The Gueguence A Comedy Ballet in the Nahuatl-Spanish Dialect of Nicaragua Part 5

Finally, the loads are placed on the mules, the boys mount them and move off, while Gueguence, having offered his wine to the Governor, the Secretary, the Registrar and the Alguacil, who each in turn tell him to be off, leaves the stage shouting to his sons that they will all have a rouse that will cost them nothing.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] E. G. Squier, _The States of Central America_, p. 317 (London, 1858).

[2] The conquest of Nicaragua is described by Oviedo, _Historia General de las Indias_, Lib. XXIX, cap. XXI, and Herrera, _Decadas de Indias_, Dec. III, Lib. IV, and see Dec. IV, Lib. VIII, cap. X.

[3] "_Nicaragua_ es lo mismo que _Nica anahuac_, aqui estan los Mexicanos Anahuacos." Fray Francisco Vasquez, _Cronica de la Provincia de Guatemala_, Parte II, Lib. V, cap. I (Guatemala, 1716).

The form _Nicarao_, adopted by Dr. Berendt, is certainly corrupt, as the termination of a proper name in _ao_ is not found in correct Nahuatl. Squier's term _Niquirans_ was adopted by him from a misreading of Oviedo, and has no authority whatever; so, also, his attempted discrimination between Chorotegans and Cholotecans, as both these are forms of the same word.

[4] "The hypothesis of a migration from Nicaragua and Cuscatlan to Anahuac is altogether more consonant with probabilities, and with traditions, than that which derives the Mexicans from the north."--E. G. Squier. _Notes on Central America_, p. 349. It is difficult to understand how Mr. Squier could make this statement in the face of the words of Herrera and so many other writers.

[5] "La Gente de esta tierra decia, que havia descendido de la Mexicana; su Trage, i Lengua, era casi, como el de Mexico."--Herrera, Decada III, Lib. V, Cap. XII. "Dicen, que huvo en los tiempos antiguos, en Nueva Espana una gran Seca, por lo qual se fueron por aquella Mar Austral a poblar a Nicaragua."--Id. Dec. III, Lib. IV, cap. VII. Torquemada, specifically quoting the traditions obtained from the oldest natives, states that the Nicaraguans came from Anahuac at no remote epoch.--_Monarquia Indiana_, Lib. III, cap. XL.

See, also, Gomara, _Hist. de las Indias_, cap. 206.

[6] Prof. Buschmann, who obtained these names in a garbled form from Ternaux-Compans' translation of Oviedo, gave them up as insoluble, while recognizing their value as indicating the wanderings of the Nicaraguans. "Unglucklicherweise," he says, "sind jene zwei Namen von so ungunstigem Gehalte, das ich nichts aus ihnen hervorlocken kann."--_Ueber die Aztekischen Ortsnamen_, p. 768 (Berlin, 1852).

[7] The careless statement of the historian Herrera, that it was only the Chorotegans who had such books, can be corrected from his own volumes, and also from the explicit words of Oviedo and Gomara.

Compare Herrera, Dec. III, Lib. IV, cap. VII, with Oviedo, _Hist. de las Indias_, Lib. XLII, cap. I, and Gomara, _Hist. de las Indias_, cap. 202.

[8] The word _mankeme_ is a derivative from _[chi]ima_, the head, whence the Chapanec _d[chi]ama_, the ruler or head man, and _mand[chi]ama_, master, chief, in which word _ma_ is a possessive prefix, and _n_ a particle, sometimes relative, sometimes euphonic, of exceedingly frequent use in this tongue. It may be compared to the Nahuatl _in_.

[9] This latter, or a portion of them, inhabiting a hilly country south of Masaya, were called _Dirians_, from the Mangue word _diri_=, a hill, a name which has improperly been extended to the whole tribe.

[10] The "compulsive" form of the verb _choloa_, to run away, is _chololtia_, to cause to run away, to drive out. No doubt the name of Cholula (Cholollan) in Mexico is of the same derivation, but it arose from a different, though similar, historical event.

[11] Torquemada appears to have been the first to make this guess; and it has recently been advocated by Dr. Valentini, _The Olmecas and the Tultecas_, p. 20 (Worcester, 1883), and was also sanctioned by Dr. Berendt.

[12] In a note to his translation of Oviedo's _Nicaragua_.

[13] The proper spelling is "Chapanec." It is not an Aztec word, but from the Mangue tongue, in which _Chapa_ means the ara, or red macaw, their sacred bird. The name was derived from that of the lofty peak on which their princ.i.p.al town in Chiapas was situated--_chapa niiu_, the ara of fire.

[14] In Mr. Bancroft's _Native Races of the Pacific States_, Vol. V, p. 659.

[15] The contrary of this has been very positively stated by Dr.

Valentini (_ubi supra_). The only evidence he brings forward is the word _calachuni_, for chieftain, applied by Gil Gonzalez to one of the rulers in Nicaragua. This is, no doubt, the Maya _halach uinic_, holy man, but Gonzalez wrote in 1522, and this word was adopted by the Spaniards in 1518, during Grijalva's expedition to Yucatan, as the accounts show, and was promiscuously applied, just as _cacique_, _canoe_, etc., from the Haytian dialect. A careful a.n.a.lysis of all the native words in Oviedo's account of Nicaragua does not show a single Maya affinity.

[16] The chief asked Gonzalez if, at the end of the world, the earth would be overturned, or would the sky fall? How large are the stars, why they move, and what keeps them in their courses? When, and how do the sun and moon change their brightness? Why is the night dark and the winter cold, since light and warmth are so much better?

(Herrera, Decad. III, Lib. IV, cap. V.)

[17] The leading authorities on the antiquities of Nicaragua are E.

G. Squier, _Nicaragua, Its People, Scenery and Monuments_, together with his numerous other works pertaining to Central America; and the reports of Dr. Earl Flint and Dr. J. F. Bransford, to the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution. Dr. Habel and Dr. Berendt also made numerous investigations, but their reports have not appeared in adequate detail.

[18] See his essay, _Remarks on the Centres of Ancient American Civilization in Central America, and their Geographical Distribution, in the Bulletin of the American Geog. Soc. No. 2, 1876._

[19] _Historia General de las Indias_, Lib. XLII, cap. V.

[20] The older writers have left scant information about these idioms. Oviedo preserved thirty or forty Nahuatl words, most of which have been a.n.a.lyzed by Buschman; and Benzoni, in a brief pa.s.sage, notes the ident.i.ty of the Nicaraguan and Mexican. "Chiamano li Signori Tutruane, il pane tascal, and le galline totoli, and occomaia tanto vuol dire como aspetta un poco e al infirmita mococoua and al ballare mitote." _La Historia del Mondo Nuovo_, p.

103. It is said that a _Doctrina_ was printed in the Mangue; but the only work on that tongue I know of is the _Apuntamientos de la Lengua Mangue_, by Don Juan Eligio de la Rocha (MS. Masaya, 1842) a fragment of which is in my possession.

Dr. S. Habel, who visited Nicaragua in 1865, in spite of the greatest efforts, was unable to find a single person speaking Nahuatl; they told him it was all forgotten.--_Archaeological and Ethnological Investigations in Central and South America_, p. 24 (Was.h.i.+ngton, 1878).

[21] The superior position of the Nahuatl among the Nicaraguan languages was noted by Benzoni, in his visit to that country, as early as about 1550. He observes: "Parlano in Nicaragua quatro lenguaggi, pero la meglio e la Messicana, laquale si stende piu di mille e cinquecento miglia di paese and e la piu facile da imparare."--_Istoria del Nuovo Mondo_, p. 103 (Venetia, 1565).

[22] "Una mezcla de Castellano y Mexicano, que ni en uno ni en otro idioma se entiende."--_Compendio del Arte de la Lengua Mexicana_, pp. 93, 202.

[23] Speaking of the natives of Nicaragua and Honduras, Father Francisco Vasquez says: "Muchos de aquellos Indios por la comunicacion que tienen con gente ladina de las estancias vecinas alcanzan mucho de la lengua Castellana."--_Historia de la Provincia de Guatemala._ Parte II, Lib. V, Trat. I, Cap. 1 (Guatemala, 1716).

[24] This verse is from a song by Dr. Gollena, a highly appreciated poet of Guatemala, who has written, but I believe never published, some poems in the Nicaraguan dialect.

[25] Oviedo, _Historia General de las Indias_, Lib. XLII, cap. XI.

Precisely this baile, or one altogether like it, is described by Diego Duran as common in Mexico in his day (about 1580). He writes: "Tambien usaban bailar al rededor de un volador alto vistiendose como pajaros y otras veces como monas volaban de lo alto de el dejandose venir por unas cuerdas que en la punta de este palo estan arolladas, desliandose poco a poco por un bastidor que tiene arriba," etc.--_Historia de las Indias de Nueva Espana._ Tomo II, p.

232 (Mexico, 1880).

[26] _Historia del Nuovo Mondo_, fol. 103 (Venetia, 1565). Benzoni gives a wood cut exhibiting the dances, but it is not instructive.

Another traveler, Francois Coreal, claimed to have visited Nicaragua about 1680, and also describes the native dances, but in words so similar to Benzoni that it is an evident plagiarism.--_Relation des Voyages de Francois Coreal aux Indes Occidentales_, Tome I, p. 88 (Amsterdam, 1722).

[27] Thomas Gage, _A New Survey of the West Indies_, p. 234 (4th Ed.

London, 1699).

[28] Letter to the London _Athaeneum_, 1856, p. 1537. Oviedo also states that the songs sung at certain _bailes_ were of an historical character, intended to recall the important incidents in personal and tribal history, "que les quedan en lugar de historia e memoria de las cosas pasadas."--_Historia General de las Indias_, Lib. XLII, cap. XI.

[29] "Hay santos a quienes se hace el voto, en caso de enfermedad u de desgracia de ir a _bailar_ ante su imagen, en tal pueblo, el dia de su fiesta, cuando le sacan procesionalmente."--Pablo Levy, _Notas Geograficas y Economicas sobre la Republica de Nicaragua_, p. 281 (Paris, 1873).

[30] "Welligt blijkt de geesteloosheid dezer menschen nit niets zoo zeer als uit hunne dansen, een vermaak, hetwelk trouwens vrij zeldzaam onder hen is. Bij het eentoonige geluid van een paar fluiten, en het kloppen op een hol blok hout, draaijen mannen en vrouwen afzonderlijk, langzaam en bedaard, in alle rigtingen herom, en schijnen veeleer diepe treurigheid dan vreugde aan den dag te leggen."--J. Haefkens, _Centraal Amerika_, p. 407 (Dordrecht, 1832).

[31] Such dances are the "bailes usados en el populacho, y que estan muy lejos de brillar por su desencia," referred to by Don Pablo Levy, _Notas_, etc., _sobre Nicaragua_, p. 294.

[32] The word _Loga_ is, I have no doubt, a corruption of the Spanish _loa_. The _loas_ in Spain were at first rhymed prologues to the plays, but later took a more dramatic form and "differed little from the farces that followed them." See George Ticknor, _History of Spanish Literature_, vol. ii, pp. 527-529 (5th edition).

[33] "_Mosote._ Un casco o gorra de cabuya tenida negra, con cola a trensa, usada en el baile de los _Chinegritos_."--Berendt, MSS.

[34] "_Guaca._ Montecillo de sepultura de los inhabitantes antiguos.

Cueva; madriguera de animales. Hoyo subteraneo para madurar o guardar frutas y verduras."--Berendt, MSS.

[35] _Nicaragua, Its People, Scenery and Monuments_, Vol. I, p. 340.

[36] _Narrative of Incidents on a Journey in Mexico, Guatemala and San Salvador_, pp. 384-6 (London, 1858). The Smithsonian Inst.i.tution contains a good specimen of the Marimba.

[37] Arthur Morelet, _Voyage dans l'Amerique Centrale_, Tome II, pp.

42, 43 (Paris, 1857).

[38] _Archaeological Researches in Nicaragua_, p. 75 (Was.h.i.+ngton, 1881).

[39] The most satisfactory discussion of native music is that by Theodore Baker, _Ueber die Musik der Nord Amerikanischen Wilden_ (Leipzig, 1882). Mr. Edwin A. Barber has also contributed some valuable articles on the subject.

[40] _The American Naturalist_, February, 1883.