e
written in characters in their books."[3] There were also special
schools, called _cuicoyan_, singing places, where both sexes were
taught to sing the popular songs and to dance to the sound of the
drums.[4] In the public ceremonies it was no uncommon occurrence for
the audience to join in the song and dance until sometimes many
thousands would thus be seized with the contagion of the rhythmical
motion, and pass hours intoxicated (to use a favorite expression of
the Nahuatl poets) with the cadence and the movement.

After the Conquest the Church set its face firmly against the
continuance of these amusements. Few of the priests had the liberal
views of Father Duran, already quoted; most of them were of the
opinion of Torquemada, who urges the clergy "to forbid the singing of
the ancient songs, because all of them are full of idolatrous
memories, or of diabolical and suspicious allusions of the same
character."[5]

To take the place of the older melodies, the natives were taught the
use of the musical instruments introduced by the Spaniards, and very
soon acquired no little proficiency, so that they could perform upon
them, compose original pieces, and manufacture most of the
instruments themselves.[6]

To this day the old love of the song and dance continues in the
Indian villages; and though the themes are changed, the forms remain
with little alteration. Travelers describe the movements as slow, and
consisting more in bending and swaying the body than in motions of
the feet; while the songs chanted either refer to some saint or
biblical character, or are erotic and pave the way to orgies.[7]

Sec. 2. _THE POET AND HIS WORK._

The Nahuatl word for a song or poem is _cuicatl_. It is derived from
the verb _cuica_, to sing, a term probably imitative or
onomatopoietic in origin, as it is also a general expression for the
twittering of birds. The singer was called _cuicani_, and is
distinguished from the composer of the song, the poet, to whom was
applied the term _cuicapicqui_, in which compound the last member,
_picqui_, corresponds strictly to the Greek _poiaetaes_,
being a derivative of _piqui_, to make, to create.[8] Sometimes he
was also called _cuicatlamantini_, "skilled in song."

It is evident from these words, all of which belong to the ancient
language, that the distinction between the one who composed the poems
and those who sang them was well established, and that the Nahuatl
poetry was, therefore,