Although most of these are accompanied by songs, and some by dialogues, they do not seem to reach to the height of a plot, or to the depicting of character or emotion. Beside them, however, and no doubt to take the place of original compositions of a similar kind, were complete dramatic creations.
Many of these were religious or historical plays, arranged by the clergy, and offer little of interest. But some were of a secular character, and appear to refer to historical events.
One was The Ollita or Cañahuate. It was acted in the Mangue tongue at Masaya as late as 1822, but the text is, unfortunately, lost. The Ollita is the name of the whistling jar, on which, and on the drum, a lugubrious musical accompaniment was played. The name Cañahuate is said to have been that of a dialect of the Mangue. The plot turned on a proposed marriage between an old man, richly dressed in Spanish garb, and a native princess. The chorus and assistants carried bows, arrows and quivers, which would seem to point to an early date as that of the supposed transaction.
§ 3. Nicaraguan Musical Instruments and Music.
The musical instruments of the natives of Nicaragua, mentioned by Oviedo, are drums, flutes of reeds, and excoletes, or trumpets. This, however, by no means exhausted the list, and several others of similar powers have been retained to the present day, and have been referred to by travelers as local curiosities. Thus, Mr. Squier writes as follows, in describing a festival in Leon de Nicaragua: "It is impossible to describe the strange instruments. One consisted of a large calabash, over which was stretched the skin of some animal; this, when pressed in, recoiled with a dull, sullen noise, like the suppressed bellow of a wild beast, and the wail of some of the long reeds was like that of a man in the agonies of a violent death."[35]
The memoranda that I have obtained from various sources enable me to supply this omission of the distinguished traveler, and to make out the following list, which probably is not exhaustive.
The most elaborate is the Marimba. Some writers say that both the name and instrument are of African derivation, having been introduced by the negroes. Others assert that the Indians have known the marimba time out of mind, and undoubtedly invented it. Certain it is, that they develop singular skill in its management.
A good description and illustration of it are given by von Tempsky, from whose work I extract them.[36]
"They [the Indians of Central America] are still very fond of dancing, and are very good musicians, performing on a peculiar instrument, a native invention of antique date, the Marimba. A long, horizontal stick supports a number of jicaras (or long, cylindrical calabashes), arranged near one another, according to size, from two feet in depth to four or three inches. Over the mouth of each of them is drawn a thin piece of bladder, and over it, at the distance of a quarter of an inch, are flat pieces of a very hard wood, arranged like the claviature of a piano. These oblong pieces of wood are supported on a frame of light wood, joined to the long stick that supports the row of jicaras underneath. Two light legs sustain the little piano, partly on the ground, and a hoop connects it with the player, who sits within the hoop, pressing it on a bench.