1. The Chorotegan or Dirian of Squier—This was collected by the author from the Indians of Masaya, on the northern frontier of the Niquiran, Nicaraguan, Mexican or Astek area.
2. The Nagrandan of Squier—This was collected by the author from the Indians of Subtiaba, in the plain of Leon, to the north of the Niquiran or Mexican area.
3. The Chontales, or Woolwa, of Froebel; Chontal being the name of the district, Woolwa, of the tribe.
4. The Mosquito (or Waikna) of the coast.
To these four indigenous tongues (the Mexican of Nicaragua being dealt with as a foreign tongue), what have we to say in the way of classification?
It is safe to say that the Nagrandan, Dirian, and Woolwa, are more like each other than they are to the Mosca, Mosquito, or Waikna. And this is important, since, when Froebel collected the Woolwa vocabulary, he found a tradition of their having come originally from the shores of Lake Managua; this being a portion of the Dirian and Nagrandan area. If so; the classification would be,—
a. Dirian, Nagrandan, and Chontal, or Woolwa (Wúlwa)
b. Mosquito, or Waikna.
The value of these two divisions is, of course, uncertain; and, in the present state of our knowledge, it would be premature to define it. Equally uncertain is the value of the subdivisions of the first class. All that can be said is, that out of four mutually unintelligible tongues, three seem rather more allied to each other than the fourth.