Pate, slit drum of oval section with standard rectangular mouth, sloping ends and recesses in the ends. The slit drum has a label on it which reads, “wooden gong, used for summoning meetings, Rarotonga”
Pate, slit Drum, and ike, beater, Rarotonga, Cook Islands, Central Polynesia Referred to as tokere elsewhere in the Cook Islands, the pate was one of the most important Rarotongan instruments. It was carved from a single piece of tamanu wood (Calophyllum inophyllum) or miro wood (Thespasia populnea) and played with a single beater only. The straight slit mouth and single beater of the pate (Horniman Museum number 3.80a) meant that it was a much simpler percussion instrument than, for example, the figure-8-mouthed kahara drum played with two beaters. However, it was adequate for keeping time during the eiva dances of the Cook Islands Maori, and could still be varied in pitch by striking it nearer or further away from the end wall of the sounding chamber. Hardwood. Late 19th Century. Collected on Rarotonga by the Rev J. J. K. Hutchin of the London Missionary Society.
