In Central America we have two points for which our philological _data_
have lately received additions, viz. the parts about the Lake Nicaragua
and the Isthmus of Darien.
For the parts about the Lake of Nicaragua, the chief authority is
Mr. Squier; a writer with whom we differ in certain points, but,
nevertheless, a writer who has given us both materials and results of
great value. The languages represented, for the first time, by his
vocabularies are four in number, of which three are wholly new, whilst
one gives us a phenomenon scarcely less important than an absolutely
fresh form of speech; viz. the proof of the occurrence of a known
language in a new, though not unsuspected, locality.
To these four a fifth may be added; but; as that is one already
illustrated by the researches of Henderson, Cotheal and others, it does
not come under the category of new material. This language is that of
the
_Indians of the Mosquito coast._--Respecting these Mr. Squier commits
himself to the doctrine that they are more or less Carib. They may
be this in physiognomy. They may also be so in respect to their
civilization, or want of civilization; and perhaps this is all that is
meant, the words of our author being, that "upon the low alluvions,
and amongst the dense dank forests of the Atlantic coast, there exist
a few scanty, wandering tribes, maintaining a precarious existence by
hunting and fishing, with little or no agriculture, destitute of civil
organization, with a debased religion, and generally corresponding with
the Caribs of the islands, to whom they sustain close affinities. A
portion of their descendants, still further debased by the introduction
of negro blood, may still be found in the wretched Moscos or Mosquitos.
The few and scattered Melchoras, on the river St. Juan, are certainly
of Carib stock, and it is more than probable that the same is true of
the Woolwas, Ramas, Toacas, and Poyas, and also of the other tribes on
the Atlantic coast, further to the southward, towards Chiriqui Lagoon,
and collectively denominated Bravos."--_Central America and Nicaragua_,
ii. pp. 308-309.
Nevertheless, as has been already stated, the language is other than
Carib. It is other than Carib, whether we look to the Moskito or the
Woolwa vocabularies. It is other than Carib, and admitted by Mr.
Squier to be so. The previous extract has given us his opinion; what
follows supports it by his reasons. "I have said that the Indians of
the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua, the Moscos and others, were probably
of Carib stock. This opinion is founded not only upon the express
statements of Herrara, who says that 'the Carib tongue was much spoken
in Nicaragua,' but also upon their general appearance, habits and modes
of life. Their language does not appear to have any direct relationship
with that of the Southern Caribs, but is, probably, the same, or a
dialect of the same with that spoken around what is now called Chiriqui
Lagoon, near the Isthmus of Panama, and which was originally called
Chiribiri or Chraibici, from which comes Gomera's Caribici, or Carib."
In a note we learn that "thirteen leagues from the Gulf of Nicoya,
Oviedo speaks of a village called Carabizi, where the same language was
spoken as at Chiriqui," &c.
Of the Melchora we have no specimens. For each and every tribe, extant
or extinct, of the Indians about the Chiriqui Lagoon we want them also.
The known vocabularies, however, for the parts nearest that locality
are other than Carib.
Let us, however, look further, and we shall find good reasons for
believing that certain populations of the parts in question are
called, by the Spaniards of their neighbourhood, Caribs, much in the
same way that they, along with nine-tenths of the other aborigines
of America, are called _Indians_ by us. "The region of Chantales,"
writes Mr. Squier, "was visited by my friend Mr. Julius Froebel, in the
summer of this year (1851). He penetrated to the head-waters of the
Rio Mico, Escondido, or Blue-fields, where he found the Indians to
be agriculturalists, partially civilized, and generally speaking the
Spanish language. They are called Caribs by their Spanish neighbours,"
&c. But their language, of which Mr. Froebel collected a vocabulary,
published by Mr. Squier, is, like the rest, _other than Carib_.
It may, then, safely be said, that the Carib character of the Moskito
Indians, &c. wants confirmation.
_Nicaragua._ A real addition to our knowledge is supplied by M. Squier
concerning the Nicaraguans. The statement of Oviedo as to the tribes
between the Lake of Nicaragua and the Pacific, along with the occupants
of the islands in the lake itself, being _Mexican_ rather than
indigenous, he confirms. He may be said to prove it; since he brings
specimens of the language (_Niquiran_, as he calls it), which is as
truly Mexican as the language of Sydney or New York is English.
The Mexican character of the Nicaraguan language is a definite addition
to ethnographical philology. It may now be considered as settled,
that one of the languages of the parts under notice is intrusive, and
foreign to its present locality.
The remaining vocabularies represent four indigenous forms of speech;
these (three of them of Mr. Squier's own earliest publication, and one
known before) being--
1. The Chorotegan or Dirian of Squier--This was collected by the author
from the Indians of Masaya, on the northern frontier of the Niquiran,
Nicaraguan, Mexican or Astek area.
2. The Nagrandan of Squier--This was collected by the author from
the Indians of Subtiaba, in the plain of Leon, to the _north_ of the
Niquiran or Mexican area.
3. The Chontales, or Woolwa, of Froebel; Chontal being the name of the
district, Woolwa, of the tribe.