INHABITANTS OF NICAEAGUA. 283 



representing human figures and recalling tlie monstrous statues of Easter Island, 

 Polynesia. 



Numerous antiquities, such as carved stones and rock inscriptions, were also 

 found in the islands of Ceiba, Pensacola, and Zapatera. From the cemeteries of 

 Ometepe, where the Nahua population has preserved its primitive purity. Brans- 

 ford removed to the Washington Museum some eight hundred precious objects 

 especially huge sepulchral urns containing seated bodies still decked with their 

 ornaments. Another curious find made by Flint was the traces of thousands of 

 human feet left on the yellow ashes ejected by Masaya and afterwards covered by 

 subsequent eruptions. 



The uplands between the lacustrine and Atlantic basins are inhabited by abori- 

 gines designated, like those of south-east Mexico, by the general name of Chontals, 

 that is, '* barbarians." Before the conquest they were already h.eld in contempt 

 by the civilised Nahuas of the plains ; nevertheless the ruins of cities and numerous 

 vestiges of buildings and causeways show that these so-called barbarians had made 

 considerable progress in the arts of civilisation. Gradually driven eastwards by 

 the Ladinos, the Chontals have largely merged with the Zunaas (Sooms, or Simus), 

 the Poj)olacas or Waiknas, that is, " Men," or else have altogether disappeared. 

 In many districts nothing is now seen except their graves, usually disposed in a 

 vast circle round the habitations. 



The Chontals appear to be related to the Lencas of Honduras ; their language 

 is distinct both from Aztec and Maya, and they still number about 30,000, mostly 

 designated by the names of the rivers inhabited by them. Some, however, bear 

 distinct names, such as the Pantasmas of the upper Segovia, the Cucras following 

 lower down, the Carcas, Wulwas (Uluas), Lamans, Melchoras, Siquias, and the 

 llamas of the Rio Mico, rudest of all the aborigines. 



One of the tribes on the Pio Grande has assumed the title of Montezuma, Avhich 

 for the populations of Mexico and Central America has become synonymous with 

 the old national independence. This tribe, however, seems more akin to the Carib 

 than to the Lenca stock. The word Carib itself, under the form of Carabisi, was 

 current in this region lono' before the arrival of the Caribs from St. Vincent. 

 When speaking of the local idioms, Herrera mentions in the first place that of the 

 Carabisi ; they have been identified with the present Zumas and Waiknas. 



On the other hand the so-called " Caribs " of the seaboard, more generally 

 called Moscos or Mosquitos, are really Sambos, that is, half-caste Indians and 

 negroes, with a strain of European blood, due to the buccaneers who infested these 

 shores. Many of the natives in the provinces of Segovia and Matagalpa have fair 

 hair and blue eyes, which Belt attributes to the intermingling that took place in 

 •the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries between the local créoles and the French 

 and English corsairs. In 1687 the 280 rovers commanded by Pavenau de Lussan, 

 having abandoned their vessels in the Gulf of Fonseca, crossed the continent, here 

 310 miles wide, and reached the Atlantic by the valley of the Segovia. Others 

 ascended the same river, which had become " the great highway from ocean to 

 ocean." 



