30 THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE INCAS. 



Professor E. S. Morse agrees with Dr. Mason that there is no 

 evidence of a pre-Columbian stringed device. * 



I believe that no claim has as yet been made for the existence 

 of the musical bow in Peru; and what Dr. Henry Balfour says 

 of this most primitive of stringed instruments is very important, 

 as showing with what caution the evidence should be considered 

 before pronouncing any instrument to be of pre-Spanish origin : 



"In viewing the various types of musical bow to be found in the 

 New World, I must say that I feel that the case of the claims of this 

 instrument to be regarded as indigenous (pre-Columbian) in the 

 Americas can only as yet be dismissed with the verdict of not proven. 

 I can find no absolutely convincing evidence to prove the case, and 

 in view of the certainty of many varieties having been introduced by 

 the immigrants from Africa, it will require very strong evidence to 

 establish the claim." 2 



Although not conclusive, such evidence as we have at the 

 present time is against the existence of any form of stringed 

 instrument in Peru before the coming of the Spaniards. 



CONCLUSION. 



Undoubtedly the most important instruments were the 

 drum, the various kinds of flutes and the Pan-pipe. Early 

 writers frequently speak of the Indians dancing to the music of 

 the pipe and tabor. The ancient potters have left us representa- 

 tions of these scenes on their water vessels (Plate I, figs, i and 

 2). These dances appear to have remained unchanged in 1649 

 when Alonso de Ovalle wrote this quaint account : 



"Their way of dancing is with little jumps, and a step or two, not 

 rising much from the ground, and without any capers such as the 

 Spanish use ; they dance all together in a ring." 3 



Of the music of the Incas we know nothing. A number of 

 songs have been recorded which have been known to the Indians 

 for generations, and believed by them to have been handed down 

 unchanged, but their authenticity is, of course, doubtful — even 



1 Appleton's Popular Science Monthly. March, 1899. 



2 The Natural History of the Musical Bow, pp. 50-51. 



3 Historical Relation of Chile, Pinkerton, Vol. XIV, p. 117. 



