AMERRIQUES, AMERIGHO VESPUCCI, AND AMERICA. 



By Jules Marcou. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The Amerriques tribe of ludiaus, uow few ia number, are confined 

 to their mountains, called Sierra Amerrique, which form the cordillera 

 between Lake Nicaragua and the Mosquito coast, in the province of 

 Chontales, Nicaragua. 



By a combination of circumstauees, not rare, in what pertain to the 

 first discoveries made in the New World, the name of Amerrique was 

 not printed or perhaps even written in documents until 1872, when the 

 late Thomas Belt, a naturalist of genius, during an exploration of 

 Nicaragua, heard of the name and used it in his excellent and very 

 remarkable book "The Naturalist in Nicaragua," Loudon, 1874. De 

 Humboldt says : '^ Les pays d^couverts les premiers sont aujonrd'hui 

 oublies et presque deserts." (See '• Examen critique de I'histoire de la 

 geographic du nouveau continent," vol. iii, p. 381, Paris, 1839.) 



SIERRA AMERRIQUE AND THE AMERRIQUES. 



I quote all I have been able to gather on the subject : 

 "At a short distance to the west (of Fairbairn's ranch, 2 leagues from 

 Libertad, Nicaragua), rise the precipitous rocks of the Amerrique range, 

 with great perpendicular cliffs, and huge isolated rocks and piuacles. 

 The name of this range gives us a clue to the race of the ancient inhab- 

 itants. In the highlands of Honduras, as has been noted by Squiers, 

 the termiuation of tique or 7-ique is of frequent occurrence iu the name 

 of places, as Ghaparristique, Lapaterrique, Llotique, Ajuterique, and oth- 

 ers. The race that inhabited this region were the Leuca Indians. - • - 

 I think that the Leuua Indians were the ancient inhabitants of Chon- 

 tales, - - - and that they were partly conquered, and their territories 

 encroached upon by the latter before the arrival of the Spaniards." 

 Now the Chontales Indians are confined to the western part of the 

 province of that name (departamento de Chontales), west of the cordil- 

 lera or Amerrique range; while all the eastern part, as far as the Mos- 

 quito coast (Reserva Mosquita), is inhabited by uncivilized Indians 



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