Phantom- Animal Noises

  Suddenly, we heard a lion roaring a few yards away.

  “Oh,” whispered the viscount, “he is quite close! … Don’t you see him? … There … through the trees … in that thicket! If he roars again, I will fire! …”
...
These were easily obtained effects; and I explained to M. de Chagny that Erik imitated the roar of a lion on a long tabour or timbrel, with an ass’s skin at one end. Over this skin he tied a string of catgut, which was fastened at the middle to another similar string passing through the whole length of the tabour. Erik had only to rub this string with a glove smeared with resin and, according to the manner in which he rubbed it, he imitated to perfection the voice of the lion or the leopard, or even the buzzing of the tsetse fly.

-Chapter XXIV