The _nefer_, a kind of guitar, was almost identical in construction with the Tamboura at the present day in use among several eastern nations. It was evidently a great favourite with the ancient Egyptians, and occurs in representations of concerts dating earlier than from B.C. 1500. The _nefer_ affords the best proof that the Egyptians had made considerable progress in music at a very early age; since it shows that they understood how to produce on a few strings, by means of the finger-board, a greater number of notes than were obtainable even on their harps. The instrument had two or four strings, was played with a plectrum and appears to have been sometimes, if not always, provided with frets. In the British Museum is a fragment of a fresco obtained from a tomb at Thebes, on which two female performers on the _nefer_ are represented. The painter has distinctly indicated the frets. Small pipes or flutes of the Egyptians have been discovered, made of reed, with three, four, five, or more finger-holes. There are some interesting examples in the British Museum; one of which has seven holes burnt in at the side (Fig. 3). Two straws were found with it of nearly the same length as the pipe, which is about one foot long. In some other pipes pieces of a kind of thick straw have also been found inserted into the tube, obviously serving for a similar purpose as the _reed_ in our oboe or clarionet. [Illustration: FIG. 3.――BRONZE AND REED FLUTES. Ancient Egyptian. B.C. 600 or later. British Museum.] The _sebȧ_, a single flute, was of considerable length, and the performer appears to have been obliged to extend his arms almost at full length in order to reach the furthest finger-hole. As _sebȧ_ is also the name of the leg-bone (like the Latin _tibia_) it may be supposed that the Egyptian flute was originally made of bone. Those, however, which have been found are of wood or reed.