| This does no, mean that it is ipso facto
excluded that ancient kettledrums found in Indonesia were also mad-
there. It should merely be stressed that one cannot be certain about
this point. The use of these drums on Alor Island, north of Timor,
referred to in the passage quoted is a clear example of the persistent
way in which certain ceremonial objects have remained in use to the
present day. Their use on Nias Island, where megaliths still play
ail important role, has already been noted.
It is worth drawing attention to the representation of figures
on certain drums from the region in which the Dong-Son Culture originated.
Victor Goloubew has examined these in his Study 'L’age du
bronze au Tonkin et dans le Nord Annam'. On the drumhead of a kettledrum
preserved at Hanoi are represented strikingly attired figures, apparently
performing a dance. Amongst them are men with. Axes of asymmetrical
shape. The depicts a ceremony .at which drums were probably also
used. The most Interesting thing is that the typical decorations
permit comparison with a very similar dance which is still performed
today on the Mentawei Islands off the west coast of Sumatra.
Other figures are playing a kind of mouth-organ, which has a resonance
box instruments of this kind are still met with among certain Dayak
tribes in Borneo. An instrument of this sort is also to be found
depicted on a stone relief at Borobudur, the Buddhist monument in
central Java, which can be dated to the middle of the 8th century
A. D. The mouth-organ, therefore, was still a familiar instrument
amongst the population of Java at that time. |
