“America”: A Good, Old Indian Word

"AMERICA"— A GOOD, OLD INDIAN WORD By J. M. Sjodahl In the Improvement Era for December, 1920, an article appears in which the question of the origin of the name "America" is discussed, and a contribution by Prof. Jules Marcou to the Atlantic Monthly for March, 1875, is quoted at some length. The writer maintains that the name of our great country is of Central Indian origin; that it was brought to Spanish seaports and sailors' resorts by returning mariners, and that it gradually found its way to the literary workshops of men of letters of cartographers. Notwithstanding the hastily formed conclusion of Waldseemueller, our country was not, Prof. Marcou argues, named in honor of Vespucci. This proposition, which is contrary to the almost unanimous opinion of the world at present, appears to me to be of so great importance as to justify further inquiry with a view to ascertaining as far as possible just what foundation it has. For this reason the following information received from Mrs. William H. King, who, at my request, has made inquiries at the Pan-American library at Washington, is offered, from which it will be seen that the name, Amerrique is found in a work by the celebrated English scientist, Thomas Belt, F. G. S., entitled, The Naturalist in Nicaragua, first published in London, 1873. The author, Mr. Belt, lived in the province of Chontales from 1868 to 1872, and was employed as su- perintendent of the Chontales Gold Mining Company. The au- thority of Mr. Belt as a keen observer and an accurate writer is very high, and there is no possibility of error in the statement concerning a name of a mountain range, which must have been as familiar to him as the name "Wasatch" now is to the people in Utah, particularly when set forth in a work that is recognized as a classic among the literature of natural history. The following is a copy of the pages in which the name Amerrique occurs: The Naturalist in Nicaragua By Thomas Belt, F.G.S. LONDON, 1888 Chapter IX, P. 154. — "We gradually ascended the range that separates the water-shed of the Lake of Nicaragua from that of the Blewfields river, passing over grassy savannahs. About two leagues from Libertad there are many old Indian graves, covered with mounds of earth and stones. A well- educated Englishman, Mr. Fairbairn, has taken up his abode at this place, and is growing maize and rearing cattle. There are many evidences of a large Indian population having lived at this spot, and their pottery and fragments of their stones for bruising maize have been found in some graves that have been opened. Mr. Fairbairn got me several of these curiosities,

AMERICA, A GOOD OLD INDIAN WORD 777 Amongst them are imitations of the heads of armadillos, and other animals. Some of these had formed the feet of urns, others were rattles, containing small balls of baked clay. The old Indians used these rattles in their solemn religious dances, and the custom is probably not yet quite obsolete, for as late as 1823 Mr. W. Bullock saw, in Mexico, Indian women dancing in a masque representing the court of Montezuma, and holding rattles in their right hands, to the noise of which they accompanied their motions. Several stone axes have been found, which are called 'thunderbolts' by the natives, who have no idea that they are artificial, although it is less than four hun- dred years ago since their forefathers used them. Like most of the ancient Indian towns, the place is a very picturesque one. At a short distance to the west, rise great perpendicular cliffs, and huge isolated rocks and pinnacles. The name of this range gives us a clue to the race of the ancient inhabitants. In the highlands of Honduras, as has been noted by Squiers, the termination of tique or rique is of frequent occurrence in the names of places, as Chapar- ristique, Lepaterique, Llotique, Ajuterique, and others. The race that in- habited this region were the Lenca Indians, often mentioned in the accounts given by the missionaries of their early expeditions into Honduras. I think that the Lenca Indians were the ancient inhabitants of Chontales, that they were the 'Chontals' of the Nahuatls or Aztecs of the Pacific side of the country, and that they were partly conquered, and their territories encroached upon by the latter before the arrival of the Spaniards, as some of the Aztec names of places in Nicaragua do not appear to be such as could be given originally by the first inhabitants: thus Juigalpa, pronounced Hueygalpa, is southern Aztec for 'Big Town'." Chapter X, p. 176. — "The site of Juigalpa is beautifully chosen, as is usual with the old Indian towns. It is on a level, dry piece of land, about three hundred feet above the river. A rocky brook behind the town supplies the water for drinking and cooking purposes. The large square or plaza has the church at one end; on the other three sides are red-tiled adobe houses and stores, with floors of clay or red bricks. Streets branch off at right angles from the square, and are crossed by others. The best houses are those nearest the square. Those on the outskirts are mere thatched hovels, with open sides of bamboo poles. The house I stayed at was at the corner of one of the square blocks, and from the angle the view extended in four directions along the level roads. Each way the prospect was bounded by hills in the distance. Northeast were the white cliffs of the Amerrique range, mantled with dark woods. The intervening country could not be seen, and only a small portion of the range itself; framed in, as it were, by the sides of the street. It looked close at hand, like a piece of artificial rockery, or the grey walls of a castle covered with ivy. The range to the southwest is several miles distant; and is called San Miguelito by the Spaniards, but I could not learn its Indian name." Chapter X. p. 178. — "Having finished our business in Juigalpa, we arranged to start on our return early the next morning, Valasquez going round by Acoyapo whilst Rito accompanied me to the mines. I had a fowl cooked overnight to take with us, and set off at six o'clock. I shall make some remarks on the road on points not touched on in my account of the journey out. After leaving Juigalpa, we descended to the river by a rocky and steep path, crossed it, and then passed over alluvial-like plains, intersected by a few nearly dry river beds, to the foot of the south-western side of the Amerrique hills, then gradually ascended the range that separates the Juigalpa district from that of Libertad. The ground was gravelly and dry, with stony hillocks covered with low trees and bushes." Chapter X, P. 183. — "At last we reached the summit of the range, which is probably not less than three thousand feet above the sea, and entered on the district of Libertad. Rounded, boggy hills covered with grass, sedgy

778 IMPROVEMENT ERA plants and stunted trees, replaced the dry, gravelly soil of the Juigalpa dis- trict." Chapter X, P. 184. — "Our road now lay over the damp, grassy hills of the Libertad district. It edged away from the Amerrique range on our right. To our left, about three miles distant, rose the dark sinuous line of the great forest of the Atlantic slope. Only a fringe of dark foliaged trees in the fore- ground was visible, the higher ground behind was shrouded in a sombre pall of thick clouds that never lifted, but seemed to cover a gloomy and mysterious country beyond. Though I had dived into the recesses of these mountains again and again, and knew that they were covered with beautiful vegetation and full of animal life, yet the sight of that leaden-colored bar- rier of clouds resting on the forest tops, whilst the savannahs were bathed in sunshine, ever raised in my mind vague sensations of the unknown and the unfathomable. Our course was nearly parallel to this gloomy forest, but we gradually approached it. The line that separates it from the grassy savannahs is sinuous and irregular. In some places a dark promontory of trees juts out into the savannahs, in others a green, grassy hill is seen almost surrounded by forest." Chapter XVII, p. 3 24. — "As we rode on, the grass increased; there were swampy places in the hollows, and now and then very muddy spots on the road. On every side the prospect was bounded by long ranges of hills — some of them precipitous, others covered to the summits with dark foliaged trees, looking nearly black in the distance. About noon we came in sight of the Amerrique range, which I recognized at once, and knew that we had reached the Juigalpa district, though still several leagues distant from the town." I It being established, then, in the first place, that the Indians of Central America had a number of proper nouns ending in "rique", as does our "America", if the sounds and not the letters are considered; and, in the second place, that they had the very name, Amerrique applied to a certain section of their mountainous country, there is no escape from the conclusion that "America" is a good, old American word, and not a poorly Latinized form of the given name of Vespucci, of whom Emerson, in his wrath, said that his "highest naval rank was boatswain's mate in an expedition that never sailed." The question of the origin and the meaning of the name is one for philologists to consider. A Child and the Wind All night long the wind it blows, The wind, queerest of all things, Why it blows, nobody knows, Often gentle as soft wings, Piling soft snow, flake on flake, Seems in anger after me, Covering mountains, hills, and lake. Howling in the apple tree. Sings a song out o'er the sea, While I pray the wind still blows; Whispers strangest tales to me; I'm afraid, but no one knows, Makes an awful chimney fuss, While the wind it blows, blows, blows, Blowing down the gathered dust. Blows, blows, blows, blows, blows Hollywood, Calif. VlRQINIA BLAIR