In the Peruvian huayra-puhura made of soapstone some of the pipes possess lateral holes. This contrivance, which is rather unusual, occurs on the Chinese shêng. The chayna, mentioned on [p. 62], seems to have been provided with a reed, like the oboe: and in Hindustan we find a species of oboe called shehna. The turé of the Indian tribes on the Amazon, mentioned on [p. 67], reminds us of the trumpets turi, or tuturi, of the Hindus. The name appears to have been known also to
the Arabs; but there is no indication whatever of its having been transmitted to the peninsula by the Moors, and afterwards to South America by the Portuguese and Spaniards.
The wooden tongues in the drum teponaztli may be considered as a contrivance exclusively of the ancient American Indians. Nevertheless a construction nearly akin to it may be observed in certain drums of the Tonga and Fiji islanders, and of the natives of some islands in Torres Strait. Likewise some negro tribes in Western and Central Africa have certain instruments of percussion which are constructed on a principle somewhat reminding us of the teponaztli. The method of bracing the drum by means of cords, as exhibited in the huehuetl of the Mexican Indians, is evidently of very high antiquity in the East. It was known to the ancient Egyptians.
Rattles, Pandean pipes made of reed, and conch trumpets, are found almost all over the world, wherever the materials of which they are constructed are easily obtainable. Still, it may be noteworthy that the Mexicans employed the conch trumpet in their religious observances apparently in much the same way as it is used in the Buddhist worship of the Tibetans and Kalmuks.
As regards the sonorous metal in the great temple at Tezcuco some inquirers are sure that it was a gong: but it must be borne in mind that these inquirers detect everywhere traces proving an invasion of the Mongols, which they maintain to have happened about six hundred years ago. Had they been acquainted with the little Peruvian bell they would have had more tangible musical evidence in support of their theory than the supposed gong; for this bell certainly bears a suggestive resemblance to the little hand-bell which the Buddhists use in their religious ceremonies.
The Peruvians interpolated certain songs, especially those which they were in the habit of singing while cultivating
the fields, with the word hailli which signified “Triumph.” As the subject of these compositions was principally the glorification of the Inca, the burden hailli is perhaps all the more likely to remind Europeans of the Hebrew hallelujah. Moreover, Adair, who lived among the Indians of North America during a period of about forty years, speaks of some other words which he found used as burdens in hymns sung on solemn occasions, and which appeared to him to correspond with certain Hebrew words of a sacred import.
As regards the musical accomplishments of the Indian tribes at the present day they are far below the standard which we have found among their ancestors. A period of three hundred years of oppression has evidently had the effect of subduing the melodious expressions of happiness and contentedness which in former times appear to have been quite as prevalent with the Indians as they generally are with independent and flourishing nations. The innate talent for music evinced by those of the North American Indians who were converted to Christianity soon after the emigration of the Puritans to New England is very favourably commented on by some old writers. In the year 1661 John Elliot published a translation of the psalms into Indian verse. The singing of these metrical psalms by the Indian converts in their places of worship appears to have been actually superior to the sacred vocal performances of their Christian brethren from Europe; for we find it described by several witnesses as “excellent” and “most ravishing.
In other parts of America the priests from Spain did not neglect to turn to account the susceptibility of the Indians for music. Thus, in central America the Dominicans composed as early as in the middle of the sixteenth century a sacred poem in the Guatemalian dialect containing a narrative of the most important events recorded in the Bible. This
production they sang to the natives, and to enhance the effect they accompanied the singing with musical instruments. The alluring music soon captivated the heart of a powerful cazique, who was thus induced to adopt the doctrines embodied in the composition, and to diffuse them among his subjects, who likewise delighted in the performances. In Peru a similar experiment, resorted to by the priests who accompanied Pizarro’s expedition, proved equally successful. They dramatised certain scenes in the life of Christ and represented them with music, which so greatly fascinated the Indians that many of them readily embraced the new faith. Nor are these entertainments dispensed with even at the present day by the Indian Christians, especially in the village churches of the Sierra in Peru; and as several religious ceremonies have been retained by these people from their heathen forefathers, it may be conjectured that their sacred musical performances also retain much of their ancient heathen character.