The linguistic classification of the South American
tribes offers far greater difficulties than that of
North America. Not only has it been studied less
diligently, but the geographical character of the interior,
the facilities with which tribes move along its
extensive water-ways, and the less stable temperament
of the white population have combined to obscure
the relationship of the native tribes and to limit our
knowledge about them.
The first serious attempt to take a comprehensive
survey of the idioms of this portion of the continent
was that of the Abbé Hervas in his general work on
the languages of the globe.[218] Balbi and Adelung did
scarcely more than pursue the lines he had traced in
this portion of the field. So little had these obtained
definite results that Alexander von Humboldt renounced
as impracticable the arrangement of South
American tribes by their languages, because “more
than seven-eighths would have remained what the
classifying botanists call incertæ sedis.”[219]
This eminent naturalist, however, overlooked no
opportunity to collect material for the study of the
native tongues, and on his return to Europe placed
what he had secured in the hands of his distinguished
brother for analysis. William von Humboldt, who
was the profoundest linguist of his day, gave close
attention to the subject, but rather from a purely
critical than an ethnographic aspect. He based upon
the South American languages many principles of
his linguistic philosophy; but so little general attention
was given the subject that his most valuable
study was first given to the press by myself in 1885.[220]
Sixty years ago the French traveler, Alcide D’Orbigny,
published his important work devoted to
South American Ethnography, but confined to that
portion of the continent he had visited, south of the
parallel of 12° south latitude.[221] His classification was
based partly on language, partly on physical traits,
and as it seemed simple and clear, it has retained its
popularity quite to the present day. He subsumes
all the tribes in the area referred to under three
“races,” subdivided into “branches” and “nations”
as follows:—
| 1. Ando-Peruvian Race. |
| Branch. |
Nations. |
| 1. Peruvian. |
Quichuas. |
|
Aymaras. |
|
Chancos. |
|
Atacamas. |
2. Andean. (Antisian.) |
Yuracares. |
|
Mocetenes. |
|
Tacanas. |
|
Maropas. |
|
Apolistas. |
| 3. Araucanian. |
Aucas. |
|
Fuegians. |
| 2. Pampean Race. |
| Branch. |
Nations. |
| 1. Pampean. |
Tehuelches. |
|
Puelches. |
|
Charruas. |
|
Mbocobis. |
|
Mataguayos. |
|
Abipones. |
|
Lenguas. |
| 2. Chiquitean. |
Samucus. |
|
Chiquitos. |
|
Saravecas. |
|
Otuquis. |
|
Curuminacas. |
|
Covarecas. |
|
Curaves. |
|
Tapiis. |
|
Curucanecas. |
|
Paiconecas. |
|
Corabecas. |
| 3. Moxean. |
Moxos. |
|
Chapacuras. |
|
Itonamas. |
|
Canichanas. |
|
Mobimas. |
|
Cayuvavas. |
|
Pacaguaras. |
|
Itenes. |
| 3. Brasilio-Guaranian Race. |
|
Nations. |
|
Guaranis. |
|
Botocudos. |
In this classification, the distinctions of “races”
and “branches” are based exclusively on physical
characteristics, and are at times in conflict with a
linguistic arrangement. The Botocudos and Guaranis,
for instance, are wholly dissimilar and should
no more be classed together than the Peruvians and
the Tupis; the Saravecas and Paiconecas speak Arawak
dialects; and other examples could be cited.
When D’Orbigny confined himself to the identification
of related tribes by a close scrutiny of their
idioms, he rendered valuable service by introducing
order into the chaotic nomenclature of earlier writers,
as he forcibly points out; but his physical discriminations
are of little value.
About the middle of this century, two German
travelers, Von Tschudi and Von Martius, gave close
attention to the linguistic ethnology of the continent,
Von Tschudi in Peru and Von Martius in Brazil.
The former found the field so unoccupied that he did
not hesitate to write in a work published less than ten
years ago, “In fact, the knowledge of the languages
of South America is to-day less than it was two hundred
years ago.”[222] His own divisions of the linguistic
regions (Sprachgebiete) of the continent is less
satisfactory than we might expect. He describes
three principal and seven minor districts, the former
being, 1. The Pampo-Andean; 2. The inter-Andean;
and 3. The Tupi-Guarani regions. The minor centers
are, 1. The Arawak-Carib region; 2. That of
Cundinamarca; 3. The Rio Meta; 4. The Rio Tolima;
5. The Rio Atrato; 6. The Rio Salado; 7. The
Chaco; 8. That of the Moxos.
These are so far from meeting the requirements of
our linguistic possessions at present that scarcely one
of them can be accepted. Von Tschudi was an able
and critical scholar in his particular field, that of the
Kechua tongue, but he had not made a wide study of
South American languages.
Von Martius was much more of a comparative linguist.
His work on the ethnography and linguistics
of South America[223] is a mine of general information,
and indispensable to every student of the subject.
Taking the numerous and confused dialects of Brazil,
and the almost hopeless synonymy of its tribal names,
he undertook a classification of them by establishing
verbal and grammatical similarities. It is now generally
recognized that he went too far in this direction.
He maintained, for instance, that there is a demonstrable
relationship between the Tupi, the Carib, and the
Arawak stocks; later studies have not endorsed this,
but have tended to show that they cannot be traced to
any common mother-speech. What Martius called the
“Guck” nations, which he brought into connection
through the word of that sound used by them to
designate the paternal uncle, are now considered to be
without general relationship. The researches of Karl
Von Den Steinen and Lucien Adam have overthrown
this theory.
It is especially in studying the vast and largely unexplored
regions watered by the upper streams of the
mighty Amazon, that one is yet at a loss to bring the
native inhabitants into ethnic order. Of the various
explorers and travellers who have visited that territory,
few have paid attention to the dialects of the
natives, and of those few, several have left their collections
unpublished. Thus, I have been unable to
learn that Richard Spruce, who obtained numerous
vocabularies along the Amazon and its branches, gave
them to the press; and there were in the hands of
Von Tschudi more than a hundred vocabularies collected
by the German naturalist, Johannes Natterer,
in the interior of Brazil,[224] most of which I learn are
still in manuscript. In default of material such as this,
the classification of the tribes of Brazil must remain
imperfect.
It is also a matter of much regret that no copy can
be found of the work of the celebrated missionary,
Alonso de Barcena, Lexica et Precepta in quinque Indorum
Linguis, published at Lima, in 1590—if, indeed,
it was ever really printed. It contained grammars of
the Kechua, Aymara, Yunca, Puquina and Katamareña,
(spoken by the Calchaquis). Of the two last mentioned
idioms no other grammar is known, which makes the
complete disappearance of this early printed book
particularly unfortunate. Another Jesuit, Father
Guillaume D’Étré, wrote out the catechism and instructions
for the sacraments in eighteen languages of
eastern Peru and the upper Orinoco;[225] but this, too,
seems lost.
Of late years no one has paid such fruitful attention
to the relationship and classification of the South
American tribes and languages as M. Lucien Adam.
Although I have not in all points followed his nomenclature,
and have not throughout felt in accordance
with his grouping, I have always placed my main
dependence on his work in the special fields he has
selected—the three great South American families of
the Amazon region, the Arawak (called by him the
Maypure), the Carib, and the Tupi.[226]
The general plan which I shall adopt is rather for
convenience of arranging the subject than for reasons
based on similarities either of language or physical
habitus. It is that which allows the presentation of
the various stocks most in accordance with their geographic
distribution and their historic associations.
It is as follows:
| I. |
The South Pacific group. |
|
1. |
The Columbian region. |
|
2. |
The Peruvian region. |
| II. |
The South Atlantic group. |
|
1. |
The Amazonian region. |
|
2. |
The Pampean region. |
This region includes the mountainous district in
northwestern South America, west of the basin
of the Orinoco and north of the equator—but without
rigid adherence to these lines. The character of its
culture differed considerably from that found in the
Atlantic regions and was much more closely assimilated
to that of Peru. Three lofty mountain chains
traverse New Granada from north to south, the intervening
valleys being beds of powerful rivers, rich in
fish and with fertile banks. This configuration of the
soil has exerted a profound influence on the life and
migrations of the native inhabitants, severing them
from the fellow-members of their race to the east and
directing their rovings in a north and south direction.
The productive valleys were no doubt densely populated;
though we must regard as a wild extravagance
the estimate of a modern writer that at the conquest
the native inhabitants of New Granada reached “six
to eight millions”[227]; and I hope that the historian
Herrera was far beyond the truth when he asserted
that in Popayan alone, in a single year fifty thousand
of the Indians died of starvation, five thousand were
killed and eaten by the famishing multitude, and a
hundred thousand perished from pestilence![228]
1. Tribes of the Isthmus and Adjacent Coast.
At the discovery, the Isthmus of Panama was in the
possession of the Cunas tribe, as they call themselves.
They are the same to whom were applied later the
names Darien Indians (Wafer), Tules, Cunacunas,
Cuevas, Coybas, Mandingas, Bayanos, Irriacos, San
Blas Indians, Chucunacos, Tucutis, etc.
They extended from the Gulf of Uraba and the river
Atrato on the east to the river Chagres on the west.
In that direction they were contiguous to the Guaymis,
while on the right bank of the Atrato their neighbors
were the Chocos.
The Cunas are slightly undersized (about 1.50), but
symmetrical and vigorous. Their color is light, and
individuals with chestnut or reddish hair and grey
eyes have always been noted among them, and have
erroneously been supposed to be albinos. Their
skulls are markedly brachycephalic (88) and their faces
broad.
In spite of the severe measures of the Spaniards,
they have never been thoroughly reduced, and still
manifest an unconquerable love of freedom and a
wild life. When first met they lived in small villages
composed of communal houses, raised maize and cotton,
working the latter into garments for the women,
and possessed some gold, which they obtained from
the mountain streams and by working auriferous
veins. The men usually appeared naked and used
poisoned arrows.
The Cuna language does not seem to be positively
connected with any other stock, nor have dialects of it
been discovered elsewhere. A number of verbal similarities
have been pointed out with the Chibcha, and
it has also a certain similarity to the Carib;[229] but with
our present knowledge it would be hasty to class it
along with any other.
The Changuina or Dorasque tribes of the Isthmus
lived latterly on the River Puan, a branch of the
Telorio, and are said to have numbered 5000 persons,
though but a few miserable remnants are surviving.
They are lighter in color than the Guaymis, with
whom they were in a constant state of quarreling.
In earlier times they were bold warriors, lived by
hunting, and were less cultured than their neighbors;
yet a remarkable megalithic monument in the pueblo
of Meza is attributed to them.[230] At the period of the
conquest they dwelt in the high Sierras back of the
volcano of Chiriqui and extended to the northern
coast near Chiriqui Lagoon, where the River Changuina-Aula
(aula, in the Mosquito language, means
river), still preserves their name. They were an independent
warlike tribe, and gave the Spaniards much
trouble. Finally, these broils led to their practical
extinction. The last member of the Dorasque branch
died in 1882, and few others remain.
CHANGUINA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Chalivas, on upper Changuina-Aula.
- Changuinas, near Bugaba.
- Chumulus, near Caldera.
- Dorasques, on the Rio Puan.
- Gualacas, near San Francisco de Dolega.
- Teluskies, near Rio Puan.
The Chocos were the first nation encountered in
South America on passing beyond the territory of the
Cunas. They occupied the eastern shore of the Gulf
of Uraba, and much of the lower valley of the Atrato.
Thence they extended westerly across the Sierra to
the Pacific coast, which they probably occupied from
the Gulf of San Miguel, in north latitude 8°, where
some of them still live under the name of Sambos,
down to the mouth of the San Juan River, about north
latitude 4°, on the affluents of which stream are the
Tados and Noanamas, speaking well-marked dialects
of the tongue. To the east they reached the valley of
the Cauca, in the province of Antioquia. The Tucuras,
at the junction of the Sinu and the Rio Verde, are
probably their easternmost branch.[231]
Anthropologically, they resemble the Cunas, having
brachycephalic skulls, with large faces, but are rather
taller and of darker color. Here the resemblance
ceases, for they are widely dissimilar in language, in
customs and in temperament. Instead of being warlike
and quarrelsome, they are mild and peaceable;
they lived less in villages and communal houses than
in single isolated huts. Most of them are now
Catholics and cultivate the soil. They have little
energy and live miserably. At the time of the conquest
they were a trafficking people, obtaining salt
from the saline springs and gold from the quartz lodes,
which they exchanged with the tribes of the interior.
Some of them were skilful in working the metal, and
fine specimens of their products have been obtained
from their ancestral tombs.
CHOCO LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Angaguedas, west of province of Cauca.
- Cañasgordas, west of province of Cauca.
- Caramantas, west of province of Cauca.
- Chocos, on Rio Atrato.
- Chamis, near Marmato.
- Chiamus or Chocamus, on the Pacific.
- Citaraes, on Rio Buei and Rio Buchado.
- Murindoes.
- Necodades.
- Noanamas, on head-waters of Rio San Juan.
- Paparos, between rivers Sapa and Puero.
- Patoes.
- Rio Verdes, on the Rio Verde.
- Sambos, on Rio Sambo, south of Gulf of San Miguel.
- Tados, head-waters of Rio San Juan.
- Tucuras, on Rio Senu.
It is worth while recording the names and positions
of the other native tribes along the northern coast at
the time of the discovery, even if we are unable to identify
their linguistic connections. An official report
made in 1546 furnishes a part of this information.[232]
At that time and previously the eastern shore of Venezuela
was peopled by the Chirigotos, who are probably
the Chagaragotos of later authors.[233] Their western
neighbors were the Caracas, near the present city of
that name. They were warlike, wove hamacs, poisoned
their arrows, and wore ornaments of gold. The
whole coast from Caracas to Lake Maracaibo was in
possession of the Caquetios, who also wove hamacs,
and dwelt in stationary villages. They were of
milder disposition and friendly, and as a consequence
were early enslaved and destroyed by the Spaniards.
Even at the date of the Relation they had disappeared
from the shore. It is possible that they fled far inland,
and gave their name in later days to the river
Caqueta.
Along the eastern border of Lake Maracaibo were
the Onotes, “The Lords of the Lagoon,” Señores de
la Laguna, a fine race, whose women were the
handsomest along the shore.[234] They lived in houses
built on piles in the lake, and fished in its waters
with nets and hooks. They traded their fish for
maize and yuca to the Bobures. These dwelt on the
southern shore of the lake, and are distinguished as
erecting temples, mesquites adoratorios, for their religious
rites.[235] The Sierra on the west of the lake
was the home of the warlike Coromochos.
These warriors probably belonged to the Goajiros,
who then, as now, occupied the peninsula on the
northwest of Lake Maracaibo.
It is not easy to say who were the Tirripis and
Turbacos, who lived about the mouth of the Magdalena
River, though the names remind us of the
Chibcha stock. Approaching the Gulf of Darien
from the east, we find the highlands and shores on
its west peopled by the Caimanes. These undoubtedly
belonged to the Cunas, as is proved by the words
collected among them in 1820 by Joaquin Acosta.[236]
The earliest linguistic evidence about their extension
dates from a report in 1515,[237] in which the writer says
that all along this coast, up to and beyond San Blas,
the natives call a man uma and a woman ira, which
are words from the Cuna dialects.
In the mountainous district of Mérida, south of the
plains in the interior from Lake Maracaibo, there
still dwell the remains of a number of small bands
speaking dialects of a stock which has been called
from one of its principal members, the Timote. It
has been asserted to display a relationship to the
Chibcha, but the comparisons I have made do not reveal
such connection. It seems to stand alone, as an
independent tongue.
All the Timotes paid attention to agriculture, raising
maize, pepper and esculent roots of the potato
character. Those who lived in the warm regions
painted their bodies red and went naked; while those
in the uplands threw around them a square cotton
blanket fastened at the waist. Some of them buried
their dead in caves, as the Quindoraes on the banks
of the Motatan. With them they placed small figures
in terra cotta. The Mocochies, living where caves
are rare, built underground vaults for their dead,
closing the entrance with a great stone.[238]
From the writings of Lares and Ernst I make the
following list of the members of the
TIMOTE LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Aricaguas.
- Aviamos.
- Bailadores.
- Canaguaes.
- Chamas.
- Escagueyes.
- Guaraques.
- Guaquis.
- Iguiños.
- Insumubies.
- Jajies.
- Miguries.
- Mirripuyas.
- Mocochies.
- Mocotos.
- Mocombos.
- Mombunes.
- Mucuchaies.
- Mucunchies.
- Mucurabaes.
- Mucutuyes.
- Quindoraes.
- Quinos.
- Quiroraes.
- Tabayones.
- Taparros.
- Tatuyes.
- Tiguinos.
- Tricaguas.
Few of these names are found in the older writers.
In the Taparros we recognize the “Zaparas,” who,
in the last century, lived in contiguity to the Goajiros
of the adjacent peninsula.[239] The Mucuchis gave
their name to an early settlement of that name in the
province of Mérida.[240] The prefix muco or moco,
which is very common in place-names of that region,
is believed by Lares to have a locative significance.
Such names give approximately the extent of the
dialects at the settlement of the country.
In the highlands near the present city of Caracas,
and in the fertile valleys which surround the beautiful
inland lake of Valencia to the southeast, were at
the discovery a number of tribes whose names,
Arbacos, Mariches, Merigotos, etc., give us no information
as to their affinities. They are now extinct,
and nothing of their languages has been preserved.
All the more store do we set by the archæology
of the district, about which valuable information
has been contributed by Dr. G. Marcano.[241] He
opened a number of burial mounds where the bones
of the dead, after having been denuded of flesh,
were interred, together with ornaments and utensils.
These were in stone, bone and terra cotta, the only
metal being gold in small quantity. The character
of the work showed the existence of a culture belonging
to the highest stage of polished stone. Many of
the skulls were artificially deformed to a high degree,
the frontal obliquity in some cases being double the
normal. Add to this that there was present an
almost unexampled prognathism, and we have crania
quite without similars in other parts of the continent.
When not deformed they were brachycephalic, and
both series gave a respectable capacity, 1470 c. c.
2. The Chibchas.
Most of the writers on the Chibchas have spoken
of them as a nation standing almost civilized in the
midst of barbarous hordes, and without affinities to
any other. Both of these statements are erroneous.
The Chibchas proper, or Muyscas, are but one member
of a numerous family of tribes which extended in
both directions from the Isthmus of Panama, and
thus had representatives in North as well as South
America. The Chibcha language was much more
widely disseminated throughout New Granada at the
time of the discovery than later writers have appreciated.
It was the general tongue of nearly all the
provinces, and occupied the same position with reference
to the other idioms that the Kechua did in
Peru.[242] Indeed, most of the tribes in New Granada
were recognized as members of this stock.[243] Nor
were they so much above their neighbors in culture.
Many of these also were tillers of the soil, weavers
and spinners of cotton, diggers of gold in the quartz
lodes, skilled in moulding and hammering it into
artistic shapes, and known widely as energetic merchants.
No doubt the Chibchas had carried this culture to
the highest point of all the family. Their home was
on the southern confines of the stock, in the valleys
of Bogota and Tunja, where their land extended from
the fourth to the sixth degree of north latitude, about
the head-waters of the Sogamoso branch of the Magdalena.
Near the mouth of this river on its eastern
shore, rises the Sierra of Santa Marta, overlooking
the open sea, and continuing to the neck of the peninsula
of Goajira. These mountains were the home
time out of mind of the Aroacos, a tribe in a condition
of barbarism, but not distantly related in language
to the Chibchas.
When the Spaniards first undertook the conquest
of this Sierra, they met with stubborn resistance
from the Tayronas and Chimilas, who lived among
these hills. They were energetic tribes, cultivating
fields of maize, yucca, beans and cotton, which latter
they wove and dyed for clothing. Not only were
they versed in stratagems, but they knew some deadly
poison for their arrows.[244]
In later generations the Tayronas disappear entirely
from history, but I think the suggestion is well
founded that they merely became merged with the
Chimilas, with whom they were always associated,
and who still survive in the same locality as a
civilized tribe. We have some information about
their language.[245] It shows sufficient affinity with the
Chibcha to justify me in classing the Tayronas and
Chimilas in that group.
An imperfect vocabulary of the native residents of
Siquisique in the state of Lara, formerly the province
of Barquisimetro, inclines me to unite them with the
Aroac branch of this stock, though their dialect is
evidently a mixed one.[246]
A still more interesting extension of this stock was
that which it appears to have had at one time in the
northern continent. A number of tribes beyond the
straits, in the states of Panama and Costa Rica, were
either filially connected or deeply influenced by the
outposts of the Chibcha nation. These were the
Guaymis in Veraguas, who possessed the soil from
ocean to ocean, and the Talamancas of Costa Rica,
who in a number of small sub-tribes extended quite
to the boundaries of the present state of Nicaragua.
It has been recently shown, and I think on satisfactory
evidence, that their idioms contain a large number
of Chibcha words, and of such a class that they
could scarcely have been merely borrowed, but point
to a prolonged admixture of stocks.[247] Along with
these terms are others pointing to a different family
of languages, perhaps, as has long been suspected, to
some of the Carib dialects; but up to the present time
they must be said not to have been identified.
Thus Lucien Adam has pointed out that the two
groups of the Guaymi dialects differ as widely, as
follows:
|
MUOI-MUR-IRE-SAVANERO. |
VALIENTE-GUAYMI-NORTENO. |
| Sun, |
cui, |
nono, noana. |
| Moon, |
dai, |
so, go. |
| Water, |
ci, ca, |
ño, ñu. |
| Man, |
cuia, |
ni-togua. |
| Woman, |
moima, |
ni-uire. |
| Eye, |
guagava, |
ogua. |
| Nose, |
se, chegua, |
ni-doñ, domo. |
| Foot, |
sera, |
n-goto. |
Dr. Max Uhle, in a late essay, has collected numerous
verbal identities between the various Guaymi
and Talamanca dialects on the one hand, and the
Aroac and Chibcha on the other, including most of
the simple numerals and many words besides those
which would be likely to be introduced by commerce.
Not stopping with this, he has successfully developed
a variety of laws of vowel and consonant changes
in the dialects, which bring the resemblance of the
two groups into strong relief and do away with much
of their seeming diversity. Moreover, he points out
that the terminations of the present and imperative
are identical, and the placement of words in the sentence
alike in both. These and his other arguments
are sufficient, I think, to establish his thesis; and I
am at greater pains to set it forth, as I regard
it as one of unusual importance in its bearing on
the relations which existed in pre-historic times
between tribes along the boundary of the two continents.
As to the course of migration, I do not think that
the discussion of the dialectic changes leaves any room
for doubt. They all indicate attrition and loss of the
original form as we trace them from South into North
America; evidently the wandering hordes moved into
the latter from the southern continent. So far, there
is no evidence that any North American tribe migrated
into South America.
To illustrate these points I quote from Uhle’s tables
the following:
Comparison of the Chibcha with the Costa Rican Dialects.
(T. = Talamanca. G. = Guaymi.)
|
CHIBCHA. |
COSTA RICA. |
| Head, |
zysqui, |
dzekung, T., thokua, G. |
| Ear, |
cuhuca, |
kuku, T. |
| Tongue, |
pcua, |
ku, T. |
| Breasts, |
chue, |
tsu, T. |
| Navel, |
mue, |
mbwo, T. |
| Foot, |
quihyca, |
ketscha, T. |
| Bird, |
sue, |
du, T., nukua, G. |
| Fish, |
gua, |
gua, G. |
| Snake, |
tacbi, |
thekebe, G. |
| Ant, |
ize, |
tsa, T. |
| Maize, |
aba, |
ep, T. |
| Stone, |
hyca, |
hak, T. |
| Water, |
sie, |
di, T., chi, G. |
| Sun, |
sua, |
chui, G. |
| House, |
güe, |
hu, T., xu, G. |
| Comb, |
cuza, |
kasch, T. |
| One, |
ata, |
et, T., ti, G. |
| Two, |
boza, |
bu, T., bu, G. |
| Three, |
mica, |
mia, T., mai, G. |
The numerous relics which since 1859 have been
disinterred from the ancient sepulchres of Chiriqui
may be attributed to the members of this stock;
perhaps, as M. Pinart has suggested, to the ancestors
of the Guaymis, or, as Dr. Berendt thought, to the
Cunas or Coibas.[248] These graves are scattered in
small groups or cemeteries, rarely more than ten acres
in extent, over the Pacific slope of the province of
Chiriqui. The similarity of the culture of their
makers to that of the Chibchas has not failed to impress
archæological experts. Thus, W. H. Holmes
remarks in his admirable article on the “Art of
Chiriqui.” “In their burial customs, in the lack of
enduring houses or temples, and in their use of gold,
they were like the ancient peoples of middle and
southern New Granada.”[249]
These relics are in stone, in pottery of many
varieties and forms, and in the metals gold, copper,
silver and tin in various alloys. So large was the
quantity of gold that from a single cemetery over
fifty thousand dollars in value have been extracted.
No wonder that Columbus and his companions gave
to this region the appellation Castillo del Oro, Golden
Castilé.
Such a condition of civilization is in accord with
the earliest descriptions of the Chiriqui tribes. When
in 1521 Francisco Compañon overran their country,
he found the Borucas and their neighbors living in
villages surrounded with high wooden palisades, the
posts firmly lashed together, making a solid wall of
defence.[250]
The culture of the Chibchas has been portrayed by
numerous writers, and it deserves to rank as next to
that of the Nahuas and Kechuas, though in many
respects inferior to both of these. Their chiefs held
by succession through the female side, the matriarchal
system prevailing throughout their tribes.
Agriculture was diligently pursued, the products being
maize, potatoes, yucca and cotton. Artificial
irrigation by means of ditches was in extended use.
Salt was prepared on a large scale by evaporation, and
their skill in the manufacture of cotton cloth was
notable. Copper and bronze were unknown, and all
their tools and weapons were of wood and stone. In
this respect they were in arrears of their not distant
neighbors, the Kechuas. Gold, however, they had in
quantity, and knew how to smelt it and to work
it into vases and ornaments of actual beauty. The
use of stone for building was unknown, and their finest
structures were with wooden walls coated with clay
and roofed with straw.
In spite of what has sometimes been brought forward,
it is not likely that they had any method of
writing, and much that has been advanced about their
calendar is of doubtful correctness. They had neither
the quipos of the Peruvians nor the picture writing
of the Mexicans. The carved stones which have
sometimes been produced as a species of calendar
were probably merely moulds for hammering gold into
shape.
Quite a body of their mythologic legends have been
preserved, replete with interest to the student of the
religious sentiment of this race. They indicate an
active imagination and may be regarded as quite authentic.
The Chibchas proper, as well as the Aroacos, were
meso- or brachycephalic, the cephalic index ranging
above 80. They were of moderate stature, dark in
color, the face broad, the eyes dark and often slightly
oblique, the cheek-bones prominent and the general
appearance not handsome.
CHIBCHA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Aruacs (Aroacos), in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and on Rio Paramo.
- Bintucuas, a sub-tribe of the Aruacs.
- Borucas, sub-tribe of Talamancas.
- Bribris, sub-tribe of Talamancas.
- Bruncas, see Borucas.
- Cabecars, sub-tribe of Talamancas.
- Chibchas, on upper Rio Magdalena, near Bogota.
- Chicamochas, about 4° N. lat.
- Chimilas, in the sierra of Santa Marta.
- Chitas or Chiscas, near Sierra de Morcote.
- Duits, near Duitama.
- Guacicas, east of Bogota, on the head-waters of Rio Meta.
- Guamacas, a sub-tribe of Aruacs.
- Guaymis, on both slopes of the Cordillera, in Veraguas.
- Köggabas, a sub-tribe of the Aruacs.
- Morcotes, near San Juan de los Llanos.
- Muois, a sub-tribe of the Guaymis.
- Murires, a sub-tribe of the Guaymis.
- Muyscas, see Chibchas.
- Sinsigas, in the sierra near Tunja.
- Talamancas, in the sierra in Costa Rica.
- Tayronas, in the Sierra de Santa Marta.
- Terrabas, a sub-tribe of Talamancas.
- Tirribis, a sub-tribe of Talamancas.
- Tucurriques, a sub-tribe of the Talamancas.
- Tunebos, in the sierra east of Bogota.
- Valientes, a sub-tribe of the Guaymis.
3. The Paniquitas and Paezes.
A number of tribes living to the north and west of
the Chibchas seem to have belonged to one stock.
They are mentioned by the older historians as acting
in alliance, as in constant war with the Chibchas,
and several of them as speaking dialects of a tongue
wholly different from the Chibchas. Their stage of
culture was lower, but they were acquainted with the
bow, the sling and the war-club, and had fixed habitations.
I give the list of these presumably related
tribes, and apply to the stock the name of one of the
modern tribes which retain the language.[251]
PANIQUITA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Canapeis, sub-tribe of Colimas (Herrera).
- Colimas, on the right bank of Magdalena, adjacent to the Musos.
- Manipos, adjacent to the Pijoas.
- Musos, on right bank of the Magdalena, adjacent and north of the Muyscas.
- Nauras, on the Rio Carari.
- Paezes, on the central Cordillera.
- Panches, on the east bank of Magdalena, near Tocayma.
- Paniquitas, between upper waters of the Magdalena and Cauca.
- Pantagoros, on both shores of the Magdalena and in province of Quimbaya.
- Pijaos, in Popayan, on the Cauca and Neyva.
My reasons for identifying the modern Paniquitas
and Paezes with the ancient tribes named are, first,
the identity of the location, and secondly, the presence
of the initial syllable pan in the names of two of
the principal extinct peoples, a word which in Paniquita
means “mountain,” and clearly refers to the
position of their villages in the sierra, between the
head-waters of the Cauca and Magdalena Rivers.
Among the references in the older writers, I may
mention that Herrera states that the language of the
Panches was one of the most extended in that part of
the country, and that the tribes speaking it almost
surrounded the Muyscas;[252] and Piedrahita specifically
adds that the Pijaos, the most powerful tribe in
Popayan, whose territory extended from Cartago to
the city of Popayan, along the valley of the Neyva,
and quite to San Juan de los Llanos, belonged to the
same stock as the Pantagoros.
Some fragments have been preserved from the
mythology of the Musos, who lived about 24 leagues
northwest of Santa Fé, on the right bank of the
Magdalena. Their legends pointed for the home of
their ancestors to the left or western side of the river.
Here dwelt, lying in a position of eternal repose, the
Creator, a shadow whose name was Are. Ages ago he
carved for his amusement two figures in wood, a
man and a woman, and threw them into the river.
They rose from its waters as living beings, and
marrying, became the ancestors of the human
species.[253]
Most of these tribes are reported to have flattened
artificially their heads, and to have burned the bodies
of their dead, or, in Popoyan, to have mummified
them by long exposure to a slow fire.
The Paezes live on both slopes of the central Cordillera,
across the valley of the Magdalena from
Bogota, some two thousand in number, in twenty-one
villages. They prefer the high altitudes, and are a
hardy set of hunters and mountaineers. In spite of
the cold they go nearly naked, but what is rare among
native Americans, they wear a hat of reeds or bark,
resembling in this some Peruvian tribes. Nor are
they devoid of skill in hammering gold into ornaments,
and weaving fibres of the maguey into mats
and cloths. One of their peculiar customs is to burn
down a house whenever a birth or a death takes place
in it. The harsh dialect they speak has been rendered
accessible by a publication of Señor Uricoechea.
Its practical identity with the Panequita is obvious
from the following comparison:[254]
|
PANEQUITA. |
PAEZ. |
| Eye, |
yafi, |
yafi. |
| Hand, |
kousseh, |
cose. |
| House, |
iat, |
yath. |
| Man, |
pitsto, |
piz petam. |
| Tongue, |
tunneh, |
toné. |
| Tooth, |
kit, |
quith. |
| Two, |
hendsta, |
enz. |
| Three, |
tejta, |
tec. |
| Four, |
pansta, |
panz. |
4. South Columbian Tribes, Natives of Cauca, Coconucos,
Barbacoas, Andaquis, Mocoas, Cañaris.
In the states of Cauca and Antioquia there are
scarcely any full-blood natives remaining, and the
tribes after the conquest were so shifted about that
it is difficult to know to which of them we should
attribute the abundant remains of ancient art which
are scattered profusely over this region. There are
numerous sepulchral tumuli, especially in the Frontino
and Dabeiba districts, which yield a rich harvest
to the antiquary. They contain gold figures, vases
and ornaments, stone implements of uncommon perfection,
mirrors of polished pyrites, and small images
in stone and terra cotta. There are also remarkable
ruins in the valley of the Rio de la Plata, an affluent
of the upper Magdalena. They consist in colossal
statues rudely carved from stone, and edifices of the
same material, partly underground, the walls of large
slabs, and the roof supported by cylindrical carved
pillars. A few of these still remain intact, but the
majority have been wrecked by the earthquakes and
by the vandalism of treasure-hunters.[255]
In an attempt to restore the ancient ethnography
of this region, Dr. Posada-Arango thinks the former
tribes can be classed under three principal nations:[256]
1. The Catios, west of the river Cauca.
2. The Nutabes, on the right bank of the Cauca, in its central course.
3. The Tahamies, toward the east and south.
In addition to these, there are the Yamacies, near
the present city of Saragossa.
According to the early records, these tribes lived in
fixed habitations constructed of wood and roofed with
thatch. They were cultivators of the soil, skilled
in the manufacture of pottery and stone implements,
and had as domestic animals parrots and a small
species of dog (perros de monte). Their clothing was
of cotton, and they were much given to wearing
ornaments, many of which were of gold.
From the unfortunate absence of linguistic material,
I am unable to classify these interesting peoples.
In the valleys of the Sierra south of the Paezes
dwelt the Guanucos, described by the first explorers
as a warlike people in an advanced stage of culture.
Their houses were of stone, roofed with straw. The
sun was worshipped with elaborate ceremonies, including
choruses of virgins and the ministration of
thousands of priests.[257] The dead were buried and
the funeral solemnities associated with human sacrifice.
At present the neighbors of the Paezes on the
western slope of the Cordillera are the Moguexes or
Guambianos, partially civilized and carrying on a
rude agriculture. They are much given to dissolute
dances to the sound of the marimba, and to stupefying
themselves with stramonium, which they also use to
catch fish.[258]
The informant of the Abbé Hervas, Señor Velasco,
asserted that the Guanucos were a branch of the
Coconucos, who dwelt near the foot of the mountain
of that name in Popayan, and figure considerably in
some of the older histories.[259] Bollaert learned that
some of them still survive, and obtained a few words
of their language, which he was also told was the
same as that of the Pubenanos.[260] I have found by
comparison that it is identical with that of the
Moguexes and Totoros,[261] and I am therefore enabled to
present the following group as members of what I
shall call the
COCONUCA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Coconucos, at the sources of the Rio Purase.
- Guanucos, in the Sierra.
- Guambianos, see Moguexes.
- Moguexes, on the western slope of the Cordillera.
- Pubenanos, adjacent to the Coconucos.
- Mosqueras, sub-tribe of Moguexes.
- Polindaras, head-waters of Rio Cauca.
- Totoros, in the Sierra between the Magdalena and Cauca.
To these should probably be added the Conchucos
and Guaycos, who appear to have been adjacent tribes
speaking the same tongue, although also being familiar
with the Kechua language.[262]
In the upper valleys of the rivers Daule, Chone
and Tachi, there still survive some families of the
“painted Indians,” who were referred to by Cieza de
Leon as Manivis, now usually called Colorados, but
whose own name is Sacchas, men or people. They
are naturally of a light yellow hue, some with light
hair and eyes, but are accustomed to go naked and
cover their skin with a reddish vegetable pigment,
which on the face is laid on in decorative lines.
Their language,[263] with which we have some acquaintance,
appears to belong to the same family as that of
the Barbacoas, to whom the Jesuit Father Luca della
Cueva went as missionary in 1640, and that of the Iscuandes
and the Telembis, all residing in the forests
near the coast, between 1° and 2° north latitude.
These are described by M. André, who visited them
in 1880, as of mixed blood and reduced to a few hundreds,
but still retaining something of their ancient
tongue, of which he obtained a vocabulary of 23
words. The Cuaiqueres he reports as also speaking
this idiom.[264]
Velasco mentions that the Barbacoas, Telembis and
Iscuandes formed a confederation governed by a council
of nine members chosen equally from the three
tribes.
To the south of the Telembis and adjoining the
Kechua-speaking Malabas in the district of La Tola
were the Cayapas, of whom some remnants remain,
still preserving their native tongue. A vocabulary
of it, obtained by H. Wilcszynski, has recently been
published.[265] On comparing it with the Colorado
vocabulary secured by Bishop Thiel and edited by
Dr. Seler, it is clear that they are dialects of the same
stock, as will be seen from these examples:[266]
|
CAYAPA. |
COLORADA. |
| Head, |
mishpuca, |
michu. |
| Hair, |
achua, |
apichu. |
| Eye, |
capucua, |
caco. |
| Fingers, |
fia-misho, |
té-michu. |
| Fire, |
nin-guma, |
ni. |
| Water, |
pi, |
pi. |
| Rain, |
shua, |
chua-ptana. |
| Tree, |
chi, |
chi-tue. |
| Night, |
quepe, |
quepe. |
| Sister, |
in-socki, |
soque. |
| House, |
ia, |
ya. |
| White, |
fiba, |
fibaga. |
| To sleep, |
casto, |
catzoza. |
| To drink, |
pi-cushno, |
cuchi. |
The Cayapas are described as well-built, with oval
faces and roman noses.[267]
As the Barbacoas were the first known and probably
the most numerous member of this family, I
shall select their name to apply to them all, and classify
the group as follows:
BARBACOA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Barbacoas, on Upper Patia and Telembi.
- Cayapas, on coast near La Tola.
- Colorados, on Daule, Chone and Tachi Rivers.
- Cuaiqueres, on the coast about 1° N. Lat.
- Iscuandes, on Rio Patia.
- Manivis, head-waters of Rio Telembi.
- Sacchas, see Colorados.
- Telembis, on Rio Telembi.
I have, in obedience to a sense of caution, treated
of this stock as separate from the Cocanuca; but the
fragmentary vocabularies at my command offer a
number of resemblances between the two, and I expect
that ampler material will show increased analogies,
probably to the extent of proving them branches
of the same family tree.
In the roughest part of the Eastern Cordillera,
about the head-waters of the two rivers Fragua,
(between 1° and 2° north latitude), live the Andaquis.
They are wild and warlike, and are the alleged
guardians of the legendary Indeguau, “House of the
Sun,” a cavern in which, according to local tradition,
lies piled the untold gold of the ancient peoples.[268]
At the time of the conquest their ancestors are said
to have occupied the fertile lands between the Magdalena
and Suaza rivers, especially the valley of San
Augustin, where they constructed mysterious cyclopean
edifices and subterranean temples, and carved
colossal statues from the living rock. These have been
described and portrayed by intelligent travelers, and
give us a high opinion of the skill and intelligence of
their builders.[269]
The only specimen I have found of the Andaqui
language is the vocabulary collected by the Presbyter
Albis. Its words show slight similarities to the
Paniquita and the Chibcha,[270] but apparently it is at
bottom an independent stock. The nation was
divided into many sub-tribes, living in and along the
eastern Cordillera, and on the banks of the rivers
Orteguasa, Bodoquera, Pescado, Fragua and San
Pedro, all tributaries of the Caqueta.
The home of the Mocoas is between 1° and 2°
north lat. along the Rio de los Engaños or Yari,
(whence they are sometimes called Engaños or Inganos),
and other tributaries of the Caqueta.[271] They
are partially civilized, and have seven or more villages
near the town of Mocoa. They are the first
natives encountered in descending the eastern slope
of the Cordillera. Unfortunately, we have a very
imperfect knowledge of their language, a few words
reported by the Presbyter Albis being all I have
seen. So many of them are borrowed from the Kechua,
that I have no means of deciding whether the
following list of the stock is correct or not:
MOCOA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Almaguereños.
- Engaños or Inganos.
- Mesayas.
- Mocoas.
- Pastuzos.
- Patias (?)
- Sebondoyes.
Of these, the Patias dwelt on the lofty and sterile
plain between the two chains of the Cordilleras in
Popayan. The Sebondoyes had a village on the
Putumayo, five leagues south of the Lake of Mocoa
(Coleti).
The region around the Gulf of Guayaquil was conquered
by the Inca Tupac Yupanqui about 1450.[272]
The accounts say that it had previously been occupied
by some five-and-twenty independent tribes, all of
whom were brought under the dominion of the Kechuas
and adopted their language. The most prominent
of these were the Cañaris, whose homes were in
the hot valleys near the coast. Before the arrival of
the Incas they had a certain degree of cultivation,
being skilled in the moulding of copper, which they
worked with a different technique from the Kechuas.
Many of their copper axes are ornamented with
strange figures, perhaps totemic, cut into the metal.
As much as five or six hundred pounds’ weight of
these axes has been taken from one of their tombs.[273]
Some of the most beautiful gold work from the Peruvian
territory has been found in modern times in this
province, but was perhaps the work of Kechua rather
than of Cañari artists.[274]
The original language of the Cañaris, if it was other
than the Kechua, appears to have been lost.
The difficulty of a linguistic classification of the
tribes of the Peruvian region is presented in very
formidable terms by the old writers. Cieza de Leon
said of this portion of the continent: “They have
such a variety of languages that there is almost a
new language at every league in all parts of the
country;”[275] and Garcilasso de la Vega complains of
the “confusion and multitude of languages,” which
gave the Incas so much trouble, and later so much
impeded the labors of the missionaries.[276] An authority
is quoted by Bollaert to the effect that in the
vice-royalty of Quito alone there were more than
forty distinct tongues, spoken in upwards of three
hundred different dialects.[277]
Like most such statements, these are gross exaggerations.
In fact, from all the evidence which I
have been able to find, the tribes in the inter-Andean
valley, and on the coast, all the way from Quito,
under the equator, to the desert of Atacama in 25°
south latitude, belonged to probably four or at most
five linguistic stocks. These are the Kechua, the
Aymara, the Puquina, the Yunca, and the Atacameño.
Of these, the first three were known in the
early days of the conquest, as “the three general
languages”—lenguas generales—of Peru, on account
of their wide distribution. But it is quite likely, as
I shall show later, that the Aymara was a dialect, and
not an independent stock.
1. The Kechuas.
The Kechua in its various dialects, was spoken by
an unbroken chain of tribes for nearly two thousand
miles from north to south; that is, from 3° north of
the equator to 32° south latitude. Its influence can
be traced over a far wider area. In the dialects of
Popayan in Ecuador, in those on the Rio Putumayo
and Rio Napo, in those on the Ucayali and still
further east, on the banks of the Beni and Mamore, in
the Moxa of the Bolivian highlands, and southeast
quite to the languages of the Pampas, do we find
numerous words clearly borrowed from this widespread
stock.
This dissemination was due much more to culture
than to conquest. It was a tribute to the intellectual
superiority, the higher civilization, of this remarkable
people, as is evident by the character of the
words borrowed. It is a historic error to suppose
that the extension of the Kechua was the result of
the victories of the Incas. These occurred but a few
centuries before the arrival of the Spaniards, and
their influence was not great on the native tongues, as
even the panegyrist of the Incas, Garcilasso de la
Vega, confesses.[278] The opinion of Von Tschudi was
so positive on this point that he says: “With a few
unimportant exceptions, wherever the Kechua was
spoken at the time of the conquest, it had been
spoken thousands of years before the Inca dynasty
began.”[279] The assertion of Garcilasso de la Vega,
that the Inca gens had a language of its own, has
been shown to be an error.[280]
Where should we look for the starting-point, the
“cradle,” of the far-spread Kechua stock? The traditions
of the Incas pointed to the shores and islands
of Lake Titicaca as the birth-place of their remotest
ancestors; but as Markham has abundantly shown,
this was a pure myth. He himself is decidedly of the
opinion that we must search for the cradle of the stock
in the district of Cuzco, perhaps not far from Paucartambo,
“The House of the Dawning,” to which other
venerable Incarian legends assigned the scene of the
creation of their common ancestors.[281]
But there are many reasons, and to me satisfactory
ones, for believing that the first Kechuas appeared in
South America at the extreme north of the region
they later occupied, and that the course of their
migration was constantly from north to south. This
was also the opinion of the learned Von Tschudi.
He traces the early wandering of the Kechua tribes
from the vicinity of Quito to the district between the
Andes and the upper Marañon, thence in the direction
of Huaraz, and so gradually southward, following
the inter-Andean plateau, to the northern shore
of Lake Titicaca. There they encountered warlike
tribes who put a stop to their further progress in that
direction until the rise of the Inca dynasty, who
pushed their conquests toward the south and west.
The grounds for this opinion are largely linguistic.[282]
In his exhaustive analysis of the Kechua language,
Von Tschudi found its most archaic forms in the extreme
north, in the dialects of Quito and Chinchasuyu.
This is also my own impression from the comparison
of the northern and southern dialects. For instance,
in the Chinchaya (northern), the word for water is
yacu, while the southern dialects employ yacu in the
sense of “flowing water,” or river, and for water in
general adopted the word unu, apparently from the
Arawak stock. Now, as Karl von den Steinen argues
in a similar instance, we can understand how a river
could be called “water,” but not how drinking water
could be called “river;” and therefore we must assume
that the original sense of yacu was simply
“water,” and that the tribes who retained this
meaning had the more archaic vocabulary.[283]
Mr. Markham indeed says: “In my opinion there
is no sufficient evidence that the people of Quito did
speak Quichua previous to the Inca conquest;” and
he quotes Cieza de Leon to the effect that at the time
of the Spanish conquest they had a tongue of their
own.[284] I have, however, shown how untrustworthy
Cieza de Leon’s statements are on such subjects;
and what is conclusive, there were Kechua-speaking
tribes living at the north who never were subjugated
by the Incas. Such for instance were the Malabas,
whom Stevenson, when visiting that region in 1815,
found living in a wild state on San Miguel river, a
branch of the Esmeraldas.[285] This is also true, according
to the observations of Stübel, of the natives
of Tucas de Santiago in the province of Pasto in
Ecuador.[286]
This opinion is further supported by a strong consensus
of ancient tradition, which, in spite of its
vagueness, certainly carries some weight. Many of
the southern Kechua tribes referred for their origin
to the extreme northwest as known to them, to the
ancient city of Lambayeque on the Pacific coast, a
locality which, according to Bastian,[287] held a place in
their traditions equivalent to that of Culiacan, “the
Home of the Ancestors,” in the legendary lore of the
Aztecs.
The legends of the ancient Quitus have been preserved
in the work of Juan de Velasco, and although
they are dismissed with small respect by Markham, I
am myself of the opinion that there is both external
and internal evidence to justify us in accepting them
as at least genuine native productions. They relate
that at a remote epoch two Kechua-speaking tribes,
the Mantas on the south, and the Caras on the north,
occupied the coast from the Gulf of Guayaquil to the
Esmeraldas River. The Caras were the elder, and its
ancestors had reached that part of the coast in rafts
and canoes from some more northern home. For
many generations they remained a maritime people,
but at length followed up the Esmeraldas and its
affluents until they reached the vicinity of Quito,
where they developed into a powerful nation under
the rule of their scyri, or chiefs. Of these they
claimed a dynasty of nineteen previous to the conquest
of their territory by the Inca Huayna Capac.
They inherited in the male line, and were monogamous
to the extent that the issue of only one of
their wives could be regarded as legal heirs.[288] They
did not bury their dead, as did the southern Kechuas,
but placed them on the surface of the soil and constructed
a stone mound or tomb, called tola, over the
remains, resembling in this the Aymaras.
The extent of the Kechua tongue to the north has
not been accurately defined. Under the name Yumbos,
or Yumbos de Guerra, the old Relations included
various tribes in the Quito region who had not been
reduced by the Spanish Conquistadores.[289] A recent
traveler, M. André, states that the Yumbos belong to
the family of the Quitus, and include the tribes of
the Cayapas, Colorados and Mangaches.[290] Of these,
the Cayapas and Colorados, as I have shown, belong
to the Barbacoa stock, though the term Colorados
“painted,” is applied to so many tribes that it is not
clear which is meant. The geographer Villavicencio
observes that “the Napos, Canelos, Intags, Nanegales
and Gualeas, collectively called Yumbos, all
speak dialects of the Kechua.” The modern Canelos
he describes as a cross between the ancient Yumbos
and the Jivaros, to whom they are now neighbors,
while the modern Quitos adjoin the Zaparos. Their
language, however, he asserts, has retained its purity.[291]
Whether we should include in this stock the Macas,
who dwell on the eastern slope of the Andes a
few degrees south of the equator, is not clear, as I
have found no vocabularies. Velasco refers to them
as a part of the Scyra stock, and they are in the
Kechua region. Mr. Buckley, who visited them a
few years ago, describes them as divided into small
tribes, constantly at war with each other. Their
weapons are spears and blow-pipes with poisoned
arrows. Hunting is their principal business, but they
also raise some maize, yucca and tobacco. Polygamy
prevails along with the patriarchal system, the son
inheriting the property of his father. Some rude pottery
is manufactured, and their huts of palm leaves are
neatly constructed. Like the Jivaros, they prepare
the heads of the dead, and sometimes a man will kill
one of his wives if he takes a fancy that her head
would look particularly ornamental thus preserved.[292]
The southern limit of the Kechua tongue, before
the Spanish conquest, has been variously put by
different writers; but I think we can safely adopt
Coquimbo, in south latitude 30°, as practically the
boundary of the stock. We are informed that in
1593 the priests addressed their congregations in
Kechua at this place,[293] and in the same generation
the missionary Valdivia names it as the northern
limit of the Araucanian.[294] Doubtless, however, it
was spoken by outlying colonies as far south as the
river Maule, in south latitude 35°, which other
writers assign as the limit of the conquests of the
Incas.
Cieza de Leon and other early Spanish writers
frequently refer to the general physical sameness of
the Peruvian tribes. They found all of them somewhat
undersized, brown in color, beardless, and of
but moderate muscular force.
The craniology of Peru offers peculiar difficulties.
It was the policy of the rulers to remove large numbers
of conquered tribes to distant portions of the realm in
order to render the population more homogeneous.
This led to a constant blending of physical traits.
Furthermore, nowhere on the continent do we find
skulls presenting more grotesque artificial deformities,
which render it difficult to decide upon their normal
form. When the latter element is carefully excluded,
we still find a conflicting diversity in the results of
measurements. Of 245 Peruvian crania in the collection
of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia,
168 are brachycephalic, 50 are dolichocephalic,
and 27 mesocephalic. Of 13 from near Arica, all but
one are dolichocephalic. Of 104 from Pachacamac,
93 are brachycephalic and none dolichocephalic. It
is evident that along the coast there lived tribes of
contrasted skull forms. From the material at hand I
should say that the dividing line was near Pisco,
those south of that point having elongated, those
north of it rounded heads. The true Kechuas and
Aymaras are meso or brachycephalic. The crania
from the celebrated cemetery of Ancon, which is
situated on the coast near Lima, are mostly deformed,
but when obtained in natural form prove
the population to have been mesocephalic, with
rounded orbits (megasemes) and narrow prominent
noses (leptorhines). An average of six specimens
yielded a cubical capacity of 1335 cub. cent.[295]
The cubical capacity of the Peruvian skulls from
the coast generally averages remarkably low—lower
than that of the Bushmen or Hottentots. Careful
measurements give the capacity at 1230 cubic centimeters.[296]
They almost reach the borders of microcephaly,
which Broca placed at 1150 cubic centimeters.
Although the Spanish writers speak of the Inca as
an autocratic despot, a careful analysis of the social
organization of ancient Peru places it in the light of
a government by a council of the gentes, quite in accordance
with the system so familiar elsewhere on the
continent. The Inca was a war-chief, elected by the
council as an executive officer to carry out its decision,
and had practically no initiative of his own.
Associated with him, and nearly equal in power, was
the huillac huma, or “speaking head,” who acted as
president of the tribal council, and was the executive
officer in the Inca’s absence. The totemic system
still controlled the social life of the people, although
it is evident that the idea of the family had begun to
assert itself. The land continued to be owned by the
gens or ayllu, and not by individuals.[297]
Agriculture had reached its highest level in Peru
among the native tribes. The soil was artificially
enriched with manure and guano brought from the
islands; extensive systems of irrigation were carried
out, and implements of bronze, as spades and hoes,
took the place of the ruder tools of stone or wood.
The crops were maize, potatoes both white and
sweet, yucca, peppers, tobacco and cotton. Of domestic
animals the llama and paco were bred for their
hair, for sacrifices and as beasts of burden, but not for
draft, for riding nor for milking.[298] The herds often
numbered many thousands. The Inca dog was a descendant
of the wolf,[299] and monkeys, birds and guinea
pigs were common pets.
Cotton and hair of the various species of the llama
were spun and woven into a large variety of fabrics,
often ornamented with geometric designs in color.
The pottery was exceedingly varied in forms. Natural
objects were imitated in clay with fidelity and
expression, and when a desirable model was not at
hand, the potter was an adept in moulding curious
trick-jars that would not empty their contents in the
expected direction, or would emit a strange note from
the gurgling fluid, or such as could be used as
whistles, or he could turn out terra-cotta flutes and
the like. Not less adroit were the artists in metal,
especially in bronze and in gold and silver. The
early writers are filled with expressions of astonishment
at the amount, variety and beauty of the
Incarian gold work. Its amount we may well credit
when we are told that the value of the precious
metals shipped to Spain within twenty-five years
after the conquest was four hundred million ducats of
gold. There are specimens enough remaining to judge
of its artistic designs. They are quite ingenious and
show dexterous manipulation, but rarely hint at a
sense of the beautiful.
Peruvian architecture was peculiar and imposing.
It showed no trace of an inspiration from Yucatan or
Mexico. Its special features were cyclopean walls of
huge stones fitted together without mortar; structures
of several stories in height, not erected upon tumuli
or pyramids; the doors narrowing in breadth toward
the top; the absence of pillars or arches; the avoidance
of exterior and mural decoration; the artistic
disposition of niches in the walls; and the extreme
solidity of the foundations. These points show that
Inca architecture was not derived from that north of
the isthmus of Panama. In the decorative effects of
the art they were deficient; neither their sculpture in
stone nor their mural paintings at all equalled those
of Yucatan.
The only plan they had devised to record or to recall
ideas was by means of knotted strings of various
colors and sizes, called quipus. These could have
been nothing more than mere mnemonic aids, highly
artificial and limited in their application.
The official religion was a worship of the sun; but
along with it were carried the myths of Viracocha, the
national hero-god, whom it is not difficult to identify
with the personifications of light so common in
American religions. The ceremonies of the cult
were elaborate, and were not associated with the
bloody sacrifices frequent in Yucatan and Mexico.
Their mythology was rich, and many legends were
current of the white and bearded Viracocha, the culture
hero, who gave them their civilization, and of
his emergence from the “house of the dawn.” According
to some authorities which appear to be trustworthy,
the more intelligent of the Kechuas appear
to have risen above object-worship, and to have
advocated the belief in a single and incorporeal
divinity.
A variety of ancestral worship also prevailed, that
of the pacarina, or forefather of the ayllu or gens,
idealized as the soul or essence of his descendants.
The emblem worshipped was the actual body, called
malqui, which was mummied and preserved with
reverential care in sacred underground temples.
The morality of the Peruvians stood low. Their
art relics abound in obscene devices and the portraiture
of unnatural passions. We can scarcely err in
seeing in them a nation which had been deteriorated
by a long indulgence in debasing tastes.
The Kechua language is one of harsh phonetics,
especially in the southern dialects, but of considerable
linguistic development. The modifications of
the theme are by means of suffixes, which are so
numerous as to give it a flexibility and power of conveying
slight shades of meaning rare in American
tongues, and which Friedrich Müller compares to
that of the Osmanli Turks.[300] Its literature was by no
means despicable. In spite of the absence of a
method of writing, there was a large body of songs,
legends and dramas preserved by oral communication
and the quipus. A number of these have been published.
Among them the drama of Ollanta is the
most noteworthy. It appears to be a genuine aboriginal
production, committed to writing soon after
the conquest, and bears the marks of an appreciation
of literary form higher than we might have expected.[301]
The poems or yaraveys, usually turn on
love for a theme, and often contain sentiments of
force and delicacy.[302] Several excellent grammatical
studies of the Kechua have appeared in recent years.[303]
KECHUA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Ayahucas, south of Quitu.
- Canas, east of the Vilcañeta Pass.
- Caras, on the coast from Charapoto to Cape San Francisco.
- Casamarcas, on the head-waters of the Marañon.
- Chachapuyas, on the right bank of the Marañon.
- Chancas, near Huanta, in department Ayacucho.
- Chichasuyus, in the inter-Andean valley, from Loxa to Cerro de Pasco.
- Conchucos, near Huaraz.
- Huacrachucus, on both banks of the gorge of the Marañon.
- Huamachucus, on the upper Marañon.
- Huancapampas, near Juan de Bracamoros.
- Huancas, in the valley of Sausa.
- Huancavillcas, on and near the river Guayaquil.
- Huanucus, near Tiahuanuco.
- Incas, between Rio Apurimac and Paucartambo.
- Iquichanos, near Huanta.
- Kechuas, from Lake Apurimac to the Pampas.
- Lamanos or Lamistas, about Truxillo.
- Malabas, on Rio San Miguel (a branch of the Esmeraldas).
- Mantas, on the coast north of the Gulf of Guayaquil.
- Morochucos, in the department of Ayacucho.
- Omapachas, adjacent to the Rucanas.
- Quitus, near Quito.
- Rucanas, near the coast, about lat. 15°.
- Yauyos, near Cañete.[304]
2. The Aymaras.
I have thought it best to treat of the Aymara as a
distinct linguistic stock, although the evidence is
steadily accumulating that it is, if not merely a
dialect of the Kechua, then a jargon made up of the
Kechua and other stocks. In the first place, the
name “Aymara” appears to have been a misnomer,
or, as Markham strongly puts it, a “deplorable blunder,”
of the Jesuit missionaries stationed at Juli.[305]
The true Aymaras were an unimportant ayllu or gens
of the Kechuas, and lived in the valley of the
Abancay, hundreds of miles from Juli. A number of
them had been transported to Juli to work in the
mines, and there had intermarried with women of
the Colla and Lupaca tribes, native to that locality.
The corrupt dialect of the children of these Aymara
colonists was that to which the Jesuit, Ludovico Bertonio,
gave the name Aymara, and in it, Markham
claims, he wrote his grammar and dictionary.[306]
Its grammar and phonetics are closely analogous to
those of the southern Kechua dialects, and about one-fourth
of its vocabulary is clearly traceable to Kechua
radicals. Moreover, the Colla, Lupaca, Pacasa and
allied dialects of that region are considered by various
authorities as derived from the Kechua. For these
reasons, Markham, Von Tschudi, and later, Professor
Steinthal, have pronounced in favor of the opinion
that the so-called Aymara is a member of the Kechua
linguistic stock.[307]
On the other hand, the decided majority of its
radicals have no affinity with Kechua, and betray a
preponderating influence of some other stock. What
this may have been must be left for future investigation.
It does not seem to have been the Puquina;
for although that tongue borrowed from both the
Aymara and the pure Kechua dialects, its numerals
indicate a stock radically apart from either of them.
The Aymara was spoken with the greatest purity
and precision by the Pacasas; and next to these, by
the Lupacas; and it was especially on these two
dialects that Bertonio founded his Grammar, and not
upon the mongrel dialect of the imported laborers, as
Markham would have us believe.[308]
The physical traits of the Aymara Indians offer
some peculiarities. These consist mainly in an unusual
length of the trunk in proportion to the height,
in a surprising development of the chest, and short
extremities. The proportion of the thigh to the leg
in length is under the average. The leg and calf are
well developed, and the general muscular force good.
The hands and feet are smaller even than is common
in the American race. The skull has a tendency to
dolichocephaly.[309] The unusual thoracic development
is plainly attributable to the tenuity of the atmosphere
breathed by these residents of heights varying from
4,000 to 17,000 feet above sea level. Making allowances
for the results of this exposure, they do not
differ materially from the general physical habits of
the Kechuas.
The location they occupied was generally to the
south and east of the Kechuas, upon the plateau and
western slopes of the Andes, from south latitude 15°
to 20°, and through about six degrees of longitude.
It may be said roughly to have been three hundred
miles from north to south, and four hundred from
east to west. The total native population of this area
to-day is about six hundred thousand, two-thirds of
whom are of pure blood, and the remainder mixed.
Some of them dwell along the sea coast, but the
majority are on the Bolivian plateau, the average altitude
of which is more than twelve thousand feet
above sea level.
The old writers furnish us very little information
about the Aymaras. At the time of the discovery
they were subject to the Kechuas and had long been
thus dependent. Many, however, believe that they
were the creators or inspirers of the civilization which
the Kechuas extended so widely over the western
coast. Certain it is that the traditions of the latter
relate that their first king and the founder of their
higher culture, Manco Capac, journeyed northward
from his home on the shores of Lake Titicaca, which
was situated in Aymara territory. From the white
foam of this inland sea rose the Kechua culture-hero
Viracocha, who brought them the knowledge of useful
arts and the mysteries of their cult.
On the cold plain, higher than the summit of the
Jungfrau, which borders this elevated sea are also
found the enigmatical ruins of Tiahuanuco, much
the most remarkable of any in America. They are
the remains of imposing edifices of stone, the cyclopean
blocks polished and adjusted so nicely one to
the other that a knife-blade cannot be inserted in the
joint.[310] In architectural character they differ widely
from the remains of Incarian structures. The walls
are decorated with bas-reliefs, there are remains of
columns, the doors have parallel and not sloping
sides, all angles are right angles, and large statues in
basalt were part of the ornamentation. In these respects
we recognize a different inspiration from that
which governed the architecture of the Kechuas.[311]
No tradition records the builders of these strange
structures. No one occupied them at the time of the
conquest. When first heard of, they were lonely
ruins as they are to-day, whose designers and whose
purposes were alike unknown. The sepulchral
structures of the Aymaras also differed from those of
the Incas. They were not underground vaults, but
stone structures erected on the surface, with small
doors through which the corpse was placed in the
tomb. They were called chulpas, and in construction
resembled the tolas of the Quitus. Sometimes
they are in large groups, as the Pataca Chulpa,
“field of a hundred tombs,” in the province of
Carancas.[312]
AYMARA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Canas, in the Sierra of the province so-called, east of Cuzco.
- Canchis, in the lowlands of the province of Canas.
- Carancas, south of Lake Titicaca.
- Charcas, between Lakes Aullaga and Paria.
- Collas, or Collaguas, north of Lake Titicaca.
- Lupacas, west of Lake Titicaca, extending to Rio Desaguadero.
- Pacasas, occupied the eastern shore of Lake Titicaca.
- Quillaguas, on part of the southern shore of Lake Titicaca.
3. The Puquinas.
The Puquinas are also known under the names
Urus or Uros, Hunos and Ochozomas. They formerly
lived on the islands and shores of Lake Titicaca,
in the neighborhood of Pucarini, and in several
villages of the diocese of Lima. Oliva avers that
some of them were found on the coast near Lambayeque.[313]
If this is correct, they had doubtless been
transported there by either the Incas or the Spanish
authorities. They are uniformly spoken of as low in
culture, shy of strangers and dull in intelligence.
Acosta pretends that they were so brutish that they
did not claim to be men.[314] Garcilasso de la Vega
calls them rude and stupid.[315] Alcedo, writing in the
latter half of the eighteenth century, states that those
on the islands had, against their will, been removed
to the mainland, where they dwelt in gloomy caves
and in holes in the ground covered with reeds, and
depended on fishing for a subsistence.
They are alleged to have been jealous about their
language, and unwilling for any stranger to learn it.
Their religious exercises were conducted in Kechua,
with which they were all more or less acquainted.
The only specimen of their tongue in modern treatises
is the Lord’s Prayer, printed by Hervas and
copied by Adelung.[316] On it Hervas based the opinion
that the Puquina was an independent stock. The
editors of the “Mithridates” seemed to incline to the
belief that it was related to the Aymara, and this
opinion was fully adopted by Clement L. Markham,
who pronounced it “a very rude dialect of the Lupaca,”[317]
in which he was followed by the learned
Von Tschudi.[318]
None of these authorities had other material than
the Pater Noster referred to. Hervas credits it to a
work of the missionary Geronimo de Ore, which it is
evident that neither he nor any of the other writers
named had ever seen, as they all speak of the specimen
as the only printed example of the tongue.
This work is the Rituale seu Manuale Peruanum,
published at Naples in 1607. It contains about
thirty pages in the Puquina tongue, with translations
into Aymara, Kechua, Spanish and Latin, and thus
forms a mine of material for the student. Though
rare, a copy of it is in the Bibliothèque Nationale at
Paris, and is thus readily accessible. I have published
a number of extracts from its Puquina renderings
in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical
Society for 1890. They are sufficient to show that
while this language borrowed many terms, especially
those referring to religion and culture, from the
neighboring Kechua and Aymara dialects, these were
but additions to a primitive stock fundamentally different
from either of them.
The dissimilarity of the three tongues is well seen
in their numerals, which are as follows:
|
KECHUA. |
AYMARA. |
PUQUINA. |
| One, |
huc, |
mayni, |
pesc. |
| Two, |
iscay, |
pani, |
so. |
| Three, |
quimsa, |
quimsa, |
capa. |
| Four, |
tahua, |
pusi, |
sper. |
| Five, |
pichka, |
pisca, |
tacpa. |
| Six, |
soccta, |
chocta, |
chichun. |
| Seven, |
canchis, |
pa-callco, |
stu. |
| Eight, |
pusacc, |
quimsa-callco, |
quina. |
| Nine, |
iscon, |
llalla-tunca, |
checa. |
| Ten, |
chunca, |
tunca, |
scata. |
In these lists the Aymara numerals, one, two and
four are independent; three, five, six and ten are
taken from the Kechua; and the remaining three are
compound, pa-callco, being 2+5; quimsa-callco, 3+5;
and llalla-tunca meaning “less than ten.” Callco
is derived from the word for “foot,” the counting
being with the toes. On the other hand, there is not
a single numeral in the Puquina which can be derived
from either Kechua or Aymara; and what is more
remarkable, there is apparently not one which is
compounded.
It remains puzzling to me why the Puquina, which
seems to have been spoken only by a few wretched
villagers about Lake Titicaca, should have been
classed by writers in the sixteenth century as one of
the lenguas generales of Peru. Not only does Ore
refer to it by this term, but in one of the official
Relaciones Geograficas written in 1582, it is mentioned
as “one of the three general languages of this
kingdom.”[319] This would seem to indicate that at
that period it had a wider extension than we can now
trace.
4. The Yuncas.
The Yuncas occupied the hot valleys near the sea
between south latitude 5° and 10°, their capital being
in the vicinity of the present city of Truxillo. Their
tongue belongs to an entirely different stock from the
Kechua, and was not influenced by it. It still survives
in a few sequestered valleys. The extreme difficulty
of its phonetics aided to prevent its extension.[320]
There is little doubt but that the Yuncas immigrated
to their locality at some not very distant
period before the conquest. According to their own
traditions their ancestors journeyed down the coast in
their canoes from a home to the north, until they
reached the port of Truxillo.[321] Here they settled
and in later years constructed the enormous palace
known as the Gran Chimu, whose massive brick
walls, spacious terraces, vast galleries and fronts
decorated with bas-reliefs and rich frescoes, are still
the wonder and admiration of travelers.[322]
Near by, in the valley of Chicama and vicinity, they
constructed capacious reservoirs and canals for irrigation
which watered their well-tilled fields, and were
so solidly constructed that some of them have been
utilized by enterprising planters in this generation.
Doubtless some of these were the work of the Incas
after their conquest of this valley by the Inca Pachacutec,
as is related by Garcilasso de la Vega,[323] but the
fact that the Chimus were even before that date
famed for their expertness in the working of metals
and the fashioning of jewels and vases in silver and
gold,[324] proves that they did not owe their culture to
the instruction of the Quichuas.
The term yunca-cuna is a generic one in the Kechua
language, and means simply “dwellers in the
warm country,” the tierra caliente, near the sea
coast. It was more particularly applied to the Chimus
near Truxillo, but included a number of other
tribes, all of whom, it is said, spoke related dialects.
Of the list which I append we are sure of the Mochicas
or Chinchas, as the Yunca portion of Geronimo
de Ore’s work is in this dialect;[325] of the Estenes,
Bastian has printed quite a full vocabulary which is
nearly identical with the Yunca of Carrera;[326] Mr.
Spruce obtained in 1863 a vocabulary of forty words
from the Sechuras, proving them to belong to this
stock;[327] but the dialects of the Colanes and Catacoas
are said by the same authority to be now extinct.
According to the information obtained by the Abbé
Hervas, the “Colorados of Angamarca” also spoke
a Yunca dialect,[328] but I have been unable to identify
this particular tribe of “painted” Indians.
The location of the stock at the conquest may be
said to have been from south lat. 4° to 10°; and to
have included the three departments of modern Peru
called Ancachs, Libertad, and Piura.
YUNCA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Catacoas, on the upper Rio Piura.
- Chancos, on the coast south of the Mochicas.
- Chimus, near Truxillo.
- Chinchas, see Mochicas.
- Colanes, on Rio Chiura, north of Payta.
- Etenes, in the valleys south of Lambayeque.
- Mochicas, at Mochi, near Truxillo.
- Morropes, north of Lambayeque.
- Sechuras, on Rio Piura.
5. The Atacameños and Changos.
In the valley of the river Loa, about 20°-23° south
latitude, and in the vicinity of Atacama, there still
survive remnants of a tribe called Atacameños by
the Spaniards, but by themselves Lican-Antais, people
of the villages. Their language appears to be of
an independent stock, equally remote from that of
the Kechuas and the Aymaras. Vocabularies of it
have been preserved by various travelers, and the outlines
of its grammar have been recently published by
San-Roman.[329] From two of its numerals and some
other indications Dr. Darapsky has connected it with
the Aymara, which is also spoken in that vicinity.[330]
The relationship, however, cannot be considered established,
and the latest researches tend to sharpen
the contrast between the Cunza, as it is sometimes
called, and the Aymara.
The Lican-antais are fishermen and live in a condition
of destitution. The aridity of the climate is
unfavorable to agriculture. In physical habitus they
are short, with dark complexions, flat broad noses and
low foreheads.
D’Orbigny identifies the Lican-Antais with the
Olipes, Lipes or Llipis of the older writers[331] (Garcilasso,
etc). This, however, is open to doubt. Von
Tschudi hazarded the opinion that the Atacameños
were a remnant of the Calchaquis of Tucuman, who
had sought refuge from the Spaniards in this remote
oasis on the coast.[332] I can find no positive support
for this view, as we have no specimens of the language
of the Calchaquis.
Immediately to the south of the Atacameños, bordering
upon the sterile sands of the desert of Atacama,
between south latitude 22° and 24°, are the
Changos. In their country it never rains, and for
food they depend entirely on the yield of the sea, fish,
crustacea and edible algae. Like the Bushmen of the
Kalihari desert, and doubtless for the same reason of
insufficient nutrition, they are undersized, as a tribe
perhaps of the shortest stature of any on the continent.
The average of the males is four feet nine
inches, and very few reach five feet.[333] They are, however,
solidly built and vigorous. The color is dark,
the nose straight and the eyes horizontal.
Nothing satisfactory is reported about their language,
which is asserted to be different from the
Aymara or any other stock. The tribe has been confounded
by some writers with the Atacameños, and
the Spaniards apparently included both under the
term Changos; which is at present used as a term of
depreciation. But both in location and appearance
they are diverse. Whether this extends also to language,
as is alleged, I have not the material to determine,
and probably the tongue is extinct.[334]
Those two mighty rivers, the Amazon and the
Orinoco, belong to one hydrographic system, the
upper affluents of the latter pouring their waters for
six months of the year into the majestic expanse of
the former. Together they drain over three million
square miles of land,[335] clothed throughout with
lush tropical vegetation and seamed by innumerable
streams, offering natural and facile paths of intercommunication.
It is not surprising, therefore, that
we find linguistic stocks extended most widely over
this vast area, each counting numerous members.
Of them the most widely disseminated were the Tupi,
the Tapuya, the Carib and the Arawak families, and
to these I shall first give attention.
1. The Tupis.
Along the coast of Brazil and up the Amazon there
is current a more or less corrupted native tongue
called the “common language,” lingua geral. It is
derived mainly from the idiom of the Tupis, whose
villages were found by the first discoverers along the
seaboard, from the mouth of the La Plata to the
Amazon and far up the stream of the latter. According
to their traditions, which are supported by a
comparison of their dialects, the Tupis wandered up
the coast from the south. Their earlier home was
between the Parana river and the Atlantic. There
they called themselves Carai, the astute, a term they
afterwards applied to the Spaniards, but later were
given the name Guaranis, meaning warriors, by which
they are generally known. They must have been
very numerous, as a careful estimate made in 1612
computed those then living in the modern states of
Corrientes and Uruguay at 365,000; a census which
could not have been much exaggerated, as about a
century later the Jesuits claimed to have over three
hundred thousand Christianized and living in their
“reductions;”[336] even to-day ninety per cent. of the
population of Uruguay have Guarani blood in their
veins.
The inroads of the Spaniards from the south and of
the kidnapping Portuguese from the east, reduced
their number greatly, and many bands sought safety
in distant removals; thus the Chiriguanos moved far
to the west and settled on the highlands of Bolivia,
where they have increased their stock from four or
five thousand to triple that number,[337] extending as
far south as the Pilcomayo river. On the upper waters
of the Parana were the Tapes, a nation so called from
the name of their principal village. It is another
form of Tupi, and means “town.” They received the
early missionaries willingly, and are complimented
by these as being the most docile and intelligent of
any of the nations of South America.[338]
The Tupi tribes did not extend north of the immediate
banks of the Amazon, nor south of the Rio de
la Plata. It would appear not improbable that they
started from the central highlands where the Tapajoz
on the north and the Paraguay on the south have
their sources. Their main body followed the latter
to the Atlantic, where the Tupis proper separated
and moved up the coast of Brazil. This latter migration
is believed to have been as late as a few hundred
years before the discovery.[339]
Like the Tapuyas, the Tupis have a tendency to
dolicocephaly, but it is less pronounced. They are
less prognathic, the forehead is fuller and the color of
the skin brighter. The hair is generally straight,
but Pöppig saw many among the Cocamas of pure
blood with wavy and even curly hair.[340]
I have no hesitation in including in the Tupi family
the Mundurucus, or Paris, on the upper Tapajoz.
Their relationship was fully recognized by Professor
Hartt, who was well acquainted with both dialects.[341]
They are a superior stamp of men, tall, of athletic
figures, light in color, their naked bodies artistically
tattooed. Their women are skilled in weaving cotton
hammocks, and the men pursue some agriculture,
and manufacture handsome feather ornaments.
To the same family belong the Muras and Turas, in
the swampy valley of the Madeira in its middle course,
“an amphibious race of ichthyophagi,” as they are
called by Martius, savage and hostile, and depraved
by the use of the parica, a narcotic, intoxicating
snuff prepared from the dried seeds of the Mimosa
acacioides. At the beginning of this century they
were estimated at 12,000 bowmen; but this was doubtless
a great exaggeration. Though their dialect differs
widely from the lingua geral, the majority of
their words are from Tupi roots.[342] Others are related
to the language of the Moxos, and in the last century
certain of their tribes lived in the immediate vicinity
of these, and were brought into the “reductions” of
the Moxos Indians by the Jesuit missionaries.[343] The
tendency of their migrations has been down the
Madeira.
The tribes of this lineage in the extreme south of
Brazil were numerous. The Guachaguis, corresponding
apparently to the modern Guachis, are said
by Lozano to speak a corrupt Guarani.[344] Vocabularies
have been obtained by Castelnau and Natterer,
which indicate only a remote resemblance. According
to their own tradition, they migrated from near
the Moxos in the Bolivian highlands.
The Gualachos, who spread from the river Iguaza
to the sea coast, spoke a Guarani dialect in which the
sounds of f, j and l were present, which, in pure
Guarani, are absent. They built thatched houses
divided into several rooms, and raised abundant harvests.[345]
The Omaguas and Cocamas, the most western of
the Tupis, dwelling within the limits of Ecuador,
had evidently profited by their contiguity to the civilization
of Peru, as they are described by early travelers
as familiar with gold, silver and copper, living
in permanent villages connected by good roads, and
cultivating large fields of cotton, maize and various
food-plants. The art-forms which they produced and
the prevalence of sun-worship, with rites similar to
those of Peru, indicate the source of their more advanced
culture. By some authors the Omaguas are
stated to have migrated down the Rio Yupura from
Popayan in New Granada, where a tribe speaking
their dialect, the Mesayas are alleged still to reside.[346]
The peculiar “mitred” skulls of the Omaguas are an
artificial deformity prized by them as a beauty.
The Tupi is rich in mythological tales which have
been collected by several competent students of their
tongue. (Hartt, Magalhaes, etc.) Their religion is
a simple animistic nature-worship.
The dead were buried in large urns, usually in localities
set aside for the purpose. One such on the
island Maraho, near the mouth of the Amazon, has
yielded a rich harvest to archæologists.
The general culture of the Tupis was superior to
that of any other Brazilian tribes, but much inferior
to that of the Incas. They were to a slight extent
agricultural, raising maize, manioc, tobacco, which
they smoked in pipes, and several vegetables. Some
fowls, monkeys and peccaries were tamed and used as
food. Their houses were of straw, lattice work and
leaves, sometimes plastered with mud. The communal
system prevailed, twenty or thirty families
occupying one residence. A number of such houses
would be erected on some favorable site and surrounded
by a palisade of strong poles. These towns
were, however, not permanent, and nearly half the
year was spent in hunting and fishing expeditions
along the streams. They went entirely naked, but
wove excellent hammocks from the bark of trees and
other vegetable fibres. Devoid of a knowledge of
metals, they were in the height of the age of polished
stone, many of their products in this direction being
celebrated for symmetry and delicacy.[347] The art of
the potter was also well developed, and the vases from
the Amazon, called igasauas, rank both in symmetry,
decoration and fine workmanship among the most
creditable specimens of American ceramics.
The language which characterizes this widely distributed
stock is polysynthetic and incorporating,
with the flexibility peculiar to this class of tongues.
It has been the subject of a number of works, but still
lacks a thorough comparative treatment. The Jesuit
missionaries adopted the Guarani dialect throughout
their extensive “reductions,” and translated into it a
variety of works for the instruction of their acolytes,
some of which have been printed.
TUPI LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Ababas, in Bolivia.
- Amazonas, on lower Amazon.
- Anambes, on Rio Tocantins.
- Apiacas, near Rio Arinos and upper Tapajoz.
- Araguagus, on lower Paru.
- Bororos, near Rio Paraguay.
- Camaguras, in province Matogrosso.
- Cambevas, see Omaguas.
- Cambocas, mouth of Rio Tocantin.
- Caracatas, on upper Uruguay and Parana.
- Cayovas, on Rio Tapajoz.
- Chaneses, in Bolivia.
- Chiriguanos, in Bolivia.
- Chogurus, on Rio Pajehu.
- Cocamas, near Rio Nauta (upper Amazon) and Rio Ucayali.
- Cocamillas, near the Cocamas.
- Cuchiuaras, on Rio Tocantins.
- Guaranis, in Uruguay.
- Guarayos, in Bolivia.
- Guayanas, in Uruguay.
- Gujajaras, on Rio Maranhao.
- Jacundas, on Rio Tocantins.
- Jamudas, in province Pará.
- Maues, on the Amazon.
- Mbeguas, on Rio Parana.
- Manitsauas, on upper Schingu.
- Mitandues, near Rio Tapajoz.
- Mundurucus, on Rio Tapajoz.
- Muras, on Rio Madeira.
- Omaguas, on lower Iça.
- Oyampis, on upper Oyapok.
- Pacajas, on lower Amazon.
- Parentintims, in province Amazonas.
- Paris, see Mundurucus.
- Piturunas, on Rio Curitiba.
- Sirionos, on Rio Paray, Bolivia.
- Tamoyos, near San Vincente, Brazil (extinct).
- Tapaunas, on Rio Tocantins.
- Tapirapes, in province Goyaz.
- Tapes, on Rio Uruguay.
- Turas, on lower Rio Madeira.
- Uyapas, on Rio Arinos.
- Yurunas, on Rio Schingu, from 4° to 8°.
2. The Tapuyas.
The Tapuya stock is at once the most ancient and
the most extensive now living on the soil of Brazil.
Its various tribes are found from s. lat. 5° to s. lat.
20°, and from the Atlantic to the Schingu river. The
name Tapuya was applied to them by the Tupis, and
means “enemies” or “strangers”—two ideas which
are always synonymous in primitive life. They are
also called Crens or Guerens, the Old Ones or Ancient
People. This seems to have reference to their possession
of the coast before the arrival of the Tupi
hordes from the south.
By some writers they are believed to have been the
earliest constructors of the sambaquis, the shell-heaps
or kitchen-middens, which are of great size and numerous,
along the Atlantic and its bays. These are
supposed to indicate an antiquity of 2,000 years;[348] but
the Tapuyas can lay claim to a title to their land far
older than that. The skulls and human bones which
were discovered by Dr. Lund in the caves of Lagoa
Santa in immediate juxtaposition to those of animals
now extinct, came from a region occupied by the Tapuyas,
and are in all respects parallel to those of the
tribe to-day. This would assign them a residence on
the spot far back in the present geologic period.
Their appearance is that of an antique race of men.
They are of middle height, with long upper and short
lower extremities. The face is broad, the eyes small
and under prominent ridges, the forehead low and retreating;
the sutures are simple, the face prognathic,
and the skull decidedly dolichocephalic (73), but of
good capacity (1470 cub. cent.), and leptorhinic; the
mouth is large and the nose prominent. In color
they present a variety of shades of reddish-brown,
and their hair, which is coarse, verges rather on the
dark-brown than the black.[349] They are not ugly,
and the expression of the face, especially in the
young, is often attractive. Those of them, however,
who distend the lower lip with the large labret or
botoque (from which the Botocudos derive their name),
cannot be other than hideous to European eyes.
In culture the Tapuyas are reported to stand on the
lowest scale. When free in their native woods they
go absolutely naked; they have no other houses than
temporary shelters of leaves and branches; they manufacture
no pottery, build no canoes, and do not know
how to swim. When first in contact with the whites
they had no dogs, knew nothing of the use of tobacco
or salt, and were common cannibals. They have no
tribal organizations and no definite religious rites.
To counterbalance all these negatives, I hasten to
add that they are hunters of singular skill, using
strong bows with long arrows, manufacture polished
stone axes and weave baskets of reeds, and, what is
rare among the Indians, use tapers made from wild
bees-wax and bark fibre.[350] Their marriages are monogamous,
though rarely permanent, and they are not
devoid of family affection.[351] Though lacking definite
religious ideas, they are careful to bury the dead, and
have a belief that the spirit of the departed survives
and wanders about at night, for which reason they
are loth to move in the dark. The soul of a chief
may take the form of a jaguar. During a thunder
storm they shake a burning brand and shoot arrows
toward the sky, to appease by imitation the powers of
the storm; and they are much given to semi-religious
dances, in which their motions are to the sound of a
native flute, which is played with the nose.[352]
Their language is difficult in its phonetics, and
presents a contrast to most American tongues by its
tendency toward the isolating form, with slight agglutination.
A carefully prepared vocabulary of it has
recently been published by Dr. Paul Ehrenreich,[353]
whose studies on this stock have been peculiarly
valuable.
TAPUYA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Apina-gês, north of Rio Tocantins.
- Aponegi-crens, in south of province Maranhao.
- Acroas, near Rio Tocantins.
- Aimores, see Botocudos.
- Botocudos, in Sierra dos Aimures.
- Carahos, on Rio Tocantins.
- Camacans, near Rio Pardo.
- Cayapos, north of Rio Pardo.
- Chavantes, near Rio Maranhao.
- Cherentes, near Rio Tocantins.
- Chicriabas, near Rio de San Francisco.
- Coretus, on Rio Yupura.
- Cotoxos, near Rio Doce.
- Cumanachos, in province Goyaz.
- Crens, see Botocudos.
- Gês, in province Goyaz.
- Goyotacas, in province Goyaz (see below).
- Malalalis, near Rio Doce.
- Malalis, in province Goyaz.
- Masacaras, in province Goyaz.
- Pancas, on Rio das Pancas.
- Potés (Poton), on upper Mucuri.
- Puris, near Rio Paraiba.
- Suyas, on upper Schingu.
The Goyotacas in the province of Goyaz and the
regions adjacent include a large number of tribes
which Von Martius has shown to have sufficient linguistic
affinity among themselves to unite in one
group, and connections enough with the Tapuya
stem to be regarded as one of its sub-stocks.[354]
GOYOTACA SUB-STOCK.
- Capochos, in the sierra between Minas Geraes and Porto Seguro.
- Coropos, on the Rio da Pomba.
- Cumanachos, adjacent to the Capochos.
- Machacalis, on and near Rio Mucury.
- Macunis, between Minas Geraes and Porto Seguro.
- Monoxos, adjacent to the Macunis.
- Panhames, on head-waters of Rio Mucury.
- Patachos, on head-waters of Rio de Porto Seguro.
Another group believed by Martius to be a mixed
off-shoot of the Tapuya family belong to what I may
call the
TUCANO SUB-STOCK.
- Cobeus, on Rio Uaupes.
- Dace, on Rio Uaupes.
- Jupua, on upper Yupura.
- Jauna, on Rio Uaupes.
- Tucano, on Rio Uaupes.
All these tribes are found in the vicinity of the
river Uaupes, and are distinguished by three vertical
lines tattooed or incised on the cheeks. They take
their name, as do some other Brazilian tribes not related
to them, from the beautiful toucan bird, which
is frequently held sacred among them, and is sometimes
chosen as the totem of a gens.
I also attach to this stock the Carnijos or Fornio, a
vocabulary of whose language has been published by
Professor John C. Branner, and which hitherto has
not been identified.[355] The following comparison between
it and the Tapuya dialects will show the affinity:
|
CARNIJOS. |
TAPUYA. |
| Fire, |
tŏch, |
tiaköh. |
| Eye, |
i-to, |
ainthó, kitho. |
| Nose, |
d-ereta, |
d’asigri. |
| Tooth, |
i-axi, |
aiquá, daguoi. |
3. The Arawaks.
The Arawak stock of languages is the most widely
disseminated of any in South America. It begins at
the south with the Guanas, on the head-waters of the
river Paraguay, and with the Baures and Moxos on
the highlands of southern Bolivia, and thence extends
almost in continuity to the Goajiros peninsula, the
most northern land of the continent. Nor did it cease
there. All the Antilles, both Greater and Less, were
originally occupied by its members, and so were the
Bahama Islands,[356] thus extending its dialects to within
a short distance of the mainland of the northern continent,
and over forty-five degrees of latitude. Its
tribes probably at one time occupied the most of the
lowlands of Venezuela, whence they were driven not
long before the discovery by the Caribs, as they also
were from many of the southern islands of the West
Indian archipelago. The latter event was then of
such recent occurrence that the women of the Island
Caribs, most of whom had been captured from the
Arawaks, still spoke that tongue.
They were thus the first of the natives of the New
World to receive the visitors from European climes,
and the words picked up by Columbus and his successors
on the Bahamas, Cuba and Hayti, are readily
explained by the modern dialects of this stock. No
other nation was found on any part of the archipelago
except the two I have mentioned. The whole of the
coast between the mouths of the Orinoco and Amazon
appears to have been in their possession at or a short
time before the epoch of the discovery.
The Antis or Campas, who perhaps occupy the
original home of the stock, own as the centre of their
domain the table-land known as El Gran Pajonal, or
the Great Grass Field, bounded by the rivers Ucayali,
Pachitea and Perene. Their hue is a bistre and their
habits wild; some slight tillage is carried on, and the
women spin and weave the wild cotton into coarse
garments. The taming of animals is one of their arts,
and around their huts are seen monkeys, parrots, peccaries
and tapirs.[357] It is noteworthy that some of
them are skilful blacksmiths, smelting the metal
from the native ores, and working it into axes,
knives, spear points, etc., of excellent quality.[358]
The names Campas and Antis were used as generic
terms, the latter applied to the tribes on the slopes of
the Cordilleras and the former to those on the plains.
A large number of sub-tribes are named by the older
writers, the principal of which were the Choseosos,
Machigangas, Pilcosumis and Sepaunabos. The Machigangas
lived on the Pilcopata and Vilcanota, and
their language has been erroneously stated by Von
Tschudi to be an independent stock.[359] The Chunchas
and Cholones are by some classed with the Campas,
and they are said to have been the possessors of the
famous Cerro de Sal, or Salt Mountain, to which the
neighboring tribes repaired in great numbers to obtain
supplies of this useful article.
The Guanas are a nation who have long lived on
the upper Paraguay, in the province Mato Grosso
on the river Mambaya, and vicinity. D’Orbigny believed
that they were a member of the Mataco group,[360]
but they are now recognized as belonging to the
Arawak stock. They are noteworthy for their peaceful
disposition and unusual intelligence. Hervas
speaks of them as the most able nation visited by the
missionaries in the whole of America.[361] The traveler
Castelnau confirmed this good opinion. He found
them living in neat houses and cultivating the land
with skill and industry. They raised not only the
ordinary food plants, but cotton and sugar cane,
pressing the sap from the latter by machinery of their
own devising, and moulding the sugar into loaves.
Their cotton cloth, dyed of various colors, was highly
esteemed for its texture.
Castelnau describes them as occupying four settlements
near Albuquerque and Miranda, and comprising
the Chualas or Guanas proper, the Terenos, the
Laianas, and the Quiniquinaos.[362] Later investigations
have shown that of these the Terenos and Quiniquinaos
are members of the Guaycuru stock of the Chaco,
and that the Chualas and Laianas alone belong to the
true Guanas.[363]
The Paiconecas or Paunacas were attached to the
mission of the Conception in Bolivia, in 16° south latitude.
They numbered about 500 in 1831. In customs
and appearance they approached the Chiquitos.
Their former home was between the sources of the
Rio Blanco and Rio Verde.
The Saravecas, three or four hundred in number in
1831, were attached to the mission of Santa Anna, in
Bolivia, and were its handsomest members. Their
former homes were in the eastern hills of the Cordillera,
about 16° south latitude.
Although these are classed as irreducible stocks
by D’Orbigny and others who have followed him,
they are both clearly branches of the Arawak stem,
as will be seen by a brief comparison.[364]
|
PAICONECA. |
SARAVECA. |
ARAWAK STOCK. |
| Sun, |
isese, |
caame, |
sese, camu. |
| Moon, |
kejere, |
cache, |
kejeres, kashi. |
| Fire, |
chaki, |
tikai, |
yaki, ikii. |
| Water, |
ina, |
une, |
ine, une. |
| Eye, |
ihuikis, |
nol, |
nohlo, ikise. |
Others could readily be added, but the above are
sufficient.
Another important tribe of this stock in this region
were the Piros, otherwise called Chuntaquiros and
Simirenchis, whose home was about the junction of
the Ucayali and Apurimac, and thence along both
these rivers. The vocabularies of their tongue obtained
by Castelnau and Paul Marcoy leave no doubt
of their affiliations. They were largely converted by
the Jesuits between 1683 and 1727.
The Wapisianas, or Wapianas in British Guiana,
with their sub-tribe the Atorai (Tauri or Dauri), are
stated by Im Thurn to speak a tongue wholly different
from the Arawak; but an analysis of its expression
and an extended comparison place it beyond doubt in
this stock.[365]
The Tarumas and Maopityans, who now live in
southern British Guiana, but are said to have originally
come from the Rio Negro, speak related dialects.
They enjoy a rather high degree of culture, being
celebrated for the manufacture of cassava graters, for
the hunting dogs which they breed and train, and for
the fine pottery they manufacture. Both Schomburgk
and Im Thurn regard them as an independent stock;
but from a comparison of the fifteen nouns given by
the former in their language,[366] I infer that they are
an Arawak tribe, speaking a dialect mixed with some
Carib and Tupi words, and with frequent vowel
elision.
|
Taruma. |
|
| Sun, |
ouang, |
(auvan-ialü, Paravilhana). |
| Moon, |
piwa, |
(pia, Baniva, piua, Ouayéoué). |
| Fire, |
hua, |
(hua-to, Carib). |
| Water, |
tza, |
(tuná, Carib). |
| Head, my, |
a-tta, |
(no-totia, Baré). |
| Eye, my, |
a-tzi, |
(a-kussi, Arawak). |
| Mouth, |
me-ruku-kanna, |
(ülle-rukuhu, Arawak). |
| Nose, |
assa, |
(issi-rihi, Arawak). |
| Hand, |
ahu, |
(kx-aua, Bakairi). |
| Foot, |
appa, |
(upu, Galibi). |
| Bow, |
tzeika, |
(takou, Carib). |
| Star, |
uingra, |
(uinari, Baré). |
This comparison leaves little doubt but that this
mixed dialect is chiefly of Arawak lineage.
The Arawaks wandered as far east as the upper
Schingu river, where Von den Steinen found the
Kustenau, a distant member of the stem, with various
minor tribes, as the Vauras, Mehinacus, etc. Along
the river Ventuari the populous tribe of the Maipures
have taken a conspicuous place in the annals of the
missions. Indeed, the whole stock is sometimes called
by their name;[367] but it is well to retain the better known
Arawak, which is the appellation of that portion of
the tribe in Guiana between the Corentin and Pomeroon
rivers. It means “meal-eaters,” and was first applied
to them in derision on account of their large
consumption of cassava bread.
There is a prevailing similarity in their physical
type. The adults are slightly undersized, rarely
reaching above five feet six inches, with low foreheads
and straight narrow noses. The form of the skull is
short and the jaws are not protruding—orthognathic
and brachycephalic.[368] The physical force averages
less than that of the European, and there is decidedly
less power of resisting disease.[369] The Jesuit Eder mentions
a peculiarity among the Peruvian Arawaks,
(Moxos, Baures). It is that the end of the little finger
does not reach to the last joint of the third finger.
The absence of this peculiarity he states will reveal a
mixture of Spanish blood to the third generation.[370]
It would be interesting to learn how widely this is
noticeable.
The culture of the Arawak stock was generally
somewhat above the stage of savagery. On the West
Indian islands Columbus found them cultivating
maize, potatoes, manioc, yams and cotton. They
were the first to introduce to Europeans the wondrous
art of tobacco smoking. They wove cotton into garments,
and were skilful in polishing stone. They
hammered the native gold into ornaments, carved
curious masks of wood, blocked rude idols out of
large stones, and hollowed the trunks of trees to
construct what they called canoes.
Such is approximately the culture of the existing
tribes of the stock. The Arawaks of Guiana also raise
cassava and maize, though they depend largely on
hunting and fishing. Like the northern tribes, they
have well-developed gentile or totemic systems, with
descent in the female line.[371] Marriages are by purchase,
and the strange custom of the couvade obtains;
that is, at the period of parturition the husband takes
to his hammock, and is waited on as if he was the sick
one. Their houses are usually single, not communal,
and are furnished with swinging hammocks, mats,
basket-work and pottery.
The Haytian mythology was quite extensive, and
the legends of the Arawaks of Guiana have been collected,
and are also rich. In all the tribes the dead
were generally buried, and often the house of the deceased
was destroyed or the spot deserted.
ARAWAK LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Amarapas, in British Guiana.
- Antis or Campas, on Rio Apurimac.
- Araicus, on Rio Jatahy.
- Arawaks, on coast of Guiana.
- Atorais, on the upper Essequibo.
- Banivas, on Rio Atahuapo and Rio Içauna.
- Barés, on Rio Negro.
- Baures, on Rio de los Baures.
- Campas, see Antis.
- Canamirim, on Rio Jurua.
- Cariayos, on Rio Negro.
- Cauixanas, on Rio Jupura.
- Chontaquiros, see Piros.
- Goajiros, on Goajira peninsula.
- Guanas, on Rio Paraguay.
- Guinaus, on upper Orinoco.
- Haitians, on island of Hayti.
- Jabaanas, on Rio Marauia.
- Jucunas, on Rio Jupura.
- Jumanas, near Rio Jupura.
- Juris, on Rio Solimoes.
- Kustenaus, on Rio Schingu.
- Manaos, near Rio Negro.
- Manatenerys, on Rio Purus.
- Manivas, see Banivas.
- Maipures, on Rios Ventuari and Orinoco.
- Maranhos, on Rio Jatahy.
- Mariates, on Rio Iza.
- Mawakwas, on upper Orinoco.
- Moxos, on head-waters of Rio Mamore.
- Paiconecas, on Rio Blanco.
- Pareni, on Rio Orinoco.
- Parisis, in province Mato Grosso.
- Passés, on lower Jupura.
- Piapocos, on Rio Guaviare.
- Piros, on Rio Ucayali.
- Saravecas, near Santa Ana, Bolivia.
- Simirenchis, see Piros.
- Tainos, see Haitians.
- Tarianas, on Rio Negro.
- Tarumas, in British and Dutch Guiana.
- Uainambeus, on Rio Jupura.
- Uainumas, on Rio Jupura.
- Uirinas, on Rio Marari.
- Wapisianas, in Guiana.
- West Indians, on Bahamas and Antilles.
- Yuris, see Juris.
The Barés are now found along the banks of the
Casaquiare and the Guainia, the Felipe, the Atabapo
and some portions of the Rio Negro. They belong
to the Arawak stock, their dialect being related to
those of the Banivas and Maipures. About the middle
of this century the traveller Richard Spruce found
them in the regions assigned by Gilii to other tribes,
indicating a displacement of the population. He collected
a number of vocabularies, offering sufficient
evidence in his opinion to establish the relationship
of the following bands:[372]
BARÉ FAMILY OF THE ARAWAK STOCK.
- Barés, or Barrés, on Rio Negro, etc.
- Cunipusanas, on Rio Casaquiare.
- Guariquenas, on Rio Casaquiare.
- Jabaanas, on Rio Pacimoni.
- Mandauacas, on Rio Casaquiare and Siapa.
- Masacas, on Rio Masaca and Siapa.
- Pacimonarias, on Rio Casaquiare.
- Tarianas, on Rio Yupura.
To these I would add the Uirinas of the Rio
Marari, on the strength of a vocabulary collected by
Natterer.
4. The Caribs.
The Carib stock is one of the most extensively distributed
in the southern continent. At the discovery
its dialects were found on the Lesser Antilles, the
Caribby Islands, and on the mainland from the mouth
of the Essequibo River to the Gulf of Maracaibo.
West of the latter it did not reach the coast, nor has
any positive traces of its introduction above the straits
of Panama earlier than the conquest been found, in
spite of frequent assertions to the contrary. Inland
from the Arawaks on the shore of Guiana are a number
of Carib tribes, as the Macusi and Woyawoi, so
numerous that this region has been thought by some
to have been the original home of the stock; but the
discovery by Dr. Karl von den Steinen of a tribe, the
Bakairi, on the head-waters of the Schingu River,
speaking a very pure form of the language,[373] and the
recognition of the Carib affinities of the Palmellas on
the Rio dos Baures, throw another light on the trend
of Carib migrations, strongly supported by a series of
other considerations. Thus, it has been satisfactorily
shown by Im Thurn that the Caribs in Guiana wandered
thither from the Orinoco district, some inland
and some along the coast, and probably from the
large islands adjacent to the coasts.[374]
These islands in turn were peopled from the mainland
to the east, as I have already shown, their earlier
population having been Arawak. All the Island,
Orinoco and Guiana Caribs can thus be traced back
to the mainland of northern Venezuela. In this
vicinity was spoken the Cumanagoto dialect, in the
province of Cumana or New Andalusia. According
to the early missionaries, it was current along the
coast for more than a hundred leagues, extending into
the province of Caracas and beyond. The tribes who
spoke it were the Chaymas, the Cores, the Cumanas,
the Quacas, the Parias, the Palenques, the Varrigones,
and others.[375] Other dialects to the west are the
Opone and Carare, specimens of which were obtained
by Lengerke in the vicinity of Bucaramanga, province
of Santander.[376]
The sierra which divides the head-waters of the
Caura from those of the Rio Branco and other streams
flowing into the Rio Negro and Amazon, are peopled
on both slopes by wandering tribes of the Carib stock.
Near the sources of the Caura, Chaffanjon found the
once formidable Guaharibos, now naked and wretched
fugitives, fearing the white far more than they are
feared by him.[377] On the southern slope, along the
Rio Jauapery and neighboring streams, are bands
of Crichanas, Ipurucotos (Purigotos), Macuchis, and
Jauamerys (Waimiris), all speaking nearly related
dialects of the Carib tongue. Dr. Barboza Rodrigues
has given a touching picture of their recent struggles
with the whites of the adjacent settlements, and the
miserable condition to which they are reduced. We
owe to the same sympathetic naturalist an interesting
description of their customs and language.[378]
The hill tribes of French Guiana are known as
Roucouyennes, from the roucou, a vegetable coloring
matter with which they paint their skins. They
exhale a peculiar odor like that of new leather, probably
from the action of the tannin in the roucou on
the skin. Naturally they are light in color, and at
birth almost white.[379] Marriages of father and daughter,
or brother and sister, are not rare among them.[380]
A connecting link between these Caribs of Guiana
and the Bakairis of the south is supplied by the
Apiacas of the Rio Tocantins, who speak a pure
dialect of the stock, midway in character between
those of the two extremes named.[381]
The Arubas, who occupied the island of that name
off the coast of Venezuela, and whose mixed descendants
now speak the Papamiento jargon, are no doubt
correctly assigned to this stock by M. Pinart. They
were skillful potters, and buried their dead in large
urns. The numerous polychromatic petroglyphs they
have left and their peculiar character are especially
noteworthy.[382]
Sir Robert H. Schomburgk classifies the Carib
stock in Guiana as follows, giving a short specimen
of each dialect, which differ, he says, among themselves
about as much as French and Italian.[383]
CARIB SUB-STOCK IN GUIANA.
- Accawai.
- Arecuna.
- Caribisi.
- Guianau.
- Macusi.
- Maiongkong.
- Mawakwa.
- Pianochotto.
- Soerigong.
- Tiverighotto.
- Waiyamara.
- Woyawoi.
The Guaques, who live on the head-waters of the
Caqueta or Yapura river, have not been heretofore
identified as Caribs; but their dialect, as collected by
Presbyter Manuel P. Albis in 1853, leaves no doubt as
to its relationship. He describes them as intelligent
and kindly, but incorrigible and dexterous thieves,
skillful in the collection of wax and the preparation
of poisons. Nowhere is the couvade with its associate
superstitions more rigidly observed. No woman must
be seen by men during her catamenia, and at childbirth
she must separate from the household for three
months. During all that time her husband strictly
observes a diet and seclusion.[384]
The lower Orinoco basin was for a long time the
center of distribution of the stock; they probably had
driven from it nations of Arawak lineage, some of
whom, as the Goajiros, they pushed to the west,
where they were in contact with the Carib Motilones,[385]
and others to the islands and the shores to the east.
The Carijonas and Guaques on the head-waters of the
Yapura or Caqueta are now their most western hordes,
and the Pimenteiras on the Rio Paruahyba are their
most eastern. We can thus trace their scattered
bands over thirty-five degrees of latitude and thirty of
longitude. The earliest center of distribution which
best satisfies all the conditions of the problem would
be located in the Bolivian highlands, not remote from
that I have assigned to the Arawaks.
The physical features of the Caribs assimilate
closely to those of the Arawaks. They are taller in
the average and more vigorous, but their skulls are
equally brachycephalic and orthognathic. They are
beardless, and have the same variability in color of
skin. As good specimens of the modern Caribs we
may take the tribes of Venezuela. These are spoken
of as “the strongest, handsomest and most intelligent
of any of the natives in northern South America.”[386]
They are tall, straight and symmetrical, the women
not less muscular than the men. The hair is sometimes
slightly wavy, as Von den Steinen saw among
the Bakairi.
The Caribs have had a bad reputation as to culture
on account of their anthropophagous tendencies.
Indeed, the word cannibal is a mispronunciation of
their proper name, Karina. But they were quite on
a par with their neighbors, the Arawaks, and in some
respects superior to them. For instance, their canoes
were larger and finer, and they had invented the device
of the sail, which seems to have been unknown
to all the other tribes on the continent. To some extent
they were agricultural, and their pottery was of
superior quality.
The beginnings of picture-writing were in use
among them, and the remarkable rock inscriptions
still visible on the Orinoco and the Essequibo are attributable
to them, and were probably intended as
conjurations to the supernatural powers, similar to
others which remain in St. Vincent and other islands
from the date of the Carib occupation.[387] Their family
life was not usually communal, but each household
occupied its own dwelling. In some parts, as in the
deltas of the Essequibo and Orinoco, and even on the
dry savannas, their huts were built on a substructure
of piles which lifted them five or six feet from the
ground or the water, as the case might be.
The religious rites they observed were often elaborate.
Their principal divinities are said to have been
the sun, moon and earth, the latter of which was
spoken of as the mother of the race. They practiced
the couvade, and their priests, called piaye, exercised
unlimited power, and were correspondingly feared.
It was the opinion of Von Martius that the Carib,
the Tupi-Guarani and the Arawak stocks are traceable
to some very ancient common tongue. This
view is at first sight strengthened by a wide comparison
of vocabularies, but is weakened by an examination
of the grammars of the three families, especially
their pronominal elements. It is probable that the
three ancestral tribes had early and close communication,
but not original identity.
The seeming relationship has been rendered more
prominent in certain instances by free later borrowings.
M. Adam has shown that some of the northern
dialects are in the condition of jargons, their grammar
on the Carib model, their words drawn from
various stocks. Such are the “Island Carib,” which
is largely Arawak, and the Boni-Ouyana, described by
Dr. Crévaux.[388]
CARIB LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Akavais, or Accowoios, in southern British Guiana.
- Apalais, on the lower Paru.
- Apiacas, on the lower Tocantins.
- Arecunas, on Rio Branco.
- Aricoris, see Yaos.
- Bakairis, on the Upper Schingu.
- Caribisis, in Guiana.
- Carijonas, head-waters of the Caqueta.
- Cariniacos, on lower Orinoco.
- Chaimas, in ancient province of Cumana.
- Cumanagotos, in ancient province of Cumana.
- Galibis, in French Guiana.
- Guaques, on the upper Caqueta.
- Guaharibos, on the upper Caura.
- Guayqueris, in province of Cumana.
- Jauamerys, on Rio Jauapery.
- Macusis, on Rio Negro.
- Maqueritares, on Rio Branco.
- Motilones, near R. Zulia in Venezuela.
- Palmellas, on Rio Paruahyba.
- Paramonas, sub-tribe of Akavais.
- Paravilhanas, on Rio Branco.
- Pianagotos, on Rio Branco.
- Pimenteiras, on Rio Paruahyba.
- Purigotos, on Rio Jauapery.
- Roucouyennes, in French Guiana.
- Tamanacas, on Rio Cuccivero.
- Tiverighotto, on Rio Branco.
- Trios, on upper Corentyn.
- Vaiyamaras, on Rio Branco.
- Voyavois, on Rio Branco.
- Yaos, in Guiana.
- Zurumutas, sub-tribe of Macusis.
- (The Orinoco sub-stock will be described later.)
5. The Cariris.
In his enumeration of the tribes of Central Brazil,
Von Martius brings together a large number who
once dwelt in the provinces of Bahia and Pernambuco,
under the general title, “the Guck or Coco
stem,” so called from the word which in many of
them means “the paternal uncle.”[389] This division
has not been endorsed by later research, and it is
evident that Von Martius included several quite different
stocks under this appellation.
Among these, the most prominent were the Cariris
or Kiriri. They are now reduced to about 600 souls,
but at one time were a powerful nation, and in 1699
the Jesuit Mamiani published a grammar and other
works in their tongue.[390] They were among the more
cultivated of the Brazilian tribes, given to agriculture,
skilled in dyeing and weaving cotton, employing
a primitive spindle and loom, with weapons of
several kinds and of superior finish.
The Sabuyas, who dwell near them, speak a closely
related dialect; but further affinities have not been
verified. They have, indeed, many loan words from
the Tupi, and some from the Carib stock, but the
ground-work of these tongues is different. Von den
Steinen offers some reasons for believing that they
moved down the Amazon from a far western residence.[391]
6. The Coroados, Carajas and others.
The Coroados derive their name from the Portuguese
word coroa, a crown, the term “crowned”
being applied to several native tribes who wore their
hair in a peculiar manner. It is not at all an ethnic
designation, and I use it to bring into relief the
need of some term of greater precision. Thus, there
are the Coroados who are neighbors and linguistically
related to the Puris, dwelling on the Paruahyba river.
By some they have been included among the Tapuyas
as alleged relatives of the Botocudos. But not only
is there no relationship of language, but physically
they are widely apart. The Puris-Coroados are a
dark yellow brown, with mesocephalic heads, dark
brown oblique eyes, large mouths and thick lips—nowise
the type of the Botocudo. They are moreover
agricultural in habits, and farther advanced in the
arts.[392]
There are other Coroados in the extreme south of
Brazil, in the province of Rio Grande do Sul, whither
they are said to have wandered from the north.
These do not appear to be Botocudos either. They
have round heads, dark brown eyes, low foreheads,
and are of a light coffee color. They are noticeable
for their clean and ornamental huts, and for their
skill in hunting, in which they employ arrows five
feet in length, with bone points. They pray to certain
stars as protective divinities, and like some
northern tribes, clean and preserve the bones of the
dead.[393]
The Carajas belong to a stock who dwell on the
affluents of the river Araguay, in the province of
Goyaz in southern Brazil. The traveler Castelnau[394]
penetrated to them, and was our earliest source of information
about them. They are wild and warlike,
with a bad reputation among their neighbors. He
was told they had no religion and no rites, but also
that they were strictly monogamous and singularly
firm moralists, punishing libertinage with the death
of both parties; statements which do not accord.
Their method of burial was curious. The corpse
was interred in an upright position, the head out of
the ground. An ample stock of bananas and other
food was placed near it, and renewed from time to
time. This clearly indicates a belief in life after
death. The pure Carajas are markedly dolichocephalic.
The Caraja language is known too imperfectly to
permit a proper study of its relationship. It is complex
and difficult, and spoken differently by the men
and the women. From the scant material at hand I
perceive lexical relationship in some important words
to the Tapuya stock,[395] but a wide divergence in
phonetics and apparently in construction. Its members
are as follows:
CARAJA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Carajahis, about Salinas.
- Carajas, on the Rio Araguay.
- Chimbioas, on the eastern affluents of lower Araguay.
- Javahais, on upper Araguay and island of Bananal.
- Ximbioas, see Chimbioas.
A certain number of vocabularies have been obtained
by travelers in Brazil from mixed-blood
tribes, who spoke dialects sometimes compounded
of several native tongues, sometimes of these mingled
with Portuguese or negro elements. Such is the
dialect of the Meniens, who lived in eastern Brazil
near the Villa Belmonte, whose speech was a jargon
of the Tapuya and negro languages; and that of the
Cames in the interior of San Paulo, who also made
use of a barbarous dialect, compounded of the African
idioms of runaway slaves, and that of the Botocudos.
The Catoquina, a specimen of which was obtained
by Spix from a band on the affluent of the Jurua,
and the Catoxa or Cotoxo of the Rio Parda, are other
examples.[396]
7. The Orinoco Basin; Carib Sub-Stock; Salivas; Arawak
Sub-Stock; Otomacos; Guamas; Guayoas;
Garuoas; Guaraunos; Betoyas; Piaroas, etc.
The Llanos of Venezuela coincide with the former
“Territory of Caqueta,” and embrace a region about
forty thousand square miles in extent, covered either
with grass and rushes or with dense forests. In the
wet season it is a vast marsh, in the dry it is scorched by
a burning sun, raising the thermometer daily to over
100° in the shade. Yet the Llanos are but a part of
the vast upper water-shed of the northern affluents of
the Amazon and those of the Orinoco, which together
drain a country larger than the whole of France.
This wide expanse is thinly populated with bands
of savages, gaining their subsistence chiefly from the
rivers, few of them brought within the range of civilized
influences. Linguistically the majority belong
to the Arawak and the Carib stocks; but there are
numbers of tribes whose affinities are uncertain, or
who are apparently of quite another lineage. Scores
of names are found in the records of the missions and
on the pages of travelers, of peoples who have disappeared
or are now known by other designations. Alexander
von Humboldt named and located 186 tribes
on the Orinoco and its affluents alone; but renounced
as hopeless the attempt to give them a linguistic
classification.[397] I shall not attempt to unravel the
tangled ethnography of this region farther than to
mention those tribes concerning whom specimens of
language or the statements of European visitors permit
a reasonable guess as to their affinities.
Something over a century ago, when Father Gilii
wrote, largely from personal knowledge, his description
of the tribes on the Orinoco and its affluents, he
believed they could be included in nine linguistic
stocks,[398] as follows:
1. The Carib in a number of dialects, as the Tamanaca,
the Paiura, the Quiri-Quiripa, the Mapuya,
the Guanero, the Guayquira, the Palenque, the Maquiritare,
the Oje, the Mucuru, and others.
2. The Saliva, to which he assigned the dialects
Ature, Piaroa and Quaqua.
3. The Maipure (Arawak), in its dialects Avane,
Meepure, Cavere, Parene, Guipunave, and Chirupa.
4. The Otomaca, with one dialect, the Tarapita.
5. The Guama, with its dialect, the Quaquaro.
6. The Guayba, related to the Chiricoa.
7. The Jaruri (Yarura).
8. The Guaraunos.
9. The Aruaca.
This classification can stand as only approximately
accurate, but it serves as an excellent starting point.
Beginning with the Carib stock, and basing my list
on the works of Codazzi and more recent travelers,
especially Crévaux, Coudreau and Chaffanjon, I offer
the following as the tribes which may be definitely
located as its members:
CARIB SUB-STOCK IN THE ORINOCO REGION.
- Amarizonas (Amarisanes), near the Rio Guaviare and Rios Etari and Ayrico.
- Arecunas, on head-waters of the Rio Caroni.
- Ariguas, near the Rio Tauca.
- Cabiunes, on the Rio Apoporis.
- Carataimas, on the Rio Cauca.
- Chaymas, on the Rio Guarapiche.
- Cucciveros, on the Rio Cauca.
- Cuneguaras, on the Rio Maturin.
- Enaguas, on the Rio Agua Branca.
- Guarives, on the Rio Uñare.
- Maquiritares, on the Orinoco, near Lake Carida and Rio Ventuari.
- Matanos, on Rio Caura.
- Mucos, on Rio Apoporis.
- Panares, on Rio Caura.
- Parecas, on the lower Orinoco.
- Paudacotos, near the Rio Caura.
- Quiri-Quiripas, on the lower Orinoco.
- Quivas, on the Orinoco near the confluence of the Meta.
- Tamanacas, on lower Orinoco.
- Tuapocos, on the Rio Maturin.
- Vayamanos, on the Rio Paragua.
- Yaos, on the Rio de la Trinidad.
- Yocunos, on the Rio Apoporis.
Even when Codazzi collected his material, more
than half a century ago, the once powerful Tamanacas
had entirely disappeared, and no tribe of the name
existed in the region.[399] The process of dissolution
and destruction has gone on since his day with increasing
rapidity, so that when Chaffanjon visited the
Orinoco and Caura in 1884, he found that immense
and fertile region almost uninhabited, the ancient
tribes scattered and disappeared, or existing only in
wretched remnants, misérables débris, of their former
selves.[400] The opportunity is forever lost, therefore,
to define the ethnography of this region by original
observation, and we are thrown back on the collections
and statements of former observers.
The Maquiritares, however, still remain as one of
the handsomest peoples on the Orinoco, and remarkable
for the skill with which they manufacture canoes
sixty or seventy feet long from the trunk of a single
tree.[401]
On the river Uaupes, an affluent of the Rio Negro
M. Coudreau encountered various tribes, such as the
Tarianos or Javis and the Nnehengatus, of whose
tongues he obtained brief vocabularies. They indicate
a distant influence of the Carib stock, especially
the latter, but they seem mixed largely with elements
from other sources.[402] They dwell adjacent to the
Tucanos, to whom I have already referred as assigned
by some to the Tapuyas. (See above, p. 240.)
Gilii’s second group, the Salivas, offers difficulties.
There appears to be none of them under that name at
present on the Orinoco. Chaffanjon states that the
Atures have become extinct.[403] The Piaroas survive,
but the tribe so-called to-day speak a tongue wholly
unlike the Saliva, and unconnected, apparently, with
any other stock;[404] and the modern Quaquas (Guagues)
speak a dialect of the Arawak. Yet a hundred and
fifty years ago the missionaries estimated the Salivas
at four thousand souls. They lived principally on
the river Cinareuco, below the Meta, and also on the
Rio Etari, where they were in contact with the Carib
Amarisanes. They are described as of a kindly and
gentle disposition, well-made in body and willing
scholars of their spiritual masters. In their heathendom
they had the unique custom of disinterring the
bones of their dead after the expiration of a year,
burning them, and then collecting the ashes to mix
with their drinking water.[405] Their language, which
was vocalic and nasal, has been preserved in sufficient
specimens to serve for comparison. According to
Vergara y Vergara, it is still spoken on the banks of
the Meta,[406] and Hartmann includes in those who employ
it, the Quevacus and Maritzis, at the head of the
Ventuari, and the Mayongcong on the Merevari.[407]
The Arawak stock, which Gilii calls the Maipure,
had numerous branches in this region. They occupied
much of the Orinoco in its middle and upper
course, as well as the valleys of its affluents. Gumilla
speaks of one of its members, the Caveres, as savage
and inhuman warriors, but as the only nation which
had been able to repulse the attacks of the down-river
Caribs, who were accustomed to ascend the stream in
fleets of eighty to a hundred canoes, destroying every
village on its banks.[408]
The same authority mentions the Achaguas as possessing
the most agreeable and cultured dialect,
though he is in doubt whether it is strictly related to
the Maipure. This nation, quite prominent in the
older annals, still existed in the middle of this century
to the number of five hundred on the Rio Muco.
They were not civilized, and practiced the customs
of polyandry and the destruction of female infants.[409]
Cassani refers to them as on the river Ele, and describes
them as tattooed and painted, with well-formed
bodies and taking great pride in preserving and dressing
their magnificent hair.[410]
From a variety of sources at my disposition I have
prepared the following list of the
ARAWAK SUB-STOCK IN THE ORINOCO REGION.
- Achaguas, on Rio Ele and Rio Muco.
- Amoruas, on Rio Vichada.
- Avanenis, on Rio Guainia.
- Banivas, see Manivas.
- Barés, on Rios Baria and Guainia.
- Cabacabas, between Rios Yapura and Apoporis.
- Cafuanas, on Rio Yapura.
- Carusanas, on the Guainia and Inirida.
- Cauiris, right bank of Rio Guaviare.
- Caveres (Cabres), on Rio Zama and Orinoco near it.
- Chirupas, on the Rio Zama.
- Guaripenis, on Rio Guainia.
- Guaypunavis (Guipunavis), on Lake Inirida.
- Macuenis, on Rio Guainia.
- Manivas (Banivas, Manitivas), on Rio Guaviare and Rio Negro and their affluents.
- Maipures, on middle Orinoco.
- Moroquenis, on Rio Yapura.
- Mituas, on Lake Inirida.
- Moruas, on Rio Yapura.
- Parenes, on middle Orinoco.
- Piapocos, near mouth of Rio Guaviare.
- Uaupes, on Rio Uaupes (?).
- Yaviteris, on Rio Atabapo.
The Otomacos remain, as Gilii placed them, an independent
stock, with their single dialect, the Tarapita.
The Jesuits first encountered them in 1732,
amid the forests south of the Orinoco, between the
Paos and the Jaruros. In later years they are described
as a low grade of savages, given to the eating
of earth. They are also said to be monogamous, and
the women among them enjoy an unusual degree of
consideration, being permitted to take equal part in
the public games.[411] Their present locality appears to
be on or near the river Meta.
The tribes whom Gilii mentions as the Guamas
and Quaquaros lived on the banks of the Rio Apure,
and in his day had the reputation of “a numerous
and valorous people.”[412] They were not unacquainted
with some of the arts, and were particularly skillful
in the manufacture of small figures in terra cotta,
many of which are to be picked up on the sites of
their ancient villages. Now, however, they have
been smitten with the fate of their race, and are reduced
to a few miserable vagrants, destined to disappear
wholly in a few years. Their arts are lost, and
the oppression of the whites has driven from them all
hopes of bettering their condition.[413]
Of their language I have no specimens. According
to Felipe Perez, it is related to the Omagua, and hence
should be included in the Tupi stock; but this writer
is not always dependable.
The Guaybas (Guahibos) and Chiricoas dwelt originally
on the broad plains between the Casanare and
Meta rivers; but a number of them were converted in
the latter half of the seventeenth century and persuaded
to come to the missions. They soon returned
to their roving life. Cassani speaks of them as of
mild and friendly disposition, but incorrigible vagabonds,
“the gypsies of the Indies,” constantly migrating
from place to place.[414] They have never lost
their love of the wilderness, and it has been their salvation,
for they still survive—quite a numerous people—on
the left bank of the Orinoco, from the Rio Meta
to the Vichada. They are rebellious to all attempts at
civilization, and the white man is not safe who ventures
into their territory.[415]
Humboldt, in his discussion of the tribes of the
Orinoco, refers to the Guahibos as white in color,
and founds some speculations on this fact. Their
hue is indeed light, at times what may fairly be
called a dirty white; but in this respect we are assured
by recent and competent authority they do not differ
from their neighbors, the Maquiritares and Piaroas. It
is not a question of descent, but of climatic surroundings
and mode of life.[416]
The home of the Jaruris, Yaruras, or, as they called
themselves, Japurin, was on and near the Orinoco,
between the rivers Meta and Capanapaco. They
depended on hunting and fishing, and were indolent
and averse to agriculture. They had few arts, but
were friendly in disposition, not given to drunkenness,
and usually monogamous. At present they
number scarcely a hundred individuals, badly formed,
afflicted with contagious disease, and rapidly on the
road to extinction. They have lost their trait of
sobriety, and a man will readily offer his wife or
daughter in exchange for a bottle of brandy. (Chaffanjon.)
The Guaraunos, called by the English Warraus,
continue to live in considerable numbers—some say
about fifteen thousand—in and near the delta of the
Orinoco. They are a thrifty, healthy people, building
their houses ingeniously upon piles to protect
them from the periodical overflows of the stream.
This method of construction, however, was adopted
only when they sought as refuge marshy and lonely
spots to escape their enemies. Contrary to the statements
of most travelers, those who know them best
report them as preferring dry uplands, where they
make clearings, plantations and houses with singular
industry and skill. The favorite wood used in such
construction is the temiche (not the moriche) palm,
which they call, from its magnificent fronds, “the
feathers of the sun,” ya juji.[417]
Humboldt placed their number at the beginning of
the century at about six thousand, which is doubtless
more correct than the later estimates. He adds that
the Guayquiries, who inhabited the peninsula of
Araya and the adjacent islands of Margarita, “admit
the relationship of their language with that of the
Guaraunos.”[418] At the beginning of the last century
Gumilla found them living on the south bank of the
Orinoco in a most wretched condition and nearly annihilated
by their merciless enemies, the Caribs. It is
probable, therefore, that they removed from that location
to the coast.[419] No other dialect of the tongue, so
far as I know, has been discovered, and it seems an independent
stock.
In appearance they are dark in hue, of muscular
build, hair black, abundant and very fine, noses
straight and well-shaped, skull brachycephalic, stature
below medium.
The Aruaca mentioned by Gilii were some tribes
of the Arawaks who occasionally visited the southern
bank of the Orinoco, and whose relations to the Maypures
were not known to him. They are also mentioned
by other authors.
Having thus reviewed the linguistic stocks named by
Gilii, I shall proceed to mention some which escaped
his attention.
One of the most interesting of these is the Betoi, or
Betoya. This tongue derived its name from a tribe
dwelling at the foot of the mountains of Bogota, between
the rivers Apure and Tame, and are therefore
included by some among the Indians of New Granada.
From a number of authorities I find the following
members are attributed to the
BETOYA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Airicos, on head-waters of the Manacacia, the Ele and Guainia.
- Amaguages, near Rio Caqueta.
- Anibalis, on Rio Apure.
- Betois, on and near Rio Casanare, about north latitude 5°.
- Correguages, on Rio Yari and head-waters of Caqueta.
- Jamas, on Rio Manacacia.
- Macaguages, on Rios Caucaya, Mecaya and Sensella.
- Piojes, on Rio Putumayo, and on the Napo and Caucaya (Cocayu).
- Quilifayes, on Rio Apure.
- Situfas, on Rio Casanare.
- Tamas, on the Rio Yari and Rio Caguo.
- Tunebos, in the Cordillera, adjacent to the Betois.
Of these, the Piojes and Correguages, of which we
have vocabularies, do not show close resemblance to
the Betoya, yet undoubtedly some;[420] so I place them
in this stock partly in deference to old authorities.
The Piojes derive their name from the particle of
negation in their language, this being their usual reply
to all inquiries by traders or travelers. They are
divided into two bands, speaking the same dialect,
one on the Napo and one on the Putumayo, neither
knowing anything of the other. Some of their customs
are peculiar. For instance, it is their rule that
a widow shall take her son, a widower his daughter,
to replace the deceased consort.[421] They are somewhat
agricultural, and are skillful boatmen.
The Tamas formerly lived on the river Aguarico
(Coleti). Dr. Crévaux found them on the Caguo, a
branch of the Yapura, and obtained from them a
short vocabulary, but enough to mark them as members
of the stock.[422] There are also some on the Rio
Meta who speak Spanish only. (Perez.)
The Betoya has impressed me as showing some distant
affinity to the Choco stock, and it may be that
ampler resources on both sides would lead to the establishment
of an original identity. The following
words from the very scanty number which I have for
comparison are noteworthy:
|
CHOCO STOCK. |
BETOYA STOCK. |
| Man, |
uma-china, |
uma-soi, emi-ud. |
| Woman, |
uerá, |
ro. |
| Fire, |
tŭjoor, |
toa-tui. |
| Ear, |
juru, |
ca-joro-so. |
| Nose, |
jun, |
ju-saca, jin-quepui. |
The Choco do, river, seems related to the Betoya
ocu-du, water.
The Macaguages are industrious and agricultural.
Both sexes dress alike in cotton tunics dyed in violet
color, and suspend bright feathers and strings of
beads in ears, nose and lips.[423]
A singular question has arisen as to the relationship
of the Betoya and the Yarura languages. Their near
connection was affirmed by the early missionaries.
In fact, the history of the conversion of the Betoyas
turns upon the identity of the two tongues. It was
brought about in 1701 by a Yarura Indian, a convert
to Christianity, who accidentally discovered that he
was understood by the Betoyas.
In spite of this detail, it is evident from an inspection
of the vocabularies, that there is absolutely no
relationship between the two idioms. I can only explain
the contradiction as arising from some ambiguity
or similarity of names. The two tribes lived together
in the time of Gumilla, making up about three
thousand souls.[424]
About the middle of this century some six hundred
of the Betoyas dwelt on the head-waters of the river
Manacacia.[425]
In the territory of St. Martin, above the falls of the
Guaviare and along the Rio Guejar and the Meta, are
several tribes asserted to speak related dialects, but of
which I have little information. The principal one
is that of the Churoyas, of whom Professor Nicolas
Saenz has given an interesting sketch and a short
vocabulary.[426] They are very ugly, with broad faces,
low foreheads, small and oblique eyes, and in color
like dried tobacco. Nudity is their usual garb, and
the skin is decorated with tattoo marks instead of
clothing. According to Perez they number about
1200.[427] Following him and other authorities, I may
enumerate the following members of the
CHUROYA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Bisaniguas, on the Rio Guejar.
- Choroyas, on the Rio Guejar.
- Cofanes, on the Rio Aguarico.
- Guayues, on the Rio Caqueta.
- Macos, on the Rio Aguarico.
Whether the Cofanes here named are those of the
Province of Quitu who murdered the Jesuit missionary,
Raphael Ferrer, in 1602, I have not discovered. Perez
describes them as still warlike and seclusive, living in
the terminal hills of the Cordillera, and avoiding traffic
with the tribes of the lower river.[428]
An examination of the vocabulary furnished by
Saenz inclines me to think that the Churoya may be
a mongrel dialect, or at least has borrowed freely
from neighboring stocks. I subjoin the principal
words from his short vocabulary, with some comparisons:
| Sun, |
mshojaint. |
| Moon, |
juimit (oamito, Guahiba). |
| Fire, |
hijit (chichi, = sun, Carib). |
| Water, |
minta. |
| Bow, |
piranso (paria, Roucouyenne). |
| Arrow, |
funait. |
| Tobacco, |
joo. |
| Plantain, |
parasa. |
| Dog, |
uilg. |
| Tortoise, |
ainjachie. |
| Wind, |
che. |
| Skin, |
begt. |
The Piaroas are mentioned by Gilii as a branch of
the Salivas, but their language reveals no such connection.
They are still found on both banks of the
Orinoco above the confluence of the Vichada and
near the mouth of the Mataveni. They are savage
and superstitious, avoiding contact with the whites;
they have had good reason to be extremely distrustful
of the advances of their civilized neighbors. They
are much given to nocturnal ceremonies, and entertain
a great respect for the tapir, who is their reputed
ancestor, and also the form which is taken by the souls
of the departed.[429]
The Puinavis dwell on the Inirida, an affluent of the
Guaviare. A tribe, the Guipunabis, is mentioned by
Gilii as belonging to the Maipure (Arawak) stock; but
it cannot be the same with the one under consideration,
the language of which appears to be without
affinities. Latham identified them with the Poignavis
of the older writers, and on slight linguistic evidence,
believed them connected with the Banivas.[430] My own
comparisons do not justify this opinion.
8. The Upper Amazonian Basin.
No portion of the linguistic field of South America
offers greater confusion than that of the western
Amazonian region. The statements are so conflicting,
and the tribal changes apparently so rapid, that
we are at a loss to bring modern observations into
accord with older statements. Thus, I am entirely
unable to accept the linguistic classification of Hervas,
which certainly was based on the best information of
his day. As a matter of comparison I give it.
List of Languages in the Governments of Maynas
and the Marañon (Hervas).
|
STOCKS. |
DIALECTS. |
| 1. |
Andoa. |
Araro. |
|
|
Chuudaviño. |
|
|
Gae. |
|
|
Guazago. |
|
|
Murato. |
|
|
Pabo. |
|
|
Pinche. |
|
|
Simigae. |
|
|
Bobonazo. |
| 2. |
Campa. |
Amjemhuaco. |
|
|
Curano. |
|
|
Manua. |
|
|
Nanerua. |
|
|
Nesahuaco. |
|
|
Sepaunabo. |
|
|
Tasio. |
| 3. |
Chayavita. |
Cahuapano. |
|
|
Paranaruro. |
| 4. |
Comaba. |
Ginua. |
|
|
Inuaco. |
|
|
Ruanababo. |
|
|
Zepo. |
| 5. |
Cuniba. |
Manamabobo. |
|
|
Mananamabua. |
| 6. |
Encabellada. |
Guajoyo. |
|
|
Guencoyo. |
|
|
Neocoyo. |
|
|
Zaparro, or Encabellado. |
|
|
Ziecoyo. |
| 7. |
Iebera. |
Tiputini. |
|
|
Tibilo. |
| 8. |
Maina. |
Chapo. |
|
|
Coronado. |
|
|
Humurano. |
|
|
Roamaino. |
| 9. |
Muniche. |
Muchimo. |
|
|
Otanabe. |
| 10. |
Pana. |
Iltipo. |
|
|
Pelada. |
| 11. |
Pira. |
Cusitinavo. |
|
|
Manatinavo. |
|
|
Upatarinavo. |
| 12. |
Simigae. |
Arazo. |
|
|
Ijinori. |
|
|
Nevo. |
|
|
Oa. |
|
|
Zaparro. |
| 13. |
Lucumbia. |
Putumayo. |
|
|
Yete. |
|
|
Ceoqueyo. |
| 14. |
Urarina. |
Barbudo. |
|
|
Itucale. |
|
|
Mayoruño. |
|
|
Musimo. |
| 15. |
Yamea. |
Amaono. |
|
|
Nahuapo. |
|
|
Napeano. |
|
|
Masamae. |
| 16. |
Jinori. |
Acamaori. |
|
|
Camacori. |
|
|
Iqueconejori. |
|
|
Panajori. |
|
|
Tremojori. |
A slight examination of this classification suffices
to reveal its general inaccuracy. The Zaparos are
included in both the Encabellada and the Simigae
stocks. The latter is given both as a stock and as a
dialect of the Andoa. In fact, all three of the stocks
named belong together as dialects of one. The Pano
stock, as we now know it, appears scattered under
Cuniba, Urarina and Pana; and the arrangement is
incorrect in many other points. While it has a value
in preserving the names of some now missing tribes,
as a linguistic scheme it is wholly unsafe.
The Zaparos constitute one of the most extended
and numerous nations in the upper valley of the
Amazon. They dwell near or adjacent to the Jivaros
on the south, and as their name is variously spelled
Zaparos, Xeberos and Jeberos, they have at times been
confounded with them. They differ, however, not
only in language, but in appearance and temperament.
The Zaparos are lighter in color, smaller in stature,
with oblique eyes, large mouths, and expanded nostrils.[431]
Their disposition is indolent and easy tempered,
and their abilities inferior. This is seen in the
construction of their houses and the appearance of
their fields, which do not compare advantageously
with those of the Jivaros; but they display some ingenuity
in manufacturing clothing from the bark of a
species of Ochroma, and they are skillful in concocting
the urara poison, in making blow-pipes, and are daring
boatmen.
In 1632 they lived near the Omaguas, on the river
Curary, and their number was estimated by the missionaries
at 10,000. At present their main body
dwells between the rivers Pastaza and Napo and
along the Marañon between the rivers Zamora and
Morona. In 1850 Osculati estimated their number at
over 20,000, which is certainly in excess of their
present representatives. The many small tribes into
which they are divided, and the confused orthography
of the names applied to them, render it difficult to
offer a satisfactory list. It seems tolerably certain
that the ancient “Andoas” were the Zaparos of the
upper Pastaza,[432] and equally sure that the Encabellada,
the Iebera, the Simigae and the Jinori languages,
all supposed by Hervas to be independent
stocks,[433] were spoken by members of the Zaparo
family. The Iquitos are another populous branch,
sometimes supposed to be distinct.
The Zaparo language is agreeable to the ear, partaking
of the phonetic character of the Brazilian
idioms. The Italian traveler, Osculati, has furnished
a very satisfactory account of it, both grammatical
and lexicographical,[434] and there are vocabularies by
other voyagers.
I offer the following alphabetic list of the sub-tribes
of the Zaparos, without attempting to define their
several positions in the general district referred to:
ZAPARO LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Achuales.
- Agapicos.
- Aicores.
- Andoas.
- Anguteris.
- Antires.
- Araros, or Arazos.
- Ayacares.
- Bobonazos.
- Cahuaches.
- Chudavinos.
- Churitunas.
- Comacoris.
- Conejoris.
- Copatasas.
- Curyies.
- Curarayes.
- Custimanos.
- Cutinanas.
- Encabellados.
- Eriteynes.
- Frascavinos.
- Gaes.
- Ginoris.
- Gualaquizas.
- Guazacas.
- Himuetacas.
- Huasimoas.
- Ibanomas.
- Incuris.
- Itremajoris.
- Macavinas.
- Mautas.
- Moronas.
- Mueganos.
- Muratos.
- Napotoas.
- Neocoyos.
- Nepas.
- Nerecamues.
- Nushinis.
- Oas.
- Panajoris.
- Paranapuras.
- Pastazas.
- Pavos.
- Pindis.
- Putumayos.
- Quirivinas.
- Rotunos.
- Semigaes.
- Shiripunas.
- Tabalosos.
- Tiputinis.
- Tivilos.
- Tremajoris.
- Yasunis.
- Yegueyos.
- Yetes.
- Zamoros.
- Zapaos.
On the mountain slope of the Cordillera, north of
the Zaparos and east of the Cañaris, are the Jivaros
(Givaros, Xivaros), a wild, warlike tribe, never
subjugated either by the Kechuas or the Spaniards.
Their homes are about the head-waters of the rivers
Pastaza, Santiago, and other affluents of the Marañon.
They are rather tall, of light color, with thin lips,
aquiline noses, straight eyes, prognathic jaws, hair
black or with a reddish tinge.
Some say their various bands number as many as
four hundred, named from the streams on which they
live. Most of them depend upon hunting and fishing,
others pursue agriculture and breed pigs. Their
weapons are the sarbacane, the lance, the bow and
the shield. They have developed a system of sound-signalling
or telegraphy by means of large wooden
drums placed at certain distances apart, by beating
on which in a peculiar manner the advent of an
enemy, his number and direction, can be heralded
over hundreds of square miles in a few hours. The
Jivaros are celebrated for the preparation of human
heads by a process of boiling and drying so as to preserve
the hair and soft parts. Many of these trophy
heads have been brought to Europe, and their purpose
has led to some discussion. It appears that they
are prepared both as trophies of victory and out of
reverence to departed chiefs.[435] Their houses are built
solidly of wood, with wooden doors. They sleep
upon wooden frames, and construct tools of the same
material.[436]
The principal event in their history was their revolt
against the Spanish authorities in the year 1599.
They destroyed many settlements and the entire city
of Logroño, carrying the women into captivity.
Many of them had already been converted to Christianity,
and their rites are said still to preserve some
reminiscences of such teachings. In recent years
many of them have been civilized through the efforts
of Italian missionaries.
The language of this important nation, although
early studied, has as yet no printed literature. I have
found of it only the first five numerals, which do not
seem to have connection with any other tongue.
They are as follows:
1. Alza; 2. catuta; 3. kala; 4. ingatu; 5. aleyticlon.[437]
From a study of proper names and ethnographic
traits, Dr. Hamy has expressed himself with great assurance
that the Jivaros belong to the Guarani group
of the Tupi stock;[438] but the above numerals do not
indicate such relationship, nor do I think that his
other arguments establish it. For the present they
must be considered an independent stock.
JIVARO LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Antipas, above the Pongo de Manseriche.
- Aguarunas, below the mouth of the Rio Nieva and Rio Huallaga.
- Ayulis, on the Rio Morono.
- Cherembos, left bank of Marañon.
- Chirapas.
- Huambisas, on Marañon above the Pongo de Manseriche.
- Lojanos.
- Muratos, below mouth of the Rio Pastaza.
- Pautis.
- Uambisas, south of the Marañon.
- Zamoras.
The eastern neighbors of the Jivaros are the scattered
bands of the Maynas, separated by Hervas into
two stocks, the Maina and the Chayavita, but so far
as I can learn, without sufficient reason. The language
is or was spoken at the mission of the Conception
on the upper Marañon and in the uplands around
Cerros de Mainas. It is singularly harsh and difficult.
The natives were wild, and lived by hunting and fishing.
Their earlier home was on the upper waters of
the Morona and Pastaza rivers.
The following bands are embraced in the
MAINA LINGUISTIC STOCK.[439]
- Cahuapanas.
- Chapos.
- Chayavitas.
- Coronados.
- Humuranos.
- Mainas.
- Roamainas.
On the Rio Javary there seem to be several independent
stocks. One of these is that of the Yameos,
who are found in the lower course of the river and
also further up the Marañon, near Nauta, and on the
Huallaga, where they are called Llameos, Yameos,
Lamas, or Lamistas. Formerly they were a numerous
and warlike nation, sharply divided into gentile
organizations, and carefully refraining from intermarriage
in the gens. At an early date we hear of
them between the Rio Tigre and the Napo. (Markham.)
The following sub-tribes are stated by various writers
to belong to the
LAMA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Aguanos.
- Alabonos.
- Amaonos.
- Cahuaches.
- Massamaes.
- Miquianos.
- Nahuapos.
- Napeanos.
- Parranos.
- Yarrapos.
Pöppig describes them as agricultural and industrious,
and much given to trade and travel.
In appearance, they are small, dirty and Mongoloid,
sharply contrasting with the Indians of the Huallaga,
who are all tall, strong and well built, with good features.[440]
In conformity to old authorities, Markham classes
the Ardas as a sub-tribe of the Yameos. Their home
was between the rivers Napo and Masso. On the
latter they were in immediate contiguity to the
Massamaes (Coleti). There has been published a
Doctrina in their language, from which the Lord’s
Prayer is quoted by Ludewig.[441] This version has no
resemblance to the Pater in Yamea contained in the
Mithridates; so for the present I leave the Ardas unclassified.
Higher up the river Javary are a number of tribes
speaking related dialects of what I shall call the Peba
stock, though there are some reasons to consider it a
corrupt dialect of the Omagua, and hence related to
the Tupi.
PEBA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Caumaris.
- Cauwachis.
- Pacayas.
- Pebas.
To this list I add the Yeguas, Yaguas or Yahuas,
found in the same vicinity, and remarkable for their
fine personal appearance, “the most perfect physical
type,” says M. Ordinaire, “of all the Indian races.”[442]
The vocabulary of their language obtained by Castelnau
shows unmistakable affinities to that of the
Pebas.[443]
On the Rio Chambira, adjacent to the Yameos and
Omaguas, dwelt in the early part of the last century
the Itucales and Varinas or Uarunas, who, according
to Coleti, spoke allied dialects. The Itucales were
noteworthy as the aptest and most biddable converts
obtained by the missionaries on the river. They were
agricultural and monogamous.[444] Hervas classes them
with the Musimos, the Mayorunas and the Barbudos,
under the Urarina language; but the last two are
members of the Pano stock.
The Ticunas (Tecunas, Tucunas) are found along
the lower Javary and the Solimoes, adjacent to the
Pebas. They wander about in a state of nakedness,
depending on hunting and fishing, and under a loose
control of the Brazilian government. Many of them
can converse in Kechua, though their own tongue is
of a different group. They are given to dances of a
sacred character, in which the actors appear in masks.
An operation allied to circumcision is practiced on
infants of both sexes at the time of assigning them
names.[445] One of the several tribes called “Orejones”
is thought by Pöppig to belong to the Ticunas.[446]
The tribes in the valley of the Huallaga were first
visited by Franciscan missionaries in 1676. In that
year Father Jose de Araujo converted a number of the
Hibitos (Xibitos) in the Upper Huallaga, and wrote
an arte of their language. He found it the same as
that of the Chunchos in the Sierra. Their neighbors
further down the river, the Cholones, speaking a different
idiom, were brought under the instruction of
Father Francisco Gutierrez, who composed a work on
their tongue. A century later we find these two nations
living together at the mission, counting 4800
souls, and occupying that portion of the province of
Cajamarquilla between 7° and 8° 30´ s. lat. They
were peaceable and agricultural, with fields of cotton
and food plants.[447]
This fair scene disappeared in the turbulent life of
the next generation, and when the traveler Pöppig
visited the Huallaga in 1834 he found the mission in
decay, and the natives, much reduced in numbers,
had resumed their wild life and again become savages.[448]
At present, along the main stream to the
north, are the Cocamillas, the Aguanteas, and the
Puinahuas. All these appear to be of the Tupi
stock, with dialects akin to the Cocama and Omagua.[449]
The Panos. When the missionaries first crossed
the Cordillera and explored the upper Ucayali river,
they found a number of related tribes, the principal
of whom were the Panos. By their traditions they
had moved from near the equator at the north. They
differed little in culture from their neighbors, and are
now nearly extinct. By the earlier writers they were
placed in relation to the Omaguas as members of the
Tupi stock,[450] but the researches of M. Raoul de la
Grasserie have vindicated for them an independent position.[451]
They are said to have possessed a form of
hieroglyphic writing, which they painted on a sort of
paper manufactured from vegetable fibre.
Some of the Mayorunas are reported as having
thick beards and white skins (Martius), but these peculiarities
are probably attributable to early admixtures
with the white race.
The largest of these tribes at present is that of the
Conibos, who constitute now the greater part of the
natives the traveler encounters on the Ucayali. In
appearance they have some resemblance to the Peruvians.
The nose is aquiline and prominent, the forehead
broad, the eye large, and the cheek bones not
prominent. In intelligence they are superior to their
neighbors, learning the Spanish language readily,
and proving themselves valuable house-servants.
They are apathetic, however, and none of the Panos
have shown any earnest desire to adopt a civilized
life.[452]
The Cashibos are the most savage tribe on the
Ucayali or its affluents, and are said to have the ugly
custom of eating their relations when they die, and
if this event is long delayed, the old men are killed.
But such is the power of ideas, that one of the obstacles
to their conversion is that they so much prefer
their bodies to become food for their relatives than a
feast for worms![453]
The Pacaguaras or Pacavaras, on the rivers Beni
and Mamore, classed by D’Orbigny as a separate
stock, belong among the Panos, as is clearly seen by
the vocabulary furnished by that traveler, and later
that by Mr. Heath.[454] The easternmost branch of the
stock (not noted by M. de la Grasserie), are the
Canawarys (Canamarys), who live on the banks of
the Purus. Mr. Chandless heard that they were
related to the Conibos, and the few words he obtained
of their language prove the statement correct.[455]
|
PANO. |
PACAGUARA. |
CANAWARY. |
| Sun, |
bari, |
uari, |
wari. |
| Fire, |
chi, |
chi-i, |
chi-i. |
| Water, |
uaca, |
|
waka. |
Mr. Chandless also says, “The Conibos are of the
same tribe as the Manitenerys of the river Purus,”
which would bring these latter also into the Pano stock.
The short vocabulary of their language which he
supplies does not bear out this assertion. Mr. Richard
Spruce considered that it proved them to be of
the Carib stock;[456] but to me it seems unmistakably a
member of the Arawak family, as will be seen from
the following analysis:
|
MANITENERY. |
ARAWAK STOCK. |
| Sun, |
cashi, |
catche. |
| Moon, |
siri, |
casiri. |
| Fire, |
chi-chi, |
chichi. |
| Water, |
huni, |
uni. |
From the above considerations I offer the following
names as comprising the
PANO LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Barbudos, on the Marañon.
- Callisecas, on upper Ucayali.[457]
- Canawarys, on Rio Purus.
- Caripunas, near cataracts of Rio Madeira.
- Cashibos, on Rio Pachitea and Aguaitia.
- Chamicuros, on west bank of the Rio Huallaga.[458]
- Cochivuinas, a sub-tribe of Mayorunas.
- Conibos, on upper Ucayali.
- Culinos, on Rio Juvary.
- Jaunavos, see Caripunas.
- Mayorunas, on Rio Tapichi and Rio Yavari.
- Maxorunas, near Rio Tapichi.
- Panos, on upper Ucayali.
- Pacaguaras, on Rio Beni.
- Remos, on Ucayali, from Abayan to Chanchaguaya.
- Sencis, right bank of Ucayali above Saraycu.
- Setibos (Setevos), on upper Ucayali.[459]
- Sipibos, on upper Ucayali.
Mr. Chandless[460] met on the rivers Purus and Jurua
tribes of a stock whose tongue I have not been able
to connect with any other. They are represented
on the former stream by the Pammanas or Pammarys
(pama-ouiri, eaters of the pama, a kind of
berry), or Puru-purus (piru-poru, name of a skin
disease which prevails there), whose name has been
transferred to the river. These are believed by Martius
to be the same or allied to the Pamas, a tribe
who formerly lived on the Madeira, but were driven
thence by the Caripunas.[461] On the Jurua are the
apparently related Arauas and Araicus. All these depend
on hunting and fishing, and are of migratory
habits. Some of the Pammanas are reported as light
in hue, with blue eyes and brown hair.[462]
Many tribes with names differing from the above
are recorded by the older writers as resident on these
rivers, but owing to the absence of linguistic material,
no identification is possible.
The close relationship of the Pammarys of the
Purus and the Arauas of the Jurua is shown by the
following comparison:
|
PAMMARY. |
ARAUA. |
| Moon, |
massicu, |
massicu. |
| Fire, |
si ju, |
sihu. |
| Water, |
paha, |
paha. |
| Dog, |
djuimahi, |
jumayhi. |
So far as known, I would place the following tribes
in the
ARAUA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Arauas (Araó), on the lower Jurua.
- Pamas, formerly on the Madeira.
- Pammarys, on the Rio Purus.
- Puru-purus, on the Rio Purus.
The jargon of the Yaguas, on the Amazon between
Nauta and Pebas, seems to have borrowed from this
stock; as:
|
YAGUA. |
PAMMARY. |
| Sun, |
ini, |
saf-iny. |
| Water, |
haha, |
paha. |
The neighbors of the Arauas on the river Purus
are the Hypurinas (better Jupurinas) of whose language
Mr. Chandless also supplies a short vocabulary.
It contains a few words in common with the
Pammary, but probably only borrowed by both from
the Arawak. The following will illustrate the two
tongues:
|
PAMMARY. |
JUPURINA. |
| Sun, |
safiny, |
atocanti. |
| Moon, |
massicu, |
cassiri. |
| Fire, |
siju, |
chamina. |
| Water, |
paha, |
iborahai. |
| River, |
wainy, |
weni. |
| Dog, |
djuimahi, |
anguity. |
| Tortoise, |
ú-jurú, |
chetuyu. |
| Tapir, |
dama, |
chama. |
The Hypurinas on the Rio Acre (or Aquiri) belong
to the same tribe. They are said to be related to the
Chacobos and the Piros of the Ucayali. They are
without civilization. The women go naked, but the
men wear long purple robes, and both sexes pierce
the lips and nose. Some agriculture is carried on,
but hunting and fishing are the main sources of the
food supply.[463]
The total number of natives on the Purus and its
affluents was estimated by Colonel Labré, in 1885, at
40,000, “speaking forty or more different languages;”
but this last assertion we may take with large allowance.
Probably not over four or five stocks are represented.
The same explorer names nine tribes visited
by him on the river Ituxy. They are the: 1,
Caccharari; 2, Canamary; 3, Catauxi; 4, Guarayo;
5, Huatanary; 6, Hypurina; 7, Hyuma; 8, Pamana;
and 9, Pammary tribes.[464]
In this list, as elsewhere, the term Guarayos has
no ethnic significance. It is a Tupi word applied in
this Spanish form to various wild, uncivilized tribes.
9. The Bolivian Highlands: the Chiquitos, Yurucares,
Mosetenas, Tacanas, Samucus, Canichanas
and others.
On the Atlantic face of the Cordillera, in the easternmost
portion of Bolivia, where the head-waters of
the Madeira are known by the names of the Mamore,
the Guapai and the Beni, there is an astonishing variety
of linguistic stocks. It would seem that the
broken remnants of many diverse nations had sought
refuge in the deep vales and dense forests of this
region.
We have already seen that the Caribs were represented
here by the Palmellas, and the Arawaks by
the Moxos and Baures. South of the Moxos was
the extensive region of the Chiquitos, stretching
between south latitude 16° and 18°, and from the
upper affluents of the Paraguay river to the summit
of the Cordillera. On the south it adjoined the
Gran Chaco, and on the west the territory of the
Kechuas. They were a medium-sized, mild-mannered
people, mostly of little culture, depending on the
chase for food, but willingly adopting the agricultural
life recommended to them by the missionaries.
They were divided into a vast number of small roving
bands, the most important group of which were
the Manacicas, whose homes were near Lake Xaray,
about the head-waters of the Paraguay. Their
myths relating to a male and female deity and their
son reminded the Jesuits of the Christian Trinity.[465]
The Manacicas were agriculturists and remarkably
skilful potters. The villages they constructed were
surrounded with palisades and divided by broad
streets. The corpses of the dead were deposited in
underground vaults, and both property and rank
passed in the male line to the sons of the deceased.
The Chiquito language is interesting for its scope
and flexibility, being chiefly made up of generic particles
capable of indefinite combination.[466] It is singular
in having no numerals, not even as far as three.
Its four principal dialects were those of the Taos, the
Piñocos, the Manacicas and the Penoquies.[467] It was
selected by the missionaries as the medium of instruction
for a number of the neighboring tribes.
Of such tribes there were many, widely different in
speech, manners and appearance from the Chiquitos.
Some of them are particularly noteworthy for their
un-Indian type. Thus, to the west of the Chiquitos,
on the banks of the rivers Mamore and Chavari, were
the Yurucares, the Tacanas and the Mosetenas, all
neighbors, and though not of one tongue, yet alike
in possessing a singularly white skin and fine features.
Their color is as light and as really white as
many southern Europeans, the face is oval, the nose
straight, fine, and often aquiline, the lips thin, the
cheek-bones not prominent, the eyes small, dark and
horizontal, the expression free and noble. They are
of pure blood, and the most important tribe of them
derived their name, Yurucares, white men, from
their Kechua neighbors before the conquest. They
are usually uncommonly tall (1.75), bold warriors,
lovers of freedom and given to a hunting life. The
women are often even taller and handsomer than the
men.
The traveler D’Orbigny suggested that this light
color arose from their residence under the shade of
dense forests in a hot and humid atmosphere. He
observed that many of them had large patches of
albinism on their persons.[468]
The branches of these stocks may be classed as
follows:
YURUCARI LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Conis.
- Cuchis.
- Enetés.
- Mages.
- Mansiños.
- Oromos.
- Solostos.
MOSETENA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Chimanis.
- Magdalenos.
- Maniquies.
- Muchanis.
- Tucupis.
The Toromonas occupy the tract between the
Madre de Dios and the Madidi, from 12° to 13° south
latitude. According to D’Orbigny they are, together
with the Atenes, Cavinas, Tumupasas and Isuiamas,
members of one stock, speaking dialects of the Tacana
language. He was unable to procure a vocabulary of
it, and only learned that it was exceedingly guttural
and harsh.[469] From their position and their Kechua
name (tuyu), low or swamp land, I am inclined to
identify the Toromonas with the Tuyumiris or Pukapakaris,
who are stated formerly to have dwelt on the
Madre de Dios and east of the Rio Urubamba, and to
have been driven thence by the Sirineris (Tschudi).
According to recent authorities the Cavinas speak
the same tongue as the Araunas on the Madre de
Dios, which are separated from the Pacaguaras by the
small river Genichiquia;[470] and as the language of
the Toromonas is called in the earlier accounts of the
missions Macarani, I may make out the following
list of the members of the
TACANA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Araunas.
- Atenes.
- Cavinas.
- Equaris.
- Isuiamas.
- Lecos.
- Macaranis.
- Maropas.
- Pukapakaris.
- Sapiboconas.
- Tacanas.
- Toromonas.
- Tumupasas.
- Tuyumiris.
The Araunas are savage, and according to Heath
“cannibals beyond a doubt.” He describes them as
“gaunt, ugly, and ill formed,” wearing the hair
long and going naked.[471] Colonel Labré, however,
who visited several of their villages in 1885, found
them sedentary and agricultural, with temples and
idols, the latter being geometrical figures of polished
wood and stone. Women were considered impure,
were not allowed to know even the names of the
gods, and were excluded from religious rites.[472] The
Cavinas, on the other hand, are described by early
writers as constructing houses of stone.[473] The Maropas,
on the east side of the river Beni near the little
town of Reyes, speak a dialect of Tacana as close to
it as Portuguese to Spanish. They are erroneously
classed as a distinct nation by D’Orbigny, who obtained
only a few words of their tongue. The Sapiboconas,
who lived at the Moxos Mission, and of whose
dialect Hervas supplies a vocabulary, are also a near
branch of the stock. We now have sufficient material
to bring these tribes into relation. With them I
locate the Lecos, the tribe who occupied the mission
of Aten, and are therefore called also Atenianos.[474] At
present some civilized Lecos live at the mission of
Guanay, between the Beni and Titicaca; but we have
nothing of their language.[475]
The Tacana dialects present a number of verbal
analogies to Kechua and Aymara; so many in fact
that they testify to long inter-communion between
the stocks, though I think not to a radical identity.
I present a few:
|
TACANA. |
KECHUA. |
| Man, |
reanci, |
runa. |
| Water, |
jene, |
una. |
| Hand, |
ma, |
maqui. |
| Foot, |
quatri, |
chaqui. |
| House, |
etai, |
uta (Aymara). |
| Stone, |
tumu, |
rumi. |
| Star, |
emata, |
matti. |
| Lightning, |
ilapa, |
illapa. |
| Year, |
mara, |
mara. |
| Three, |
quimisha, |
quimsa. |
| Four, |
puschi, |
pusi (Aymara). |
| Five, |
pischica, |
pichka. |
The numerals above “two” have clearly been borrowed
from the Kechua-Aymara.
There are also a large number of verbal coincidences
between the Tacana and the Pano groups, but
not enough to allow us to suppose an original unity.
The Samucus (Zamucas) embraced a number of
sub-tribes dwelling on the northern border of the
Chaco, between 18° and 20° south latitude, and about
the river Oxuquis. They did not resemble the Chaco
stocks, as they were not vagrant hunters, but dwelt
in fixed villages, and pursued an agricultural life.[476]
Their language was singularly sweet in sound, and was
called by D’Orbigny “the Italian of the forest.” They
included the following members:
SAMUCU LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Careras.
- Cayporotades.
- Coroinos.
- Cuculados.
- Guaranocas.
- Ibirayas.
- Morotocos.
- Potureros.
- Satienos.
- Tapios.
- Ugaronos.
Among these the Morotocos are said to have offered
the rare spectacle of a primitive gynocracy. The
women ruled the tribe, and obliged the men to perform
the drudgery of house-work. The latter were by no
means weaklings, but tall and robust, and daring tiger-hunters.
The married women refused to have more
than two children, and did others come they were
strangled.
On the river Mamore, between 13° and 14° of
south latitude, were the numerous villages of the
Canichanas or Canisianas. They were unusually
dark in complexion and ugly of features; nor did this
unprepossessing exterior belie their habits or temperament.
They were morose, quarrelsome, tricky
and brutal cannibals, preferring theft to agriculture,
and prone to drunkenness; but ingenious and not
deficient in warlike arts, constructing strong fortifications
around their villages, from which they would
sally forth to harass and plunder their peaceable
neighbors. By a singular anomaly, this unpromising
tribe became willing converts to the teachings of the
Jesuits, and of their own accord gathered into large
villages in order to secure the presence of a missionary.[477]
Their language has no known affinities. It
is musical, with strong consonantal sounds, and like
some of the northern tongues, makes a distinction
between animate and inanimate objects, or those so
considered.[478]
Between 13° and 14° of south latitude, on the west
bank of the Rio Mamore, were the Cayubabas or
Cayuvavas, speaking a language without known affinities,
though containing words from a number of contiguous
tongues.[479] The men are tall and robust, with
regular features and a pleasant expression. The missionaries
found no difficulty in bringing them into the
fold, but they obstinately retained some of their
curious ancient superstitions, as, for instance, that a
man should do no kind of work while his wife had her
monthly illness; and should she die, he would undertake
no enterprise of importance so long as he remained
a widower.[480]
Brief notices will suffice of the various other tribes,
many of them now extinct, who centered around the
missions of the Chiquitos and Moxos early in this
century.
The Apolistas took their name from the river Apolo,
an affluent of the Beni, about south latitude 15°.
They were contiguous to the Aymaras, and had some
physical resemblance to them. From their position, I
suspect they belong in the Tacana group.
The Chapacuras, or more properly Tapacuras, were
on the Rio Blanco or Baures in the province of Moxos.
They called themselves Huachis, and the Quitemocas
are mentioned as one of their sub-tribes. Von Martius
thinks they were connected with the Guaches of Paraguay,
a mixed tribe allied to the Guaycuru stock of
the Chaco. The resemblance is very slight.
The Covarecas were a small band at the mission of
Santa Anna, about south latitude 17°. Their language
was practically extinct in 1831.
The Curaves and the Curuminacas, the former on
the Rio Tucubaca and the latter north of them near
the Brazil line, were said to have independent languages;
but both were extinct at the time of D’Orbigny’s
visit in 1831. The same was true of the Corabecas
and Curucanecas.
The Ites or Itenes were upon the river Iten, an affluent
of the Mamore about 12° south latitude. They
were sometimes improperly called Guarayos, a term
which, like Guaycurus, Aucas, Yumbos and others,
was frequently applied in a generic sense by the
Spanish Americans to any native tribe who continued
to live in a savage condition.
The Movimas (Mobimas) occupied the shores of the
Rio Yacuma, and Rio Mamore about 14° south latitude.
In character and appearance they were similar
to the Moxos, but of finer physique, “seldom ever
under six feet,” says Mr. Heath. They are now civilized,
and very cleanly in their habits. The vocabularies
of their language show but faint resemblances
with any other.
The Otuquis, who in 1831 did not number over 150
persons, lived in the northeast part of the province of
Chiquitos near the Brazilian line. Their language was
nearly extinct at that time. The short vocabulary of
it preserved by D’Orbigny does not disclose connections
with other stocks, unless it be a distant affinity
with the Tacana group. This may be illustrated by
the following words:
|
OTUQUI. |
TACANA DIALECTS. |
| Man, |
vuani, |
reanci. |
| Woman, |
vuaneti, |
anu. |
| Sun, |
neri, |
ireti. |
| Moon, |
ari, |
bari. |
| Water, |
uru, |
yuvi. |
| Head, |
ikitao, |
ekuya. |
It was the policy of the Jesuits in their missions in
this district to gather the tribes from the forest and
mountain into permanent settlements, and reduce as
far as possible the number of languages and dialects,
so as to facilitate instruction in religious teaching.
Shortly after this Order was expelled from their missions
(1767), an official report on their “reductions”
was printed in Peru, giving a list of the tribes at each
station, and the languages in use for instruction.[481]
From this scarce work I extract a few interesting
particulars.
The province of Apolobamba is described as extending
about eighty leagues northeast-southwest,
east of the Cordillera, and west of the Rio Beni. The
languages adopted in it were the Leca, spoken by the
Lecos Indians at the mission of Aten, and the Maracani,
at the mission of Tumupasa, on the Rio Beni.
Forty-nine nations are named as belonging to the
mission of the Chiquitos, each of whom is stated to
have spoken a different language or dialect, though
all were instructed in their religious duties in Chiquito.
At the mission of Moxos twenty-nine tribes
are named as in attendance, but it had not been found
possible, such was the difference of their speech, to
manage with less than nine languages, to wit, the
Moxa, the Baure, the Mure, the Mobima, the Ocorona,
the Cayubaba, the Itonama and the Maracani.[482]
Of these tongues I have classed the Leca and Maracani
as dialects of the Takana, not from comparison
of vocabularies, for I have seen none of either, but
from the locations of the tribes speaking them. The
Moxa and Baure are dialects of the Arawak stock.
The Mura is a branch of the Tupi, spoken by the
powerful tribe of the Muras on the Medeira and Amazon,
who distinctly recalled in tradition their ancestral
home in the west.[483] The Chiquito, the Mobima,
the Caniciana (Canichana), the Cayubaba, the Itonama
and the Ocorona remain so far irreducible stocks.
Vocabularies of the first five have been preserved, but
nothing of the Ocorona. It is probably identical with
the Rocorona, in which Professor Teza has published
some texts.[484] I have not been able to identify it
with any other tongue. Hervas unites both with the
Herisebocona as a single stock.[485]
South of the dividing upland which separates the
waters of the Amazon from those which find their
way to the Rio de la Plata, the continent extends in
broad level tracts, watered by numerous navigable
streams and rich in game and fish. Its chief physical
features are the wooded and rolling Chaco in the
north, the treeless and grassy Pampas to the south,
and the sterile rocky plains of Patagonia still further
toward the region of cold. In the west the chain of
the Cordilleras continues to lift its summits to an inaccessible
height until they enter Patagonia, when
they gradually diminish to a range of hills.
The tribes of all this territory, both east and west
of the Andes, belong ethnographically together, and
not with the Peruvian stocks. What affinities they
present to others to the north are with those of the
Amazonian regions.
1. The Gran Chaco and its Stocks. The Guaycurus,
Lules, Matacos and Payaguas. The Charruas,
Guatos, Calchaquis, etc.
The great streams of the Parana and Paraguay offer
a natural boundary between the mountainous country
of southern Brazil and the vast plains of the Pampas
formation. In their upper course these rivers form
extensive marshes, which in the wet season are transformed
into lakes on which tangled masses of reeds
and brushwood, knitted together by a lush growth of
vines, swim in the lazy currents as floating islands.
These were the homes of some wild tribes who there
found a secure refuge, the principal of whom were the
Caracaras, who came from the lower Parana, and were
one of the southernmost offshoots of the Tupi family.[486]
For five hundred miles west of the Parana and extending
nearly as far from north to south, is a wide,
rolling country, well watered, and usually covered
with dense forests, called El Gran Chaco.[487] Three
noble rivers, the Pilcomayo, the Vermejo and the
Salado, intersect it in almost parallel courses from
northwest to southeast.
Abounding in fish and game and with a mild
climate, the Chaco has always been densely peopled,
and even to-day its native population is estimated at
over twenty thousand. But the ethnology of these
numerous tribes is most obscure. The Jesuit missionaries
asserted that they found eight totally different
languages on the Rio Vermejo alone,[488] and the
names of the tribes run up into the hundreds.
As is generally the case with such statements, distant
dialects of the same stock were doubtless mistaken
for radically distinct tongues. From all the
material which is accessible, I do not think that the
Chaco tribes number more than five stocks, even including
those who spoke idioms related to the Guarani
or Tupi. The remainder are the Guaycuru, the
Mataco, the Lule and the Payagua. This conclusion
is identical with that reached by the Argentine
writer, Don Luis J. Fontana, except that he considers
the Chunipi independent, while I consider that it is a
member of the Mataco stock.
One of the best known members of the Guaycuru
stock was the tribe of the Abipones, whose manners
and customs were rendered familiar in the last century
through the genial work of the Styrian missionary,
Martin Dobrizhoffer.[489] They were an equestrian people,
proud of their horsemanship and their herds, and
at that time dwelt on the Paraguay river, but by
tradition had migrated from the north.
The Guaycurus proper were divided into three
gentes (parcialidades) located with reference to the
cardinal points. On the north were the Epicua-yiqui;
on the west the Napin-yiqui, and on the
south the Taqui-yiqui. Their original home was on
the Rio Paraguay, two hundred leagues from its
mouth, but later they removed to the banks of the
Pilcomayo. Their system was patriarchal, the sons inheriting
direct from the father, and they were divided
into hereditary castes, from which it was difficult to
emerge. These were distinguished by different colors
employed in painting the skin. The highest caste,
the nabbidigan, were distinguished by black.[490]
The Abipones were almost entirely destroyed early
in this century by the Tobas and Mbocobis,[491] and
probably at present they are quite extinct. The
Tobas are now the most numerous tribe in the Chaco,
and their language the most extended.[492] They remain
savage and untamable, and it was to their ferocity
that Dr. Crévaux, the eminent French geographer
and anthropologist, fell a victim in recent
years. The dialects of the Abipones, Mbocobis and
Tobas were “as much alike as Spanish and Portuguese”
(Dobrizhoffer).
The Guachis speak a rather remote dialect of the
stock, but undoubtedly connected with the main
stem. According to the analogy of many of their
words and the tenor of tradition, they at one time
lived in the Bolivian highlands, in the vicinity of the
Moxos and Chiquitos. It is probable that they are
now nearly extinct, as for several generations infanticide
has been much in vogue among them, prompted,
it is said, by superstitious motives. Forty years ago
an inconspicuous remnant of them were seen by Castelnau
and Natterer in the vicinity of Miranda.[493]
The Malbalas, who were a sub-tribe of the Mbocobis,
dwelling on the Rio Vermejo, are described as
light in color, with symmetrical figures and of kindly
and faithful disposition. Like most of the Chaco
tribes, they were monogamous, and true to their
wives.[494]
The Terenos and the Cadioéos still survive on the
upper Paraguay, and are in a comparatively civilized
condition. The latter manufacture a pottery of unusually
excellent quality.[495]
On the authority of Father Lozano I include in
this stock the Chichas-Orejones, the Churumatas,
that branch of the Mataguayos called Mataguayos
Churumatas (from the frequent repetition of the syllable
chu in their dialect), the Mbocobis and Yapitalaguas,
whose tongues were all closely related to
the Toba;[496] while Dr. Joao Severiano da Fonseca
has recently shown that the Quiniquinaux is also a
branch of this stock.[497]
The Lules are a nation which has been a puzzle
for students of the ethnography of the Chaco. They
were partly converted by the celebrated Jesuit missionary
and eminent linguist, Father Alonso de Barcena,
in 1690, who wrote a grammar of their language,
which he called the Tonicote. The Jesuit
historian of Paraguay, Del Techo, states that three
languages were spoken among them, the Tonicote,
the Kechua and the Cacana, which last is a Kechua
term from caca, mountain, and in this connection
means the dialect of the mountaineers. Barcena’s
converts soon became discontented and fled to the
forests, where they disappeared for thirty years or
more. About 1730, a number of them reappeared near
the Jesuit mission of the Chaco, and settled several
towns on the rivers Valbuena and Salado. There
their language was studied by the missionaries. A
grammar of it was composed by Machoni,[498] and a vocabulary
collected by the Abbé Ferragut.[499] Meanwhile
the work of Barcena had disappeared, and the
Abbé Hervas expressed a doubt whether the Lule of
Machoni was the same as that of his predecessor.
He advanced the opinion that the ancient Lule was
the Cacana; that the modern were not the descendants
of the ancient Lules, and that the Mataras of the
Chaco were the Tonicotes to whom Barcena was
apostle.[500]
The missionary Lozano to some extent clears up
this difficulty. He states that the Lules or Tonicotes
were divided into the greater and lesser Lules, and it
is only the latter to which the name properly belonged.
The former were divided into three bands,
the Isistines, the Oristines, and the Toquistines.[501]
None of these latter existed under these names at the
close of the last century, and at present no tribe
speaking the Lule of Machoni is known in the Chaco.
The language has evident affinities both with the
Vilela and the Mataco,[502] but also presents many independent
elements. The statement of Hervas, copied
by various subsequent writers,[503] that the ancient or
greater Lules spoke the Cacana, and that this was a
different stock from the Lule of Machoni, lacks proof,
as we have no specimen of the Cacana, and not even
indirect knowledge of its character. Indeed, Del
Techo says definitely that the missionaries of the
earliest period, who were familiar with the Lule of
that time, had to employ interpreters in ministering
to the Cacanas.[504]
The modern Vilelas live on the Rio Salado, between
25° and 26° south latitude. I find in it so many
words of such character that I am inclined to take it
as the modern representative of the Lule of Machoni,
though corrupted by much borrowing. When we
have a grammar of it, the obscurity will be cleared up.
|
LULE. |
VILELA. |
| Tongue, |
lequy, |
lequip. |
| Tooth, |
llu, |
lupe. |
| Hand, |
ys, |
ysip. |
| House, |
enú, |
quané. |
A comparison of the Vilela with the Chunipi,
(Chumipy, Sinipi or Ciulipi,) proves that they are
rather closely related, and that the Chunipi is not an
independent tongue as has often been stated. In view
of this, I include it in the Lule dialects.
The third important stock is that of the Matacos.
It is still in extensive use on the Rio Vermejo, and
we have a recent and genial description of these people
and their language from the pen of the Italian
traveler, Giovanni Pelleschi.[505] They are somewhat
small in size, differing from the Guaycurus in this
respect, who are tall. Their homes are low huts
made of bushes, but they are possessed of many small
arts, are industrious, and soon become conversant
with the use of tools. Their hair is occasionally
wavy, and in children under twelve, it is often
reddish. The eyes are slightly oblique, the nose
large, straight and low. Like all the Chaco Indians,
they do not care for agriculture, preferring a subsistence
from hunting and fishing, and from the product
of their horses and cattle. What few traditions they
have indicate a migration from the east.
The term Mataguayos was applied to some of this
stock as well as to some of the Guaycurus. The
former included the Agoyas, the Inimacas or Imacos,
and the Palomos, to whom the Jesuit Joseph Araoz
went as missionary, and composed a grammar and
dictionary of their dialect. He describes them as exceedingly
barbarous and intractable.[506] The Tayunis
had at one time 188 towns, and the Teutas 46 towns.
This was in the palmy days of the Jesuit reductions.[507]
Both these extensive tribes are classed by D’Orbigny
with the Matacos.
According to the older writers the Payaguas lived
on the river Paraguay, and spoke their tongue in two
dialects, the Payagua and the Sarigue. Von Martius,
however, denies there ever was such a distinct people.
The word payagua, he remarks, was a generic term
for “enemies,” and was applied indiscriminately to
roving hordes of Guaycurus, Mbayas, etc.[508]
The Payaguas, however, are mentioned distinctly
by the early missionaries as a nation with peculiar
language and habits. They differed from their neighbors
as being aquatic, not equestrian. They were
singularly skilful boatmen and had a mythology
apart from the other tribes, “worshipping the devil
under the figure of a great bird.”[509] There is also a
manuscript in the Library of the American Philosophical
Society, written in the middle of the last
century, describing the visit of a missionary to the
Payaguas, at that time resident near Santa Fé in
Paraguay. He accuses them as given to revolting
vices and utterly barbarous.[510]
The statement of Von Martius that the nation has
entirely disappeared is incorrect, as quite recently a
vocabulary of it has been obtained by Don Luis de
Fontana, which shows it to be distinct both from the
Guaycuru and any other known stock.[511]
LINGUISTIC STOCKS OF THE GRAN CHACO.
Guaycuru Stock:
- Abipones, in the central Chaco.
- Aguilotes, sub-tribe of the Mbocobis.
- Bocobis, see Mbocobis.
- Cadioéos, near Fort Olimpo on the Paraguay.
- Chichas Orejones.
- Churumatas.
- Guachis, on Rio Mondego.
- Guaycurus, on the middle Paraguay.
- Malbalas, on the Rio Vermejo.
- Matagayos-Churumatas.
- Mbayas, on Rio Xerui.
- Mbocobis, on the Rio Vermejo.
- Pitilagas, see Yapitalaguas.
- Quiniquinaux, northeast of Albuquerque.
- Tobas, north of the Mbocobis.
- Terenos, on the Rio de Miranda.
- Yapitalaguas, on the Rio Vermejo.
Lule Stock:
- Chunipis, on Rio Vermejo.
- Juris, on Rio Salado.
- Lules, near Rio Vermejo.
- Mataras, on Rio Pilcomayo.
- Oristines, on Rio Pilcomayo.
- Sinipis, see Chunipis.
- Tonocotes, on Rio Pilcomayo.
- Toquistines, on Rio Pilcomayo.
- Vilelas, north of the Rio Vermejo.
- Ysistines, on the Pilcomayo.
Mataco Stock:
- Agoyas, on Rio Vermejo.
- Atalalas, on Rio Vermejo.
- Enimagas or Imacos, on east bank of Pilcomayo.
- Matacos, on Rio Verde.
- Mataguayos, north of Rio Vermejo.
- Ocoles, south of Rio Vermejo.
- Palomos, on Rio Vermejo.
- Taunies, on Rio Vermejo.
- Teutas, on Rio Vermejo.
- Vejosos, on Rio Vermejo.
- Xolotes, on Rio Vermejo.
- Yoes, on Rio Vermejo.
Payagua Stock:
- Agaces, on Rio Paraguay.
- Payaguas, near Santa Fé.
- Sarigues, on middle Paraguay.
Among the independent Chaco stocks, D’Orbigny
classes the Lenguas, who in 1828 lived, about 300 in
number, near Corrientes.[512] Von Martius believed
they were a branch of the Guaycurus.[513] There is
ample evidence, however, that they were a wandering
branch of the Chiquitos of Bolivia. The missionary,
J. P. Fernandez, who visited them about a
century before D’Orbigny, says expressly that they
spoke the same tongue as the Chiquitos;[514] and the
statement of Hervas that the similarities of their
words to the Chiquito arose from borrowed expressions
is not well founded.[515]
The Charruas were a barbarous nation living in the
extensive plains which stretch from the banks of the
Parana to the sea coast. They were savage and courageous,
without fixed homes, and skilled in the use of the
bola. One of their customs was to cut off a joint of a
finger on the death of a relative, and there were few
of the adults that were not thus maimed.[516] In appearance
they were usually large in size, heavily built, with
big heads and broad faces, narrow noses, small eyes
and large mouths. Their color was dark.[517]
The members of this family as recorded by the early
writers, especially Hervas, are as follows:
CHARRUA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Bohanes, on the Paraguay near the Rio Negro (extinct).
- Chanes, adjacent to the Bohanes.
- Charruas, on the coast east of the Rio Uruguay.
- Guenoas, east of the Uruguay.
- Martidanes, east of the Uruguay.
- Minuanes, between the Uruguay and Parana.
- Yaros, on east bank of Uruguay (extinct).
Dr. Paul Ehrenreich describes them as they are to-day,
splendid riders and daring soldiers, but faithless
and tricky;[518] so they have not much improved since
Father Chomé in 1730 stigmatized them as francs
voleurs de grand chemin.[519]
The Guatos or Vuatos were accolents of the upper
Paraguay and Araguay, and had fixed settlements near
Albuquerque. Travelers report them as an unusually
handsome people. They are well-built, light in hue,
with Roman noses and regular features, and the men
with a well-developed beard on lip and chin. This
appearance does not belie their intelligence, which is
above the average. Polygamy prevails to an uncommon
extent. Von Martius thought that they were of
a northeastern origin, connected perhaps with the
Malalis of Bahia, who are a Tapuya people.[520] There
may have been some admixture, as from a small vocabulary
I quote the following resemblances:
|
GUATO. |
TAPUYA. |
| Water, |
maguen, |
magnan. |
| Head, |
dōken, |
dicran. |
| Hand, |
ida, |
danicra. |
| Foot, |
apoo, |
po, ipaa. |
| Tooth, |
maqua, |
aiqua. |
| Tongue, |
chagi, |
dageuto. |
A recent writer does not give so favorable an opinion
of this people. He found them living about the
junction of the Rio San Lorenzo with the Rio Paraguay,
and in a depraved condition. Girls who were
not more than five or six years old were used by the
men as wives. Sterility and premature decrepitude
were the natural consequences.[521]
On the western border of the Chaco, in the provinces
of Tucuman and Catamarca, resided the Calchaquis, a
tribe interesting as the only one in the South Atlantic
Group who constructed walls of cut stone. At least,
such are found in their country, as for instance, one
about thirty miles from Andalgala, where there is a
well-constructed dry wall about ten feet high, enclosing
a space nearly a mile in diameter, evidently once a
walled city. Stone built tombs are also frequent, from
which the rifler is rewarded with mummies, ornaments
of impure gold, and small idols of copper. But I
doubt if the Calchaquis developed any such ripe arts
as these. History tells us that they voluntarily accepted
the rule of the Incas about the middle of the
fifteenth century, and that their land became part of
the Collasuyu or southern district of the empire. All
these remains have a distinct impress of Kechua art,
and we may be sure that their inspiration was throughout
Peruvian.[522]
The earliest missionaries depict the Calchaquis
with curious usages and with a certain barbaric
splendor. A widow became the wife of her husband’s
brother, as of old in Israel. So long as she was a
virgin, a girl could dress in the gaudiest colors, but
once prostrato pudore, as the monk delicately puts it,
she must change to sober weeds. Their ornaments
were of silver and copper, and the nobles wore a circlet
of gold and brilliant feathers. Their seasons of
mourning were accompanied with the most violent
orgies. Over the dead they raised heaps of stones,
and held that the souls became stars.[523]
We have no specimen of the language of the Calchaquis,
although a grammar of it was written by the
Jesuit, Alonso de Barcena, and perhaps published. It
is called the Katamareño or Cacana tongue, terms derived
from the Kechua. The proper names, however,
which have been preserved in it indicate that it was
different from the Kechua.[524] I have already referred
(page 227) to Von Tschudi’s suggestion that it survives
in the modern Atacameño.
From the few specimens of skulls which have been
examined, the Calchaquis appear allied to the Aucanian
stock,[525] and it may be that further research will
prove them a branch of the Araucanians.
The following tribes are mentioned by old writers as
members of the
CATAMAREÑA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Acalianes.
- Cacas or Cacanas.
- Calchaquis.
- Catamarcas.
- Diagitas or Drachitas.
- Quilmes.
- Tamanos.
The learned Barcena also prepared a grammar of
the Natixana or Mogana language, spoken by the
Naticas, whom we find mentioned by later authorities
as neighbors of the Calchaquis in the government
of Santa Fé.[526] They apparently belonged among the
Chaco tribes. Barcena adds that nine different
tongues were spoken in the district of Cordova,
among which were the Sanavirona and Indama,
which had not been learned by the missionaries.[527]
2. The Pampeans and Araucanians.
South of the Gran Chaco, say from south latitude
35°, begins the true Pampas formation. This, according
to the geologist Burmeister, is not a marine
deposit, but the result of fluvial overflows and dust
storms. It is diluvial and quaternary, and overlies
the Patagonian formation, which is marine and early
Pleistocene. The pampas are in parts wide grassy
plains, like the prairies of the upper Mississippi valley;
in parts they are salt deserts, in parts more or less
wooded. With little variety, this scenery reaches from
the Chaco to the Rio Negro, S. lat. 40°. Nearly the
whole of this territory was occupied by one linguistic
stock. It is the same which is found in Chili, where
its most prominent members are the Araucanians.
Which was the course of migration, whether from
the Pacific coast to the Pampean plains or the reverse,
is not positively decided, but I am inclined to believe
it was the latter. The ancestors of the Araucanians
would not willingly have crossed the barren wastes
of the desert of Atacama; there are evidences of a
different people inhabiting Chili before they possessed
it, and we have traces that they had not obtained full
possession of that country at its discovery. This
view does not deny subsequent migrations of the
Araucanians into the Pampas under the pressure of
the Spanish invasion.[528] In such moving they were
simply returning to the traditional homes of their
ancestors. As the name of the whole stock, I adopt
the word Aucanian, from the Araucanian verb aucani,
to be wild, indomitable, from which are derived the
tribal names Aucanos and Aucas, occurring on both
sides of the Andes.[529]
The Pampeans are principally nomadic hordes wandering
from pasture to pasture with their horses,
cattle and sheep. Their transitory encampments,
called tolderias, are pitched by the side of some pond
or stream. There their low tents made of dried horse
skins are grouped confusedly, one to each family.
Their food is chiefly horse flesh and mutton, often
eaten raw. They raise no vegetables, and dislike
agriculture. They carry on, however, many small
industries, tan and dye leather, which they work up
into boots and horse furniture, and forge with skill
iron heads for their long lances, and knives for the
chase, while the women trim the ostrich skins into
rugs, and weave wool into blankets and ponchos,
highly prized for their serviceable qualities.[530] These
products are bought up by the merchants in the cities,
and thus the tribe is supplied with what it most
prizes from European markets.
These roving hordes have no particular names.
They are referred to as the northern, eastern or western
peoples by the Aucanian terms having these significations,
Puelches, Moluches, Huiliches. Besides
these, there are the Ranqueles on the Rio Quinto,
directly west of Buenos Ayres, who are said to have
immigrated from Chili,[531] and the Querandies, now
probably extinct, who once dwelt near that city.
Those living on the eastern slopes of the Andes,
about the city of Mendoza, and in the ancient province
of Cuyo, are described as taller and stronger than
the Araucanians of Chili, and as claiming descent
from the Pampean tribes.[532] They were locally
known as Guarpes, and spoke dialects called the
Allentiac and the Milcocayac, not distant from the
Pampean proper, concerning which some grammatical
description has been preserved.[533]
Few of the Pampean tribes have been induced to
accept civilization or Christianity. They still believe
in their good spirit, Chachoa, and in one of evil or
misfortune, Gualicho; they continue to obey their
priests or medicine men; and the resting places of the
dead are regarded with superstitious awe. Marriage
among them, while it has the appearance of violence,
is really carried out with the consent of the girl and
her parents, for a sum agreed upon.
The Molu-Che or Manzaneros are said to be the best
of the Pampeans. They are sedentary and have extensive
orchards of apples and flocks of sheep to the
north of the Rio Limay. They have well-cut features,
fresh light complexion, black fine hair, and
their women are considered really handsome.[534]
The Araucanians of Chili, known as singularly bold
warriors who defied successfully the Incas, and gave
the Spaniards the greatest trouble, occupy the Pacific
coast from south latitude 25° to about 43°, and number
about 20,000. In physical appearance they resemble
the Pampeans, and present marked differences
from both the Kechuas of Peru and the Tapuyas of
Brazil, having high, brachycephalic skulls,[535] and a
clear copper color of skin. They are of moderate
stature, but muscular, with black hair, round faces,
small eyes, and small feet and hands. They are divided
locally into northern and southern tribes, but
there is little difference in dialects. Their tongue,
the Chilidungu, has been extravagantly lauded by
some who have studied it, and one worthy missionary
was so enamored with it that he published a grammar
and dictionary of it in Europe, that it might be introduced
as the learned language there, to supersede
the Latin:[536] it certainly is harmonious and flexible.
The Araucanians did not at any time rise in culture
above the level of the Iroquois and Algonquins
in the northern continent. It is true that in the
tombs in their country we discover fine specimens of
pottery, some good work in bronze, gold, copper and
silver, and beautiful specimens of polished stone implements.[537]
But if one examines closely the art-forms
of these relics, he can not fail to recognize in
them the potent inspiration of the Inca civilization;
and we may be sure that if they were not directly
booty from that nation, they were the products of its
trained workmen, and are not to be put to the credit
of Aucanian industry.
AUCANIAN LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Araucanos, in northern and central Chili.
- Aucanos or Aucas, in the central Pampas.
- Chauques, in the Archipelago of Chiloe.
- Chonos,(?) on Pacific, south of Chiloe.
- Cuncos, in Chili, south of Rio Valdivia.
- Divie-ches, on Rio Colorado.
- Guarpes, near Mendoza.
- Huiliches(southern people), tribes to the south.
- Moluches (western people or warriors), on Pacific coast.
- Pehuenches (pine-forest people), east of Cordillera, north of Rio Colorado.
- Picunches (northern people), north of Pehuenches.
- Puelches (eastern people), on both banks of Rio Negro.
- Querandies, near site of Buenos Ayres.
- Ranqueles, between Rio Quarto and Rio Quinto.
The Pacific coast of Patagonia, gashed by ancient
glaciers into deep fiords and rocky islands, harbors
various tribes whose affinities are uncertain. The
most curious of them would seem to be the Chonos or
Chunos, or Cuncones. They lived south of the archipelago
of Chiloe, and are described as having red hair,
a light olive complexion, and of mild and friendly
manners. They raised a breed of dogs (perhaps guanacos),
and wove their clothing from its coarse long
hair.
This account comes to us from as far back as
1619, when the first missionaries visited them,[538] and
these traits cannot therefore be attributed to intermixture
with Europeans. They are not peculiar in
these respects. Similar traits are reported of the
Boroas, a tribe in one of the valleys of central Chili;[539]
and I have already referred to the red hair of the boys
among the Matacos of the Gran Chaco. Perhaps it
was not unusual among these nations, as I can in no
other way explain the strange idea of the poet Ercilla
the Homer of the Araucanian Conquest, that these
people were descendants of the Frisians of North
Holland![540]
The language of the Chonos is said to be quite different
from that of the Araucanians. Pöppig believed
it to be a distant dialect of the same stock.
Some recent travelers assert that they are now extinct,
but Dr. C. Martin informs us that the original
inhabitants of the Chonos Islands, who were the
“Huaihuenes” Indians, were transported in 1765 to
the island of Chaulañec, where their posterity still
survive.[541]
3. The Patagonians and Fuegians.
The Patagonians call themselves Chonek or Tzoneca,
or Inaken (men, people), and by their Pampean
neighbors are referred to as Tehuel-Che, southerners.
They do not, however, belong to the Aucanian stock,
nor do they resemble the Pampeans physically. They
are celebrated for their stature, many of them reaching
from six to six feet four inches in height, and
built in proportion.[542] In color they are a reddish
brown, and have aquiline noses and good foreheads.
They care little for a sedentary life, and roam the
coast as far north as the Rio Negro. They are not
without some religious rites, and are accustomed to
salute the new moon, and at the beginning of any
solemn undertaking to puff the smoke of their pipes
to the four cardinal points, just as did the Algonquins
and Iroquois.[543]
Their language differs wholly from the Araucanian,
though it has borrowed many words from it. An interesting
fact illustrating its stability in spite of their
roving life has been brought out by Ramon Lista.
He has compared its present form with the vocabulary
of it given by Pigafetta in his voyage in 1520, and
shows that in the intervening generations it has undergone
scarcely any change.[544]
Von Martius believed that a connection between
the Patagonian and the Tapuya stocks could be
shown, and gives a tabular comparison of the two.[545]
I have extended this by means of Ramon Lista’s
vocabulary of the former and Dr. Ehrenreich’s corrected
forms of the Tapuya, and conclude that the
resemblances are illusory, depending on incorrect
orthography of the sounds.
About the beginning of the last century the tribes
known as Poyas (Pey-yuy) and Reyes (Rey-yuy) were
collected at a Mission established on Lake Nahuelhuapi,
about south latitude 42°. Hervas reports them
as speaking a language radically different from the
Araucanian, and probably they should be classed with
the Tzonecas.[546]
On the inhospitable shores of Tierra del Fuego
there dwell three nations of diverse stock, but on
about the same plane of culture. One of these is the
Yahgans or Yapoos, on the Beagle canal; the second
is the Onas or Aonik, to the north and east of these;
and the third the Alikulufs, to the north and west.
Of these the Yahgans are the best known, through
the efforts of the English missionaries who have reduced
their language to writing. It is a polysyllabic,
agglutinative tongue, with both pre- and suffixes, and
is extremely rich in expressions for the ordinary
needs of their life. The verb has four numbers, a
singular, dual, trial and plural. It does not seem in
any way related to the Aucanian stock.[547]
The tongue of the Onas, who are known as the
Yakanna-Cunni, is apparently connected with the
Tsoneca or Patagonian, which people they also resemble
in stature and physical traits.[548]
The Fuegians are generally quoted as a people on
the lowest round of the ladder of culture; and so they
are painted by many observers. They have no government,
they can count only to three, ordinary family
affection is not observable, and even mothers manifest
a lack of love for their offspring. Their shelters are
wretched, and they go almost naked in a climate
which is both cold and damp.
On the other hand, they display singular ingenuity
in their utensils for hunting and fishing; they use the
sling, the club, the bow, the bola and the lance; the
women weave reed baskets so firmly that they will hold
water, and their bark canoes are light and seaworthy.
In hunting they have the service of a native dog
which they have trained, and whose welfare they
look after with sedulous attention. Though devoid
of idols and external rites of worship, they manifest
in many ways a sense of religion. Thus the relations
of the sexes are surrounded with ceremonies of fasting
and bathing, to neglect which would entail misfortunes,
and the name of the dead is not pronounced
out of superstitious awe. The songs and legends of
the Yahgans show some imaginative power. Many
of them relate to the marvelous achievements of the
national hero, Umoara, who appears to be a wholly
mythical individual. Their strongest passion would
seem to be for personal adornment, and for this purpose
shells, vegetable beads, bright pebbles and variegated
feathers, are called into requisition.[549]
These traits are not those of an enfeebled intellect,
and an examination of their physical powers supports
a favorable opinion of their capacities. Some of them
are unusually tall and strong, especially those on the
east coast. Their skulls are mesocephalic and prognathic,
and their brains, which have been examined
most carefully by a German anatomist, show not a
single point of inferiority to the average European
brain.[550]
From examinations which have been carried on in
the numerous shell-heaps which line the shores, there
is no evidence that any other people ever occupied
the islands. Skulls and relics are such as those of
the present inhabitants.[551] The total number of these
is about 8000, nearly equally divided between the
tribes named.
The classification of the smaller tribes under the
above stocks is not yet complete. So far as I can
make it out, it is as follows:
ALIKULUF LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Alikulufs, on the western end of the Beagle Channel.
- Karaikas, south of the Alikulufs.
ONA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Aoniks or Onas, on Magellan Strait, both shores.
- Huemuls, near Skyring and Otway Bays.
- Irees, see Pescherees.
- Oensmen, see Aoniks.
- Pescherees, on central portions of the Strait.
- Yacanas, see Aoniks.
YAHGAN LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Kennekas, see Takanikas.
- Takanikas, on both shores of the Beagle Channel.
- Yahgans, see Yapoos.
- Yapoos, on the central Beagle Channel.
The opinion has been advanced by Dr. Deniker of
Paris,[552] that the Fuegians represent the oldest type or
variety of the American race. He believes that at
one time this type occupied the whole of South
America south of the Amazon, and that the Tapuyas
of Brazil and the Fuegians are its surviving members.
This interesting theory demands still further evidence
before it can be accepted. It is not confirmed by
such linguistic comparisons as I have been able to
institute.