MEXICAN DANCES AND MUSIC — GENIN. 667 



There were smaller instruments which the warriers wore suspended 

 about their necks, and which they used to transmit the orders of the 

 chiefs by means of adequate rolls. They called them tlapahuehuetl. 10 



The teponaztli was also a drum, but horizontal, and which they beat 

 not on the end but at the center, on two strips made for that purpose 

 forming an H in the direction of the length. They beat on these 

 strips with mallets like those mentioned above, but smaller. The 

 tone was more or less deep according to the location of the strip 

 which the musician struck, sometimes with one hand, sometimes 

 using both, the same as for the huehuetl. These instruments were 

 carefully sculptured or embellished with designs. Some affected the 

 form of a crouching animal : puma, ocelot, or alligator. 



There were still other teponaztli, which quite resembled kettle- 

 drums, and which were formed of the hollowed-out trunk of an 

 agave, over which a skin was tightly stretched; for example, the 

 celebrated teponaztli of the Great Temple of Mexico, which was made 

 of a hollow piece of wood covered with a snake skin. The sound of 

 it was mournful and carried a great distance. It signalized generally 

 great ceremonies, and there will be recalled the mention made of it 

 by Cortez and Bernal Diaz del Castillo, as also the " Conquistador 

 Anonimo," who heard its terrible call at the time of the revolution 

 of Tenochtitlan, on the night of the 30th of June or the 1st of July, 

 1520 (Lanochetriste). 11 



I have also seen teponaztli made of a tortoise shell covered with 

 the skin of a sea cow, whose tone resembled quite closely that of our 

 modern drums. These were called ayotl. It is worth while adding 



10 The etymology of tlapahuehuetl is not easy to determine, at least opinions are very 

 different : 



To begin with, huehuetl means incontestably " tree hollowed by time," or, by analogy, 

 " piece of wood hollowed out." This caused no difficulty, and, in fact, the instrument is a 

 piece of wood hollowed out. 



But what does tlapa signify? In all the geographical names in which this radical is 

 found, the hieroglyphic shows a lavatory, a place where one washes, a wash cloth, a hand 

 playing in the water. (See the remarkable Nomenclatura de Nombres geografjeos de 

 Mexico, by Dr. Antonio Penafiel, Mexico, 1895.) But this translation applied to a drum 

 to me has no meaning. 



On the other hand, in Mexico they designate by the name tlapalcrias all places where 

 they sell paints and varnishes ; evidently this name is derived from the Aztec tlapalli, 

 color, tlapani, to dye. It can then be admitted that the tlapahuehuetl, differing from 

 other drums of this kind, was painted, adorned in colors, which would be easily explained, 

 since indeed it was a drum reserved for warriors, and there would be nothing extraordinary 

 in their carrying certain colors, or rather certain signs, certain hieroglyphics belonging to 

 one certain tribe or army corps. Besides, there have been found tlapahuehuetl which still 

 show fragments of red and black lacquered painting. 



But I go further. I believe that tlapahuehuetl means not only " drum with colors " or 

 " painted drum," but, by extension, " signal drum " ; and if it is admitted that this drum 

 was carried particularly by the aide-de-camp, who, by beating it in a certain way, trans- 

 mitted the orders of the leaders, my explanation will seem admissible: Tlaphuehuetl 

 means, then, signal drum, order drum, or drum of command, as you wish. 



Several authors write, not tlapahuehuetl, but tlapanhuehuetl. Tlapan in Aztec means 

 place where they dye, dye works ; tlapani, to dye. Tlapanhuehuetl, then, still signifies 

 " dyed or painted drum." 



II The tragic night. 



