The long Flute, either of cane, or of earthenware, was found in common use by the early explorers in Central America, Mexico and Florida. The Nahuas of Nicaragua do not seem to have made so much use of it as their relatives in Mexico.
The Juco is employed in the noisier dances, such as the Baile de Diablitos. It is a drinking gourd (nambira), or jar, over the aperture of which is stretched a skin. This is crossed by a cord, to which is attached a small piece of wood, which serves as a clapper when the instrument is shaken.
The Quijongo is a stringed instrument, made by fastening a wooden bow with a stretched cord over the mouth of a jar. A hollow reed, about five feet long and an inch and a half thick, is bent by a wire attached to the ends. This wire is then tied to the reed at one-third the distance from one end, and at the same point, on the convex surface of the reed, a gourd, or thin earthen jar, is fastened, with its mouth downward. The notes are produced by striking the two sections of wire with a light stick, and at the same time the opening of the jar is more or less closed by the palm of the left hand, thus producing a limited number of notes, which are varied by changing the intervals.
THE QUIJONGO OF NICARAGUA.
Among the Nahuatl tribes of the Balsam coast, this is called the Carimba. It appears to have been an aboriginal invention, although some writers have asserted that the Aztecs had no knowledge of any stringed instrument. Something like a harp, however, is represented in the following cut, from the Aztec funerary ritual, where a priest or hired mourner is shown, chanting the praise of the departed, and accompanying his words with music, on what appears to be a rude stringed instrument. (See page [xxxvii].)
The Chilchil is a small bell, a number of which are strung together and shaken. This is an ancient Aztec instrument, the term for it in Nahuatl being Ayacachtli.
The Cacho is a sort of trumpet, constructed of a horn. A blast upon it can be heard a long distance, and it has thus become a measure of length, a legua de cacho being the distance at which one can hear the horn when lustily blown. It is said to be rather longer than a Spanish league.
AZTEC MOURNER SINGING AND PLAYING.