mHomas] INDIAN LANGUAGES OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 88 
To the east of the Sarapiqui, and from the mouths of the San Juan on the Atlantic 
to the mouth of the river Matina, was the important province of Suerre, belonging 
to the Guetars, who occupied the ground to Turrialba and Atirro, in the valleys of 
the Reventazon and the river Suerre or Pacuar. 
Between the river Natina and the river Tarire were the provinces of Pococi and of 
the Tariacas. To the east of the Tarire to the Bay del Almirante, dwelt the Viceitas, 
Cabecares, and Terrabas (Terrebes, Terbis, or Tiribies). 
‘On the Bay del Almirante to Point Sorobeta or Terbi there was the Chichimec 
colony, already referred to, whose cacique Iztolin conversed in the Mexican language 
with Juan Vasquez de Coronado in 1564. 
The Changuenes occupied the forests about the headwaters of the Rio Ravalo. 
The Doraces, south of the Laguna of Chiriqui, and at the foot of the Cordillera, 
adjoined in the valley of the river Cricamola or Guaymi with the warlike nation of 
the latter name. 
The Guaymies occupied the coast and the interior lands situated between the rivers 
Guaymi and Conception,, of Veragua. 
In front of the valley of the Guaymi lies the Island del Escodo, the governmental 
limit of Costa Rica; so that the Guaymis were distributed in nearly equal parts be- 
tween the jurisdiction of Costa Rica and of Veragua. 
In the interior, in the highlands about Cartago, on the slopes both of the Atlantic 
and the Pacific, were the provinces Guarco, Toyopan, and Aserri; farther west, toward 
the gulf of Nicoya, Pacaca, Garabito, and Chomes adjoined along the summits of 
La Herradura and Tilaran with the Chorotegas. ; 
These provinces formed the territory of the Huetares, or Guetares, wer tlalli, in 
Nahuatl, ‘“‘great land,’’ a general term, which included various tribes and chieftan- 
cies of the same linguistic stock, one entirely diverse from those of the neighboring 
Mangues and Nahuas, toward whom they were unfriendly, although maintaining 
commercial relations. 
The province of Guarco was considered by both the natives and the Spaniards as 
one of the most favored localities in the country, and for that reason was selected by 
the Guetares, and later by the whites, as the site of their principal town. It was here 
that the city of Costa Rica was founded in 1568. The name is a corruption of the 
Nahuatl Qualcan, from ‘‘qualli,’’ good, convenient, with the locative suffix ‘‘can.”’ 
Qualcan means, therefore, ‘‘good place,”’ or, as it is translated in Molina’s Vocabulary, 
‘a, well-sheltered and desirable place,” which answers well to the valley of Cartago. 
Southeast of Chorotega and the heights of Herradura, and south of the Guetares, 
extending to the Pacific Ocean, between the rivers Pirris and Grande of Terraba, 
was the province of the Quepos, of which the Spanish Government formed the dis- 
trict of Quepo, whose extreme limit toward the southeast was the old Chiriqui River. 
According to the most probable conjectures, the Quepos belonged to the family 
of the Guetares and lived, by preference, on the coasts. They were also enemies of 
the Mangues and the Cotos and Borucas, and in consequence of their wars with them 
and with the whites, and with the burden of labors laid upon them by the latter, 
their towns disappeared in the middle of the eighteenth century without leaving any 
positive traces which will enlighten us upon their origin. 
Adjoining the Quepos, the Cotos or Coctos occupied the upper valley of the river 
Terraba, formerly known as the Coto. 
These formed a numerous and warlike tribe, skillful in both offense and defense. 
They are not known in Costa Rica by this name; but there is no doubt that the Bo- 
rucas are their descendants. These Borucas occupied the region about Golfo Dulce, 
formerly the gulf of Osa, east of the river Terraba, and gave their name Buricas, 
Burucas, or Bruncas to the province of Borica, discovered by the Licentiate Espinosa 
in the first voyage of exploration made by the Spaniards to this region in 1519, and 
also to Point Burica, the extreme southern limit of Costa Rica, in latitude 8° north. 
