136 THE CHONTALES. Book I. 
of which have been translated by Mr. Buschmann in his 
essay on Aztec local names. 
Even the name of Chontales, or Chondales — an appella- 
tion which repeatedly occurs in Mexican and Central 
American history and ethnology — is of the Aztec origin, 
and there is little doubt that in the old Indian times of 
Nicaragua it was used to designate the Woolwas and others 
of the ruder tribes which still inhabit the country to the 
north-east of the lake, and most probably all belong to the 
Lenca race. Chontalli, according to Mr. Buschmann, in 
the Aztec language, means a foreigner, and consequently 
an uncivilized man, like the Greek fiapfBapos and the 
Sanskrit mletscha. The country of Chon tales, therefore, 
means the country of the savages. The same name is 
given to a mountainous district in the State of San Salvador, 
where Aztecs likewise lived in the vicinity of other tribes 
less advanced in civilization. Tribes, called Chontales, are 
mentioned by the Mexican historians as existing near Tlas- 
cala, in Oaxaca and Tabasco. When the Tlascaltecs 
made their submission to Cortes, they stated that the fault 
of the hostilities committed lay with the wild tribes of the 
mountains, the Otomis and Chontales. Thus the word 
has a very general signification ; but if, in Nicaragua, it 
was used in reference to a distinct nation and language, 
there is not the slightest reason to suppose that this nation 
and language should not have been identical with the 
Woolwas of the present time, and the same of which Dr. 
Bernhard found the descendants in the village of Ldvago, 
though here they may have been mixed with a colony of 
Aztecs. 
From the inhabitants of the village just named, Dr. 
Bernhard received some information concerning the old 
manners of the race, in giving which they invariably 
