New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-09-03
BULu DRUM NAMES
Echoing Sound a Summons to
African Villagers.
A PHRASE FOR EACH ONE
When a Tribesman Is Wanted
the Drummers Exhibit
Their Skill.

Every one OF the Bulu tribe emong
whom I live has drum name, and so.
suppose, has every member Of all the In
terror tribes Of this West African. forest
J of the Kamerun. BY this phrase, beaten
out on the call drum, the individual Ia
summoned from the forest to the village
or from town TO town.
| Abote tells me that her ndsn or drum
call is. Don't taught am dead" (Ts
woe-me juyaD
| my ndan," says Esola, zig, The little
parrot has eaten all the palm nuts which
is way of saying that am small but
able"
"And mine" says Fam, u.s. Don't walk
in the towns. your husband is Jealous"
One looks at Fam and wonders why. Not
tattoo, nor careful frettings Of the skin Of
| her body into designs In low relief. nor
a brass collar Weighing a good four pounds
nor any other OF the artful resources prac-
tised by this forest people have repaired
| In the person Of Fam the "irreparable out
rage Of the years" Then one remembers
that her drum name may be the history
| OF her youth-the seal OF day when she
carried her elaborate headdress above
| young body, and when her proud walk
| ings abroad were notable.
But that would be long ago now and
before we made our clearing on this hill
among the many hills Of the forest or built
our little brown settlement OF bark houses
and matched them with leaf-thatch.
| From the shade OF our house / see our
own cell drum. a followed log. four feet
| long, trimmed to an oval and with blind
ends. 1t stands on a frame under its hood
Of thatch, overhangng. from the rim Of
our clearing, our world Of crowding hills
and the climbing tide Of the forest. Lost
| to the eye in that green flood little VII
| lagos sleep, and every little village has It's
! tongue. Now and again from the deep Of
| the forest rises the stacc3to beat OF can
drum-the voice Of the village speaking
across the uninhabited places, calling the
women in from the garden for the guests
are many" warning an absent hunter that
| your wife has run away or your wife
| las borne a child" Presently Sakutu, our
drummer, will put his hand in the fissure
| that runs the length OF the drum and will
bring out his sticks: striking the drum with
these. he will abruptly and terrihcally shat
ter the afternoon Then the voice from
the thick lip Of the drum that is the man
voice and the voice from the thinner lip
J that is the woman voice will cry out ar
| ticulately TO the rim OF our horizon. Every
, where the villages will give ear 10 a mes
sage from the white mans town, until
seventeen miles from here. IN the neigh
borhood Of Njabilobe, the last vibration
dies.
| To the trained ear the drum actually
syllabizes: the infection Of a phrase, It's
fra mil a
Bulu speaking his indian" speaks curiousy
| like drum.
The drum is as non-commttal as evasive,
as the Bulu Sakutu calling up the women
of the neighborhood to barter for food Will
beat the conventional phrase. Since morn
ing have not eaten" or Hunger Is IN my
stomach" or-most subtle and reproachtul
OF suggestions-"As I was yesterday, so am
1 to-day" OF a Sunday, before the late
| tropical dawn has dimmed the morning
star he will beat a Sunday morning call:
| THE promise we promised is fuhled TO-
day.; a phrase that is whole engage
ment book in itself, and that is ratified II
this case, by the interested parties, VITA
| calculations upon certain noJched SUCKS
or the moving up OF wooden pegs into the
last of seven holes.
| Thus to all primal facts Of life have been
fitted phrases for the call drum; and these
nbrases- long traditional, have shaken the
hearts of this forest people for generations,
/ Yesterday ! sat chatting with a group OF
man who fell silent at the beat OF a drum
A.; from a village in the forest below us'
"Obam has died." one told me; and the
drum name Of Obam rose TO us In the oiue
afternoon coupled with the old poignant
| call to mourning, "Ba, ba, mo toe' (Cross
cross his hands on his breasO
Thus to the members of this tribe since
the memory OF man has the death OF theH
fellows been announced, and through I'M
numbered years the hearts OF men nave
halted under the immediate stroke OF TINS
phrase. -.
The drum is indeed very powerful VII"
the human heart. When 1t is beaten W
rhythm-and the dance drums OF this couh'
try are beaten with an incredible perfec-
tion Of rhythm-the heart. the white mans
lheart. Is troubled, and guesses at secre'
reaninps. at obscure and hurrying agits-
t,ons at ignoble lasstudes and latent oe-
spairs-not so much OF the senses as OF 'no
sn,r,t But when the call drum gives
tongue. sudden and violent tongue, 10 tne
certain life. the heart is stricken and nats
have Weakened at night with tne 0l""'O'
of the night alarm failing from "oH'
drums upon my heart in rain OF teiio'
Enthusiastically no man Sleep ~"
no man slept. The memory OF 'his ih
night panic has long outlived any nem0.'
OF the simple explanation which came !"
US with morning.
Drums are not all OF equal power ".
Indeed are their voices moro alike thah w
voices OF people are. So l am toia ps NY
friends. who could never. say they ian W
locate a drum by its voice. EXON, ".
famous craftsman, is dead, but MS uFu.''
vet sneak. and It was he who naho w
Npem his great drum, the one that new,
LIED For so brave was Ngem ara OF susA
an infallible cruelty that a warhhs
h..ter nv him was speedily fulnhe'
Wis exceeding 10y, say my friends "'
| the killing Of men, most admirable man
| tIa died 70 the long grief OF his uipe' sI
fo- him 700 7 suppose, was beaten the -
a. ,,,o,rp But not on his own drum ro'
who. ask my friends. should oea' Wv
- -, ca great a mann" AT the voice
~ u many would remember ana sr'e'
COW some. and otherh say. might II NV
he that the people. hearing the Gun
would say in their hearts that Nsefn nov
returned?" ...re
Into the daylight OF our little e'ea.s
how many mseries are brought VI
body and OF the mind. and how many
scure terrors For here is always SV ~.
one to speak comfortable words. IKE ~
words of a mother in the dark 90 49,
should certain poor bodies do. when Wv.