PREHISTORIC ART. 



589 



INSTRUMENTS OF PERCUSSION. 



Drtima (teponaztli). — There is no representative of the ancient Mexi- 

 can drum in tlie United States National Museum, and those here shown 

 in tig. 2;53 a, b, are copied from the worli of Carl Eugel.^ His descrip- 

 tion is as follows : 



The tepoDiiztli of tho Aztecs is generally made of a single block of very hard 

 wood, somewhat oblong square iu sliajK^, which they hollowed, leaving at each end 

 a solid piece about .^ or 4 inches in thickness, and at its upper side a kind of sound- 



Ori 



6. 



Fig. 233. 



DRUMS. 



Teponaztli of the Aztecs. 



Carl Eiigel, Descriptive Calalogue of Musical Instruments in the Kensington Museum, p. 77, fig. 66. 



board, about a quarter of an inch in thickness. In this sotmd-board, if it may be 

 called so, they made three incisions, namely, two running parallel some distance 

 lengthwis.s of the drum, and a third running across from one of these to the other, 



just in the center. » By this means they obtained two vibrating tongues 



of wood, which, when beaten witli a stick, produced sounds as clearly defined as 

 those of our kettledrums. By making one of the tongues thinner than the other, 



lA Descriptive Catalogue of the Musical Instruments in the Kensington Museum 

 p. 77, fig. 65. 



