Chap. -IV. AZTEC WORDS IN THE SPANISH IDIOM. 57 
and cherished person of the male sex. A younger brother 
addresses the older one with this title. I heard the word 
first during a surgical operation, throughout which the 
patient, a young girl, continued to exclaim, " Ay doctor- 
cito ! — ay mi hermano! — ay pipe!" — i.e., oh my dear 
doctor ! — oh my brother ! — oh pipe ! On asking, I received 
the above explanation. At this moment, an Aztec tribe, 
living in the State of Salvador, is called the Pipiles. 
According to Mr. Buschmann, this name is an Aztec word. 
Pipilli, as he states, and a reduplication of pilli, which has 
the double meaning of child and nobleman (like the Ger- 
man word junker), and which, ill the compound meaning 
of noble child, is used as the name of the tribe in Salvador, 
and as an expression of tenderness and respect in the 
social life of Granada. The latter town, however, stands 
on the site of an old city of the Chorotegans or Dirians, 
not of the Niquirans, and the Aztec element in its society, 
therefore, must have been introduced from Nicaragua 
Proper and the islands of the lake; while its Indian 
suburb of Jalteva has remained purely Dirian in its popu- 
lation. It is of considerabe interest to see that in the 
political dissensions of the country the inhabitants of 
Jalteva have always been on the side of the city of Leon 
against Granada, while the latter has invariably been 
supported by the whole Aztec population of Nicaragua 
Proper. The fact shows how the old animosities of 
different Indian nations are still at the root of the civil 
wars of Central America. 
But I have almost forgotten my visit to Jinotepet. 
The information that a foreign "cavallero" had arrived 
for the purpose of examining the mines of Jinotepet, had 
spread through the village and produced a considerable 
excitement. People of both sexes and of all ages came to 
