Its title was _La Ollita_ or _El Canahuate_, the former
word meaning the peculiar musical instrument of that locality, the
"whistling jar." The subject was a tale of love, and one of these
primitive flutes was used as an accompaniment to the songs.
Section 8. _Conclusion_.
Thus do I answer the questions which I proposed at the outset of my
thesis. If I have failed to justify the expectations which I may have
raised, at least I have thrown into strong relief the cause of my
failure, to wit, the utter and incredible neglect which, up to this
hour, has prevailed with regard to the preservation of what relics of
native literature which we know have existed,--which do still exist.
Time and money are spent in collecting remains in wood and stone, in
pottery and tissue and bone, in laboriously collating isolated words,
and in measuring ancient constructions. This is well, for all these
things teach us what manner of men made up the indigenous race, what
were their powers, their aspirations, their mental grasp. But closer to
very self, to thought and being, are the connected expressions of men in
their own tongues. The monuments of a nation's literature are more
correct mirrors of its mind than any merely material objects.
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