Singing, music, and dancing, or other rhythmic action, are very much mixed up together, as is always the case in the elementary stages of those arts; and a combination of all three is practised by the itinerant poet known as the ‘dancing-man.’ Of his instrument, the _chimwenyumwenyu_, Mr. Barnes says that ‘performers on it are rare and are most welcome guests in any village.’ It is a primitive kind of fiddle, with one string and a gourd resonator, played with a bow, which, when made, has its string passed over the string of the instrument, and so can never be taken off. The man in the illustration, however, appears to be playing on the _limba_, which has six strings strung on a piece of wood across the mouth of a large gourd, and is played with both thumbs. The gourd is hung round with bits of metal or of shells, to jingle and rattle when it is shaken. The ‘dancing-man’ teaches the children the chorus of his songs, and then, ‘carries on a dialogue of song with his audience, with the excitement and rhythm of an inspired improvisatore.’ Another kind of _limba_ is that shown in the illustration, which was obtained from some Atonga:—a shallow wooden trough with a handle at one end, and pierced at top and bottom with six holes, through which a cord is strung backwards and forwards, and tightened up by winding round the handle. Like the other kind of _limba_, it is played with the thumbs. But the word _limba_ is of wide application; it (or its plural _malimba_, _marimba_) sometimes denotes the xylophone or ‘Kafir piano’ (Ronga _timbila_), while natives use it for a harmonium, organ, or piano. Other stringed instruments are the _pango_, resembling the dancing-man’s _limba_, but played with a stick or plectrum instead of the thumbs; the _mngoli_, the body of which is made like a small drum—it has one string with a bridge, and is played with a bow; the _kalirangwe_, with one string and a gourd resonator, played either with the fingers or a bit of grass; and the very primitive one (_mtangala_) represented in the illustration, which is played by women only, and is simply a piece of reed, slightly bent, with a string fastened at one end and wound on the other, so that it can be tightened up at pleasure. One end of this is held in the mouth and the string twanged with the finger, producing a very slight but not unpleasant sound, which, as Bishop Colenso remarked of a somewhat similar instrument in Natal, ‘gratifies the performer and annoys nobody else.’ The _sansi_ has a set of iron keys fixed on a wooden sounding-box, and played with the thumbs; it has a piece of metal fixed on the front of the box, to which are attached small discs cut from the shells of the great _Achatina_ snail, so as to clash when shaken, like the bells on a tambourine. A very similar instrument has the keys made of bamboo. [Illustration: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 1. _Limba_ (Atonga) 2. _Sansi_ 3. Reed (_mtangala_) From Specimens in the Ethnological Museum at Cambridge]