a false impression. It proved, however, that the delicate apparatus was so sensitive that the variations of sound were produced by the variation in the quantity of air propelled through by the pulsations of the neck, being greater or less according to the pressure on the mouthpiece.

Nothing could be, more curious than to see the performer, and to hear the soft, sweet musical sounds that issued from him.