Old instrument, not sure what it is.

[jasminesphotography]

I'm having trouble finding out what this instrument is called. It is in my boyfriend's grandma's house. It was given to her a long time ago and she doesn't know anything about it. The guy who gave it to her said he used to play it in an orchestra. I tried searching for orchestra instruments but I can't find anything on Google. I don't see any special sort of markings on it either.
I'm very eager to know more about it. Thanks in advance!

[CuriousCollector]

It looks to me like a marriage between a balafon, which is a West African instrument



and a marimba, which is what happens to a balafon when you send it to the Caribbean, and given it some decades to evolve:



Marimbas are often metal, but usually when metal, the sound comes from metal tubes, like this one.



I would be interested to know what kind of sound it makes!

Wait -- are those chinese characters on the striking keys?

[sapphire]

Think you're right Curious.  Here's a cropped shot that I tried to clear up

[sapphire]

Shoot that didn't work 

Going back to uncropped 

[sapphire]

Excuse me while I head for the caffeine......they both worked, duh 

[Sara Finn]

The item in question looks like a Chinese bell (Zhong) xylophone/glockenspiel to me .
 

[jasminesphotography]

No, they aren't Chinese symbols. They are notes. It definitely sounds like a xylophone. I did look into glockenspiels, but they look like they have more notes. I can't find anything with just five. I also don't understand the things underneath the bars, which is making my search hard.
They are rounded and they open up right underneath the note. They almost look like water canteens.

[KC]

Looks to be a modern version of the African "gourd resonated xylophone" in which the resonators are dried gourds.  Originated from Asia -



T he third type has a wooden frame mounted bars, the bottom pumpkin resonators hang on, the size of the pitch of the wooden rods is graded accordingly. This type is in West Africa as in Central and East Africa, widely-from Zaire to Mozambique, and further south in the Vendaland.



http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.weltmusik.de/iwalewa/mag/9702/instr2.htm&ei=6cxNTJzmJ5OosQOAmoQX&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CDMQ7gEwBQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dkalebassen%2Bzylo%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3Dix7%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official


The traditional glockenspiel doesn't have any bells/hollow areas under it!  (Have seen/heard many times!)

[Sara Finn]

A couple more types:

[KC]

Sara F the one you posted recently is a metallaphone - a Saron I believe!  Can be Burmese or Thaiwanese.