siOBX; - Smithsonian Institution

224 BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bdll.103
passed around a hoop made of hickory about half an inch thick. A similar hoop
is placed above the first. To the second hoop are attached four narrow strips of
rawhide, each of which is fastened to a peg passing diagonally through the
wall of the drum. To tighten the head of the drum it is necessary merely to
drive the peg farther in. In this respect, as well as in general form, the drum
resembles a specimen from Virginia in the British Museum, as well as the drum
even now used on the west coast of Africa. It is not possible to say whether
this instrument is a purely American form or whether it shows the influence
of the negro.'^
Cypress knees were also commonly used for the body of the drum.
The opening was usually closed with a deerskin but a bearskin is said
to have been employed at times.
Simpson Tubby's description of the drum agrees quite closely
with that given by Bushnell. He said it was made of a section of
black gum or tupelo gum, hollowed out and 12 or 16 inches across,
and of about the same length. Over the ends of this deerskins were
fitted, each skin being first brought over the outside of a hoop or
" cuff " and fastened tight, the cuff being just large enough to fit
over the end of the body. After these had been put in place, a
larger cuff was made and fitted tight over each and the two outside
cuffs were fastened together by means of diagonal cords. Midway of
the drum were two other cuffs or hoops fastened to the diagonal cords
in such a way that when they were pushed in opposite directions
they tightened the heads of the drum. The cuffs were made of white
switch hickory, the cords anciently of deer hide, but later of store
leather. Two deer-hide strings were allowed to lie across the end of
the drum opposite that which was struck. One of these was looser
than the other, so that two distinct notes resulted.
Drum sticks were made principally of maple, poplar, or ash. Each
had a knob at the end, one made smaller to " beat the seconds," while
most of the noise was made with the other. They beat on the end of
the drum opposite that across which the strings lay but most of the
noise is supposed to have been made by the other end, the compressed
air transferring the vibrations across. If they wished to protect the
drumhead they wrapped the knobs of the drumsticks with cloth.
It is claimed that no rattle was used except that in the snake dance
two sticks were struck against each other. In this dance they gradually
spiraled in to the center in the way in which a rattlesnake makes
its coils, stopped a minute, and then unwound.
Simpson informed me that feasts were held from time to time
throughout the year but that the most important ones were in the
fall and early winter, and they were accompanied by ball games and
dances. The last feast of the year was near the present Christmas
when the Choctaw were summoned from all quarters. It is not clear
^ Bull. 48, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 22.