COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXPOSITION AT MADRID. 35 



Those which are referred to above are evidently allied to the signs 

 of the calendar, which these nations, like most belonging to their stock, 

 had either originated or adopted, and which was identically the same 

 that prevailed throughout southern Mexico. 



The objects in this collection which established this fact must there 

 fore have a peculiar value in the eyes of all students of the ancient 

 history of America, and their presence should stimulate to further 

 investigations on the sites of the ruined cities of Guatemala. 



The ethnography of Guatemala at the time of the Conquest has been 

 carefully studied of late years, and we are now in a position to refer 

 such objects as are above mentioned to the various ethnic groups to 

 which they belong. 



Except the small tribe of Xiucas on the south coast, who were in a 

 condition of savagery, practically all the soil of Guatemala was divided 

 between the representatives of the two powerful and highly civilized 

 stocks, the Mayas and the Nahuas. The former were represented by 

 the Quiches, Cakchiquels, Tzutuhils, Mams, Pokomams, Ixils, Ohols, 

 Lacandons, Chortis, and other tribes with Maya dialects. They occu 

 pied nearly all the central and northern portions of the present State. 

 The Nahua stock was represented by the Pipiles, in the department of 

 Escuintla, and the Alaguilacs, northwest of them, on the Kio Motagua. 1 

 There are obvious differences in the art products of these two cul 

 ture centers, as there were in the languages, traditions, usages, and 

 mythologies of the two stocks. There is a probability that the Nahua 

 element reached the soil of Guatemala at a considerably later date than 

 the Maya element, and brought with it the principles of a civilization 

 already well developed in its northern home. 



THE DEPARTMENT OF NICARAGUA. 



The collection from Nicaragua was forwarded in part by the Govern 

 ment of that Kepublic, and consisted in part of a private collection of 

 Mr. Julio Gavinet. The former included 775 labels, the latter 426. 

 They were both obtained with great care from comparatively recent 

 excavations, usually clearly localized, and presented, therefore, a satis 

 factory picture of the former industry of the indigenes there resident 

 at the time of the Conquest. 



It is well known that the area about the Great Lakes of Nicaragua 

 and Managua was inhabited by diverse populations, varying widely in 

 the stages of their culture. The two most developed of these nations 

 were the Chorotegas, now shown by their language to have been in 

 near relations with the Chapanecs who lived in the western portion of 

 the Chiapas. They had extensive settlements along the shores of 

 Lake Managua, and their usual name, indeed, which is that of Maugues, 

 is identical with the appellation of the lake. While they had not 

 reached to a like development with many of the tribes of Yucatan and 



Oil this, see Otto Stoll, Zur Ethnographie der Republik Guatemala. Zurich, 1884. 



