Part 14

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._