34 ARCH^OLOGICAL AND ETHNOLOGICAL 



Only two nmseunis possess, to my knowledge, implements similar to those 

 described as shaped like a horsesnoe. A more ornamented one is in the Christie 

 collection in London, which was found in Mexico; and a plain specimen of a 

 porphyritic material which came from Nicaragua is in the National Museum at 

 Washington. It is believed that these implements were put on the necks of vic- 

 tims to be immolated. I cannot coincide with this opinion, for various reasons. 

 Firstly, the shape of the implement is not appropriate for such use, while the 

 horsecollar-shaped implements are vastly better adapted to it. The second reason 

 is their scarcity ; for, if they were used for such purposes they should be more 

 abundant, as is the case with the "collars." The fact of their being found in the 

 grave at Apanaca confirms my opinion; for, if its real use had been that which is 

 supposed, there would be no explanation for their presence in the grave. 



In Whuaimango (Germ, spell.), a village visited on this excursion, I had occa- 

 sion to hear one of the few national songs. The object of it was very plain, and 

 would not be considered by us poetical. It was a dialogue between the kitchen- 

 maid (molendera), whose chief office consists in preparing and baking the tortillas, 

 and the farmer's boy (corraJero). She admonishes him to bring dry, and not 

 green, Avood, thus to ease her arduous work of making the tortillas; to her appeal 

 the corrah'w replies. This recitative was accompanied with a national instrument, 

 the marimba, Avhich consists of splints of wood, to the under surface of which are 

 fastened short wooden tubes, which are tuned by affixing the necessary quantity 

 of wax to the ends. The sounds produced are very sweet and rather doleful. 



Massawhuat, another of tlie villages visited, gave mournful testimony of the 

 decrease in the number of inhabitants in that once populous country. I was 

 informed that this small village was once a flourishing town having as many as 

 sixteen churches. At the time of my visit a miserable structure of reeds was used 

 for worship, the only existing remains of a church being so dilapidated as to be 

 unfit for use. 



Additional evidence of the diminution of population was furnished by the little 

 village of Calulo, visited on my tour of inspection to the eastern section of the 

 department; the ruins of a large church, and the extensive plantations of fruit- 

 trees from which more than 2000 dollars a year are realized, bear witness to the 

 once flourishing condition of that place. 



The next place visited on this tour was Ahzalku, once the residence of a pow- 

 erful Cazique, with 80,000 inhabitants. The number at present is said to amount 

 to 7000, and the place is divided into two sections, of which the more elevated 

 constitutes the town, and the lower, a village. Each has a separate municipal 

 authority. The inhabitants of Ahzalku still preserved the aboriginal dance, 

 tepunawhuas (Germ, spell.), which they perform on festival occasions at the 

 sound of a rattle, ayalcaisch (Germ, spell.), made by the seeds of a tree, iscJiku- 

 huijutziu (Germ, spell.) in a hollow jicarro. The greater part of the song which 

 used to be sung at this dance has been lost. That which is at present sung 

 is the following : "Asi yo ya fue ya; nigan munemiltia ischpan schutschinanzi" 

 (Germ, spell). It can be seen that tlie first part of it is Spanish, and the trans- 

 lation of the part in Nahuaia is: "There is that flower ahead." If this dance is 



