The Chontales of Oaxaca lived on the Pacific coast on the Cordillera in that State, in the Sierra Quiegolani. They were brought under instruction in the latter part of the sixteenth century by Father Diego Carranza, who labored among them for twelve years with gratifying success, and wrote a _Doctrina_, _Sermones_ and _Ejercicios Espirituales_ in their language.[186] Unfortunately these works are no longer to be found, and the only specimen of their idiom which I have obtained is a vocabulary of 23 words, collected by John Porter Bliss in 1871. This is too limited to admit of positive identification; but it certainly shows several coincidences with the Yuma linguistic stock.[187] Provisionally, however, I give it the name of _Tequistlatecan_, from the principal village of the tribe, where Father Carranza built his church. The Chontales of Guerrero were immediately adjacent to those of Oaxaca, in the same Sierra, and there is every reason to believe that they belonged to the same family; and from their location, history and associations, I do not doubt that Orozco y Berra was right in placing the Triquis in the same family.[188] The Chontales of Tabasco occupied most of the basin of the Rio Grijalva. Herrera states that their language was that in general use in the province, being richer in words than the Zoque, or the provincial Mexican which has been introduced.[189] This leads us to believe that it was a Maya dialect, a supposition confirmed by a MS. vocabulary obtained by the late Dr. C. H. Berendt. By this it is seen that the Chontal of Tabasco is a member of the numerous Maya family, and practically identical with the Tzendal dialect.[190] In Nicaragua two entirely different peoples have been called Chontales. The first of these is also sometimes mentioned as Popolucas. Their tongue is, or a generation ago was, current in and around the city of Matagalpa and in various hamlets of the departments of Matagalpa, Segovia and Chontales. The only specimen I know of it is a vocabulary, obtained in 1874 by the Rev. Victor Noguera, and supplied by him to Dr. Berendt. It contains a small percentage of words from the neighboring dialects, but in the mass is wholly different, and I consider it an independent stock, to which I give the name _Matagalpan_. The second Chontales of Nicaragua are those mentioned as Chontal-lencas by M. Désiré Pector, and are none other than the Lencas described by Mr. E. G. Squier. The Chontal of Honduras is located geographically in those regions where the Chorti dialect of the Maya stock prevails, and there is no reasonable doubt but that it is Chorti and nothing more. The Chontales described by Mr. E. G. Squier as living in the mountains north of Lake Nicaragua, about the sources of the Blewfield river, and of whose language he gives a short vocabulary,[191] are proved by this to be members of the extensive family of the Ulvas.