Untitled - Smithsonian Institution

84 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 44
The province of Burica extended toward the east to the Llanos of Chiriqui, and
formed a part gf the government of Quepo. It belongs today to the district of Punta
Arenas.
The Terrabas, who have given their name to the river formerly called the Goto, do
not belong to the tribes of the Pacific Slope. They were brought to the location there,
which they now occupy, in Aldea or Terraba, partly by the persuasion of the mis-
sionaries, partly by force, having been obliged to abandon the rough mountains to
the north about the headwaters of the Tilorio or Rio de la Estrella, the Yurquin, and
the Rovalo, about the year 1697. They have been variously called Terbis, Terrebes,
Terrabas, and Tirribies, but there are no differences of dialect between them and
their relatives to the north, other than would necessarily take place in any tongue
from a separation of this length.
At the time of the Conquest, therefore, the tribes occupying the territory of Costa
Rica were Nahuas, Mangues, Guetares, Viceitas, Terrabas, Changuenes, Guaymies,
Quepos, Cotos, and Borucas.
... It is almost impossible to determine the ethnic affinities of the Guetares as
long as no vocabularies of their tongue can be found, though such were certainly
written by such able linguists as Fray Pedro de Betanzos, Fray Lorenzo de Bienve-
nida, Fray Juan Babtista, and other Franciscans, who founded missionary establishments
and taught the natives around Cartage; but the testimony of archaeology
proves that if they were not related to the Nahuas, they were subject to their influence,
perhaps through the active commerce they had with the Chorotegas and Nahuas
about the gulf of Nicoya.
... As to the Guaymies, Terrabas, Changuenes, and Borucas, their affinities to
the tribes to the east of them are well marked, and it would not be surprising if they
were also closely related to the natives between Paria and Darien, and even with the
Chibchas of Colombia, as has been maintained by Brinton.
GUATUSO
The eastern and western boundaries of the Guatusan area on the
map are based largely on inference, rather than on positive evidence.
That the tribe occupied the valley of the Rio Frio to the San Juan
river, and the region about the headwaters of the former, is the
general consensus of the authorities. There is some evidence also
that they frequently wandered down the San Carlos river, and Carl
Sapper (1 : 31) speaks of a small body on a branch of the Sarapiqui.
Gabb (483) states merely that, at the time of his visit
They occupy a part of the broad plains north and east of the high volcanic chain of
North-Western Costa Rica and south of the great lake of Nicaragua, especially about the
headwaters of the Rio Frio.
Fernandez (3:676) says:
The lands occupied by the Guatusos are veiy extensive, level, fertile, and intersected
by navigable rivers, with a slight incline from the right bank of the San Juan
river to the Central Cordillera, which divides the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific.
Bishop Thiel (2 : 12) says they live dispersed in the skirts of the
Cerro Pelado, of the Tenorio, and on the banks of the affluents of the
Rio Frio, principally between the Pataste, the Muerte, the Cucaracha,
and the Venado. He appears to have succeeded in obtaining a
vocabulary of their language, judging from that given in his Apuntes
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