thentic specimens of the ancient Mexican instruments have tended to
elevate our opinion of their skill in this art. Mr. H.T. Cresson, of
the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, has critically
examined the various Aztec clay flutes, whistles, etc., which are
there preserved, and has reached the following conclusions:--

"I. That upon the four-holed clay flageolets the chromatic and
diatonic scales can be produced with a full octave.

"II. That the clay whistles or pitch pipes, which may be manipulated
in quartette, will produce an octave and a fourth.

"III. From the facts above shown, the Aztecs must have possessed a
knowledge of the scales as known to us, which has been fully tested
by comparison with the flute and organ."[34]

This result indicates for the instrumental accompaniment a much
higher position in musical notation than has hitherto been accepted.

Sec. 7. _THE POETIC DIALECT._

All the old writers who were familiar with the native songs speak of
their extreme obscurity, and the difficulty of translating them. No
one will question the intimate acquaintance with the Nahuatl language
possessed by Father Sahagun; yet no one has expressed more strongly
than he the vagueness of the Nahuatl poetic dialect. "Our enemy on
earth," he writes, "has prepared a thick woods and a dangerous ground
full of pitfalls, wherein to devise his evil deeds and to hide
himself from attack, as do wild beasts and venomous serpents. This
woods and these pitfalls are the songs which he has inspired to be
used in his service, as praises to his honor, in the temples and
elsewhere; because they are composed with such a trick that they
proclaim only what the devil commands, and are understood only by
those to whom they are addressed. It is well known that the cavern,
woods or depths in which the devil hides himself were these chants or
psalms which he himself has composed, and which cannot be understood
in their true significance except by those who are accustomed to the
peculiar style of their language."[35]

Not less positive are the expressions of Father Diego Duran,
contemporary of Sahagun, and himself well versed in the native
tongue. "All their songs," he observes, "were composed in such
obscure metaphors that scarcely any one can understand them unless he
give especial attention to their construction."[36] The worthy
Boturini was puzzled by those which he had collected, and writes,
"the songs are difficult to explain