Oruro speak Quichua, while a large proportion of those living in the capitals and larger towns speak Spanish as well. The Chunchos speak the local dialects of their respective tribes.
Peruvian and Bolivian philologists have devoted much study to the Aymara and Quichua languages, and a few of them have even published grammars of these distinct though cognate tongues, now gradually disappearing from the spoken languages of the Republic in the slow processes of its development.
In the present unexplored condition of vast areas of the country, known to be densely populated by savage tribes, it is impossible to determine the number, much less the origin, of the dialects spoken in Bolivia.
In the provinces of Mojos and Chiquitos alone there are remnants of perhaps twenty nations, speaking different dialects.
According to Dr. Agustin Aspiazu, an eminent scholar and author of La Paz, the Araonas and Guarayos (inhabiting the districts of Madidi, Undumo, and the left banks of the river Madre de Dios, in Caupolican, the northwestern province of the Department of La Paz) speak the Araona; the Guacanaguas, Toromonas, and Caviñas speak the Cavineño dialect; the converts of the missions of Ixiamas and Tumupasa and the pueblos of Aten, Apolo, and Santa Cruz del Valle Ameno, speak Tacana.
The right bank of the river Beni, in the department of Beni, according to Reverend Father Nicolas Armentia, is inhabited exclusively by the Pacaguaras and Chacobas savages, who speak the Pacaguara dialect. The Chimanes, inhabiting the southwest of this department, and their neighbors, the Mosetenes, dwelling in the northern districts of the province of Yungas in the department of La Paz, speak Tacana. The Itenez Indians, along the river Guaporé, marking the northern boundary of the department of Beni, speak the Itonama, while the Sarabecas, Guarayos, and kindred tribes occupying its southern districts adjoining the department of Santa Cruz, speak a dialect derived from the Guarani, a
