20 THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE INCAS. 
to the player), so the proper location and diameter of the holes to 
produce the notes of our scale of even quality are fixed, not by a 
simple law, as the frets on the guitar are located, but by laborious 
experimenting to get a standard instrument which is then reproduced 
with Chinese fidelity.” ! 
The question arises, Were the intervals produced on these 
flutes satisfactory to the Indian? That the first attempt was 
not so in very many cases, we know from the indisputable evi- 
dence of his work. Fig. 4 of Plate V shows the under side of a 
flute. It will be seen that the original thumb hole has been 
closed (by a stopper made of gourd) and another perforated 
above it. No. 7 has had four of the six original holes plugged 
and others bored near them,—only traces of the gourd plugs 
remaining. No. 17 shows plainly the plug in the original hole, 
and the vent which was afterward made above it. No. 19 
shows two sets of holes. Of the plugs, only traces remain; but 
the one in the under side (thumb hole) is still in as perfect con- 
dition as those to be seen in figs. 17 and 21. In No. 20 they 
have entirely disappeared. The scales of the twenty-six flutes 
shown on Plate V are given on pages 18 and 19. They have 
been carefully determined in conformity with the international 
pitch: vibration-number at = 435. 
Many of the tones produced from these instruments only 
approximate, in pitch, to some one of the notes of our familiar 
twelve-tone piano scale. In many instances the variation 
amounts to nearly a quarter of a tone. Considering the age and 
condition of these flutes, it is safe to say that in some cases the 
scales given here are incomplete, and this applies particularly 
to those made of cane. 
No. 14 of this set appears much longer than it really is,— 
the bird figures being carved on a prolongation of one side of the 
bone, below the tube. 
Nos. 4, 11 and 12, represented on Plate IV, may be classed 
with the flutes. No. 12 is made from a shell (Fasciolaria prin- 
ceps, Sowb.). It has two vents: one perforated through the top 
of the spire, the other in its side. No. 4 is an imitation of a 
shell in terra cotta. It is decorated with a human face and 
I Contrib. to the Hist. of Musical Scales, Rep. U.S. Nat. Mus., 1900, p. 426. 
