The aforesaid standard pipe of the imperial archives is blown after another fashion. It is an open pipe, and is blown at one end in such a way that the lip of the player forms the base, corresponding to the languid in the organ pipe, a semi-oval or V shaped piece being cut away from the end of the pipe, over which the stream of air is directed; the opening taking, in fact, the function of the mouth of the organ pipe. The mode of blowing is not altogether, or peculiarly, a Chinese method, for the Egyptian _Nay_ may be considered an approach to similarity; but there is a little pipe found in Bolivia, in use among the Indian Quechas, which is exactly the counterpart of the Chinese _Lu_ pipe as regards construction, and the mode of blowing is the same. The little pipe is called the _Krena_; it is made of bamboo, and has six holes, the successive opening of which gives the notes following, the lowest being the end note of the pipe:— [Illustration] [Illustration: _The Krena._ _Fig. 39._] Here is an illustration of the _Krena_; it is of one in the Brussels Museum. Being recently in the British Museum, I lighted upon an instrument on this principle, having two holes only, but in other respects the same; comes from Donga in the Niger region, and is called the _Lera_. The Japanese have a flute called the _Siaku-hachi_ which is of this nature, and is evidently traceable to the Chinese. The fact of a pipe cut in this particular fashion being adopted as the standard by authority for music, and for measures, indicates a very early usage for this kind of flute pipe; perhaps it came next in succession to the Pan’s pipes. Indeed, I have seen some specimens of Pan’s pipes, found with the people in the Malay Archipelago, which are double cut in this way. The Rev. F. W. Galpin, the well-known enthusiastic collector of musical instruments, possesses some of this type obtained from Indian tribes of the North West of America, which I have heard him play as to the manner born. The wide diffusion of this type raises curious questions of the dispersion of races, as against that of a common instinct leading to similar development. The _Tche_ is undoubtedly an instrument concerning which, both practically and historically, a fuller knowledge is to be desired; it involves some curious acoustical problems which would form an interesting study. Certified as being one of the most ancient of Chinese musical instruments, it indicates that when it first was introduced a high degree of civilization must have been attained, and a very keen intelligence have been directed to musical problems, before so complete a system of relation of tones, and measurement of pipes, could have been worked out on a fixed method.