492 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 44 
though the Teule and the Cazcan, residing immediately southeast of 
the Cora, were included by some authorities. On the south the 
name reached into the vale of Anahuac, but in this direction its 
application was very indefinite, being based largely on more or less 
mythical traditions. On the southeast the range was certainly 
bounded by the Huasteca. On the east and northeast it does not 
appear to have included the Tamaulipecan or the Coahuiltecan 
tribes. Nor does it seem to have extended northward into the 
regions assigned by Orozco y Berra to the Toboso and the Concho. 
This summary indicates as the area over which the name may have 
extended the sections marked on Orozco y Berra’s map—Zacateco, 
Teule and Cazecan, Guachichile, Irritila, Pame, and Otomi. 
’ It may be supposed that the name Chichimeca at first was applied 
indefinitely to all the wild and unknown tribes north of the City of 
Mexico, and that, as exploration progressed and more definite infor- 
mation was obtained, one tribe after another was eliminated from 
the scope of the term. This, however, is a supposition which does . 
not appear to be supported by the facts. 
A few of the early statements bearing on the subject are here pre- 
sented. Quoting from a manuscript of 1579 by Gabriel de Chavez; 
Orozco y Berra (1: 246-247) says of the “‘Sefiorio of Meztitlan,”’ 
the country of the Meztitlateco, a Nahuatlan tribe closely related 
to the Aztec, that it (the Seforio) extended throughout all the sierra, 
bounded (on the east) by the Huasteca; that Xelitla was the most 
westerly point, one coming into contact here with the “barbaros 
Chichimecas;’’ and that the Sefiorio was bordered on the north by 
the Click mica" Following Pomar, he says (1:241) the name 
Tezcoco is from the term ¢etzcotl in the Chichimeca language. Fur- 
ther, he distinguishes (1: 256-257) Mexicano (Aztec) from Nahuatl, 
the latter being the supposed language of the Toltec, including the 
Niquiran of Nicaragua, a distinction not accepted by philologists. 
This is mentioned, however, only to introduce the statement by him 
which immediately follows: ‘“With respect to the Chichimeca we 
judge that it was a language different from the Nahoa, and are satis- 
fied it has become extinct.” He then refers (1: 257) to a statement 
that at Pachuca in 1579 were spoken Otomi, Mexican, and Chichi- 
meca, the last ‘‘a language not understood by the others.” 
Again (1:284), speaking of the Indians of Zacatecas, Orozco y 
Berra says: 
As has been a thousand times repeated, under the name ‘‘Chichimecas” are compre- 
hended collectively all the barbarous and wandering tribes, but in reality the name 
corresponds only to the family or families which came from the north and were the pro-. 
’ genitors of the nation which established itself in the valley of the kingdom of Acolhua- 
can. In this sense the Chichimecas extended from Zacatecas to Querétaro, the Rio 
Tololotlan forming the southern limit, occupying oe the east San Luis Potosi, and 
part of southern Tamaulipas. 
