THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE INCAS. 31 
the source from which they came being uncertain. Negroes 
were introduced early into all the Spanish colonies, and doubt- 
less many of their tunes were adopted by the Indians. Gar- 
cilasso tells us that when he left Peru in 1560 there were then 
five Indians residing in Cuzco who were great masters on the 
flute, and could play readily, by book, any tune that was laid 
before them.' In view of these conditions, we may well be scepti- 
cal concerning the claims of any music said to be pre-Spanish. 
We now come to that much vexed question, What musical 
scale was known to the ancient Peruvians? In the absence of 
any authentic music we must look to their instruments as the 
only source of information. It has been believed commonly 
that they employed the five-toned or pentatonic scale, so widely 
used in the primitive music of various peoples, which one of our 
most eminent musical scholars and critics insists “‘represents a 
stage in musical development and is neither a racial nor geo- 
graphical indication.”’? In this scale the step of a semitone is 
avoided by omitting the fourth and seventh degrees in major 
and the second and sixth in minor. 
Many of the scales given in this paper seem to indicate the 
use of this five-toned scale, but there are some puzzling excep- 
tions. Hitherto but few scales of Peruvian instruments have 
been published. When a sufficient number has been collected, 
it may be possible to determine the intervals of the Peruvian 
scale. 
* Royal Commentaries of Peru, Ed. Rycaut, Part I, Book II, Chap. XIV. 
? H. E. Krehbiel in New Vork Tribune, Sept. 8. 1901. 
