_Drums._--The drum was a favorite instrument with the native American musician. Early explorers found its use next to universal, and the “tambour” is even now a characteristic feature of the musical paraphernalia of the Spanish-Americans. The primitive instrument was made by stretching a thin sheet of animal tissue over the orifice of a large gourd vessel or a vessel of wood or clay. The use of clay was probably exceptional, as there are but three specimens in our Chiriquian collection. The shape is somewhat like that of an hour glass, the upper part, however, being considerably larger than the base or stand. In all cases the principal rim is finished with especial reference to the attachment of the vibrating head. The example presented in Fig. 236 has a deeply scarified belt an inch wide encircling the rim, and below it is a narrow ridge, intended perhaps to facilitate the lashing or cementing on of the head. Two raised bands, intended to imitate twisted cords, encircle the most constricted part of the body, a single band similarly marked encircling the base. The surface is gray in color and but rudely polished. The walls are about three-eighths of an inch thick, the height sixteen and one-half inches, and the greatest diameter seven and one-half inches. [Illustration: Fig. 236. Drum of gray unpainted clay--¼.] The decorated specimen illustrated in Fig. 237 is imperfect, a few inches of the base having been lost. The shape is rather more elegant than that of the other specimen and the surface is neatly finished and polished. The ground color or slip is a warm yellow gray and the decoration is in red and black. The rim or upper margin is rather rudely finished and is painted red and on the exterior is made slightly concave and furnished with a raised band to facilitate the attachment of the head. The painted ornament encircles the body in four zones, two upon the upper portion and two upon the base. The designs occupying the body zones are unique and viewed in the light of their probable origin are extremely interesting. In another place further on in this paper I shall show that they are probably very highly conventionalized derivatives of the alligator radical, the meandered line representing the body of the creature and the scalloped hooks the extremities (Fig. 238). The two bands upon the base consist of geometric figures, the origin of which cannot be definitely determined, although they also probably refer to the alligator. [Illustration: Fig. 237. Drum with painted ornament in the style of the lost color group--1/9.] [Illustration: Fig. 238. Conventional design on drum shown in Fig. 237, composed of alligator derivatives.]