CENTRAL AFRICAN GONG-LANGUAGES

OF SOME C E N T ltA L A F R IC A N GONG-LANGUAGES 37to obtain overtones with such instruments makes itpossible that they could be used to transmit messages withthe gong-language technique 0).Some Central African tribes possess both horns andgongs as means of sending messages. Thus the Mbolepeople use gongs in their villages but carry elephant orantelope horns into the forest for intercommunication.Similarly with the Olombo and Topoke tribes. In thesecases the same language is used as a basis for the gongand the horn signais. Other tribes, however, signal bymeans of horns alone and do not possess gongs or drums.This is the case, for instance, with the pigmies of theEastern Congo ( B a r n e s , 2, p. 148) (2).e )Stringed instruments.Instruments of tliis kind can be expected to have onlya limited use in signalling messages because of the relativelyshort distance over which they are audible. Butan example of the use of a stringed instrument forsignalling purposes is found among the Olombo tribe ofthe Upper Congo, where a two-stringed guitar called seseby the Olombo is used to signal orders in a game of « hideand seek » (3). This type of instrument has probablybeen intruduced into Africa from Madagascar (cf. C h a u -[}) T h e w r it e r h a s s o m e tim e s b lo w n a E u r o p e a n t r u m p e t a s i f s e n d in go u t a m e s s a g e , u s in g th e fu n d a m e n ta l n o te a n d th e f ir s t h a r m o n ie fo rth e t w o e s s e n tia l to n e s . S u c h m e s s a g e s h a v e b e e n c o m p r e h e n d e d b yn a t iv e p e o p le h e a r in g th e m .( 2) T h e Luba> S a m b a u se a h o r n f o r m e s s a g e t r a n s m is s io n in th es a m e w a y a s th e g o n g , b u t a ls o h a v e a n in t e r e s t in g s u b s titu te b y u s in gc u p p e d h a n d s . B y r a is in g o r lo w e r in g o n e f in g e r a n d so o p e n in g o rc lo s in g th e h a n d s , t w o d is tin c t n o te s a r e o b ta in e d (V a n A v e r m a e t ,98, p. 12).( 3) A d e ta ile d d e s c r ip tio n o f t h is is g iv e n . S o f a r a s th e a u th o r isa w a r e , th is m e t h o d o f s ig n a llin g w it h th e « sese » h a s n o t b e e nd e s c r ib e d in d e ta il e ls e w h e r e