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THOMAS] INDIAN LANGUAGES OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 59
Much confusion exists in regard to this name, as it is apphed not
only to the small group in Oaxaca but also to one in Tabasco and to
another in Nicaragua, both of which are included by Orozco y Berra in
the Mayan family. It is now known, however, that only those in
Tabasco and some in Guatemala and Honduras to which the name
has sometimes been applied belong to this family. The languages of
the Oaxacan and Nicaraguan groups pertain to entirely different
stocks. That of the former having received no satisfactory classification,
Doctor Brinton (3: 112, 146) has applied to it the nameTequis-
tlateca, from the principal village of the tribe, and placed it in the
Yuman stock. As yet, however, this has not been accepted by
linguists.
Professor Starr (67) insists that there was no necessity for the
change of name made by Doctor Brinton, as the people call them-
selves Chontal and their language Chontal. He says also that
Orozco y Berra is in error in calling some of the most important
towns Trike pueblos; and that one in the list of Chontal towns he
gives—Tlacolulita—is in reality Zapotec. Leon and Belmar have
assigned the language to the Nahuatlan stock.
As the name Chontal applied to other groups should be superseded
by more correct titles, there appears to be no good reason why it
could not be retained for the Oaxacan tribe, as this is the name the
people apply to themselves, but for the present it is deemed best,
following Brinton, to apply to it as a linguistic family the name
Tequistlatecan.
HUAVE
(Synonyms: Huabi, Juave, Guavi, Wabi)
A small tribe resident on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, among the
marshes on the Pacific coast, at the point where the Zapotec and
Zociue territories meet, as located on Orozco y Berra's map. They
occupy at present only four villages, one of those mentioned by
Orozco y Berra—Ixhuatan—long since having been abandoned.
According to their traditions they came from some coast region far-
ther to the south—the last-named writer says from South America.
Brasseur de Bourbourg (1 :iii, 3) says, on what authority is not stated,
that in past centuries they possessed the province of Tehuantepec,
and that they had been masters also of Soconusco, and had extended
their conquest to Xalapa-la-Grande, of the Zapotec.
So far as known, the language can not be assigned to any recognized
stock, although Leon and Belmar believe it to be related to the Maya
therefore for the present it must remain as the representative of a
distinct family.
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