The Arabs had to some extent become acquainted with many of the Persian instruments before the time of their conquest of Persia. An Arab musician of the name of Nadr Ben el-Hares Ben Kelde is recorded as having been sent to the Persian King Chosroes II., in the sixth century, for the purpose of learning Persian singing and performing on the lute. Through him, it is said, the lute was brought to Mekka. Saib Chatir, the son of a Persian, is spoken of as the first performer on the lute in Medina, A.D. 682; and of an Arab lutist, Ebn Soreidsch from Mekka, A.D. 683, it is especially mentioned that he played in the Persian style; evidently the superior one. The lute, _el-ood_, had before the tenth century only four strings, or four pairs producing four tones, each tone having two strings tuned in unison. About the tenth century a string for a fifth tone was added. The strings were made of silk neatly twisted. The neck of the instrument was provided with frets of string, which were carefully regulated according to the system of seventeen intervals in the compass of an octave before mentioned. Other favourite stringed instruments were the _tamboura_, a kind of lute with a long neck, and the _quanūn_, a kind of dulcimer strung with lamb’s gut strings (generally three in unison for each tone) and played upon with two little plectra which the performer had fastened to his fingers. The _quanūn_ is likewise still in use in countries inhabited by Muhammadans. The Persian _santir_, the prototype of our dulcimer, is mounted with wire strings and played with two slightly curved sticks. The musician depicted in the left-hand corner of Fig. 15_c_ is playing a _santir_. [Illustration: FIG. 15.――_a._ KEMÁNGEII, SITÂRA OR FIDDLE. Persian. About 1800. No. 939-’73. L. 36½ in.; diam. 8 in. _b._ NUY (Flute). Persian. 19th century. L. 17⅜ in. No. 959-’86. _c._ SANTIR (Dulcimer) CASE. Persian. L. 33 in.; W. 11½ in. No. 779-’76. Victoria and Albert Museum.]