Ill 
were employed^ the ten terms of which were nuiiv 
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 Rio 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 t 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. 
The 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^ tl% and itl. The 
Indians of Bogota, or Bacata, (extremity of the 
