This is beaten with two short sticks of hard wood. In the
early morning, shortly before sunrise, the hollow sound of the big drum
is always heard giving the signal by a certain number of beat's for the
milking of the cows. The women and young men then commence, and when the
operation is completed, the drum beats again, and the large herds are
driven to pasturage. The signal is repeated in the evening. Should an
enemy attack the country, the sheik's big drum gives the alarm by a
peculiar series of beats, which if once heard can easily be remembered.
In a few seconds this loud alarm will be re-echoed by every drum
throughout the numerous villages, and the news of the attack will thus
spread by signal as fast as sound can travel. A certain beat of the
sheik's big drum is the call for a general assembly, in which case,
should an enemy appear, the whole forces of the district can be
concentrated in one point.
The weapons of the Baris are finely-wrought lances, and bows with
horribly barbed arrows. They seldom carry shields, as they are difficult
to manage together with the bow, and they impede the rapid movements'
which are the chief feature in Bari tactics.
The men are generally tall and powerful, always naked and smeared with
ashes, or on great occasions with red ochre and grease.
