[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

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THE cones 5113
identiï¬Åcation is unnecessary since the gongs belonging to the
various villages are distinguished by their differences in volume,
quality, and pitch. To an untrained ear such differences are not
easily discernable and the great variety of rhythms-—ma.ny of
which are very cornplex—are not easily remembered or dis-
entangled. Even Deacon, who knew not a little about music,
had considerable diï¬Åiculty in learning a few of the simpler
gong-beats. In an early letter he writes : " I much regret not
having a phonograph or rhythmograph . . . It will be difficult
to make an accurate record of the rhythms of what appears to
bea gong-language, without something of the nature of a rhythmo-
graph. A native gets tired before you can get the rhythm learnt
sufficiently well to be able to record it." And later he noted :
"I have recorded a number of locality gong-rhythms, but am
not satisï¬Åed with the notation. Moreover, quite often, what
appears to me to be the same rhythm is said not to be, and, on
the other hand, I detect variations in rhythms which are said
to be the same. It appears to be a question of the direction in
which European and Melanesian musical sensibility has
developed.â€ù
Undoubtedly to the average adult male Malekulan the tran-
slating of these gong messages presents little or no difficulty,
and though the services of certain specialists are sometimes
engaged on great ceremonial occasions to perform the marvellously
complex and intricate rhythms required for certain dances, every
man is able to beat out such signals as are used in everyday life.
It is noteworthy that independent witnesses gave the same gong~
beat for the parent villages of the same clans, even when they
had no kinsfolk or relatives by marriage who belonged to these
clans. This goes to prove that a knowledge of the characteristic
gong-beats is widely disseminated and that the system of gong-
signalling is in more or less constant use. Often when men are
sitting together in the evening talking, recounting tales of former
ï¬Åghts, telling the legends of the Ambat, a distant gong will be
heard beating. The older people present will tell a young man to
go out to some open spot and listen to what the gongs are saying.
Perhaps it is a village announcing the killing of a pig, or perhaps
it is a war signal which is being relayed, or the young man may
ï¬Ånd that it is the signal for someone of his own village to go
on the following day to the village whose gongs are speaking.