Untitled - Smithsonian Institution

THOMAS] INDlAlSr LANGUAGES OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 83
To the east of the Sarapiqui, and from the mouths of the San Juan on the Atlantic
to the mouth of the river Matina, was the important province of Suerre, belonging
to the Guetars, who occupied the ground to Turrialba and Atirro, in the valleys of
the Reventazon and the river Suerre or Pacuar.
Between the river Natina and the river Tarire were the provinces of Pococi and of
the Tariacas. To the east of the Tarire to the Bay del Almirante, dwelt the Viceitas,
Cabecares, and Terrabas (Terrebes, Terbis, or Tiribies).
On the Bay del Almirante to Point Sorobeta or Terbi there was the Chichimec
colony, already referred to, whose cacique Iztolin conversed in the Mexican language
with Juan Vasquez de Coronado in 1564.
The Changuenes occupied the forests about the headwaters of the Rio Ravalo.
The Doraces, south of the Laguna of Chiriqui, and at the foot of the Cordillera,
adjoined in the valley of the river Cricamola or Guaymi with the warlike nation of
the latter name.
The Guaymies occupied the coast and the interior lands situated between the rivers
Guaymi and Conception,, of Veragua.
In front of the valley of the Guaymi lies the Island del Escodo, the governmental
limit of Costa Rica; so that the Guaymis were distributed in nearly equal parts between
the jurisdiction of Costa Rica and of Veragua.
In the interior, in the highlands about Cartago, on the slopes both of the Atlantic
and the Pacific, were the provinces Guarco, Toyopan, and Aserri; farther west, toward
the gulf of Nicoya, Pacaca, Garabito, and Chomes adjoined along the summits of
La Herradura and Tilaran with the Chorotegas.
These provinces formed the territory of the Huetares, or Guetares, uei tlalli, in
Nahuatl, "great land," a general term, which included various tribes and chieftan-
cies of the same linguistic stock, one entirely diverse from those of the neighboring
Mangues and Nahuas, toward whom they were unfriendly, although maintaining
commercial relations.
The province of Guarco was considered by both the natives and the Spaniards as
one of the most favored localities in the country, and for that reason was selected by
the Guetares, and later by the whites, as the site of their principal town. It was here
that the city of Costa Rica was founded in 1568. The name is a corruption of the
Nahuatl Qualcan, from "qualli," good, convenient, with the locative suffix "can."
Qualcan means, therefore, "good place, " or, as it is translated in Molina's Vocabulary,
"a well-sheltered and desirable place, " which answers well to the valley of Cartago.
Southeast of Chorotega and the heights of Herradura, and south of the Guetares,
extending to the Pacific Ocean, between the rivers Pirris and Grande of Terraba,
was the province of the Quepos, of which the Spanish Government formed the dis-
trict of Quepo, whose extreme limit toward the southeast was the old Chiriqui River.
According to the most probable conjectures, the Quepos belonged to the family
of the Guetares and lived, by preference, on the coasts. They were also enemies of
the Mangues and the Cotos and Borucas, and in consequence of their wars with them
and with the whites, and with the burden of labors laid upon them by the latter,
their towns disappeared in the middle of the eighteenth century without leaving any
positive traces which will enlighten us upon their origin.
Adjoining the Quepos, the Cotos or Coctos occupied the upper valley of the river
Terraba, formerly known as the Coto.
These formed a numerous and warlike tribe, skillful in both offense and defense.
They are not known in Costa Rica by this name; but there is no doubt that the Bo-
rucas are their descendants. These Borucas occupied the region about Golfo Dulce,
formerly the gulf of Osa, east of the river Terraba, and gave their name Buricas,
Burucas, or Bruncas to the province of Borica, discovered by the Licentiate Espinosa
in the first voyage of exploration made by the Spaniards to this region in 1519, and
also to Point Burica, the extreme southern limit of Costa Rica, in latitude 8° north.