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Show • HISTORY 0 F M E X I C O. BOOK Vli. ~ Boturini makes mention of the compofitions of D. Francifco Pla~ cido, govcr~nor of Azcapozalco, fung by him at the f.tcrcd danc~s, which he, along with other Mexican noble , made before the famou~ image of the Virgin of Guadalou pc. Thofe zealous Frar~cifcans wrote alfo feveral dramatic pieces in Mexican, relative to the myf-· teries of the Chrifl:i:m religion. Amon gO: othct·s was celebrated' that of the univerfal judgment, compofed by the inde.fttigablc miffionary Andrea d' Olmos, which was reprcfented in the church of Tlatelolco, in the prcfencc of the firfl: g vernor-, and the firfl: archbifllOp of Mexico, ·and a great afTembly of the Mexican nobility and people. S P. CT. XLIV. Mulic. Their mufic was fiill mort: impe rfeCt than their poetry. They had no fl:ringed inil:ruments. All their mufic confified in the liuehuetl, the Tepo11aztli, horns, fea-fl1ells, and little flutes or pipes, which made a (hrill found. The liuehuetl, or Mexican drum, was a cylinder of wood, more than tliree feet high, cmioufly carved and pail! ted on the outfiue, covered above with the fkin of a deer, well drcffed and firctched, which they tightened or flackened occafionally, to make the found more (harp or deep. They ftruck it only with their fingers, but it required infinite dexterity in the firikcr. The Tepoua:?;t/i, which is ufed to this day among the ]ndinns, is al[o cylindrical and hollow, but all of wood, having no fkin about it, nor any opening but two flits lengthway in the middle, par.lllel to, and at a little difiance from each ,other. lt is founded by beating the fpace between thofe two flits with two little {bcks, fimilar to thofe which are made ufe of for modern drums, only that their points are covered with ule, or claftic gum, to !often the found. The fi ze of this inftrument is various; fomc arc to finall as to be hwng about the neck; fome of a midJJ ing fizc, and others fo large ns to be upwards of five feet long. ' he found whi h they yield is melancholy, and that of the largefl: is io loud, that it may be heard at the difb.ncc of two or three miles. To the ~H.: comp:lllyment of th ufe in!l:ruments, the figur~ of which we here prdt:nt to our readers, the Mexicans fung their hy!.l1ns and f.tcred mufic. 'Their fi11ging was harfh and offenfi've to Ellropeill1 cars ; but they took fo much pleafm·e ·in it themfelves, that on fellivals, they continued fi1Jging the whok 1'/ . .Xf ~ |