The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-11-04
TIE TELEGRAPH DRUM.
Prof. Garner Tells Of African Teleg-
TlphT.

ldpui'
A New Service Sent by Sound The
Discoverer Of the Language Of Mon
keys Imparts New Information to
Civilization.
From the New York Advertiser
1.-THE talking drums Of equatorial AZ
/ RIGA are something which puzzles the trav-
. eler who sees what can be done with
them" said Prof Garner who name has
Z become universally known on account Of
. his Investigations into the speech Of the
monkey family. q first came across talk
ing drums when I was on my way up the
. CAMERON river in territory about four
/ degrees north Of the equator. While we
/ were sailing up the river I noticed pecu-
/ liar beating Of a drum which seemed TO be
/ answered by another some little distance
/ off. ] asked one Of the natives with me
what the meaning of the drumming was.
/ He listened moment then said: That's
a fisherman down at the river shore in
} front of the town Of CAMERON which
was then not in sight. He is calling the
/ natives to come down to the shore to buy
his fish. He is telling them by beating his
drum: Come down and buy my fish.
have three large ones and two smaller ones
/ and many others smaller. All fish caught
| to-day Then he explained that the other
drum I heard was a rival fisherman who
was beating on his drum to the inhabi-
/ tants of the town: He lies. His fish are
not fresh. They We're caught yesterday
But come buy my fish; 1 have seven large
ones and just caught them
Il thought my native follower a clever
I romancer but he insisted that that was
I the significance of the drum beats, and
told me he would prove it to me when we
| got to town. When we arrived opposite
to the town, to satisfy my curiosity, l
asked the native to show me the fishermen
I We took a boat, and were soon at the
landing of the town. There sure enough
was the fisherman, stll beating his drum
and in his bOat-I took the trouble to
count them-lay three large fish and two
small ones, besides numerous very small
ones just as had been described to me
| from the drum beats by my man. The
fish did not look very inviting, and must
surely have been day old. We padded to
another point where the rival fisherman
was beating his advertisement to the
townsfolk
This was my first experience with talk
/ ing drums, and il puzzled me to account
for this method of communication, mas
much as the natives had not the least idea
/ of an alphabet. Some little time after this
/ ! was 1t town and desired to get a boat
/ and several men TO take me further up the
/ river. When I told the natives what l
wanted they told me they would have a
/ boat come down the river from a town
some twelve miles above, as this was the
/ only boat which they knew of that would
be suited for my purpose.
when they asked me how MANY uen I
wanted and had gotten the particulars,
| one of the natives took a drum to the
! shore of the river and began to beat it in
/ a strange manner sounding in rhythm
something like the tick of the telegraph
/ instrument The drum was unlike those
/ which they used for dancing, being more
/ cylindrical in form. 1t was about three
| feet long and six inches in diameter. The
/ shell was made of wood, burned out and
/ il looked like bamboo. There were holes
! in the sides and in the end, through which
| the sound passed. The head was covered
| with skin. The native sat down and place
the drum before him. Then he beat with.
| his fingers this strange tattoo, which he
! kept up continually until, far in the dis
/ lance away up the river 1 heard the faint
| noise Of another drummer beating the
! same thing. The drummer, as soon as he
! found that his fellow up at the next town
| was repeating the message correctly,
! stopped. l listened and soon the drum
] III.
| that only occasional beats could be dis
| tnguished, / heard another drummer.
/ was then told that my message would be
| repeated from town to town until it ar
/ rived at its destination.
| Il asked if I would know whether the
/ boat would come, and they told me
would receive an answer. Some time after
this I again heard drum-beats and ma
/ tive told nae that they had received word
that the boat would leave and arrive here
/ at such time. The boat arrived Just when
/ tn drum messenger said 1t would. and this
/ proved to me that the natives of Africa
| have a sure means of communication by
| drum-beats. They told me that all kinds
! of messages were repeated from town to
/ town by drum beats. The towns are from
one to two miles apart, and the drum
ming can be heard distinctly al that dis
| lance. They can call names of an individ-
ual, represent nouns and verbs and some
/ few abjectivcs. Even after having this
| strange system of communication demon
! strated to me / doubted. So when l was
! spending my time with Capt Buchan
| who had lived i'm Africa for years and was
! we'll acquainted with the characteristics
Of the various tribes, I asked him con
! corning them after. He verified what /
| told him and to demonstrate more fully
| called his boy and told him to drum for a
/ certain man in the town above II was but
. a short time until that wanted person an
/ peafed. Then. some time after this |
/ was talking with Il. j. Glave who was
six years with Stanley in the Congo basin
He told me Of other tribes who used drum
/ beating as a means Of communication He
named the Balolo and Balola tribes as
| being quite expert lie mentioned an ex-
/ perience he had while located at Lukalila
/ He heard Of a herd of elephants which
We're on rampage on the opposite side
/ Of the Congo, about twelve miles from
I the town. He went out to hunt them but
| after searching for some time was un-
able to locate them. He had to go back to
I the town, SO some of the natives of the
( town near the place where the elephants
/ We're supposed to be told him
I theE would let him know il
( the herd came about again That
. night he was awakened between 10 and II
4 by a native, whe told him that tho herd of
elephants had returned. and was tearinp
I up the plantations on the outskirts of the
town. The message had been received by
1 drum-hcats from one town TO another He