590 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



Fig. 234. 



POTTERY RATTLE (ay acachtU) . 



Mexico. 



Cat. No. 133206, U.S.N. M. Natural size. 



they insiirefl two dift'erent souuds, the pitch of which they were enabled to regulate 

 by shaving off more or less wood. The bottom of the drniu they cut almost entirely 

 open. Tli(^ traveler M. Ncbcl was told by archixjologists in Mexico that these instru- 

 ments always contained the interval of a third, but on examining several specimens 



which he saw in museums, he found some in 

 which the two sounds stood toward each 

 other in the relation of a fourth, while in 

 others they constituted a flfth, in others a 

 sixth, and in some even an octave. This is 

 noteworthy, inasmuch as it points to a con- 

 formity with our diatonic series of intervals, 

 excepting the seventh. 



The teponaztli was generally carved with 

 fanciful and ingenious designs. It was beaten 

 with two drumsticks covered at the end with 

 an elastic gum called ule, which was obtained 

 from the milky juice extracted from the Mexi- 

 can ule tree. Some of these drums were so 

 small that they used to be carried on a string 

 or strap, suspended around the neck of the 

 player; others, again, measured upward of 5 

 feet in length, and their sound was so power- 

 ful that it could be heard at a distance of 3 

 miles. In some rare instances a specimen of the teponaztli is still preserved by the 

 Indians in Mexico, especially among tribes who have been comparatively but little 

 affected by intercourse with their European aggressors. 



Battles {ayacaclitli). — The rattle appears to have occupied an imijor- 

 tant place in the ceremonies of the ancient 

 Mexicans. In construction it was similar to the 

 rattles commonly used by the Indians of thejires- 

 ent day, which are round or oval in shape and 

 usually made of a gourd, into which is inserted 

 a wooden handle. A number of small pebbles 

 were inclosed in the hollowed gourd. ^ 



E-attles made of pottery were also used, and 

 there are in the Museum quite a number of these 

 ancient instruments. Fig. 234 represents one of 

 a series — the simj)le8t form (Batchelor collec- 

 tion). It is round and the outer surface is orna- 

 meuted with incised line decoration in panel- 

 like designs. They are perforated with a num- 

 ber of holes, in most cases not placed with any 

 particular regularity. The inside is furnished 

 with small clay pellets, which produce the sound. 

 Another form is shown in fig. 235, which is a ''^'' 



double bell or rattle (Blake collection). Its shape is like two small 

 gourds with the stems twisted together so as to form a handle. A 

 straight slit divides the globular bodies almost in half, exposing 

 the clay pellets which produce the sound. The painted decoration 



Fig. 235. 



DOUBLE BELL OR RATTLE OF 

 POTTERY. TLALTELOLCO. 



Mexico. 



Cat. No. 99109, U.S.N.M. k natural 



1 Engel, Musical Instruments, p. 79. 



