PREHISTOKIC ART. 



595 



WIND INSTRUMENTS. 



Fig. 240. 



POTTEKY WHISTLE, DOCI3LE KAOLE. 



Mexico. 



Cnt. No. 133213, U..S.N.M. 

 N.itur:il size. 



Whistles or flageolets {pottery). — The ancient instrnmentsof tlie class 

 which are here to be described form a most interesting series; not 

 only those from Mexico, but the simi- 

 lar ones from Central and South 

 America. They show in some degree 

 the progress which tlie aborigines had 

 made in the arts, and that a nuisical 

 system, however crude, had been at- 

 tained. The whistling mechanism in 

 all is identical with that of the mod- 

 ern flageolet, and the only distinction 

 that can be made between them is by 

 classing the instruments which only 

 emit one sound or note, as whistles, 

 and those which have one or more 

 linger holes, as flageolets. The simple 

 form may have served only as calls 

 or signals. The smaller instruments 

 are mostly grotesque caricatures of 

 the human face or figure or of animals or birds. The larger instru- 

 ments arc more like the modern flageolet. Fig. 240 represents one of 

 the smaller class. The body of this is a short tube with one end closed. 



A prolongation at right 

 •; angles to the tube forms 



the mouthpiece, and on 

 the upper part, where the 

 two are joined, is i)laced 

 a figure representing a 

 bird with two heads. It 

 is modeled in grayish-col- 

 ored clay, uupainted. 

 Closing the end hole will 

 give the lower note, when 

 opened the higher one, as 

 seen in the accompanying 

 scale : -♦- 



Fig. 241. 



POTTEKY WHISTLE, MUTIL.VTED. 



Mexico. 



Cat. No. 133210, b'.S.N.M. 

 Natural size. 



• o 

 Another instrument 

 from the same locality is shown in fig. 241. It is identical in material 

 and general shape. The ornament or figure is nuitilated. Its original 

 form was undoubtedly bird-like. The tones are here oiven : 





4= 



