272 



speetable man, who has perished in the bloody 

 revolutions of Quito, Don Juan de la Rea, 

 had imitated with graceful simplicity some idyls 

 of Theocritus, in the language of the Incas ; 

 and I have been assured, that, excepting trea- 

 tises of science and philosophy, there is scarcely 

 any work of modern literature, that might not 

 be translated into Peruvian. 



The intimate connections, that have been 

 formed between the natives and the Spaniards 

 since the conquest, have introduced a certain 

 number of American words into the Castilian 

 language. Some of these words express things 

 not unknown before the discovery of the New 

 World, and scarcely recal to our minds at pre- 

 sent their barbarous * origin. Almost all be- 

 long to the language of the greater West In- 

 dia Islands, which was formerly designated 

 under the name of the language of Haiti, 

 of Quizqueja, or of Itis ^. I shall confine 

 myself to citing the words maiz, tabaco, ca- 

 noa, batata, cacique, balsa, conuco, 8$c. When 

 the Spaniards, from the year 1498, began to 

 visit the main land, they had already words % 



* For example savana, cannibal. 



t The word Itis for Haiti or St. Domingo (Hispaniola) 

 is found in the Itinerarium of Bishop Geraldini (Roma, 1631, 

 p. 206). " Quum Colonus Itim insulam cerneret." 



% The following are Haytian words, in their real form* 

 that have passed into the Castilian language from the end of 



