﻿FIELD AND FOREST. 1 37 



by which title they are spoken of by Remesal, Torquemada, and other 

 writers. It was while in possession of these territories that the Spanish 

 invaders encountered them. The merciless warfare waged upon them, 

 their conversion to the Christian religion, the prohibition against any 

 further use of their own language, and the substitution of that of Spain, 

 being all matters of history, need not be further alluded to. These 

 people spoke a dialect of the Maya language, which is so widely 

 diffused over Central America, for the study and recovery of which Dr. 

 C. H. Berendt has devoted many years of travel, undergoing dangers 

 and privations in this unfrequented part of the world. Ethnology is 

 indebted to him for verifying the connection between the Chapanecos 

 and Chorotegas. His own words, as given in a discourse before the 

 American Geographical Society, on July 10, 1876, will best recount 

 the highly interesting discovery : "Having studied the Chapanecan 

 language, on a former expedition, and wishing to compare it with the 

 Chorotegan, I visited Nicaragua in 1874. I found that the Indian 

 population, near Nicoya and Fonseca Bay, had entirely disappeared, 

 and in both districts only met with some local names belonging to the 

 Chorotegan language. In the third district, also, were descendants of 

 the old stock still living in twelve villages around the Lakes Masaya 

 and Apoya. I was informed that no other vestiges of the old idiom 

 were left, the inhabitants speaking exclusively the Spanish language. 

 I had, however, the good luck to ferret out some old people who still 

 remembered words and phrases they had heard in their childhood, and 

 I was enabled to collect material sufficient to convince myself and 

 others of the identity of the Mague or Chortegan idiom with the Chap- 

 aneco language of Mexico. I was not a moment too early in obtain- 

 ing this information for the greater number of my informants died 

 while I was staying in the country." 



It will now be seen from what precarious sources any new facts are 

 to be derived for the increase of our knowledge upon this interesting 

 subject. The continuance of Dr. Berendt's labors are of the last im- 

 portance. His experience in the field, his great knowledge, clear 

 judgment and" self sacrifice are combined in no other man known to 

 us. A study of his vocabularies, by which the languages are to be re- 

 stored, and of the extensive collections at the National Museum for 

 interpreting the arts and customs of the people, will enable archaeolo- 

 gists to solve the great problem of Central America. 



