NICARAGUAN INDIANS PLAYING ON THE DRUM.
The illustration on the preceding page, from a sketch by Dr. Berendt, shows their manner of performing on this instrument.
These two varieties of drums were also known to the ancient Mexicans. They called the one which was struck with the hand the huehuetle, "ancient object," and that played by sticks, teponaztli.
The Ollita, or Little Jar, is an instrument still remembered in Nicaragua, and the drama, in the Mangue dialect, to which I have referred, bearing this name, proves that it was familiarly known at Managua early in this century. Its sound is described as grave and suitable to serious emotions. The identical ollita which was used in this drama was preserved long after the last performance of the play (about 1822), in the chest of the cofradia of San Jose, in Managua; but like so many other valuable relics, it disappeared in the disturbances of the republic.
From the name, and from what was told of its powers, it was evidently not merely a whistle, but a sort of earthenware flute. Such were known in Peru, and precisely in Nicaragua, on the island of Ometepec, inhabited at the Conquest by the Nahuas, such a musical jar was discovered of late years, and was examined and its musical capacity described by Dr. Berendt in the following words:—
"Held with the two hands, the lower side turned upward, and the four holes managed with two fingers on each side, blowing in the mouth piece yields six different notes. Any two holes covered give the tonica, one only covered the secunda, all open the tertia, and by hard blowing a forced quarta; while all closed produces the dominant (quint) in the underlying octave. Three holes closed yield notes not in concordance with the others, varying between an imperfect sext and a diminished septima of the lower octave. But those mentioned as in accordance permit the playing of many varied tunes."
The shape of this jar is shown in the following cut, which was prepared for an interesting article on Indian Music by Mr. Edwin A. Barber, in the American Naturalist.
EARTHENWARE MUSICAL JAR FROM NICARAGUA.
It was capable of rendering various simple tunes. (See page [v].)