10 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 97 



mann indicates one such line of late Nahuatl influence and settlement 

 which crossed the Chamelecon River in the vicinity of Naco and ex- 

 tended east to the Nahuatl pueblos mentioned by Cortez, located a 

 short distance south of Trujillo (Lehmann, 1920, vol. 2, p. 629 and 

 map). Both Cortez and Bernal Diaz in their accounts of the traverse 

 from Mexico to Honduras indicate the importance and vogue of 

 these trade routes and mention the many pueblos engaged in trade 

 which they visited (Bernal Diaz, 1916). Recent Nahuatl settlements 

 would be thus expectable in the upper Chamelecon valley near Naco 

 and probably elsewhere in the Ulua valley proper. These Nahuatl 

 influences from southern Mexico were apparently quite recent, but 

 the Pipil occupation of Salvador was much older. This is clearly 

 indicated by Palacio (i860, pp. 21, 31, and 65), who points out the 

 acquisition of the Pipil tongue by many neighboring groups originally 

 of different linguistic affiliation. Moreover, Pipil cultural influences 

 were obviously very active in southwestern Honduras at the time of 

 which Palacio writes (i. e., 1576). 



The name of the Ulua River was apparently derived from the Ulba 

 language, which Palacio ascribes to Honduras (i860, p. 21). Both 

 Squier (Palacio, i860, p. 114) and Lehmann (1910, p. 747; 1920, 

 vol. 2, p. 624) concur in this identification. The extension of the term 

 Ulba, Ulua, or Ulvan to the Sumu is explained by Lehmann on the 

 grounds that the Sumu, Jicaque and Matagalpan languages (includ- 

 ing the Cacaopera and Lislique) are all basically related. This seems 

 quite probable but has not yet been satisfactorily demonstrated. Since 

 the Jicaque lived along the Ulua river, it is most probable that Palacio 

 referred to them as the Ulba. Both Squier (Palacio, i860, p. 114) 

 and Lehmann (1920, p. 624) regard Palacio's designation " Chontal " 

 as a general term for non-Pipil-speaking peoples. According to Leh- 

 mann, the term would include the Lenca with the Jicaque. Specifically, 

 Palacio seems to refer to the Lenca when he speaks of the Taulepa. 

 This is the old name for Lake Yojoa (Taulebe, according to Squier, 

 i860) . In the Lenca language, Taulepa means " House of the Jaguars " 

 (Lehmann, 1910, p. 747: 1920, vol. 2, p. 624). The jaguar was of 

 special importance in Lenca mythology. Lehmann is convinced that 

 the region around Lake Yojoa and the entire central portion of 

 Honduras was occupied by the Lenca (the Taulepa of Palacio), and 

 that the valley of the lower Ulua and the adjacent Department of 

 Yoro was primarily occupied by Jicaque groups (the Ulba of Palacio). 

 During the seventeenth century, the names Lenca and Jicaque were 

 often confused, but, as indicated by the work of Thomas and Swanton, 

 the general regions assigned to these groups by Lehmann seem 

 accurate. 



