THE AZTECS 217 



which was yesterday ifi DOt today; and let DOt that which is today trust 

 to live tomorrow. 



The caverns of earth arc filled with pestilential dust which once was 

 the bones, the flesh, the bodies of great ones who sat upon thrones, 

 deciding causes, ruling assemblies, governing armies, conquering prov- 

 inces, possessing treasures, tearing down temples, flattering themselves 

 with pride, majesty, fortune, praise and dominion. These glories have 

 passed like the dark smoke thrown out by the fires of Popocatepetl, 

 leaving no monuments but the rude skins on which they are written. 



Another example will serve to emphasize the strain of 

 sadness and the vision of death that characterize so 

 many Aztecan poems. 



Sad and strange it is to see and reflect on the prosperity and power of 

 the old and dying king Tezozomoc; watered with ambition and avarice, 

 he grew like a willow tree rising above the grass and flowers of spring, 

 rejoicing for a long time, until at length withered and decayed, the 

 storm wind of death tore him from his roots and dashed him in fragments 

 to the ground. The same fate befell the ancient King Colzatzli, so that 

 no memory was left of him, nor of his lineage. 



The Aztecs held concerts in the open air where poems 

 were sung to the accompaniment of the drum and other 

 simple instruments. Songs were also sung at banquets 

 and in the stress of love and war. The common musi- 

 cal instruments of the Aztecs vary but little from those 

 in use elsewhere in Mexico and Central America. There 

 were two kinds of drums. One was a horizontal hol- 

 lowed-out log with an H-shaped cutting made longi- 

 tudinally on its upper surface so as to form two vibrat- 

 ing strips which were struck with wooden drumsticks 

 having tips of rubber. The second sort of drum was 

 an upright log also hollowed out and covered with a 

 drumhead of deerskin. Conches were used for trum- 

 pets. Resonator whistles with or without finger holes 

 were made of clay in fanciful shapes. Flageolets were 

 constructed of clay, bone, or wood and flutes were made 

 of reed. Resounding metal disks and tortoise shells 

 were beaten in time. Many sorts of gourd and earth- 



