104 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



however, noted such references as I have met in my reading. They 

 abundantly sufifice to determine the purpose and the Aztec name of 

 these bones. While Biart,' Brinton,^ Orozco y Berra,3 Sahagun,+ Tez- 

 ozonioc,5 and others refer to them, two quotations will suffice to show 

 (i) what these notched bones were called and how they were used, 

 and (2) that they were sometimes buried with the dead. 



In a foot-note to the description of the funeral ceremonies of the 

 ruler Axayacatl given by Tezozomoc, Orozco y Berra says: "The 

 omichicahuaz was not properly a rattle : this musical instrument, if it 

 can be so called, consisted of a bone of a deer, sometimes of a man, 

 with deep incisions perpendicular to its length, from which resulted 

 parts successively depressed and elevated: this notched surface was 

 rubbed either with another bone or with a shell, producing a sound 

 not particularly agreeable. We have examined in the collection of 

 our friend Alfredo Chavero, a fossil elephant rib, converted into this 

 instrument, very similar to one used by African negroes." (Translation.) 



This word omichicahuaz is variously spelled. Thus it occurs as 

 omichicahuaz, umichicahuaz, humichicahuaz,omichicaoatzli. Dr. Brinton 

 states the etymology 0% ojnitl —hovit, chicahuac — strong. 



The second passage for our purpose is from Orozco y Berra' s His- 

 toria. (1. c.) The author there presents an account of Axayacatl's 

 funeral ceremonies apparently abridged from Tezozomoc. From it we 

 translate: 



" . . The body was covered with four garments one over the 



other. The fir.^t of Huitzilopochtli ; the second of the god 



Tlaloc ; the third garment of the god Yohualahua, for the 



head the feather tlauhquechotzotitli , in the hand a deer's bone notched 

 such as is employed in certain dances for making noise, called huftii- 

 chicahuaz, and in the other hand a staff with timbrels ; the fourth gar- 

 ment was that of the god Quetzalcoatl " 



We certainly have in these passages adequate description of such 

 notched bones as we are studying. They are asserted to be musical 

 instruments and it is stated that they were at times buried with the 



1. Biart : The Aztecs, p. 305. 



2. Brinton: Ancient iXahuatl Poetry, \>. 2!\. 



3. Orozco y Berra : Hist. Ant. y de la Conquista de Mex., vol. iii.„ p. 360. 



4. Sahagun : Hist. gen. de las Cosas de Nueva Espaila, lib. viii., cap. 20, 

 p. 308. 



5. Tezozomoc : Croftica Mexicana, cap. 55. 



