The British museum possesses a _huayra-puhura_ consisting of fourteen reed pipes of a brownish colour, tied together in two rows by means of thread, so as to form a double set of seven reeds. Both sets are almost exactly of the same dimensions and are placed side by side. The shortest of these reeds measure three inches, and the longest six and a half. In one set they are open at the bottom, and in the other they are closed. Consequently, octaves are produced. The reader is probably aware that the closing of a pipe at the end raises its pitch an octave. Thus, in our organ, the so-called stopped diapason, a set of closed pipes, requires tubes of only half the length of those which constitute the open diapason, although both these stops produce tones in the same pitch; the only difference between them being the quality of sound, which in the former is less bright than in the latter. The tones yielded by the _huayra-puhura_ in question are as follows: [Illustration] The highest octave is indistinct, owing to some injury done to the shortest tubes; but sufficient evidence remains to show that the intervals were purposely arranged according to the pentatonic scale. This interesting relic was brought to light from a tomb at Arica. [Illustration] Another _huayra-puhura_, likewise still yielding sounds, was discovered placed over a corpse in a Peruvian tomb, and was procured by the French general, Paroissien. This instrument is made of a greenish stone which is a species of talc, and contains eight pipes. In the Berlin museum may be seen a good plaster cast taken from this curious relic. The height is 5⅜ inches, and its width 6¼ inches. Four of the tubes have small lateral finger-holes which, when closed, lower the pitch a semitone. These holes are on the second, fourth, sixth, and seventh pipe, as shown in the engraving. When the holes are open, the tones are: [Illustration] and when they are closed: [Illustration] The other tubes have unalterable tones. The following notation exhibits all the tones producible on the instrument: [Illustration] The musician is likely to speculate what could have induced the Peruvians to adopt so strange a series of intervals: it seems rather arbitrary than premeditated. [Illustration]