1. The Mexican language,
2. The Othomi and the
Mazahui, which is
. a dialect of the
Othomi,
f spoken in the Itbeesès of Mexico,
y Mechoacan, New Galicia, New
(. Biscay, Oaxaca, and Guatemala.
v in thé northern parts of the saine
f region.
3 &4i TheTarascaand ) ■ ,i ,
the Pirinda, \ ,nJlle dloc^se of Mechoacan'
5. The Cora, in Nayarit of New Galicia.
6. Maya, Yucatan, Tabasco, and Merida.
7: Mixteca or Misteca, ? di°“ f a °f Pu<?bla de .los Angeles
* t and Oaxaca.
8. Totonac,
9. Hiaqui,
10. Tarahumara,
11. Tubar,
12. Opata, .
13. Eudeve,
14. Guaima,
15. Tepehuana,
Puebla de los Angeles,
missions on the Hiaqui in New
Biscay.
missions of Tarahumara. in' New
Biscay.
missions of Sonora and Pimeria
• :in New Biscay.
Cinaloa, diocese of New Biscay.
Tepehuana in New Biscay.
.16. Huasteca,
17. Pame,
18. Matlazinga,
19. Mazahua,
20. Cuitlateca,
21. Zapoteca,
22. Chinanteca,
23. Popoluca,
24. Chontal,
"25. Chochona,
26. Mazateca,
27. Mixe,
Iluastecapan, a part of Mexico.
valley of Toluca in Mexico,
in the diocese of Mexico. .
^ in the diocese of Oaxaca.
28. Chiapaneca,
29. s Marne,
30. Lacandona,
31. Zoke,
'32. Celdala,
33. Quiche,
34. Caeahiquel,
35. Utlateca,
dtt the diocese of Guatemala.
36. Pira, -
37. Xumana,
38. Lana,
39. Zura,
40. Moqui,
41. Tigua,
42. Pécari,
43. Quera,# itb e ^ eight languages or dialects
are spoken in New Mexico, and
were very little known, at least
to Hervas.
It may be worth' while ;fb remark that, although the natives
of Anahqac differed1 W much in languages,, fhef* generally
considered themselves to be descended from the same race, and
that they had even mythologcalSjwms^' which accounted for
the, diversity oftnéir languages'., Acdsta has preserved one of;
th,ese tafèsfin which the Tarascas are asserted tcthave spoken
originally the language of the Aztecas, ancfto h a ^ em i grated
with that people Trom Aztlanj 'and Gomara relates* a legend
tha$Tvas current among the Mexicans 'of' a more '.extensive
An old man named Izfae-Mixcoatl, and his wife
Itancueitl, had six children, "each of whpm came to speak a
different languagëV called Xolhual 'Tenoch, Ol^^catT, Xical-
fafièatl, Mix’tecatl, and Otoinótl, the name's ^appropriated to
jpx of the principal nations of Anahuam ^
' Professpr Vater cofiected much information respecting the
languages of'México, and ascertained from a companion of
facts, and circumstances mentioned in the narrativq^of the
“ Conquistadores ^ the extensive prevalence of one or two
mother-tongues.f* “ The lubject has lately been revisén'fih a
careful and critical manner by one of the most distinguished
of American philologers.J I shall èollect from thèse^w liters
the principal facts yet known with relation to the barbarous
and the half-civilised nations of the Mexican tableland and
the bordering countries.
Mr. Gallatin has given the names of fifteerf languages now
spoken in Mexico, but some of these belong to northern tribes
who were uncivilised at the era of the Spanish conquest. Thi|
* I -have taken the liberty of altering in som-e '/jli&tafiefes Hetvas’s orthography,
and substituting'the Spanish for hi S ItalianAgpellingi
: f Vater, Mithridates, Bd. 3/
■ f Gallatifii) Arnerifeao Ethnological Transactions,