Chapter XIII: Races and Peoples of America (2)

In spite of the diversity of dialects all the Quechuas and Aymaras present a remarkable uniformity of physical type. They are of low stature (1 m. 60 according to D’Orbigny, 1 m. 57 according to Forbes), thick-set, and very strong. The chest is broad, the head massive and globular, the nose aquiline, forehead retreating. This last peculiarity should however be attributed to the custom of deforming the head, very widespread among all the Quechuas and neighbouring peoples; this deformation is still practised in the same way as in the days of the Inca civilisation. It is very unlikely that the frequent occurrence of the “Inca bone” (p. 67) in Peruvian skulls has any connection with this deformation. The greatest part of the population of Peru is composed of Quechuas and Aymaras, or of Quechua-Spanish half-breeds.[645]

(_Phot. Crevaux, Coll. Mus. Nat. Hist. Paris._)]

The _Calchaquis_,[646] the ancient inhabitants of the modern south-west provinces, Argenton, Catamarca, Rioja, Santiago, etc., probably also spoke a Quechua dialect. It was a very civilised population; the only one in the South American continent which knew how to construct buildings of freestone. Although partly borrowed from the Peruvians, the Calchaqui civilisation has a character of its own, and in several respects recalls that of the Pueblo Indians, particularly the Zuñis (arrangement of their cities in a series of seven, copper tools and weapons, etc.).

(_Phot. Crevaux, Coll. Mus. Nat. Hist. Paris._)]

The last Calchaqui tribe, the _Quilmes_, was transported in 1670 by the Spaniards near to Buenos Ayres, where it forms the village of this name.

3. _Unclassified Tribes._--In Columbia let us note the following tribes:--

The _Cuna_ Indians, also called _Tula Dariens_, etc., of southern Panama. They are people of low stature (1 m. 50, according to Brinton), thick-set, of light yellow complexion, very brachycephalic (ceph. ind. 88.6, according to Catat), with broad faces, somewhat resembling the Guaymis, their neighbours in the east (p. 545). It is asserted that individuals with grey eyes and chestnut or reddish hair are not rare among them. They are not numerous; the tribe of the _Changuina Dorasks_, which formerly numbered 5000, had dwindled down in 1883 to a dozen individuals, still speaking their mother-tongue; the _Sambu Chocos_, who occupied the whole of the lower valley of the Atrato, and extended westward to the Pacific coast, are now scarcely 600 in number in southern Darien. They are short (1 m. 55), brachycephalic (ceph. ind. on the liv. sub., 84.1), very broad-faced.[647] To the eastward of the _Chibchas_ (p. 545) dwelt several families of the _Paniquitas_ and _Paezes_, included in a distinct linguistic group, of which the other representatives, _Colimas_ and _Manipos_, have entirely disappeared. In central Columbia (state of Antioquia) dwell the last remnants of the _Nutabehs_ and _Tahamis_, tribes resembling the Muisca Indians (p. 546) in their customs and social state.

As to the Ando-Peruvian region, several ethnic groups, using special dialects, are also found there, having no relation with the Quechuas. Such as the small tribe of the _Puquinas_ in the neighbourhood of Lake Titicaca, the _Yuncas_ or _Cuna-Yuncas_ (“inhabitants of the hot lands” in the Quechua tongue), settled on the Pacific coast between the 5th and 10th degrees of S. latitude; finally, the _Atacameños_, fishers of the Loa valley, and the _Shangos_ or _Changos_, more to the south, in the desert of Atacama. These two tribes are characterised by their low stature (1 m. 60, according to D’Orbigny).

It may be as well to class with the Andeans the _Araucans_, or _Mapu-che_ as they call themselves, whose linguistic affinities are still obscure, but whom we must connect with the Central American race by their physical characters; stature almost low (1 m. 61), sub-brachycephalic (ceph. ind. on the liv. sub., 82, skull 81), elongated face, with slightly projecting cheek-bones, straight or convex nose, etc., the general appearance recalling the Aymaras and the Quechuas;[648] certain ethnic characters (perfected weaving of stuffs, irrigation, hoe-culture, metallurgy, etc.) place them in the same category as the Andeans, and point to Peruvian influence. They are only found, in fact, to the north of the Bio-Bio river (37°-38° S. lat.)--that is to say, only in those places reached by the Inca civilisation. South of this line, with the exception of the coast, where European influence makes itself felt, the Araucans have remained until recent times hunters or nomadic shepherds, almost uncivilised. It is estimated that there are 40,000 Chilian Araucans. At a comparatively recent period some Araucan tribes migrated to the eastern slope of the Cordilleras (the Manzanieros)[649] and into the Argentine pampas, as far as the neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres. In these parts they have been pushed back, firstly by the European colonists, then by the Argentine soldiers, farther and farther south, beyond the Rio Negro. This population is a very mixed one; we find in it Patagonian, Quechua, Chaco, and even European elements (see p. 574).

From the social point of view, all the Araucans have preserved their ancient organisation of hordes governed by a hereditary chief. Little is known about their religious ideas; it is understood that they hold in the highest reverence an evil spirit called “Pilgan” by the Andean Araucans, “Nervelu” (“bird with metal beak and claws”) by the Araucans of the Pampas. Formerly, the Araucan warriors were buried with their weapons, their horse was felled on the grave and consumed.[650]

Among the Andean populations we must also mention the _Yurucares_, to the west of the Rio Mamoré, of very high stature, their skin being, it is said, almost as white as that of Europeans.

II. _The Amazonians._--The vast plains and impenetrable forests, rich in birds and arboreal mammalia, watered by the great tropical streams, the Amazon and the Orinoco, are peopled by a large number of tribes who may be grouped to-day--thanks to the recent works of philologists--into four families. Two of these, the Carib and Arawak, or Maypure families, comprise the tribes of the eastern part of the country;[651] the two others, which are less important, the _Miranha_ and _Pano_ families, are composed of the tribes of the western part of the country.

1. _The Carib Family._--It was thought until recently that the peoples of this linguistic group had settlements only in the Guianas and the Antilles, but recent studies have shown that they extended much farther over the South American continent, as far as the source of the Yapura on the west, and the 14th degree of S. latitude on the south. As the speech of the southern Caribs is purer, less sprinkled with Arawak words than that of their northern brethren, philologists suppose that the original home of the Caribs in general should be found somewhere in the centre of Brazil, to the south of the Amazon. It is from there that they must have migrated into Guiana, whence their hordes moved towards the Antilles probably two centuries before the arrival of Columbus. There they found already the Arawak tribes (see p. 557), whom they supplanted in the lesser Antilles, and against whom they directed their maritime expeditions as far as the east coast of the island of Haiti. These _Antillian Caribs_ have been exterminated by the European colonists, and except in the islands in the vicinity of the Guianas, like Trinidad, there remain to-day but 192 individuals in the island of St. Vincent (census of 1881) and 200 individuals, of whom there are barely a dozen unhybridised, in the island of Dominica. Most of the Caribs of the island of St. Vincent were transported by the English in 1796 to Ruatan Island and Trujillo, on the north coast of Honduras. Their descendants, crossed with Negro blood, numbering about 6000, live in these places as well as in British Honduras, where they are known by the name of “Black Caribs.”

The most southerly tribes of the Caribs are the _Bakairis_ (Fig. 172), and the _Nahuquas_ of the upper Xingu, as well as the _Palmellas_ of the lower Guapore, a sub-tributary of the right of the Rio Madeira. The _Apiacas_ of the lower Tocantins, who must not be confounded with the Tupi tribe of the same name (p. 569), form the link between this distant branch and the bulk of the Caribs peopling Guiana. The latter are known as _Apotos_ and _Waywai_ in Brazilian Guiana; as _Roucouyennes_ and _Galibis_ in French Guiana; as _Kalinas_ in Dutch Guiana (Figs. 167 and 168). The Caribs of British Guiana belong chiefly to the _Macusi_ tribe, those of Venezuela are represented by the _Makirifares_ in the east, and farther away to the west, by the _Motilones_, who keep to the borders of Colombia (Ernst). The ancient Carib tribes of Venezuela called _Chaimas_ and _Kumanas_ are represented at the present day by the Indians of _Aguasai_ (87 miles north of Bolivar), who speak Spanish, but who have preserved the Carib type (Ten Kate). It is the same with the _Aborigines of Oruba Island_, to the north-east of the Gulf of Venezuela (Pinart). Lastly, in the upper basin of the Yapura, outside of Brazilian territory, there are likewise known members of the Carib family, particularly the _Uitotos_ or _Carijonas_, who live side by side with the Miranhas (p. 560) (Crevaux). To judge from some ethnographical analogies (similarity of tattooing, etc.), the _Araras_ or _Yumas_, who wander on the right bank of the Amazon, in the neighbourhood of the mouths of the Xingu, Tapajos, Madeira and Purus, belong also to the Carib family, but as yet nothing is known about their language.[652]

(_Coll. Mus. Nat. Hist., Paris._)]

The physical type of the Caribs of Guiana and Venezuela differs slightly from that of the Caribs of the upper Xingu. The former are of low stature (1 m. 58 for men, 1 m. 45 for women), and mesocephalic (mean ceph. ind. in the liv. sub., 81.3), while the Caribs of the upper Xingu are below the average height and sub-dolichocephalic (1 m. 61 for men, 1 m. 52 for women; mean ceph. ind. on the liv. sub., 79.6).[653] What is characteristic of certain Carib tribes of the south (Bakairis, etc.) is the frequent occurrence of individuals with wavy or frizzy hair and convex nose, in the midst of the common type having straight hair, short and somewhat broad nose, etc. The ancient Caribs of the Antilles were short, somewhat light-skinned, and had the custom of deforming the head by flattening the frontal region of the skull.

(_Coll. Mus. Nat. Hist., Paris._)]

From the ethnic point of view, the Caribs are distinguished by their acquaintance with the hammock; a plaited (not woven) texture; and a particular kind of cassava squeezer (p. 188); by their fondness for painting the body; by the practice of the “couvade” (p. 240), etc. The blow-pipe and poisoned arrows are not their “national weapons,” as has sometimes been said; the Caribs of the south are unacquainted with them, and, on the other hand, several non-Carib tribes of the Amazon basin make use of them. Their favourite weapon is or was the battle-axe of polished stone (basalt, diabase). The slight difference between the mode of life of the Caribs of the Antilles and that of the Caribs of the present day was due to the existence of anthropophagy, the presence of “communal houses” (_Carbets_), and to some other characteristics which denote their superiority over the modern Caribs from the social point of view.[654]

2. The Arawak linguistic family, as constituted by L. Adam, at first by the name of _Maypure_, has been called by Von den Steinen “_Nu-Arawak_,” from the prenominal prefix “nu” for the first person, common to all the Arawak tribes, scattered from the coast of Dutch Guiana and British Guiana to the upper basins of the Amazon and Orinoco. The principal tribes are: the _Aturai_ and the _Vapisiana_ of British Guiana; the _Maypures_ and the _Banivas_ of Venezuela; the _Manaos_ and the _Aruacos_ of the Rio Negro; the _Yumanas_ and the _Passehs_ of the left bank of the Solimães; the _Marauas_ more to the south; the _Paumary_ and the numerous _Ipurina_ tribes of the Purus basin; lastly the half-civilised _Moxos_ or _Mohos_ of the upper Mamoré, and the _Canopos_ or _Antis_ of the forests of the upper basin of the Ucayale (Peru), of average stature, brown-coloured skin, skilful hunters.[655] The tribes of the upper Xingu are the _Vaura_ and the _Mehinacu_. Let us also note the _Parecis_ of the region of the sources of the Tapajos, among whom we observe the influences of the Quechua civilisation (Pandean pipes) or the Peruvian (a particular head-dress of birds’ feathers and porcupine quills, cotton textiles, plaited hats, etc.). In upper Paraguay, as far as the 21st degree of S. latitude, are also found tribes speaking the Arawak tongue; the _Quinquinaos_, the _Layanas_, etc. (This is the Moho-Mbaure group of L. Quevedo) On the other hand, in the marshy island of Marajos, in the middle of the estuary of the Amazon, there dwelt a few decades ago the _Aruan_ people, who spoke an Arawak dialect, while in the north of Venezuela, the peninsula of _Goajira_ is occupied by the _Goajires_ tribe, which also belongs to the same linguistic family. De Brette estimates its numerical force at 30,000 individuals (1890-95).[656]

The pre-Columbian aborigines of Porto Rico, Haiti, Jamaica, and Cuba were Arawaks, to judge from the toponymy of these islands. The authors of the eighteenth century speak of the _Ciboneys_ in Cuba, Bahama, and the west of Haiti, and of the “Aravagues” in the east of this latter island and in Porto Rico. These aborigines, although in a state of constant warfare with the Caribs, resembled them in certain characteristic customs (cranial deformation, colouring of the body, etc.). They were exterminated by the Whites, being reduced to 4000 in Cuba as far back as 1554. In 1848 there remained of these tribes but a few hybrid families in the Sierra Maestra of Cuba and the village of Boya to the north of the town of San Domingo.[657]

(_Phot. Crevaux, Coll. Soc. Anthr. Paris._)]

Physically the Arawaks present several types, as might have been expected from the wide diffusion of this group. Those of the Guianas, as well as the Ipurinas and their congeners are a little lower in stature (1 m. 55 and 1 m. 59 according to Ten Kate and Ehrenreich) and a little more brachycephalic (ceph. ind. 83.4) than the Caribs of the same regions. Those of the upper Xingu, on the contrary, are a little taller (1 m. 64) and more dolichocephalic (ceph. ind. 78.2) than their Carib-speaking neighbours. Their face is somewhat broader and their eyes often oblique. The difference between the tribes of the north and those of the south is thus more pronounced among the Arawaks than among the Caribs. The Ciboneys, to judge from the skulls found in Cuba and Jamaica, were hyper-brachycephalic in consequence of deformations (Haddon). The occurrence of individuals with wavy or frizzy hair is also as frequent among the Arawaks as among the Caribs. From the ethnographical point of view there are some differences between the Arawaks of the north and the south. The use of the blow-pipe is very general among the Arawak tribes of the upper Amazon and its tributaries, but it is unknown among others. With the exception of tribes influenced by the Quechua-Peruvian or European civilisation, the Arawaks are unacquainted with the weaving of cotton, and are still in the stone, and especially the wood age. Their scanty garments are made with plaited fibres or with beaten bark; their ornaments are birds’ feathers and the teeth of mammalia.

(_Phot. Crevaux, Coll. Soc. Anthr. Paris._)]

3. The tribes composing the _Pano_ linguistic group, as established by R. de la Grasserie,[658] chiefly inhabited the north-west of eastern Peru, but they are likewise met with in the west of Brazil (the _Karipunas_ of the banks of the Madeira), and in the north of Bolivia (the _Pacaguara_), separated from their racial brothers by a series of tribes speaking the Arawak dialects. The principal Pano tribes in Peru are: the _Kassivo_, cannibals of the upper Ucayle who resemble the Fuegians; the _Conibos_ of the same river, very low in stature;[659] the _Panos_, of whom there remain but a few families.[660] The _Araunos_, of the region comprised between the two principal branches of the Madeira (Madre de Dios and Beni) speak a Pano language, but with a considerable admixture of Quechua elements.

4. The tribes of the banks of the Iça and the Yapura have received from their neighbours the name of _Miranhas_, which, it appears, means “rovers.” Ehrenreich employed this name to designate various tribes whose dialects presented a certain family likeness. Of these tribes, which are rarely visited by the Brazilian-Portuguese merchants, the following are the chief: the _Miranhas_ properly so called (Figs. 169 and 170), between the Iça and the lower Yapura, mentioned long ago by Martius; the _Kœrunas_ on the left bank of the Yapura; the _Tucanos_ and the _Jupuas_ to the east of the last-named, in the vicinity of the river Uaupes. The Miranhas have maintained their primitive condition. Of a very warlike disposition, they use as their principal weapon a particular kind of club, a sort of broadsword of hard wood. They employ the _drum language_ (see p. 134). Though living on the banks of fish-yielding rivers, they do not fish, but confine themselves to hunting, like the ancient Quechuas, by means of nets stretched out between trees, into which they drive, with cries and gestures, the terrified animals (Crevaux).

In addition to the tribes forming the four families just described, several others, _whose languages have not yet been classified_, should be mentioned.

It is in the basin of the Orinoco that we meet with most of these tribes who have as yet been little studied; the _Otomacs_ between the Apure and Meta rivers, geophagous and monogamous; the _Guamos_ of the Rio Apure, reduced to a few families; the _Piaroas_, whose sub-brachycephalic heads are often deformed; the _Chiricoas_ and the _Guahibos_, veritable “gypsies” of South America, who are encountered between the Meta, the Orinoco, and the Rio Branco; lastly, the _Guaraunos_ or _Warraus_ of the coast between the mouths of the Orinoco and the Corentin (Figs. 165 and 166), probably allied to the _Guayqueris_ of the country around Cumana in Venezuela. The latter, however, are sub-dolichocephalic (ceph. ind. on five liv. subjects, 78.5 according to Ten Kate), while the Guaraunos are all mesocephalic (ceph. ind. 81.5 according to the same author). In the upper valleys of the numerous rivers which combine to form the Amazon, there are likewise dwelling tribes of undetermined linguistic affinities, whose names only are known. The most important, that of the _Zaparos_ or _Jeberos_ (about 15,000 individuals), is stationed between the Pastaza and Napo rivers, as well as along the Maranon from the mouth of the Zamora to that of the Morona. Farther north in the Cordilleras, in a state of complete independence, dwell the _Jebaros_ or _Jevaros_ (_Civaros_), fierce warriors, celebrated for their skill in preparing the heads of their vanquished enemies; these are hideous mummified and shrivelled objects with their long hair left on them.[661] To the east of the Jevaros are the _Maynas_, and on the Rio Javary, the _Yameos_ or _Lamas_. Farther east again, near the Rio Napo, wander the hunting tribes, the _Tecunas_ or _Triconnas_, and the _Orejones_, so named from their habit of inserting wooden plugs into the lobe of the ear, a practice which, however, is also found among several other peoples.

III. _The Indians of East Brazil and the Central Region of South America_ belong on the one side to the Ges or Ghes linguistic family (formerly called _Tapuyas_, _Botocudos_, etc.), and on the other form several tribes whose affinities are yet to be determined. Lastly, the _Tupi-Guarani_ linguistic family (see p. 567) is also represented in this region. From the ethnological point of view these three groups of population have felt the influence of environment and habitat; we must therefore consider separately the Indians of east Brazil and those of the central region, and lastly the _Tupi-Guarani_ family.

(_Phot. Ehrenreich._)]

1. _East Brazil_ is composed of plateaux formed of friable rocks rising to the east of the Tocantins between the wooded _Sierras_. These plateaux do not afford so many resources as the Amazon region; thus it is that the tribes inhabiting them are more uncivilised, often more wretched than the Amazonians. The rarity of hard rocks suitable for the manufacture of tools causes many of them to be still in the wood age. The greater part belong to the _Ges_ or _Ghes_ linguistic family. This term, which comes from the syllable “ges” placed at the end of most of the tribal names, was adopted by Martius to designate the Botocudos and some neighbouring tribes. But of recent years Von den Steinen and Ehrenreich have widened the meaning of this word.[662] Henceforth it denotes a collection of tribes which, besides linguistic character, exhibit many other common features in their habits and mode of life (great phalansterial houses with private hearths for each family, absence of hammocks, ignorance of navigation,[663] use of “botocs” or ear and lip plugs, arrows barbed on one side, etc.). Among the tribes of the Ges tongue we must distinguish those which dwell on the right bank of the Tocantins in east Brazil and those who have migrated to the west of this river into the centre of Southern America. The former have retained much better their individual character, but they have been partly decimated by the European colonists, and are not very numerous at the present day. Of the ancient _Kamakans_, of the _Patacho_, and so many other tribes, there remain but the memory or a few hybrid descendants, but three tribes have yet preserved themselves more or less intact in the midst of their forests: the _Botocudos_, the _Kayapos_, and the _Cainguas_. The _Botocudos_ or _Aymoros_,[664] who call themselves _Burus_, dwell between the Rio Doce and the Rio Pardo (Minas Geraes Prov.). They are men of low stature (1 m. 59 according to Ehrenreich), dolichocephalic (mean ceph. ind. 74.1 on the skull, according to Rey, Peixoto, etc.; 78.2 on the liv. sub.), and their skulls recall very strongly those of the prehistoric race of Lagoa Santa and the “Sambaquis,” while the living subjects are closely allied to the Fuegians, as much by the size and form of the head as by the lines of the face, the prominent supraciliary ridges, the sunk nose narrow at the root, etc. I have given (pp. 160, 210, etc.) several characteristics of the ethnography of the Botocudos. The Kayapos,[665] who were believed to be an extinct race, and who, on the contrary, are one of the most important and warlike tribes of Brazil, are divided into three sections. The _Northern Kayapos_ occupy the middle Tocantins, and overflow on one side into the sterile “Sertaos” of the province of Maranon, and on the other into central Brazil, on the left bank of the lower Araguaya; the _Western Kayapos_, who keep in the upper valley of the Xingu, have been described by Ehrenreich and Von den Steinen under the names of _Suya_ and _Akua_ (the _Chavantes-Cherentes_ of the Brazilians). They differ from the Botocudos in physique, being brachycephalic, tall, and very light-skinned. As to ethnical characteristics, these are for the most part borrowed from their Carib and Arawak neighbours. The _Southern Kayapos_ (near the river Parana, 20° S. lat.) are merely known by name. The _Kaingans_ or _Kame_, wrongly called _Coroados_ (see p. 545), inhabit the mountains of the Brazilian provinces of São Paulo, S. Catharina, and Rio Grande do Sul; they are tribes of uncivilised and nomadic hunters.

Besides the clans of the Ges family, we must also mention in the eastern region of Brazil the following tribes _whose languages have not been classified_, and whose affinities with the Ges are not very clear. The more important of these tribes are the _Puris_ or _Pouris_ and the _Kiriris_, wrongly called “Tapuyas” or “Coroados” (see p. 545). At the beginning of the century the _Puris_ in fairly large numbers still inhabited--together with the _Koropos_--the mountains between Rio de Janeiro and Uro Preto. There is but a small remnant left at the present day, consisting of a few individuals living together in the hamlet of San Laurenço and in the “aldeamento” of Etueto, near to the boundary line of the Minas Geraes and Spiritu Santo provinces. Formerly the _Puris_ comprised several tribes, hunters and fishers. They plaited their hammocks, had special ceremonies when their daughters arrived at the age of puberty, believed in a superior spirit, “Tupan,” having the form of a white bird, etc.

The _Kiriris_ or _Sabuyas_ of the province of Pernambuco formed, two centuries ago, a powerful and semi-civilised nation; there are now only 600 left, living under wretched conditions in the lower valley of the São Francisco.

2. _The central region of South America_ is formed of table-lands and wooded chains which cover the south-east of Bolivia and the Brazilian province of Matto Grosso (twice as big as France). Corresponding to the diversity of the elevations and climates there is a diversity of peoples inhabiting the country. We have already observed in this region tribes of Carib speech (Bakairi, etc.), of Arawak (Paressi, etc.), of Ges (western and southern Kayapos), and we may further notice tribes of Tupi speech (the Chiquitos, etc.). But outside of these classified peoples there are other ethnic groups occupying the table-lands of Matto Grosso, whose affinities are not yet well known, the more important of them being the Karayas, the Trumai, and Bororos.[666]

The _Karayas_ are divided into two sections which know nothing of each other. It was the northern Kayapos of Ges speech who thus separated the Karayas, driving them, on the one side, into the valley of the Xingu, and on the other, into the valley of the Araguaya. Like the Ges, the Karayas are unacquainted with the use of the hammock, but, unlike them, are good boatmen and draughtsmen. It has been observed that they have a special language for the women, which appears to be the ancient form of the present language of the men. They are fairly tall (1 m. 69) and dolichocephalic (ceph. ind. 73), their nose is convex, and their hair sometimes curly.

The Trumai of the sources of the Xingu are, on the contrary, short (1 m. 59) and mesocephalic (ceph. ind. 81.1), and they have convex noses and retreating foreheads.

The _Bororos_ (Fig. 173), scattered from the upper Paraguay to the upper Parana, are hunters; they have great bows and arrows of bamboo or bone. Polygamy exists among them, and there are also cases of polyandry. They are tall (1 m. 74) and mesocephalic (ceph. ind. 81.5).[667]

(_Coll. Mus. Nat. Hist., Paris._)]

In spite of the diversity of language and race, several of the tribes of the central region, living side by side, have the same manners and customs, and the same kind of existence, as a result of mutual borrowings.[668] The best example of this is furnished by the Caribs, Arawaks, Ges, Tupis, and Trumai of the upper Xingu. They all go naked, the women sometimes wearing the triangular palm-leaf which plays the part of the fig-leaf; their huts are grouped around the “house of flutes,” or the dwelling of the young men--a Carib importation--in which are preserved symbolic masks, which, like the pottery, are of Arawak invention. The tools are primitive, frequently of stone.[669] One might almost say that these tribes in ploughing imitate the movements of burrowing animals, for in this operation they make use of the long claws of the front paws of a great armadillo (_Dasipus gigas_), two of them attached together. The throwing-stick and blunt arrows are used by the Trumai, as by the Tupi tribes. They have no domestic animals, but keep some wild animals in captivity--parrots, lizards (to hunt insects), etc. The custom of the couvade and the existence of witch medicine-men are common to all these tribes.

3. _The Tupi-Guarani._--In South America there exist a great number of tribes scattered from Guiana to Paraguay, from the Brazilian coast to the eastern slope of the Andes, who speak the different dialects of the Tupi linguistic family.[670] They may be divided into two groups: on one side, to the east, the tribes speaking the ancient Tupi language, which, in imitation of Quechua, was a “lingua geral,” and on the other, the numerous tribes to the west, speaking different dialects which have only a vague resemblance to Tupi, according to L. Adam. At the time of the conquest the Tupi tribes, called _Tupi-namba Tanuyo_, who were cannibals, occupied not only the whole of the Brazilian coast from Para to Santos, but also the valley of the Amazon as far as Manaos. These primitive Tupis have mostly been exterminated by the Portuguese, but their language, which has become that of the converted Indians, has spread as far as the valley of the Rio Negro, a tributary of the Amazon, where there have never been any Tupi tribes.

(_Phot. Ehrenreich._)]

_The Eastern or Guarani Tupis_, formerly so numerous in the Brazilian provinces of São Paulo and the Rio Grande do Sul, are reduced at the present time to a few families; on the other hand, they still form the bulk of the population of Paraguay, and the territory of Missiones in the Argentine Republic. The Guarani of Paraguay, “tamed” in the commanderies by the Jesuits, have intermingled their blood with that of the Spaniards, and adopted their mode of life. However, there still remain in the depths of the forest some tribes who have kept intact their type and manners. Among the more interesting of these we must note the _Cainguas_ or _Kaigguas_[671] of south-east Paraguay and Missiones (Argentine), scattered in little groups, obeying one cacique or chief. They are short (1 m. 60), mesocephalic (mean ceph. ind. of 12 men, 80.4), of bronzed complexion; their hair is lank or wavy, often reddish in the children; the nose is straight, the cheek-bones are prominent. From ten to twenty thousand Cainguas are estimated to be in Paraguay alone. Extremely fond of dancing and music, they like drawing as well, and possess as a rule a quick understanding. They are husbandmen, going almost naked, obtain fire by friction, are acquainted with weaving and pottery, have barbed and sometimes blunt-pointed arrows.[672] Other tribes, the _Jacunda_, the _Pacajas_, the _Tacunas_, keep to the lower valley of the Xingu. The _Mauhés_, stationed between this latter river and the Madeira, are at the extreme limit of the expansion towards the west of the pure Tupis. On turning again towards the south we come across the _Apiacas_ of Tapajos (who must not be confounded with the similarly named tribe of the Carib family), the _Camayuras_ of the upper Xingu, the _Chiquitos_ and the _Chiriguanos_ of Bolivia, now Hispanified.

The migrations of the Tupis from the south to the north, conjectured in D’Orbigny’s day, have now been absolutely demonstrated. Paraguay and the east of Bolivia were the starting-points of these migrations. The exodus of the Tupis took place at first towards the coast, then along the seaboard to the mouth of the Para, and thence further northward into French Guiana, where some Tupi tribes are still to be found, the _Emerillons_ of the valley of the Saï, a left tributary of the Inini, the _Ovampis_ of the upper Oyapoc, etc. The _Aramichaux_ (Fig. 172), who were believed to be extinct, and who dwell between the Uaqui and the Arua,[673] seem to be also of the Tupi stock. Another stream of migration may be traced straight towards the north-east; it passes through the upper basin of the Xingu, to terminate eastward of the Tocantins (the tribe of the _Guajajaza_). An isolated Tupi group exists far to the north-west of the territory occupied by the bulk of this family. It consists of the _Omaguas_ and the _Cocomas_, half-civilised tribes of the upper valley of the Maranon (Peru), to the eastward of the Jivaros. Individuals with wavy or frizzy[674] hair are not rare among these hybrid peoples.

The family of the _Western Tupis_, whose linguistic affinities are less clear, comprises, provisionally, the _Mundrucus_, or _Mundurukus_, of the middle Tapajoz, the _Yurunas_ of the lower Xingu, the _Anetö_ of the upper course of this river, etc.

Physically, the Tupis differ but little from the Caribs; those of the north, the Mauhés and the Mundurukus for example, studied by Barboza Rodriguez, are 1 m. 58 and 1 m. 60 in stature, whilst the _Kamayuras_ and the _Anetö_ of the upper Xingu are taller (1 m. 62 on an average); the cephalic index of the latter is 79 (Ehrenreich). The Guarani should be, according to D’Orbigny, more than 1 m. 66 in height.[675] But the anthropological study of the Tupis is still to be made.

If we consider the accounts of the different dialects of the four great linguistic families which we have just described: Carib, Arawak, Ges, and Tupi, we are bound to admit the following hypothesis as to the migrations of the peoples belonging to these families. There have been two movements, centrifugal and centripetal. From the centre of the continent the _Tupis_ have spread radially in all directions, and the _Caribs_ towards the north-east, reaching as far as the Antilles. On the other hand, towards this centre converge the migrations of the _Arawaks_ arriving from the north, perhaps from Columbia and the Antilles, and the migrations of the _Ges_ coming from the east. Did the centrifugal movement of the Tupis and the Caribs and the centripetal movement of the Arawaks and the Ges take place simultaneously or in some order of succession? We have not sufficient information as yet to solve this problem, but the first supposition appears to be more probable, for we still see in our own day both movements going on simultaneously.

IV. _The Pampeans and the Fuegians._--That portion of the American continent situated beyond the 30th degree of S. lat., between the Andes, the Atlantic, and the Strait of Magellan, is a vast plain which passes imperceptibly from the rich pasturage of Chaco to the monotonous Pampas, and from the latter to the bare plateaux of Patagonia.

This plain is occupied by various tribes who have nothing in common but the nomadic and pastoral mode of life determined by the environment since the introduction of the horse. Of the ancient peoples who occupied these regions as well as Uruguay at the time of the conquest, there remain but the _débris_, or descendants hybridised to the furthest extent possible.

The _Charruas_ and their congeners the _Minuanes_ and the _Yaros_, who fought so valiantly during the centuries of the Spanish domination, at first with their clubs and bows, then, becoming horsemen, with “bolas” and the lasso, were exterminated only in 1832. The four last representatives of the race were exhibited as curiosities in Paris in 1830. The _Charruas_ had a very dark-coloured skin and were of somewhat high stature (1 m. 68), like their neighbours on the other side of the Rio de la Plata, the _Chanases_, and especially the _Querandis_, whose bands were decimated at the end of the sixteenth century, after their last attack on Buenos Ayres.[676]

Their hybrid descendants, called _Talhuets_, were still fairly numerous in 1860 between Buenos Ayres and Rio Negro. The _Abipones_ to the west of the Paraguay, so well described by Dobrizhoffer,[677] were destroyed at the end of the eighteenth century, partly through conflicts with their congeners the _Mocovis_, of whom there are no survivors.

All these tribes probably belonged to the _Guaycuru linguistic family_, established by L. Quevedo, whose most numerous representatives are now the _Tobas_ of southern Choco to the north of Pilcomayo, and the _Matacos_ who wander about between the latter river and the Vermejo.[678] We must further add to this group the _Caduves_ or _Caduvei_ of the Brazilian bank of the Paraguay, between 20° and 23° S. lat., a hundred or so of unhybridised individuals, all that remain of the ancient _Mbaya_ people, and the _Payaguas_, an ancient warlike and plundering tribe thought to have disappeared, but of which there remain between two and three score representatives in the immediate neighbourhood of Assumption, peaceful basket-makers, potters, or fishers.[679]

The _Lenguas_ of the ancient authors (a term used by them to describe very different tribes), who lived side by side with the Tobas, and of whom there remain but a few individuals, seem to form, with the _Guanes_ of southern Chaco, the _Sanapanas_, the _Angaites_, and other tribes between the Salado and the Yababeri (tributaries on the left of the Paraguay), a separate linguistic family, which Boggiani proposes to call _Ennema_. Their neighbours, the _Samucos_ or _Chamococos_ of the Bolivian Chaco also constitute a special linguistic group, but their manners and customs approximate to those of the southern Arawaks.[680]

The _Guatos_ of the marshes which extend from the Paraguay to the Sao Laurenço also speak a special language. They are excellent boatmen, who fish with their great bows and bone-pointed arrows. They are also renowned as hunters of jaguars.[681]

Most of the _Guaycurus_ and their neighbours seem to be of high stature and to have a brownish-yellow skin; but almost nothing is known either as to the shape of their head or their other somatic characters.

To the south of the Choco, between the Rio Salado de Santa Fe and the Rio Chubut, in the Pampas and the north of the Patagonian table-land, the primitive population which spoke the Guaycuru language in the north and the Patagonian language in the south, has disappeared. It has been absorbed or modified by the invasions of the Araucans coming from the west, and by the encroachments of the Europeans coming from the east. The interminglings have given birth to new tribes like the _Puelches_, sprung from the Patagonians and the Araucans (p. 551), with a strain of Guaycuru blood, and the _Gauchos_, Guaycuru-European hybrids. The invasion of the Europeans increasing, the Puelches and the Araucans (_Pehuenches_, _Rankels_, _Huilitches_) have been pushed back farther and farther to the south. After the war of extermination waged by General Roca in 1881, the “Pampeans” migrated in a mass to the south of the Rio Negro, where they absorbed a portion of the Patagonians, driving away the remainder to the south of the Rio Santa Cruz.[682]

(_Phot. Cape Horn Scient. Mission._)]

Cramped between this river and the Strait of Magellan, the _Patagonians_ or _Tehuelches_, who call themselves by the name of _Tsoon-ké_, are now reduced to 2000 individuals. Those dwelling far from the coasts, as well as the _Onas_ of Tierra del Fuego (the only Patagonian tribe that does not possess horses), have perhaps better preserved the characteristics of the Patagonian race. They are very tall (from 1 m. 73 to 1 m. 83 according to different authors), very brachycephalic (average ceph. ind. on the living sub., 85), have an elongated face, thinnish nose, eyes slightly oblique, projecting cheek-bones.[683]

(_Phot. Cape Horn Scient. Mission._)]

The Fuegians (Figs. 48, 174, and 175) inhabit the southern and western coasts of Tierra del Fuego, as well as the archipelagoes which lie to the west and south of this great island. They form a population by themselves, divided into two tribes, the _Yahgans_ to the south of the chain running from Sarmiento to Mount Darwin, and the _Alakalufs_ to the north of this chain. I have mentioned several facts concerning the somatic characters (pp. 89, 108, etc.) and the ethnic ones (p. 146, note 2, pp. 181, 189, 214, etc.) of the Fuegians. Let me further add that the predominant type among them is that of the Palæo-American sub-race. Their language is not yet classified. The Alakalufs are at the present day reduced to 200 individuals. The Yahgans, who numbered about a thousand individuals in 1884, no longer exist to-day as an independent tribe. The last survivors of ravages caused by epidemics are gathered together in the two missionary stations called Ushuaia (Beagle Channel) and Tekenika; numbering about 90, they are dressed in the European fashion, speak English, and are employed in the various works at the mission.[684]