654 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



beak. This effect is produced by a small pebble cleverly placed 

 in her throat. 



Among figures of all shapes and sizes several had holes that 

 did not enhance their appearance and were not in accordance with 

 Nature. A dog, for instance, may be allowed a mouth and two 

 eyes, but why an extra pair of orbs on each side of its small body ? 

 Simply that the impertinent-looking pup was a musical instru- 

 ment, the six eyes corresponding to six sweet and clear flutelike 

 tones — C, D, E, F, G, A. On these clay instruments the native 

 melodies can be played, their compass not exceeding six notes. 



In the deep sand at Progreso, port of Yucatan, objects of clay 

 have frequently been found. One in our possession is interesting 



because of what it 

 represents. The 

 double mouthpiece 

 gives the notes C 

 and D. Blue paint 

 ,| ^^^^IH^ y^^ remains on the 



clay (blue was em- 

 blematic of sancti- 

 ty), indicative of 

 the veneration 



which was attrib- 

 uted to the creat- 

 ^^^^- ^' ure, roughly sug- 



gested by the up- 

 lifted proboscis. The mastodon, whose visage is depicted every- 

 where on the walls of Yucatan's ancient cities, was taken by the 

 Mayas as one symbol of the Creator. They made it their god 

 of the ocean, life being first generated in water. Beneath the 

 upturned proboscis there is a mutilated human face surrounded 

 by a broad collar or necklace. 



The persons who in ages gone by had used the little dog- flute 

 and the double whistle just described were not unfamiliar with 

 the seductive weed, for in applying our lips to them the flavor 

 and odor of tobacco were quite unmistakable. The late General 

 Bogran, when President of Honduras, personally found the clay 

 pup and gave it to us, so that the tobacco was not imparted to 

 it after its discovery. 



In the National Museum of Mexico's capital are some orna- 

 mental vases, three feet high, which might perhaps justly be re- 

 garded as the culmination, the perfection of the ceramic art — they 

 are so very handsome, fine and intricate in form and decoration. 

 But to which of the Mexican tribes the work should be ascribed is 

 a question. In the State of Oaxaca funeral urns have been found 

 inscribed with Maya hieroglyphics which have been interpreted 



