.
Undoubtedly it was introduced with Buddhism, from India into China,
where it became modified in unimportant details into the Ur-heen.

A curious point in connection with some oriental fiddles, such as the
Ur-heen, Uh-Ch'in (Fig. 5), Koka, etc., is that the hair of the bow
passes between the strings.

[Illustration: FIG. 5.]

Whether this circumstance is at all confirmatory of the supposition
that the rod of the Trigonon was passed between the strings would be
difficult to establish irrefutably; doubtless a logician could do so,
but I prefer making a simple statement of facts rather than forcing
them into agreement with any special theory; although I have plenty
of worthy precedents for such a proceeding, for I have observed that
most doubtful or disputed questions--the Bacon-Shakespeare
controversy, for instance--are handled in this manner.

What strikes one very forcibly on looking into the use of the bow in
the East is the great number of bowed instruments one finds. Thus in
India we have the Ravanastron in various forms; the Omerti (Fig. 6),
the Bengalese Sarinda, etc.

[Illustration: FIG. 6.]

In China, the Ur-heen, Uh-Ch'in, Saw-oo and Sawduang. In Siam, the
Saw-tai, etc. In Turkey and Arabia, the Kemangeh-a-gouz (Fig. 7),
Kemangeh-roumy, Rebab-esh-Sha'er (Fig. 8), and Rebab-el-maghanny,
also the more modern Gunibry.

[Illustration: FIG. 7.]

[Illustration: FIG. 8.]

In Persia there is also an instrument strongly resembling the Omerti
and Kemangeh in outline, called the Sitara (Fig. 9). Then there is a
primitive bowed instrument with three strings, known to the peasants
of Russia as the Goudok, which is no doubt an immediate descendant of
the three-stringed Rebab, and, more remotely, of the Ravanastron.
Abyssinia too, has its bowed instruments. In fact, the use of the bow
is universal in the "glorious Orient," from whence nearly all
products of western civilization are derived. In almost all cases
great antiquity is ascribed to these instruments. The very name
"Kemangeh-a-gouz," ancient in itself, can be roughly translated
"ancient-fiddle," thus showing that the Persians [the name is Persian
and bears out the Arab records that it came to them from Persia]
considered it then a relic of the past, and that it was a survival of
some still older instrument inherited, most likely from India. There
can be little doubt that Fetis was right in assuming this to have
been the Omerti, for, barring the long "tail