36 TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



Zoqiie — the Language sfoken at Santa Maria de Chima- 

 lapa, and at San Miguel and Tierra Blanca, in the 

 State of Chiapas, Mexico. 



By Antonio de Coruna y Colludo. 



( Translated from the auihor^s manuscript, by jf. A. Dacus.) 



THE ZOQUES. 



The Zoques, once a numerous and powerful nation, with cities 

 and towns in all of the isthmian states of Mexico, extending from 

 Tehuantepec through Tobasco and Chiapas into Oaxaca, and 

 some assert even farther to the north and west, have been reduced 

 by wars and conquests until they number no more than 2,500 or 

 at most 3,000 souls. Their present country is a small mountain- 

 ous district, including two mean villages, Santa Maria de Chima- 

 lapa and San Miguel. Very recently another settlement has been 

 made by the Zoques on the road passing between Tarifa and 

 Santa Maria, near the banks of the Arroyo de Otales. 



The Zoques are esteemed to be the immediate relatives of the 

 Mijis, a still more numerous race. But the race likeness is not 

 preserved in the language. The Mijis and the Zoques speak lan- 

 guages scarcely related. 



They are not a handsome people, but are represented as indus- 

 trious and enterprising. They manufacture cotton goods and pot- 

 tery. They cultivate indigo, maize, and cotton. 



They were conquered, about two centuries anterior to the dis- 

 covery of America by Columbus, by the Chiapanecs, and have 

 ever since remained a subject race. A considerable number of 

 them now speak the Spanish language. 



Their language belongs to the Maya-Qiiiche family of South- 

 ern Mexico and Central America, and appears to be most nearly 

 related to the Tzendal-Maya, which has been regarded as the 

 parent language of the Yucatec peninsula — the tongue spoken 

 by the builders of Palenque, Chi-chen, and Itza. It is written by 

 using the following letters of the Roman alphabet : 



a, b, c, gh, e, i, j, k, m, n, o, p, q, u, s, t, u, y, tz, z, and h 



as an aspirate. 



