1884.] •J' LBrinton. 



Six, iacal, appears to be a compound of ti-ieal, = second, first, i. e., the 

 first finger of the second hand. In seven, puj-ua, and eighth, a-puj, 

 the word puj, hand, is apparently present. 



From this analysis [ reach the conclusion that the Xincas belonged to a 

 different linguistic stock from the Mayas or the Pipiles (Nahuas). They 

 were a rude tribe, who first learned the planting of corn and beans from 

 the Cakchiquels or Pocomams, some parts of their religious rites from the 

 same, the use of salt, and some of their village organization from the 

 Pipiles, and portions of their present dress from the Spaniards. 



They spoke a vocalic language of monosyllabic radicals, whose themes 

 are chiefly formed by suffixes. 



It may be that they were the rude primitive folk who once extended 

 over Guatemala and were forced down to the coast and into the restricted 

 limits were they were first found, by the warlike immigration of the 

 Maya and Nahua races, both of whom distinctly remembered a foreign 

 origin. 



We know little of the date of the advent of the Cakchiquels and Poco- 

 mams into Guatemala. But a traditional history of it is preserved in the 

 "Annals of the Cakchiquels," written shortly after the Conquest by Fran- 

 cisco Ernantez Arana Xahila, the original MS. of which is in my posses- 

 sion. He informs us that when his ancestors entered Guatemala large 

 tracts of it were uninhabited, and other portions were peopled by a race 

 who, even to the Cakchiquels, appeared as barbarous, and so rude that 

 they called them chicop,' brutes. They had captured two of these, and 

 learned some words when they entered the lower country. The annalist 

 proceeds : 



"They [^. e. the ancestors of the Cakchiquels] descended finally to 

 Cholumag and Zuchitan. The language there was very difficult, and only 

 the barbarians themselves could speak that language. We spoke only as 

 we had asked the barbarians Loxpin and Chupichin [their captives], and 

 we said on arriving 'uaya, uaya, ela opa.' The barbarians were greatly 

 astonished to hear us speak their language with the natives of Cholumag ; 

 they were really frightened at it ; but they gave us only good words." 



From these few words, the meaning of which I do not know, it is evi- 

 dent the language was of a totally different stock from Maya or Nahuatl. 

 It was soft and vocalic, like the Xinca ; and, indeed, ela, tongue (lan- 

 guage?), is found in the vocabulary. Unfortunately, Xahila does not tell 

 us the signification of the phrase he gives. It was probably some form of 

 friendly salutation. 



But it is not worth while to pursue the inquiry further. These sugges- 

 tions will indicate the interest which attaches to the Xinca tongue and 

 will, I hope, inspire some one to obtain more complete information 

 about it. 



PKOC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XXII. 118. M. PRINTED FEBRUARY 13, 1885. 



