Chap. VIII. AZTEC COLONIES. 135 
should refer to the time before the arrival of the Spaniards. 
But even if this should be the case, it never could have any 
other meaning than that some colonies of the more civilized 
nations of Nicaragua had settled amongst the ruder tribes 
of Chontales, and that those of Lovago had sprung from a 
mixture of both; for even now the latter speak of the 
Wool was as of their own people in its original condition, 
and with the manners and customs still preserved which 
had once been their own. 
The question may be put whether those colonies were of 
the Aztec or of the Chorotegan element in the Nicaraguan 
population. That they came from the vicinity of Masaya 
says nothing, as both races were and still are neighbours in 
that section of the country. The fact that many of the 
local names of Chontales are derived from the Aztec 
language seems to decide the question, though that fact 
may appear by far too general to bear directly upon it. 
Aztec local names are scattered almost over the whole of 
Central America, in regions where no other vestiges of 
any historical influence of the race can be shown. These 
names must be considered as the monuments either of an 
old and far-ascending Aztec rule, or of the migrations of 
certain fragments of the Aztec race such as afterwards 
settled on the isthmus of Rivas and on the islands of the 
lake, or they mark the site of old mercantile colonies of the 
Aztecs, such as we know from the early historians this 
energetic nation was in the habit of establishing amongst 
the tribes of the adjoining regions. Thus, in Chontales, 
Matagalpa, and Nuevo Segovia, where the Aztecs are not 
known to have ever been established as a nation, we find 
geographical names such as Panaloyan, Acoyapa, Camoa- 
pan, Comalapa, Tecolostote, Matagalpa, Juygalpa, Toto- 
galpa, Teustepet, and many others, all Aztec words, most 
