MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS - online book

The History And Development Of Musical Instruments From The Earliest Times.

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	64                     MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. the latter being placed near to the end at which the instrument evidently was blown. In the aperture of this end some remains
	of a hardened paste, or resinous substance, are still preserved. This substance probably was inserted for the purpose of narrow­ing the end of the tube, in order to facilitate the producing of the sounds. The same contrivance is still resorted to in the con­struction of the bone-flutes by some Indian tribes in Guiana. The bones of slain enemies appear to have been considered especially appropriate for such flutes. The Araucanians, having killed a prisoner, made flutes of his bones, and danced and " thundered out their dreadful war-songs, accompanied by the mournful sounds of these horrid instruments." Alonso de Ovalle says of the Indians in Chili: " Their flutes, which they play upon in their dances, are made of the bones of the Spaniards and other enemies whom they have overcome in war. This they do by way of triumph and glory for their victory. They make them likewise of bones of animals; but the warriors dance only to the flutes made of their enemies." The Mexicans and Peruvians obvi­ously possessed a great variety of pipes and flutes, some of which are still in use among certain Indian tribes. Those which were found in the famous ruins at Palenque are deposited in the museum in Mexico. They are:—The cuyvi, a pipe on which only five tones were producible ; the huayllaca, a sort of flageolet; the pincullu, a flute ; and the chayna, which is described as " a flute whose lugubrious and melancholy tones filled the heart with indescribable sadness, and brought involuntary tears into the eyes." It was perhaps a kind of oboe. The Peruvians had the syrinx, which they called huayra-puhura. Some clue to the proper meaning of this name may perhaps be gathered from the word huayra, which signifies "air." The

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