fact that many of the native allies of the Spanish could speak that tongue and not the Mangue; that the early missionaries came from Mexico; or, that the Nahuatl was promptly reduced to writing, while the Mangue was not; or to all these causes combined.[21] Certain it is, that at an early date a mixed dialect came into vogue, both in the Mangue districts of Nicaragua and elsewhere in Central America, composed of a broken-down Nahuatl and a corrupt Spanish, which, at first, served as a means of communication between the conquerors and their subjects, and later became, to some degree, the usual tongue of the latter. The Aztecs of pure blood spoke contemptuously of this jargon as in macehuallatolli, the language of slaves, and Father Carochi, writing little more than a century after the conquest, condemned it as a hodge-podge of Spanish and Aztec, unintelligible in either tongue.[22]

This jargon was carried into the various nations who came into contact with the Spaniards and half-breeds, and hence we may find scattered words traceable to it in many of their tongues, and sometimes formulas of a religious, social or business character.[23] This is strikingly exemplified among the Mangues, and the fact is one of considerable interest in connection with the literary production which is the main topic of this volume. Even to a recent day, in remote haciendas of the Province of Masaya, among the descendants of the Mangues, the traveler might hear the grace before meals, and other short formulas of the Church, spoken in this mixed patois.

The following is a specimen:—

Jesu Criste no tecuase + tunanse Santa Maria + el Apostol Santa Clara nos bendiga esta comida que tienen parte y poder. Amen.

Here, no tecuase is the Nahuatl no tecuyotzin, Our Lord, and tunanse is for tonantzin, Our Lady, or Mother.

Another specimen is:—

Marias te cuasti + Marias ticuisti guanse Dios + y Espiritu Santo.

The correct reading of which should probably be—

Maria tocihuatzin, Maria toquitznitli, yhuan in Dios, yhuan in Espiritu Santo.

This Nahuatl-Spanish jargon became the lingua franca of large districts of Central America and Mexico. It was the current tongue of the half-breeds, and to this day is the patois of the muleteers who carry on the sparse commerce of the interior mountainous regions. Many of its Spanish elements are ungrammatical, and others are long since obsolete in the classical tongue. It is interlarded with words and whole phrases borrowed from the Aztec, but with such mutilations that they are scarcely, or not at all, recognizable. Words from other native languages have crept in, which adds to the difficulty of its lexicography. As for the construction, it became looser and looser, until, in some phrases, all inflectional elements disappear, and there is a naked juxtaposition of nominal and verbal roots, the relation of which must be guessed simply from their sequence.

Probably in none of the Spanish provinces has the Castilian suffered more from such admixture than in Nicaragua. The foreign words are there so numerous that the country patois becomes nearly unintelligible to one acquainted only with the Spanish of the Academy. Here is the verse of a song, for example, in that dialect, which will illustrate how far the amalgamation with the native tongues has gone. The words in italic are either Nahuatl or Mangue:—

"Casahuyano, mi amor,
Por vos esté payaneado.
No seas tilinte, mi bien."
"Se selegue, dueño amado."

"My love, between girlhood and womanhood,
My heart is breaking for you.
Do not be severe, my loved one."
"I am yet unripe, my beloved master."[24]

Another song, in which the lover expresses the strength of his devotion with more force than elegance, has the following verse:—

"O fuera yo carángano,
En tus cojines me metería
Para servirte todo el dia.
Te ama este zángano."

Which may be freely rendered—

"Were I a little louse, I'd go
In your puffed and plaited hair;
With you all your toil I'd share;
This lazy fellow loves you so."

The carángano is the name of a species of louse, and the cojines are the little pads or cushions which women wear in their hair.

In this dialect several satirical and political songs have been composed, and, indeed, the licentiate Geronimo Perez, of Masaya, is stated to have printed in it a political pamphlet, which I regret not to have been able to obtain.

Such is the jargon in which the Güegüence is written, and although this medley of tongues can claim no position of dignity in the hierarchy of languages, it has its own peculiar points of interest, as illustrating the laws of the degradation—which is but another term for the evolution and progress—of human speech. To understand its origin and position as a literary effort, we must review the development of scenic representations in that part of the New World.

§ 2. The Bailes, or Dramatic Dances of Nicaragua.

The historian, Fernandez de Oviedo, who was in Nicaragua in 1529, gives a long account of the dramatic representations, or rites, accompanied by songs, dances and masked actors, which he witnessed among the natives of both Nahuatl and Mangue lineage in that province. They took place at stated seasons, and at certain epochs in the year. The name which he gives as that by which they were locally known is mitote, which is the Aztec mitotl, a dance. He himself calls them areytos, a Haytian word from the Arawack aririn, to sing, and bailes, which is Spanish, from a classical root, and means dances.

One which he saw at Tecoatega, at that time a Nahuatl village, was celebrated at the close of the cacao harvest and in honor of the god of that plant. It offered a curious symbolism, which makes us keenly regret the absence of a full explanation by some learned native. In the centre of the village square a straight pole was set up about forty feet in height. On its summit was placed the image of the god, brilliantly colored, in a sitting position. Around the top of the pole a stout grass rope was tightly wound, its two free ends passing over a wooden platform.

When the ceremony began, about seventy men appeared, some dressed as women, some with masks and head-dresses of feathers, and all painted skillfully on the naked flesh to imitate handsome costumes. They danced in pairs, and sang in chorus certain songs, to the sound of the sacred drums. After about half an hour, two boys, who had been attached to the free ends of the rope, threw themselves from the