186 safford: pan-pipes of peru 



partly of vicuna and partly of sheep's wool, some of them prettily 

 figured with geometrical designs or conventionalized figures of 

 viscacachas or llamas, but all of them more or less greasy. Over 

 the caps they wore broad-brimmed gray felt hats wreathed with 

 flamingo feathers of a pretty rose color or with feathers of other 

 birds artificially dyed in bright shades of magenta, yellow, or 

 purple. Over coarse white shirts they wore ponchos and over 

 loose white drawers tightly fitting trousers slit from the lower 

 margin of each leg to the knee and displaying the white drawers 

 beneath. Some of them wore sandals of rawhide, but the major- 

 ity were barefooted. On reaching the residence of the prefect 

 they entered the court and stood in a ring while they played the 

 national air of Peru in a creditable manner. The writer was 

 informed by the prefect, Don Jose de la Torre, that these Indians 

 came every year during the national festivities from their home 

 on an island in Lake Titicaca, to pay him a formal visit. When 

 they finished playing, he applauded them and cried "sumahh," 

 the Quichua word for good, or bravo! Then each player came 

 before him and, bending one knee, bowed almost to the ground. 

 The prefect patted each one on the head in succession, and then 

 told them all to begone. Having regaled themselves with gen- 

 erous draughts of pisco they filed out of the patio and continued 

 their procession through the streets of the town. 



The instruments composing the orchestra were fairly well at- 

 tuned. The middle pair, corresponding in pitch to the key of c, 

 was composed of reeds varying in length from nearly 26 cm., 

 producing the note e, to about 6.5 cm., producing a note exactly 

 two octaves higher. The dimensions of the lower-toned pair were 

 twice those of the middle pair, the pipes, ranging from approxi- 

 mately 52 cm. to 14 cm. in length (inside measurements), produc- 

 ing notes one octave lower. The smallest pair should have been 

 one-half the size of the middle pair, but as a matter of fact, the 

 component reeds were slightly short, and the resulting notes 

 were consequently sharp. The effect of the whole orchestra, 

 however, was not unpleasing to a musical layman. 



On measuring the reeds composing the various sets of pan- 

 pipes their lengths were found to correspond almost exactly with 



