Brinton.] ^40 [ Nov 20, 



to one of the nations that were living in Anahuac in the earliest times of 

 which our records speak." 



The materials were never published by Dr. Berendt, nor, 

 indeed, did the many other projects which occupied him allow 

 him the leisure to collate and arrange them. I have taken them 

 from his original notes, often in pencil and not always perfectly 

 legible. But I believe those here offered can be depended upon 

 as accurate, and have special value as the sole remaining vestiges 

 of an idiom now wholly extinct. 



Synonyms. It will be seen that Berendt speaks of this 

 people as the " Chorotegas or Mangues." I have given the 

 origin of these names in the Introduction to " The Giiegiience, a 

 Comedy-Ballet in the Nahuatl-Spanish Dialect of Nicaragua," 

 published as Number III, of " Brinton's Library of Aboriginal 

 American Literature " (Philadelphia, 1883). They adjoined on 

 the north-east and south-west the Nahuatl-speaking tribe, who 

 occupied the narrow strip of land between Lake Nicaragua and 

 the Pacific ocean. 



"They were of one blood and one language, and called themselves 

 Mankeme, rulers, masters, which the Spaniards corrupted into Mangues. 

 The invading Aztecs appear to have split this ancient tribe into two frac- 

 tions, the one driven toward the south, about the Gulf of Nicoya, the 

 other northward, on and near Lake Managua, and beyond it on Fonseca 

 bay. Probably in memory of this victory, the Aztec Nicaraguans applied 

 to them the opprobious name, Chololteca, 'those driven out,' from the 

 Nahuatl verb choloa, in its compulsive form chololtia, and the suffix, 

 tecatl, people ; which was corrupted by the Spaniards into Chorotegas." 

 {The Gueguence, Introduction, p. viii. ) 



In Squier's work above referred to they are called " Chorote- 

 gans or Dirians." The latter is from the Mangue dirt, a hill or 

 mountain, and was applied to that portion of them who dwelt in 

 the hilly country south of Masaya. 



The Spanish form of their native name is that which I should 

 recommend for adoption in ethnological works. 



Early Notices. The old historians and travelers, on whom we 

 depend for our knowledge of Nicaragua, tell us practically 

 nothing about this language, and little about the people who 

 spoke it. The chieftain, called Nicoj'a, living on the bay of that 

 name, was first visited by Captain Gil Gonzalez Davila in 1523. 

 The natives were estimated at about six thousand, who received 



