The specimens of Chinese music to whose interpretation in the light of their theory this paper is devoted have been studied in phonographic reproduction. Through the kindness of Dr. Frederick Starr of New York, who was acquainted with several of the Chinamen living at the time in the city, I obtained the opportunity on the 17th of March last to bring a phonograph to the quarters of one of them in Mott Street; and with Dr. Starr's assistance to take inscriptions of several melodies played by two performers. A few days later Dr. Starr invited some of the same Chinamen to meet us at his rooms, where again with his aid I took inscriptions of several more melodies played by two other performers. The following table gives a list of the songs thus obtained:
| Name | Player | |
| Say-Quaw-Chung | Hung-Yu. | |
| Han-Kang | Ju-Moy. | |
| Mong-Lut-Lao | ” | |
| Yen-Jee-Quaw-Chang | ” | |
| Gie-Wong | ” | |
| Kwan-Mōk | ” | |
| Lo-Ting-Nyang | ” | |
| do | Ying-Park. | |
| So-Yūn | Ju-Moy. | |
| Long-How-Sa[1] | Ju-Moy. | |
| Hop-Wong-Hin | ” | |
| San-Fa-Tiu | ” | |
| Sai-Tōn | ” | |
| Song-Ting-Long | ” | |
| Man-Nen-Fōn | Unknown. | |
| Long-How-Sa[1] | ” |
All of them excepting the last two were played upon the Samien (Samin, Sam-jin, San-hien, San-hsien), a long-necked guitar having three strings of which the two upper were tuned a fifth and an octave above the lowest. Man-nen-fon and Long-how-sa were played upon a small horn called the Gie-erh[2]. The music accompanying this paper consists of four of these melodies represented as exactly as is possible in our European notation, which is here intended to signify the ordinary tempered interval order of equal semitones embodied on our keyed instruments, the black keys being indicated by sharps[3]. It is
