"The string instrument, fig. 176, is the only specimen of its kind I have found in the swamp people. It consists of two main parts, the string holder with its strings and the resonant bottom. The string holder consists of a 35.3 cm. long and 16.5 cm. wide rectangular disc, made of ten tubes, which by means of two pins and the strings were joined next to each other.
The two outer tubes have a width of 2 cm., The others of about 1.5 cm. The tubes at both ends are about 2.5 cm. from these pierced in the horizontal direction and through the two rows of holes which have arisen through them, pins are fitted.
In order to strengthen the string holder, the tubes are also connected to three base cords, two of which run along the pins and the third across the middle of the string holder. Two stepped wooden pegs are tied across the string holder in the manner shown in the picture.
The ten adjacent pipes are chamfered between these transverse bars (stables), so that the string holder here consists of a series of parallel gutters. Each such chute is intended to act as a resonant bottom. Nine strings are stretched over the string holder's stables. These are really just parts of one and the same string, which runs between the pipes back and forth over the holder, in a way that can be seen from the figure. However, the string on the original for this one has broken, so the picture only shows seven of the nine strings that the instrument originally had. One end of the string is tied around a tube, on the other a small stick is tied; this pin prevents the end of the string from sliding out between the tubes. If the string loosens, pull the locking pin so that the string is extended sufficiently to be wound half or a full turn around a pipe end, after which the small locking pin is fastened again between two pipes. The string consists of two twisted, finely twisted tendon strings of the same nature as the string of the music frame I previously described.
The strings, because they form part of an overhanging string, cannot be tuned in different pitches. When the string is tightened harder, all nine strings give a higher tone, although of course they react differently due to the friction of the string against the pipes.
In the middle of the string holder are two rattles attached, each consisting of two thin, round iron plates. When the strings are strung, they sound with a faint, humming sound.
The string holder, which in itself constitutes a system of gutter-shaped resonant bottoms, is attached over the mouth of a gourd, which has the task of further amplifying the sound. This gourd has a height of 24 cm. and a largest diameter of 23.5 cm.
This instrument is played with the fingers or with an electron consisting of a stick and gives crisp but beautiful tones, which are quite reminiscent of tones from a tilted string.
In his doctoral dissertation, Ankerman has depicted a five-string musical instrument (Fig. 46), which is very reminiscent of what I have just described. The image depicted by Ankerman comes from the Waking people (the northern end of Nyassa). It differs from that described above in that the tubes of which the string holder consists are not chamfered, so that they form grooves."
(pp. 256-266, von Rosen, 1916, translated from Swedish).
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