112 



fields or cultivated lands) were unacquainted both 

 with the / and d. Their language is character- 

 ized by the frequent repetition of the syllables 

 cha, che^ chu ; as for instance, chu chi, we ; hy- 

 cha chamique, myself ; chigua chiguitynynga, we 

 ought to fight ; muysca cha chro guy, a worthy 

 man, the particle cha added muysca, denoting 

 the male sex. 



The numbers, of which the first ten were cho- 

 sen as terms of periodical series fitted to denote 

 the great and the small divisions of time, are, in 

 the Chibcha language, one, ata ; two, bozha, or 

 hosa ; three, mica ; four, mhuyca, or muyhica ; 

 five, hicsca, or hisca ; six, ta ; seven, qhupqa, or 

 cuhupqua ; eight, shuzha, or suhuza ; nine, aca ; 

 ten, hubchibica, or ubchihica. Above ten, the 

 Muysca Indians add the word quihicha or qhicha, 

 which signifies foot. To express eleven, twelve, 

 and thirteen, they say, foot one, foot two, foot 

 three, quihicha ata, quihicha bosa, quihicha 

 mica. These simple expressions intimate, that, 

 after having reckoned by the. fingers of both 

 hands, they continue to count by the toes of th» 

 feet. We have already observed, in speaking of 

 the calendar of the nations of the Mexican race, 

 that the number twenty, which corresponds to 

 that of the fingers and toes of the hands and 

 feet, acts a great part in American enumeration. 

 In the Chibcha language, twenty is denoted by 

 foot ten, quihicha ubchihica; or by the word 



