Rkang-gling

This instrument was collected in the field by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton, during his world trip between 1889-1891. A small straight trumpet made from a human femur bone is the traditional form of the rkang-gling ("leg bone flute"), used in Tibetan Buddhism. It has a mouthpiece made of hammered brass, and the "bell" end is covered with patches of skin and a T-shaped, brass ferrule. Both ends have a brass rings onto which is tied a vegetable fiber twine as strap.