Ill 



were employed, the ten terms of which were num- 

 bers. As the words which designate these terms 

 exhibit several very remarkable particularities, 

 we shall enter into some details respecting the 

 language of Bogota. 



This tongue, the use of which has become nearly 

 -extinct since the end of the last century, had been 

 rendered the prevailing language by the victories 

 of the zaque Huncahua,that of the zippas, and the 

 influence of the great lama of Iraca, over a vast 

 extent of country, from the plains of the Ariari 

 and the Rid Meta to the north of the Sogamozo. 

 As the language of the Inca is called Qquichua 

 at Peru, that of the Moscas, or Muyscas, is 

 known in the country under the denomination of 

 Chibcha, The word muysca, of which mosca 

 appears to be a corruption, signifies man or per- 

 son ; but the natives apply it generally only to 

 themselves : and this expression is like that of 

 the Qquichua word runa, which denotes an 

 Indian of the copper-colored race, and not a 

 white, or a descendant of European colonists. 

 'Hie Chibcha, or Muysca language, which, at 

 the time of the discovery of the New Continent, 

 was, together with that of the Inca and the 

 Caribbean, one of the most general idioms of 

 South America, forms a singular contrast with 

 the Azteck language, so remarkable from the re- 

 duplication of the syllables, tetl, tli, and itl. The 

 Indians of Bogota, or Bacata, (extremity of the 



