III: INSTRUMENTS OF PERCUSSION,-or such as give forth their sounds on being struck or shaken.
1. htl, toph, seems to have denoted primarily the tambourine, and generally all instruments of the drum kind which were in use among the Israelites. There is not the slightest doubt about this instru ment. All the translations and lexicons agree in this one point ; and we have, besides, the actual evidence of existing instruments of this kind among the Arabians, bearing the same name in the forms of doff and adnfe. The toph was known to the Jews before they quitted Syria (Gen. xxxi. 27) ; it is also mentioned by Job (xxi. 12), and it is the first instrument named after the exode, being that with which Miriam led the dances with which the daughters of Israel celebrated the overthrow of Pharaoh (Exod. xv. 2o). It was employed by David in all the festivities of religion (2 Sam. vi. 5). Isaiah adduces it as the instrument of volup tuaries, but left in silence amid wars and desola tions (Is. xxiv. 8). The occasions on which it was used were mostly joyful, and those who played upon it were generally females (Ps. lxviii. 25), as was the case among most ancient nations, and is so at the present day in the East. It is nowhere mentioned in connection with battles or warlike transactions. The usages of the modern East might adequately illustrate all the Scriptural allu sions to this instrument, but happily we have more ancient and very valuable illustration from the monuments of Egypt. In these we find that the tambourine was a favourite instrument, both on sacred and festive occasions. There were three kinds, differing, no doubt, in sound as well as form ; one was circular, another square or oblong, and the third consisted of two squares separated by a bar. They were all beaten by the hand, and often used as an accompaniment to the harp and other instruments. The tambourine was usually the Egyptian tambourine had the same movable pieces of metal let into the wooden frame which we find in the tambourines of the present day. Their presence may, however, be inferred from the manner in which the tambourine is held up after being struck ; and we know that the Greek instru ments were furnished with balls of metal attached by short thongs to the circular rim (Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians, ii. At mountings for the dead the tambourine was sometimes introduced among the Egyptians, and the `mournful song' was accompanied by its mo notonous sound. This is still a custom of the East, and probably existed among the Jews.
Whether the Israelites had drums or not does not clearly appear, and in the absence of evidence pro or con it is useless to speculate on the subject. If they had, they must be included under the gene ral name of toph. The ancient Egyptians had a long drum, very similar to the tom-toms of India (No. 394, figs. 1, 3). It was about two feet or two feet and a half in length, and was beaten with the hand. The case was of wood or copper, covered at both ends with parchment or leather, and braced with cords extended diagonally over the exterior of the cylinder. It was used chiefly in war. There was another larger drum, less unlike our own ; it was about two feet and a half long by about two feet broad, and was shaped much like a sugar cask (No. 395, fig. 3). It was formed of copper; and covered at the ends with red leather, braced by cat-gut strings passing through small holes in its broad margin. This kind of drum was beaten with sticks (fig. 5). It does not appear on the monuments, but an actual specimen was found in the excavations made by D'Athanasi, in 1823, and is now in the museum at Paris.
Another species of drum is represented in the Egyptian paintings, and is of the same kind which is still in use in Egypt and Arabia, under the name of the darabooka drum. It is made of parchment stretched over the top of a funnel shaped case of metal, wood, or pottery (No. 395. figs. 2, 4). It is beaten with the hand, and when relaxed, the parchment is braced by expos ing it few moments to the sun, or the warmth of a fire. This kind of drum claims particular attention from its being supposed to be represented on one of the coins ascribed to Simon MaccabMus (No. 397, fig. 5). When closely examined, this instrument will appear to be the same in principle with our kettle-drum, which, indeed, has been confessedly derived from the East, where other played by females, who are represented as dancing to its sound without the accompaniment of any other instrument. The imperfect manner of re presentation does not allow us to see whether instruments on the same principle are not wanting. One of them (No. 397, fig. 4) is just the same as the instrument we have derived from it : others are smaller in various degrees, are of different forms, and are tapped lightly with the fingers. Such drum-tabrets were not unknown to the ancient Egyptians, as may be perceived by fig. 2, No. 394.