Scan 28
Researches into the early history of the violin family, 1883
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 18. See the scan on archive.org.
1neck is not unfrequently carved in the shape of a bird. Moreover, the sarinda has three strings of silk, or of catgut, the latter material being now more ordinarily used than silk. There are some other Hindu stringed instruments played with a bow which bear a still closer resemblance to the violin; but, as the sarinda is especially popular, and is chiefly played by the lower castes, it may be supposed to have been longer in use than those adverted to, and for this reason it is here mentioned in preference to others.
3The incurvations at the sides may naturally have suggested themselves for facilitating the management of the bow. The frequent use of sympathetic strings on the Hindu instruments of the fiddle class is perhaps more suggestive. The reader must be reminded that European nations had also formerly this contrivance, thin metal strings being placed beneath the catgut strings in order to increase the sonorousness by softly vibrating sympathetically when the catgut strings were struck with the bow. Of this kind of our antiquated fiddles was, for instance, the viola d'amore. Although now fallen into disuse in most European countries, the contrivance of employing sympathetic strings has not been entirely abandoned. For instance, the peasants in some districts of Norway construct a fiddle, known as the hardangerfelen, which exhibits this peculiarity. The Arabs likewise use sympathetic strings on some of their instruments played with a bow.
5Furthermore, I must not omit to draw attention to the suggestive resemblance of the soundholes on some of the Arabic and Persian stringed instruments with those of our violin family. Take, for instance, the shape and position of the two soundholes on the three-stringed rebab represented on page 85. No doubt the reader is aware that our immediate precursors of the violin had similar crescent-shaped soundholes; but also shapes resembling the ff holes are occasionally to be met with on Asiatic instruments. The Chinese and Japanese stringed instruments have generally no sound-holes on the belly; nevertheless, it is not unusual with the Chinese to paint on the soundboards of their pepa and their yue-kin two designs which remind us of
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