TRIBES OF THE MIDDLE HUALLAGA RIVER TRIBAL DIVISIONS AND HISTORY
South of the Cahuapanan-speaking tribes of the lower Huallaga River
known (map 1, No, 3; map 5). Among these were the Lama, Tabalosa,
Payanso, Cascoasoa, Amasijuin, Suchichi, Chedua, Alon, Cholto, Huata-
hua, Nindaso, Pandule, Zapazo, Nomona, Cognomona, Mapari, Cumbazá,
and Hibito, Many of these names may be synonyms or subtribes of one
another or of better-known tribes. By the beginning of the 19th century,
only the Cholón, Hibito, and Lama survived.
Most of these tribes, especially the Lama or Motilón (Rivet, 1924, p.
- and their immediate neighbors, spoke Quechua when first discovered.
It is possible that they had previously spoken other languages, for
Quechua quickly supplanted many native languages of the Montaña in
post-Columbian times and this region was entered by the Spaniards by
the way of Moyobamba in the 16th century. Linguistic diversity is indi¬
cated for the Tabalosa, Pandule, and Suchichi by the fact that the mis¬
sionaries were handicapped by the different languages when an interpreter
who spoke Quechua died (Letra anua del Perú de 1635, in Reí. geogr.
Indias, 1881-97, 4:clxiii). On the other hand, Quechua may, as Tess-
mann (1930) believes, have been introduced to some of these tribes in
pre-Columbian times. We are unaware of the evidence to support Beu-
chat and Rivet's (1909, pp. 619-620) claim that the Lama, Lamisto, and
Tabalosa spoke Cahuapanan. In 1830, Poppig (1835-36, 2:320) found
that all the tribes of the Huallaga Valley between the Huayabamba River
and Chasuta, i.e., those listed above, spoke Quechua (Izaguirre, 1922-29,
9:80).
Lama.—The Lama (Lamisto, Lamista, Lamano, Motilón, not to be
confused with the “Motilones” of eastern Colombia) occupied the general
area of the Moyobamba (San Miguel) River, around Moyobamba Lamas,
and Tarapoto, and even extended along the Huallaga River to Chasutino
(Poppig, 1835-36, vol. 2), lat. 6°-7° S., long. 66°-67° W.
In 1554, Pedro de Ursua founded a short-lived town in Lame territory. The
Lama, Amasifuin, Cascoasoa, Suchichi, and Tabalosa were finally converted by a
Jesuit,'and in 1654, brought under the government of Lamas centering in the city of
Lamas (Santa Cruz de los Motilones y Lamas), which came to consist of Indians
and Mestizos from Moyobama and Chachapoyos. Many of them settled in the
Mission of San Francisco Regis on the Paranapura River (Maroni, 1889-92, 29:99-
101). In the 18th century, the Indians, all serfs of Lamas, occupied three small
pueblos, Cumbazá, Tabalosas, and Pueblo del Rio. In 1735, San Francisco Regis had
about 100 people (Figueroa, 1904, p. 295), and in 1737, 60 Lama fugitives occupied
the village of Baradero on the Paranapura River (Zarate in Figueroa, 1904, p. 387).
In 1767, they passed under Franciscan authority (Amich, 1854, p. 271). At the end