This instrument is a very important part of the Javanese orchestra called the _gamelon_ in Java. Their particular musical possession is the _anklong_, a set of bamboo tubes sounded by striking them. We have heard some Javanese songs sung by Eva Gauthier and we found great beauty in them. Many of these songs are centuries old. In these countries the people are very fond of making musical instruments which look like animals and the things they see around them, as for instance, the Burmese _soung_, a thirteen stringed harp, with a boat shaped body and a prettily curved neck. Think, too, of playing as they do in Burma and Siam on a harp or zither shaped like a crocodile! (Figures 12 and 13.) The Siamese use more wind instruments than the people of other Oriental lands. When Edward MacDowell, our famous composer, heard the Siamese Royal Orchestra in London, he decided that each musician made up his part as he went along, the only rule being to keep up with each other and to finish together. The fact that they thought they were doing a really lovely thing made the concert seem very comical. But the Orientals can return the compliment. A few years ago the Chinese government sent some students to study in Berlin but after a month’s time they asked to be called home because, “It would be folly,” they said, “to remain in a barbarous country where even the most elementary principles of music had not been grasped.” (From _Critical and Historical Essays_ of Edward MacDowell.) [Illustration: _Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City._ _Instruments of Burmah and Siam._ _Fig. 12.—Soung—boat-shaped harp._ _Fig. 13.—Megyoung—crocodile harp._ _Fig. 14.—Kyll Weing—gong organ._ ] [Illustration: _Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City._ _A Burmese Musicale._ ] INCAS AND AZTECS