CHIBCHAN, an important linguistic stock of South Amer ican and Central American Indians. The tribes to be included within this stock and its precise geographic limits are still open to discussion. Beginning with the Ulvan (q.v.) tribes along the Hon duras-Nicaragua border southward and eastward through Nica ragua, Costa Rica and Panama, the larger proportion of all the tribes belonged to Chibchan stock. In Colombia they probably held most of the drainage basins of the Magdalena and Cauca rivers. The region of the Cordillera Central, between these streams, was, however, held by tribes classed as Paniquitan (q.v.), who are regarded by some as constituting a distinct stock. Rivet would include as Chibchan also the Barbacoan (q.v.) and Coconu can (q.v.) tribes farther south, extending as far as the equator in western Ecuador. There has been considerable difference of opin ion as to whether the direction of movement of the stock has been southward into South America or from the southern conti nent into North America. The more recent opinion seems to favor the former view, but the question cannot by any means be re garded as settled. The stock has received its name from the Chib chas (q.v.), the most important tribe of the stock at the time of the Spanish conquest.