DCM 0299: Anonymous, possibly African Horn

This instrument is open at the small end and also perforated laterally about 4 cm. from the end with a large hole implying that it was actually a side-blown (lip reed) horn which therefore could have required the end hole to be closed. However, DCM or his source (Harold Reeves) understood the instrument to be a whistle, the end aperture therefore supposedly directing air at the lower edge of the side aperture. However, it does not function as such and, it being a tribal signal horn, is more likely a horn.
Instrument type: Horn
Medium: Animal horn, with leather-covered gourd tied on with snakeskin and leather.; 34 cm.
Mark Maximum: No mark.
Provenance: Harold Reeves, London, 3 Nov. 1922. Formerly in the collection of Dr. Thomas Lea Southgate, London.

The Dayton C. Miller collection in the Library of Congress, contains nearly 1,700 flutes and other wind instruments, statuary, iconography, books, music, trade catalogs, tutors, patents, and other materials mostly related to the flute. It includes both Western and non-Western examples of flutes from around the world, with at least 460 European and American instrument makers represented. Items in the collection date from the 16th to the 20th century.