Griots and Musical Instruments, Sierra Leone, early 1820s

Caption, Jelleman of Soolimana (left); Jelleman of Kooranko (right). on right (kooranko) depicts a "griot or minstrel," shown with "a sort of fiddle, the body of which was formed of a calabash, in which two small holes were cut to give it a tone; it had only one string, composed of many twisted horse-hairs, and although he could only bring from it four notes, yet he contrived to vary them so as to produce a pleasing harmony..." (p.148). The author travelled in Sierra Leone in the early 1820s.

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