The instrument here illustrated, the Siamese _Phan_, is of the same family as the Chinese _Sheng_ and the Japanese _Sho_. The principle is the same as regards the production of sounds in each instrument. Although the _Phan_ in appearance is so different, yet details of its construction are the same,—viz., a collection of bamboo tubes forming a related series of pipes for a succession of musical sounds; a bowl into which these pipes are inserted, the bowl having an aperture for breathing purposes; and each pipe possessing a little free reed cut in a plate metal, and the sounds of the pipes only to be elicited when a small lateral aperture at the side of each pipe is closed by the finger of the player. The pipes are also slotted, and are of superfluous length, so much so that one is at a loss to account for the purpose or the advantage supposed to be derived from the excessive length; in fact, the illustration does not show the length to which some of the bamboos actually extend. The Siamese may be able to give a reason, but we are not; and the instrument being rarely found in this country, there are no facilities for investigation of the musical effects. The instrument is apparently a rude survival of an early period when China alone was the civilising influence upon the natives of Siam; the little free reeds used presume access to an already established industry in the working of metals, and may have been obtained by the natives by way of barter. [Illustration: _The Siamese Phan_ _Mouthpiece_ _Fig. 31._] An instrument in the Brussels Museum of Musical Instruments is described by Mr. Victor Mahillon, and the scale is set out as below. The tubes are fourteen in number, fixed in two parallel rows of seven, as will be seen; and upon the right hand is the flat face of the bowl where the player places his mouth, and inspires the air from the interior, setting the reeds in motion in any of the pipes the lateral hole whereof shall have been closed. These are the notes:— SCALE OF THE PHAN. Pipes to the left hand of orifice of bowl:— [Illustration] To the right hand:— [Illustration] Notice the prominent relation of the fourth ♭_a_, ♭_d_, and that there are two notes alike,—♭_e_. These would, I expect, if tested, prove to be slightly different, so that one might be a true fourth to ♭_a_ above, and the other a true fourth to ♭_b_ below; each derived by a different progression, in the way that I have pointed out in the evolution of the _Sheng_. The Phan belongs to the same family as the _Sheng_, and it is for that reason only that it has been brought to notice here. CHAPTER XVIII. In the Land of Japan. JAPANESE PITCH PIPES AND THE JAPANESE CLARIONET AND THE SHO.