Wooden Drum Ga'unjau

Item number E89141-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.

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Notes

From card: "Presented by Ellsworth [a.k.a. Ellswarsh], a chief. See U.S.N.M. Report 1888, p. 446, pl. 29. A rectangular box open at top. When used as a drum it is held on one corner, the open top towards the drummer and its sides beaten. The sides and ends are one piece of wood. Three triangular grooves are cut across the piece at the inside where the corners are to come the wood is bent a right angle. What splinters occur are speared off, giving rounded corners on the outside. The sides are painted with their conventional designs of the thunder bird, masks, etc. Used as a drum in their ceremonies." Note re photos: Neg. #s 96-20092 shows side 1, and 96-20093 shows side 2, of this box drum's painted sides.Per the entry on E89186 in the website http://alaska.si.edu/, Ellsworth or Ellswarsh may refer to Daniel Eldjiwus [a.k.a. Daniel Elljuuwas], a chief and builder of the House of Contentment at Skidegate.