THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE INCAS. 13 



were with their ancestors in the days of the Incas. Indian 

 couriers frequently use this instrument to announce their ar- 

 rival and departure, as the post-horn was used by the driver or 

 guard of a mail coach in England, and as it is now used by a 

 New York coaching party. 



E. G. Squier, who witnessed the chiino or potato festival of 

 the Aymara Indians, says : 



"Each group danced vigorously to its united music, which made 

 up in volume what it lacked in melody — wild and piercing, yet lugu- 

 brious: the shrill pipe [Pan-pipe] and the dull drum, with frequent 

 blasts on cow's horns by amateurs among the spectators, filled the 

 ear with discordant sounds. Every man seemed anxious to excel his 

 neighbor in the energy of his movements, which were often extrava- 

 gant; but the motions of the women were slow and stately. The 

 music had its cadences, and its emphatic parts were marked by cor- 

 responding emphatic movements in the dance. The ' devilish music ' 

 that Cortez heard after his first repulse before Mexico, lasting the 

 livelong night, and which curdled his blood with horror, while his 

 captured companions were sacrificed to Huitzlipochtli, the Aztec war- 

 god, could not be stranger or more fascinating, more weird or savage, 

 than that which rung in our ears during the rest of our stay in Tia- 

 huanaco." ' 



Lieut. Gibbon describes the "church performances" of the 

 Aymara Indians thus; 



"The wind-instruments are made of a succession of reeds of differ- 

 ent sizes and lengths [Pan-pipes], upon which they blow a noise, 

 little resembling music to our ear, keeping time with the drummers, 

 the slow-motioned dancers respecting them both. . . . The 

 women again appeared, each bringing with her a jar of cJticha, which 

 they served out in cups, giving to each individual as much as he could 

 drink, which was no small quantity, for the morning was cold. The 

 music again struck up, and the women again joined in the dance. 

 One of them came out with her sleeping 'wawa' slung to her back, 

 which soon commenced a laughable discord; but not a smile could 

 be discovered in any of their faces; neither did the woman stop till 

 the dance was ended." ^ 



' Travel and Exploration in the Land of the Incas, pp. 306, 307. 

 ' Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon, Part II, pp. 117, 118. 



