ON THE ABORIGINES OF THE AMAZON.
Comparing the accounts given by other travellers with my own
observations, the Indians of the Amazon valley appear to be much
superior, both physically and intellectually, to those of South Brazil
and of most other parts of South America; they more closely resemble
the intelligent and noble races inhabiting the western prairies of
North America. This view is confirmed by Prince Adalbert of Prussia,
who first saw the uncivilized Indians of South Brazil, and afterwards
those of the Amazon; and records his surprise and admiration at the
vast superiority of the latter in strength and beauty of body, and in
gentleness of disposition.
I have myself had opportunities of observing the Aborigines of the
interior, in places where they retain all their native customs and
peculiarities. These truly uncivilized Indians are seen by few
travellers, and can only be found by going far beyond the dwellings of
white men, and out of the ordinary track of trade. In the neighbourhood
of civilization the Indian loses many of his peculiar customs,—changes
his mode of life, his house, his costume, and his language,—becomes
imbued with the prejudices of civilization, and adopts the forms and
ceremonies of the Roman Catholic religion. In this state he is a
different being from the true denizen of the forests, and it may be
doubted, where his civilization goes no further than this, if he is not
a degenerate and degraded one; but it is in this state alone that he is
met with by most travellers in Brazil, on the banks of the Amazon, in
Venezuela, and in Peru.
I do not remember a single circumstance in my travels so striking and
new, or that so well fulfilled all previous expectations, as my first
view of the real uncivilized inhabitants of the river Uaupés. Though I
had been already three years in the country, and had seen Indians of
almost every shade of colour and every degree of civilization, I felt
that I was as much in the midst of something new and startling, as if I
had been instantaneously transported to a distant and unknown country.
The Indians of the Amazon and its tributaries, are of a countless
variety of tribes and nations; all of whom have peculiar languages and
customs, and many of them some distinct physical characteristics. Those
now found in the city of Pará, and all about the country of the Lower
Amazon, have long been civilized,—have lost their own language, and
speak the Portuguese, and are known by the general names of Tapúyas,
which is applied to all Indians, and seems to be a corruption of
“Tupis,” the name applied to the natives of the coast-districts, on
the first settlement of the country. These Indians are short, stout,
and well made. They learn all trades quickly and well, and are a
quiet, good-natured, inoffensive people. They form the crews of most
of the Pará trading canoes. Their main peculiarity consists in their
short stature, which is more observable than in any other tribe I am
acquainted with. It may be as well, before proceeding further, to
mention the general characteristics of the Amazon Indians, from which
the particular tribes vary but very slightly.
They are, a skin of a coppery or brown colour of various shades, often
nearly the tint of smooth Honduras mahogany,—jet-black straight hair,
thick, and never curled,—black eyes, and very little or no beard.
With regard to their features, it is impossible to give any general
characteristics. In some the whole face is wide and rather flattened,
but I never could discern an unusual obliquity of the eyes, or
projection of the cheek-bones; in many, of both sexes, the most perfect
regularity of features exists, and there are numbers who in colour
alone differ from a good-looking European.
Their figures are generally superb; and I have never felt so
much pleasure in gazing at the finest statue, as at these living
illustrations of the beauty of the human form. The development of the
chest is such as I believe never exists in the best-formed European,
exhibiting a splendid series of convex undulations, without a hollow in
any part of it.
Some native tribes exist in the rivers Guamá, Capím, and Acarrá, just
above the city of Pará, but I could learn little definite about them.
High up the rivers Tocantíns and Araguáya, there are numerous tribes
of tall well-formed Indians, some of whom I have seen in Pará, where
they arrive in canoes from the interior. Most of them have enormously
elongated ears hanging down on their shoulders, produced probably by
weights suspended from the lobe in youth. On the Xingú are many native
tribes, some of whom were visited by Prince Adalbert. On the next
river, the Tapajóz, dwell the Mundrucus, and they extend far into the
interior, across to the Madeira and to the river Purús; they are a very
numerous tribe, and portions of them are now civilized. The Múras,
another of the populous tribes, are also partly civilized, about the
mouths of the Madeira and Rio Negro; but in the interior, and up the
river Purús, many yet live in a totally wild and savage state.
All along the banks of the main streams of the Amazon, Solimões,
Madeira, and Rio Negro, live Indians of various races, in a
semi-civilized state, and with their peculiar habits and languages in
a great measure lost. Traces of these peculiarities are however still
to be found, in the painted pottery manufactured at Breves, the elegant
calabashes of Montealegre, the curious baskets of some tribes on the
Rio Negro, and the calabashes of Ega, always painted in geometrical
patterns.
Commencing near Santarem, and extending among all the half-civilized
Indians of the Amazon, Rio Negro, and other rivers, the Lingoa Geral,
or general Indian language, is spoken. Near the more populous towns
and villages, it is used indiscriminately with the Portuguese; a
little further, it is often the only language known; and far up in the
interior it exists in common with the native language of the tribe
to which the inhabitants belong. Thus on the Lower Amazon, all the
Indians can speak both Portuguese and Lingoa Geral; on the Solimões and
Rio Negro, Lingoa Geral alone is generally spoken; and in the interior,
on the lakes and tributaries of the Solimões, the Múra and Jurí tongues
are in common use, with the Lingoa Geral as a means of communication
with the traders. Near the sources of the Rio Negro, in Venezuela, the
Barré and Baníwa languages are those used among the Indians themselves.
The Lingoa Geral is the Tupi, an Indian language found in the country
by the Jesuits, and modified and extended by them for use among all
the tribes included in their missions. It is now spread over all the
interior of Brazil, and even extends into Peru and Venezuela, as well
as Bolivia and Paraguay, and is the general vehicle of communication
between the Brazilian traders and the Indians. It is a simple and
euphonious language, and is often preferred by Europeans who get
thoroughly used to it. I knew a Frenchman who had been twenty years
in the Solimões, who always conversed with his wife and children in
Lingoa Geral, and could speak it with more ease than either French or
Portuguese; and, in many cases, I have seen Portuguese settlers whose
children were unable to speak any other language.
I shall now proceed to give some account of the various tribes that
still exist, in all their native integrity, among the trackless forests
of the Purús, Rio Branco, Japurá, and rivers Uaupés and Isánna, near
the sources of the Rio Negro.
As I am best acquainted with the Indians of the river Uaupés, I shall
first state all I know of them, and then point out the particulars in
which other nations differ from them. The tribes which inhabit the
Uaupés, as far as any of the traders ascend, and of which I can get any
information, are the following:—
_Up the main stream._
1. Queianás, at São Joaquim.
2. Tariánas, about São Jeronymo.
3. Ananás (Pine-apples), below Jauarité.
4. Cobéus, about Carurú caxoeira.
5. Piraiurú (Fish’s mouth).
6. Pisá (Net).
7. Carapaná (Mosquito), Jurupuri caxoeira.
8. Tapüra (Tapir).
9. Uaracú (a Fish), above Jukeira Paraná.
10. Cohídias.
11. Tucundéra (an Ant).
12. Jacamí (Trumpeter).
13. Mirití (Mauritia Palm), Baccate Paraná.
14. Omáuas.
_On the river Tiquié._
15. Macunás.
16. Taiassú (Pig Indians).
17. Tijúco (Mud Indians).
_On Japoó Paraná._
18. Arapásso (Woodpeckers).
_On the river Apaporís._
19. Tucános (Toucans).
20. Uacarrás (Herons).
21. Pirá (Fish).
22. Desannas.
_On the river Quiriri._
23. Ipécas (Ducks).
24. Gi (Axe).
25. Coúa (Wasp).
_On the river Codaiarí._
26. Corócoró (Green Ibis).
27. Bauhúnas.
28. Tatús (Armadillos).
_On Canísi Paraná._
29. Tenimbúca (Ashes).
_On Jukeíra Paraná._
30. Mucúra (Opossum).
These tribes have almost all of them some peculiarities of language
and customs, but they all go under the general name of “Uaupés,” and
distinguish themselves, as a body, from the inhabitants of other
rivers. Hence the river is called “Rio dos Uaupés” (the River of the
Uaupés), though the proper name of it is “Uacaiarí,” and it is always
so termed by the Indians.
The Uaupés are generally rather tall, five feet nine or ten inches
being not an uncommon height, and they are very stout and well formed.
Their hair is jet-black and straight, only turning grey with extreme
old age. The men do not cut their hair, but gather it behind into a
long tail, bound round with cord, and hanging down to the middle of the
back, and often to the thighs; the hair of the women hangs loose down
their backs, and is cut to a moderate length. The men have very little
beard, and that little they eradicate by pulling it out; men and women
also eradicate the hair of the eyebrows, the arm-pits, and the private
parts. The colour of the skin is a light, uniform, glossy reddish-brown.
They are an agricultural people, having a permanent abode, and
cultivating mandiocca (_Jatropha Manihot_), sugar-cane (_Saccharum
officinarum_), sweet potatoes (_Convolvulus Batatas_), carrá, or
yam (_Dioscorea_ sp.), pupunha palms (_Guilielma speciosa_), cocura
(a fruit like grapes), pine-apples (_Ananassa sativa_), maize (_Zea
Mays_), urucú or arnotto (_Bixa Orellana_), plantains and banánas
(_Musa_ sp.), abios (_Lucuma Caimito_), cashews (_Anacardium
occidentale_), ingás (_Inga_ sp.), peppers (_Capsicum_ sp.), tobacco
(_Nicotiana Tabacum_), and plants for dyes and cordage. All, even in
the most remote districts, have now iron axes and knives, though the
stone axes which they formerly used are still to be found among them.
The men cut down the trees and brush-wood, which, after they have lain
some months to dry, are burnt; and the mandiocca is then planted by
the women, together with little patches of cane, sweet potatoes, and
various fruits. The women also dig up the mandiocca, and prepare from
it the bread which is their main subsistence. The roots are brought
home from the field in large baskets called aturás, made of a climber,
and only manufactured by these tribes; they are then washed and peeled,
this last operation being generally performed with the teeth, after
which they are grated on large wooden graters, about three feet long
and a foot wide, rather concave, and covered all over with small sharp
pieces of quartz, set in in a regular diagonal pattern. These graters
are an article of trade in all the Upper Amazon, as they are cheaper
than the copper graters used in other parts of Brazil. The pulp is
placed to drain on a large sieve made of the bark of a water-plant. It
is then put into a long elastic cylinder made of the outer rind, or
bark, of a climbing palm, a species of _Desmoncus_: this is filled with
the half-dry pulp, and, being hung on a crossbeam between two posts,
is stretched by a lever, on the further end of which the woman sits,
and thus presses out the remaining liquid. These cylinders, called
“tipitis,” are also a considerable article of trade, and the Portuguese
and Brazilians have not yet introduced any substitute for this rude
Indian press. The pulp is then turned out, a dry compact mass, which
is broken up, and the hard lumps and fibres picked out, when it is at
once roasted on large flat ovens from four to six feet in diameter,
with a sloping rim about six inches high. These ovens are well made,
of clay mixed with the ashes of the bark of a tree called “caripé,”
and are supported on walls of mud about two feet high, with a large
opening on one side, to make a fire of logs of wood beneath them. The
mandiocca cakes, or “beijú,” thus prepared, are sweet and agreeable to
the taste; but the Indians generally first soak the roots some days
in water, which softens and ferments them, and gives the bread a sour
taste, much relished by the natives, but not generally so agreeable to
Europeans. The bread is made fresh every day, as when it gets cold and
dry it is far less palatable. The women thus have plenty to do, for
every other day at least they have to go to the field, often a mile or
two distant, to fetch the root, and every day to grate, prepare, and
bake the bread; as it forms by far the greater part of their food, and
they often pass days without eating anything else, especially when the
men are engaged in clearing the forest. For the greater part of the
year however the men go daily to fish, and at these times they have
a good supply of this their favourite food. Meat and game they only
eat occasionally; they prefer jabutís, or land-tortoises, monkeys,
inambus (_Tinamus_ sp.), toucans, and the smaller species of wild pig
(_Dicotyles torquatus_). But they will not eat the large wild pig (_D.
labiatus_), the anta (_Tapirus Americanus_), or the white-rumped mutun
(_Crax globicera?_). They consume great quantities of peppers (species
of _Capsicum_), preferring the small red ones, which are of excessive
pungency: when they have no fish, they boil several pounds of these
peppers in a little water, and dip their bread into the fiery soup thus
formed.
The poisonous juice expressed from the mandiocca root, when fermented
and boiled in various ways, forms sauces and peculiarly flavoured
drinks, of which they are very fond. In making their bread they have a
peculiarity, not noticed among the neighbouring tribes, of extracting
pure tapioca from the mandiocca, and, by mixing this with the ordinary
pulp, forming a very superior cake.
They use plantains extensively, eating them as a fruit, and making a
mingau, or gruel, by boiling and beating them up into a pulp, which
is a very agreeable food. From the fruits of the Baccába, Patawá, and
Assai palms (_Œnocarpus Baccaba_, _Œ. Batawa_, and _Euterpe oleracea_
and allied species), they produce wholesome and nourishing drinks.
Besides these they make much use of sweet potatoes, yams, roasted
corn, and many forest fruits, from all of which, and from mandiocca
cakes, they make fermented drinks, which go under the general name
of “caxirí.” That made from the mandiocca is the most agreeable,
and much resembles good table-beer. At their feasts and dances they
consume immense quantities of it, and it does not seem to produce any
bad effects. They also use, on these occasions, an intensely exciting
preparation of the root of a climber,—it is called capí, and the manner
of using it I have described in my Narrative (page 298).
The weapons of these Indians are bows and arrows, gravatánas, lances,
clubs, and also small hand-nets, and rods and lines, for catching fish.
Their bows are of different kinds of hard elastic wood, well made,
and from five to six feet long. The string is either of the “tucum”
leaf fibre (_Astrocaryum vulgare_), or of the inner bark of trees
called “tururi.” The arrows are of various kinds, from five to seven
feet long. The shaft is made of the flower-stalk of the arrow-grass
(_Gynerium saccharinum_). In the war-arrows, or “curubís,” the head is
made of hard wood, carefully pointed, and by some tribes armed with
the serrated spine of the rayfish: it is thickly anointed with poison,
and notched in two or three places so as to break off in the wound.
Arrows for shooting fish are now almost always made with iron heads,
sold by the traders, but many still use heads made of monkeys’ bones,
with a barb, to retain a hold of the fish: the iron heads are bent at
an angle, so that the lower part projects and forms a barb, and are
securely fastened on with twine and pitch. Lighter arrows are made for
shooting birds and other small game, and these alone are feathered
at the base. The feathers generally used are from the wings of the
macaw, and, in putting them on, the Indian shows his knowledge of the
principle which is applied in the spirally-grooved rifle-barrel: three
feathers are used, and they are all secured spirally, so as to form a
little screw on the base of the arrow, the effect of which of course
must be, that the arrow revolves rapidly in its onward progress, and
this no doubt tends to keep it in a direct course.
The gravatána and small poisoned arrows are made and used exactly as I
have already described in my Narrative (page 215).
The small hand-nets used for catching fish are of two kinds,—a small
ring-net, like a landing-net, and one spread between two slender
sticks, just like the large folding-nets of entomologists: these are
much used in the rapids, and among rocks and eddies, and numbers
of fish are caught with them. They also use the rod and line, and
consume an enormous quantity of hooks: there are probably not less
than a hundred thousand fishhooks sold every year in the river Uaupés;
yet there are still many of their own hooks, ingeniously made of
palm-spines, to be found among them. They have many other ways of
catching fish: one is by a small cone of wicker, called a “matapí,”
which is placed in some little current in the gapó; the larger end
is entirely open, and it appears at first sight quite incapable of
securing the fish, yet it catches great quantities, for when the fish
get in they have no room to turn round, and cannot swim backwards,
and three or four are often found jammed in the end of these little
traps, with the scales and skin quite rubbed off their heads by their
vain endeavours to proceed onwards. Other matapís are larger and more
cylindrical, with a reversed conical mouth (as in our wire rat-traps),
to prevent the return of the fish: these are often made of a very large
size, and are placed in little forest-streams, and in narrow channels
between rocks, where the fish, in passing up, must enter them. But
the best method of procuring fish, and that which has been generally
adopted by the Europeans in the country, is with the Cacoaries, or
fish-weirs. These are principally used at high-water, when fish are
scarce: they are formed at the margin of rivers, supported by strong
posts, which are securely fixed at the time of low-water, when the
place of the weir is quite dry; to these posts is secured a high fence
of split palm-stems, forming an entering angle, with a narrow opening
into a fenced enclosure. Fish almost always travel against the stream,
and generally abound more at the sides where the current is less rapid:
they are guided by the side-wings of the weir into the narrow opening,
from which they cannot find their way out. They are obtained by diving
into the weir, and then catching them with the pisá (small net), or
with the hand, or sticking them with a knife. In these cacoaries every
kind of fish is caught, from the largest to the smallest, as well as
river tortoises and turtles. The Indian generally feels about well
with a rod before entering a cacoarí, to ascertain if it contains an
electrical eel, in which case he gets it out first with a net. The
Piránhas, species of _Serrasalmo_, are also rather dangerous, for I
have seen an Indian boy return from the cacoary with his finger bitten
off by one of them.
The “Geraú,” is yet on a larger scale than the Cacoarí. It is used only
in the cataracts, and is very similar to the eel-traps used at mills
and sluices in England. It is a large wooden sieve, supported in the
midst of a cataract, so that the full force of the water dashes through
it. All the fish which are carried down by the violence of the current
are here caught, and their numbers are often so great as to supply a
whole village with food. At many of the falls on the Uaupés, they make
these geraús, which require the united exertions of the inhabitants to
construct them; huge timbers having to be planted in every crevice of
the rocks, to withstand the strength of the torrent of water brought
down by the winter’s floods.
All the fish not used at the time are placed on a little platform of
sticks, over the fire, till they are so thoroughly dried and imbued
with smoke, as to keep good any length of time. They are then used for
voyages, and to sell to travellers, but, having no salt, are a very
tasteless kind of food.
Salt is not so much sought after by these Indians as by many other
tribes; for they will generally prefer fishhooks and beads in payment
for any articles you may purchase of them. Peppers seem to serve them
in place of salt. They do however extract from the fruits of the Inajá
palm (_Maximiliana regia_) and the Jará palm (_Leopoldinia major_), and
also from the Carurú (a species of _Lacis_ very common on the rocks in
the falls), a kind of flour which has a saline taste, and with which
they season their food. The Carurú indeed has quite the smell of salt
water, and is excellent eating, both boiled as a vegetable, or with oil
and vinegar as a salad.
All the tribes of the Uaupés construct their dwellings after one plan,
which is peculiar to them. Their houses are the abode of numerous
families, sometimes of a whole tribe. The plan is a parallelogram, with
a semicircle at one end. The dimensions of one at Jauarité were one
hundred and fifteen feet in length, by seventy-five broad, and about
thirty high. This house would hold about a dozen families, consisting
of near a hundred individuals. In times of feasts and dances, three or
four hundred are accommodated in them. The roof is supported on fine
cylindrical columns, formed of the trunks of trees, and beautifully
straight and smooth. In the centre a clear opening is left, twenty
feet wide, and on the sides are little partitions of palm-leaf thatch,
dividing off rooms for the separate families: here are kept the private
household utensils, weapons, and ornaments; while the rest of the
space contains, on each side, the large ovens and gigantic pans for
making caxirí, and, in the centre, a place for the children to play,
and for their dances to take place. These houses are built with much
labour and skill; the main supporters, beams, rafters, and other parts,
are straight, well proportioned to the strength required, and bound
together with split creepers, in a manner that a sailor would admire.
The thatch is of the leaf of some one of the numerous palms so well
adapted to the purpose, and is laid on with great compactness and
regularity. The walls, which are very low, are formed also of palm
thatch, but so thick and so well bound together, that neither arrow nor
bullet will penetrate it. At the gable-end is a large doorway, about
six feet wide and eight or ten high: the door is a large palm-mat,
hung from the top, supported by a pole during the day, and let down at
night. At the semicircular end is a smaller door, which is the private
entrance of the Tushaúa, or chief, to whom this part of the house
exclusively belongs. The lower part of the gable-end, on each side of
the entrance, is covered with the thick bark of a tree unrolled, and
standing vertically. Above this is a loose hanging of palm-leaves,
between the fissures of which the smoke from the numerous fires within
finds an exit. In some cases this gable-end is much ornamented with
symmetrical figures painted in colours, as at Carurú caxoeira.
The furniture consists principally of maqueiras, or hammocks, made
of string, twisted from the fibres of the leaves of the _Mauritia
flexuosa_: they are merely an open network of parallel threads, crossed
by others at intervals of a foot; the loops at each end have a cord
passed through them, by which they are hung up. The Uaupés make great
quantities of string of this and other fibres, twisting it on their
breasts or thighs, with great rapidity.
They have always in their houses a large supply of earthen pots, pans,
pitchers, and cooking utensils, of various sizes, which they make of
clay from the river and brooks, mixed with the ashes of the caripé
bark, and baked in a temporary furnace. They have also great quantities
of small saucer-shaped baskets, called “Balaios,” which are much
esteemed down the river, and are the subject of a considerable trade.
Two tribes in the lower part of the river, the Tariános and Tucános,
make a curious little stool, cut of a solid block of wood, and neatly
painted and varnished; these, which take many days to finish, are sold
for about a pennyworth of fish-hooks.
Their canoes are all made out of a single tree, hollowed and forced
open by the cross-benches; they are very thick in the middle, to resist
the wear and tear they are exposed to among the rocks and rapids; they
are often forty feet long, but smaller ones are generally preferred.
The paddles are about three feet long, with an oval blade, and are each
cut out of one piece of wood.
These people are as free from the encumbrances of dress as it is
possible to conceive. The men wear only a small piece of tururí passed
between the legs, and twisted on to a string round the loins. Even such
a costume as this is dispensed with by the women: they have no dress
or covering whatever, but are entirely naked. This is the universal
custom among the Uaupés Indians, from which, in a state of nature, they
never depart. Paint, with these people, seems to be looked upon as a
sufficient clothing; they are never without it on some part of their
bodies, but it is at their festivals that they exhibit all their art in
thus decorating their persons: the colours they use are red, yellow,
and black, and they dispose them generally in regular patterns, similar
to those with which they ornament their stools, their canoes, and other
articles of furniture.
They pour the juice of a tree, which stains a deep blue-black, on
their heads, and let it run in streams all down their backs; and the
red and yellow are often disposed in large round spots upon the cheeks
and forehead.
The use of ornaments and trinkets of various kinds is almost confined
to the men. The women wear a bracelet on the wrists, but none on the
neck, and no comb in the hair; they have a garter below the knee, worn
tight from infancy, for the purpose of swelling out the calf, which
they consider a great beauty. While dancing in their festivals, the
women wear a small tanga, or apron, made of beads, prettily arranged:
it is only about six inches square, but is never worn at any other
time, and immediately the dance is over, it is taken off.
The men, on the other hand, have the hair carefully parted and combed
on each side, and tied in a queue behind. In the young men, it hangs in
long locks down their necks, and, with the comb, which is invariably
carried stuck in the top of the head, gives to them a most feminine
appearance: this is increased by the large necklaces and bracelets of
beads, and the careful extirpation of every symptom of beard. Taking
these circumstances into consideration, I am strongly of opinion
that the story of the Amazons has arisen from these feminine-looking
warriors encountered by the early voyager. I am inclined to this
opinion, from the effect they first produced on myself, when it was
only by close examination I saw that they were men; and, were the
front parts of their bodies and their breasts covered with shields,
such as they always use, I am convinced any person seeing them for the
first time would conclude they were women. We have only therefore to
suppose that tribes having similar customs to those now existing on the
river Uaupés, inhabited the regions where the Amazons were reported
to have been seen, and we have a rational explanation of what has so
much puzzled all geographers. The only objection to this explanation
is, that traditions are said to exist among the natives, of a nation
of “women without husbands.” Of this tradition however I was myself
unable to obtain any trace, and I can easily imagine it entirely to
have arisen from the suggestions and inquiries of Europeans themselves.
When the story of the Amazons was first made known, it became of course
a point with all future travellers to verify it, or if possible get
a glimpse of these warlike ladies. The Indians must no doubt have
been overwhelmed with questions and suggestions about them, and they,
thinking that the white men must know best, would transmit to their
descendants and families the idea that such a nation did exist in some
distant part of the country. Succeeding travellers, finding traces of
this idea among the Indians, would take it as a proof of the existence
of the Amazons; instead of being merely the effect of a mistake at
the first, which had been unknowingly spread among them by preceding
travellers, seeking to obtain some evidence on the subject.
In my communications and inquiries among the Indians on various
matters, I have always found the greatest caution necessary, to prevent
one’s arriving at wrong conclusions. They are always apt to affirm
that which they see you wish to believe, and, when they do not at
all comprehend your question, will unhesitatingly answer, “Yes.” I
have often in this manner obtained, as I thought, information, which
persons better acquainted with the facts have assured me was quite
erroneous. These observations however must only be taken to apply
to those almost uncivilized nations who do not understand, at all
clearly, any language in which you can communicate with them. On what
is obtained from Indians speaking Portuguese readily, I have always
been able to rely, and I believe that much trustworthy information
can be obtained from them. Such however is not the case with the wild
tribes, who are totally incapable of understanding any connected
sentence of the language in which they are addressed; and I fear the
story of the Amazons must be placed with those of the wild man-monkeys,
which Humboldt mentions and which tradition I also met with, and
of the “curupíra,” or demon of the woods, and “carbunculo,” of the
Upper Amazon and Peru; but of which superstitions we have no such
satisfactory elucidations as I think has been now given of the warlike
Amazons.
To return to our Uaupés Indians and their toilet. We find their daily
costume enlivened with a few other ornaments; a circlet of parrots’
tail-feathers is generally worn round the head, and the cylindrical
white quartz-stone, already described in my Narrative (p. 278), is
invariably carried on the breast, suspended from a necklace of black
seeds.
At festivals and dances they decorate themselves with a complicated
costume of feather head-dresses, cinctures, armlets, and leg ornaments,
which I have sufficiently described in the account of their dances (p.
296).
We will now describe some peculiarities connected with their births,
marriages, and deaths.
The women are generally delivered in the house, though sometimes in the
forest. When a birth takes place in the house, everything is taken out
of it, even the pans and pots, and bows and arrows, till the next day;
the mother takes the child to the river and washes herself and it, and
she generally remains in the house, not doing any work, for four or
five days.
The children, more particularly the females, are restricted to a
particular food: they are not allowed to eat the meat of any kind
of game, nor of fish, except the very small bony kinds; their food
principally consisting of mandiocca-cake and fruits.
On the first signs of puberty in the girls, they have to undergo an
ordeal. For a month previously, they are kept secluded in the house,
and allowed only a small quantity of bread and water. All relatives
and friends of the parents are then assembled, bringing, each of them,
pieces of “sipó” (an elastic climber); the girl is then brought out,
perfectly naked, into the midst of them, when each person present
gives her five or six severe blows with the sipó across the back and
breast, till she falls senseless, and it sometimes happens, dead. If
she recovers, it is repeated four times, at intervals of six hours,
and it is considered an offence to the parents not to strike hard.
During this time numerous pots of all kinds of meat and fish have been
prepared, when the sipós are dipped in them and given to her to lick,
and she is then considered a woman, and allowed to eat anything, and is
marriageable.
The boys undergo a somewhat similar ordeal, but not so severe; which
initiates them into manhood, and allows them to see the Juruparí music,
which will be presently described.
Tattooing is very little practised by these Indians; they all however
have a row of circular punctures along the arm, and one tribe, the
Tucános, are distinguished from the rest by three vertical blue
lines on the chin; and they also pierce the lower lip, through which
they hang three little threads of white beads. All the tribes bore
their ears, and wear in them little pieces of grass, ornamented with
feathers. The Cobeus alone expand the hole to so large a size, that a
bottle-cork could be inserted: they ordinarily wear a plug of wood in
it, but, on festas, insert a little bunch of arrows.
The men generally have but one wife, but there is no special limit, and
many have two or three, and some of the chiefs more; the elder one is
never turned away, but remains the mistress of the house. They have no
particular ceremony at their marriages, except that of always carrying
away the girl by force, or making a show of doing so, even when she and
her parents are quite willing. They do not often marry with relations,
or even neighbours,—preferring those from a distance, or even from
other tribes. When a young man wishes to have the daughter of another
Indian, his father sends a message to say he will come with his son and
relations to visit him. The girl’s father guesses what it is for, and,
if he is agreeable, makes preparations for a grand festival: it lasts
perhaps two or three days, when the bridegroom’s party suddenly seize
the bride, and hurry her off to their canoes; no attempt is made to
prevent them, and she is then considered as married.
Some tribes, as the Uacarrás, have a trial of skill at shooting with
the bow and arrow, and if the young man does not show himself a good
marksman, the girl refuses him, on the ground that he will not be able
to shoot fish and game enough for the family.
The dead are almost always buried in the houses, with their bracelets,
tobacco-bag, and other trinkets upon them: they are buried the same day
they die, the parents and relations keeping up a continual mourning and
lamentation over the body, from the death to the time of interment;
a few days afterwards, a great quantity of caxirí is made, and all
friends and relatives invited to attend, to mourn for the dead, and to
dance, sing, and cry to his memory. Some of the large houses have more
than a hundred graves in them, but when the houses are small, and very
full, the graves are made outside.
The Tariánas and Tucános, and some other tribes, about a month after
the funeral, disinter the corpse, which is then much decomposed, and
put it in a great pan, or oven, over the fire, till all the volatile
parts are driven off with a most horrible odour, leaving only a black
carbonaceous mass, which is pounded into a fine powder, and mixed in
several large couchés (vats made of hollowed trees) of caxirí: this is
drunk by the assembled company till all is finished; they believe that
thus the virtues of the deceased will be transmitted to the drinkers.
The Cobeus alone, in the Uaupés, are real cannibals: they eat those
of other tribes, whom they kill in battle, and even make war for the
express purpose of procuring human flesh for food. When they have more
than they can consume at once, they smoke-dry the flesh over the fire,
and preserve it for food a long time. They burn their dead, and drink
the ashes in caxirí, in the same manner as described above.
Every tribe and every “malocca” (as their houses are called) has its
chief, or “Tushaúa,” who has a limited authority over them, principally
in war, in making festivals, and in repairing the malocca and keeping
the village clean, and in planting the mandiocca-fields; he also treats
with the traders, and supplies them with men to pursue their journeys.
The succession of these chiefs is strictly hereditary in the male line,
or through the female to her husband, who may be a stranger: their
regular hereditary chief is never superseded, however stupid, dull, or
cowardly he may be. They have very little law of any kind; but what
they have is of strict retaliation,—an eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth; and a murder is punished or revenged in the same manner and by
the same weapon with which it was committed.
They have numerous “Pagés,” a kind of priests, answering to the
“medicine-men” of the North American Indians. These are believed to
have great power: they cure all diseases by charms, applied by strong
blowing and breathing upon the party to be cured, and by the singing of
certain songs and incantations. They are also believed to have power
to kill enemies, to bring or send away rain, to destroy dogs or game,
to make the fish leave a river, and to afflict with various diseases.
They are much consulted and believed in, and are well paid for their
services. An Indian will give almost all his wealth to a pagé, when he
is threatened with any real or imaginary danger.
They scarcely seem to think that death can occur naturally, always
imputing it either to direct poisoning or the charms of some enemy,
and, on this supposition, will proceed to revenge it. This they
generally do by poisons, of which they have many which are most deadly
in their effects: they are given at some festival in a bowl of caxirí,
which it is good manners always to empty, so that the whole dose is
sure to be taken. One of the poisons often used is most terrible in
its effects, causing the tongue and throat, as well as the intestines,
to putrefy and rot away, so that the sufferer lingers some days in the
greatest agony: this is of course again retaliated, on perhaps the
wrong party, and thus a long succession of murders may result from a
mere groundless suspicion in the first instance.
I cannot make out that they have any belief that can be called a
religion. They appear to have no definite idea of a God; if asked who
they think made the rivers, and the forests, and the sky, they will
reply that they do not know, or sometimes that they suppose it was
“Tupánau,” a word that appears to answer to God, but of which they
understand nothing. They have much more definite ideas of a bad spirit,
“Juruparí,” or Devil, whom they fear, and endeavour through their pagés
to propitiate. When it thunders, they say the “Juruparí” is angry, and
their idea of natural death is that the Juruparí kills them. At an
eclipse they believe that this bad spirit is killing the moon, and
they make all the noise they can to frighten him away.
One of their most singular superstitions is about the musical
instruments they use at their festivals, which they call the Juruparí
music. They consist of eight or sometimes twelve pipes, or trumpets,
made of bamboos or palm-stems hollowed out, some with trumpet-shaped
mouths of bark and with mouth-holes of clay and leaf. Each pair
of instruments gives a distinct note, and they produce a rather
agreeable concert, something resembling clarionets and bassoons. These
instruments however are with them such a mystery, that no woman must
ever see them, on pain of death. They are always kept in some igaripé,
at a distance from the malocca, whence they are brought on particular
occasions: when the sound of them is heard approaching, every woman
retires into the woods, or into some adjoining shed, which they
generally have near, and remains invisible till after the ceremony is
over, when the instruments are taken away to their hiding-place, and
the women come out of their concealment. Should any female be supposed
to have seen them, either by accident or design, she is invariably
executed, generally by poison, and a father will not hesitate to
sacrifice his daughter, or a husband his wife, on such an occasion.
They have many other prejudices with regard to women. They believe that
if a woman, during her pregnancy, eats of any meat, any other animal
partaking of it will suffer: if a domestic animal or tame bird, it
will die; if a dog, it will be for the future incapable of hunting;
and even a man will be unable to shoot that particular kind of game
for the future. An Indian, who was one of my hunters, caught a fine
cock of the rock, and gave it to his wife to feed, but the poor woman
was obliged to live herself on cassava-bread and fruits, and abstain
entirely from all animal food, peppers, and salt, which it was believed
would cause the bird to die; notwithstanding all precautions however
the bird did die, and the woman got a beating from her husband, because
he thought she had not been sufficiently rigid in her abstinence from
the prohibited articles.
Most of these peculiar practices and superstitions are retained with
much tenacity, even by those Indians who are nominally civilized and
Christian, and many of them have been even adopted by the Europeans
resident in the country: there are actually Portuguese in the Rio Negro
who fear the power of the Indian pagés, and who fully believe and act
on all the Indian superstitions respecting women.
The river Uaupés is the channel by which European manufactures find
their way into the extensive and unknown regions between the Rio
Guaviare on the one side, and the Japurá on the other. About a thousand
pounds’ worth of goods enter the Uaupés yearly, mostly in axes,
cutlasses, knives, fish-hooks, arrow-heads, salt, mirrors, beads, and a
few cottons.
The articles given in exchange are salsaparilha, pitch, farinha,
string, hammocks, and Indian stools, baskets, feather ornaments, and
curiosities. The salsaparilha is by far the most valuable product, and
is the only one exported. Great quantities of articles of European
manufacture are exchanged by the Indians with those of remote
districts, for the salsa, which they give to the traders; and thus
numerous tribes, among whom no civilized man has ever yet penetrated,
are well supplied with iron goods, and send the product of their labour
to European markets.
[Illustration: _Plate V._
_a. Mandiocca grater._
_b. Oven._
_c. Fire place._
_d. Basket._
A. R. Wallace, del. et. lith. F. Reeve, imp.]
In order to give some idea of the state of industry and the arts among
these people, I subjoin a list of articles which I collected when among
them, to illustrate their manners, customs, and state of civilization,
but which were unfortunately all lost on my passage home.
LIST OF ARTICLES MANUFACTURED BY THE INDIANS
OF THE RIO DOS UAUPÉS.
_Household Furniture and Utensils._
1. Hammocks, or maqueiras, of palm-fibre, of various materials,
colours, and texture.
2. Small wooden stools, of various sizes, painted and varnished. (Plate
VI. _d._)
3. Flat baskets of plaited bark, in regular patterns and of various
colours.
4. Deeper baskets, called “Aturás.” (Plate V. _d._)
5. Calabashes and gourds, of various shapes and sizes.
6. Water-pitchers of earthenware.
7. Pans of earthenware for cooking.
_Articles used in the Manufacture of Mandiocca Bread._
8. Mandiocca graters, of quartz fragments set in wood. (Plate V. _a._)
9. Tipitis, or wicker elastic pressure cylinders.
10. Wicker sieves for straining the pulp.
11. Ovens for roasting cassava-bread and farinha. (Plate V. _b._)
12. Plaited fans for blowing the fire and turning the cakes.
_Weapons used in War, Hunting, and Fishing._
13. Bows of various woods and different sizes.
14. Quivers of curabís, or poisoned war-arrows.
15. Arrows with heads of monkey-bones.
16. Arrows, with iron heads, for shooting fish.
17. Gravatánas, or blow-tubes, from eight to fourteen feet long.
18. Wicker and wooden quivers, with poisoned arrows for them.
19. Small pots and calabashes, with the curarí or ururí poison.
20. Large carved clubs of hard wood.
21. Carved and feather ornamented lances.
22. Large circular shields of wicker-work.
23. Ditto, covered with tapir’s skin.
24. Nets for fishing (Pisás).
25. Rod and line for fishing.
26. Palm-spine fish-hooks.
27. Small wicker traps for catching fish (Matapís).
_Musical Instruments._
28. A small drum.
29. Eight large trumpets, the Juruparí music.
30. Numerous fifes and flutes of reeds.
31. Fifes made of deer-bones.
31*. Whistle of a deer’s skulk
32. Vibrating instruments of tortoise and turtle shells.
[Illustration: _Plate VI._
_a. Comb._
_b. Cigar holder._
_c. Rattle._
_d. Stool._
A. R. Wallace, del. et. lith. F. Reeve, imp.]
_Ornaments, Dress, and Miscellaneous._
33. About twenty distinct articles, forming the feather head-dress.
34. Combs of palm-wood, ornamented with feathers. (Plate VI. _a._)
35. Necklaces of seeds and beads.
36. Bored cylindrical quartz-stone.
37. Copper earrings, and wooden plugs for the ears.
38. Armlet of feathers, beads, seeds, etc.
39. Girdle of jaguars’ teeth.
40. Numbers of cords, made of the “coroá” fibre, mixed with the hair of
monkeys and jaguars,—making a soft elastic cord used for binding up the
hair, and various purposes of ornament.
41. Painted aprons, or “tangas,” made from the inner bark of a tree.
42. Women’s bead tangas.
43. Battles and ornaments for the legs.
44. Garters strongly knitted of “coroá.”
45. Packages and carved calabashes, filled with a red pigment called
“crajurú.”
46. Large cloths of prepared bark.
47. Very large carved wooden forks for holding cigars. (Plate VI. _b._)
48. Large cigars used at festivals.
49. Spathes of the Bussu palm (_Manicaria saccifera_), used for
preserving feather-ornaments, etc.
50. Square mats.
51. Painted earthen pot, used for holding the “capi” at festivals.
52. Small pot of dried peppers.
53. Rattles used in dancing, formed of calabashes, carved, and
ornamented with small stones inside. (Plate VI. _c._) (Maracás.)
54. Painted dresses of prepared bark (tururí).
55. Balls of string, of various materials and degrees of fineness.
56. Bottle-shaped baskets, for preserving the edible ants.
57. Tinder-boxes of bamboo carved, and filled with tinder from an ant’s
nest.
58. Small canoe hollowed from a tree.
59. Paddles used with ditto.
60. Triangular tool, used for making the small stools.
61. Pestles and mortars, used for pounding peppers and tobacco.
62. Bark bag, full of summaúma, the silk-cotton of a _Bombax_, used for
making blowing-arrows.
63. Chest of plaited palm-leaves, used for holding feather-ornaments.
64. Stone axes, used before the introduction of iron.
65. Clay cylinders, for supporting cooking utensils. (Plate V. _c._)[2]
[2] Specimens of Nos. 1, 2, 3, 9, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 21, 34, 36,
41, 47, 49, and 63, of this list, have been sent home by my friend
R. Spruce, Esq., and may be seen in the very interesting Museum at
the Royal Botanical Gardens, at Kew.
* * * * *
The Indians of the river Isánna are few in comparison with those of the
Uaupés, the river not being so large or so productive of fish.
The tribes are named—
Baníwas, or Manívas (Mandiocca).
Arikénas.
Bauatánas.
Ciuçí (Stars).
Coatí (the _Nasua coatimundi_).
Juruparí (Devils).
Ipéca (Ducks).
Papunauás, the name of a river, a tributary of the Guaviáre, but which
has its sources close to the Isánna.
These tribes are much alike in all their customs, differing only in
their languages; as a whole however they offer remarkable points of
difference from those of the river Uaupés.
In stature and appearance they are very similar, but they have rather
more beard, and do not pull out the hair of the body and face, and
they cut the hair of their head with a knife, or, wanting that, with a
hard sharp grass. Thus, the absence of the long queue of hair forms a
striking characteristic difference in their appearance.
In their dress they differ in the women always wearing a small tanga
of turúri, instead of going perfectly naked, as among the Uaupés; they
also wear more necklaces and bracelets, and the men fewer, and the
latter do not make use of so many feather-ornaments and decorations in
their festivals.
Each family has a separate house, which is small, of a square shape,
and possesses both a door and windows; and the houses are collected
together in little scattered villages. The Isánna Indians make the
small flat baskets like the Uaupés, but not the stools, nor the aturás,
neither have they the white cylindrical stone which the others so much
esteem. They marry one, two, or three wives, and prefer relations,
marrying with cousins, uncles with nieces, and nephews with aunts,
so that in a village all are connected. The men are more warlike and
morose in their disposition than the Uaupés, by whom they are much
feared. They bury their dead in their houses, and mourn for them a
long time, but make no feast on the occasion. The Isánna Indians are
said not to be nearly so numerous, nor to increase so rapidly, as the
Uaupés; which may perhaps be owing to their marrying with relations,
while the former prefer strangers.
The Arekámas make war against other tribes, to obtain prisoners for
food, like the Cobeus. In their superstitions and religious ideas they
much resemble the Uaupés.
The Macús are one of the lowest and most uncivilized tribes of Indians
in the Amazon district. They inhabit the forests and serras about
the rivers Marié, Curicuriarí, and Urubaxí, and live a wandering
life, having no houses and no fixed place of abode, and of course no
clothing; they have little or no iron, and use the tusks of the wild
pig to scrape and form their bows and arrows, and they make a most
deadly kind of poison to anoint them. At night they sleep on a bundle
of palm-leaves, or stick up a few leaves to make a shed if it rains, or
sometimes, with “sipós,” construct a rude hammock, which however serves
only once. They eat all kinds of birds and fish, roasted or boiled in
palm-spathes; and all sorts of wild fruits.
The Macús often attack the houses of other Indians situated in solitary
places, and murder all the inhabitants; and they have even depopulated
and caused the removal of several villages. All the other tribes of
Indians catch them and keep them as slaves, and in most villages you
will see some of them. They are distinguishable at once from the
surrounding tribes by a wavy and almost curly hair, and by being
rather lanky and ill formed in their limbs: I am inclined however to
think that this latter is partly owing to their mode of life, and the
hardships and exposure they have to undergo; as some that I have seen
in the houses of traders have been as well-formed and handsome as any
of the other Indian tribes.
The Curetús are a nation inhabiting the country about the river
Apaporís, between the Japurá and Uaupés. I met with some Indians of
this tribe on the Rio Negro, and the only peculiarity I observed in
them was, that their cheek-bones were rather more prominent than usual.
From them, and from an Isánna Indian who had visited them, I obtained
some information about their customs.
They wear their hair long like the Uaupés, and, like them, the women
go entirely naked; and they paint their bodies, but do not tattoo.
Their houses are large and circular, with walls of thatch, and a high
conical capped roof, made like some chimney-pots, with the upper part
overlapping, so as to let the smoke escape without allowing the rain
to enter. They do not wander about, but reside in small permanent
villages, governed by a chief, and are said to be long-lived and very
peaceable, never quarrelling or making war with other nations. The men
have but one wife. There are no pagés, or priests, among them, and they
have no ideas of a superior Being. They cultivate mandiocca, maize,
and other fruits, and use game more than fish for food. No civilized
man has ever been among them, so they have no salt, and a very scanty
supply of iron, and obtain fire by friction. It is said also that they
differ from most other tribes in making no intoxicating drinks. Their
language is full of harsh and aspirated sounds, and is somewhat allied
to those of the Tucanos and Cobeus among the Uaupés.
In the lower part of the Japurá reside the “Uaenambeus,” or
Humming-bird Indians. I met with some of them in the Rio Negro, and
obtained some information as to their customs and language. In most
particulars they much resemble the last-mentioned tribe, particularly
in their circular houses, their food, and mode of life. Like them they
weave the fibres of the Tucúm palm-leaf (_Astrocaryum vulgare_) to make
their hammocks, whereas the Uaupés and Isánna Indians always use the
leaf of the Mirití (_Mauritia flexuosa_). They are distinguished from
other tribes by a small blue mark on the upper lips. They have from one
to four wives, and the women always wear a small apron of bark.
Closely allied to these, are the Jurís of the Solimões, between the
Iça and Japurá. A number of them have migrated to the Rio Negro, and
become settled and partly civilized there. They are remarkable for a
custom of tattooing in a circle (not in a square, as in a plate in Dr.
Prichard’s work,) round the mouth, so as exactly to resemble the little
black-mouthed squirrel-monkeys (_Callithrix sciureus_); from this
cause they are often called the Juripixúnas (Black Juris), or by the
Brazilians “Bocapreitos” (Black-mouths). From this, strange errors have
arisen: we find in some maps the note “Juries, curly-haired Negroes,”
whereas they are pure straight-haired Indians. They are good servants
for canoe and agricultural work, and are the most skilful of all in
the use of the gravatána, or blow-pipe.
In the same neighbourhood are Miránhas, who are cannibals; and the
Ximánas and Cauxánas, who kill all their first-born children: in fact,
between the Upper Amazon, the Guaviare, and the Andes, there is a
region as large as England, whose inhabitants are entirely uncivilized
and unknown.
On the south side of the Amazon also, between the Madeira and the
Uaycáli, and extending to the Andes of Peru and Bolivia, is a still
larger tract of unknown virgin forest, uninhabited by a single
civilized man: here reside numerous nations of the native American
race, known only by the reports of the border tribes, who form the
communication between them and the traders of the great rivers.
One of the best-known and most regularly visited rivers of this great
tract is the Purús, whose mouth is a short distance above the Rio
Negro, but whose sources a three months’ voyage does not reach. Of the
Indians found on the banks of this river I have been able to get some
information.
Five tribes are met with by the traders:—
1. Múras, from the mouth to sixteen days’ voyage up.
2. Purupurús, from thence to about thirty days’ voyage up.
3. Catauxís, in the district of the Purupurús, but in the igaripés and
lakes inland.
4. Jamamarís, inland on the west bank.
5. Jubirís, on the river-banks above the Purupurús.
The Múras are rather a tall race, have a good deal of beard for
Indians, and the hair of the head is slightly crisp and wavy. They used
formerly to go naked, but now the men all wear trowsers and shirts,
and the women petticoats. Their houses are grouped together in small
villages, and are scarcely ever more than a roof supported on posts;
very rarely do they take the trouble to build any walls. They make
no hammocks, but hang up three bands of a bark called “invíra,” on
which they sleep; but the more civilized now purchase of the traders,
hammocks made by other Indians. They practise scarcely any cultivation,
except sometimes a little mandiocca, but generally live on wild fruits,
and abundance of fish and game: their food is entirely produced by the
river, consisting of the _Manatus_, or cow-fish, which is as good as
beef, turtles, and various kinds of fish, all of which are in great
abundance, so that the traders say there are no people who live so
well as the Múras; they have therefore no occasion for gravatánas,
which they do not make, but have a great variety of bows and arrows
and harpoons, and construct very good canoes. They now all cut their
hair; the old men have a large hole in their lower lip filled up with
a piece of wood, but this custom is now disused. Each man has two
or three wives, but there is no ceremony of marriage; and they bury
their dead sometimes in the house, but more commonly outside, and put
all the goods of the deceased upon his grave. The women use necklaces
and bracelets of beads, and the men tie the seeds of the India-rubber
tree to their legs when they dance. Each village has a Tushaúa: the
succession is hereditary, but the chief has very little power. They
have pagés, whom they believe to have much skill, and are afraid of,
and pay well. They were formerly very warlike, and made many attacks
upon the Europeans, but are now much more peaceful; and are the most
skilful of all Indians in shooting turtles and fish, and in catching
the cow-fish. They still use their own language among themselves,
though they also understand the Lingoa Geral. The white traders obtain
from them salsaparilha, oil from turtles’ eggs and the cow-fish,
Brazil-nuts, and estopa, which is the bark of the young Brazil-nut tree
(_Bertholletia excelsa_), used extensively for caulking canoes; and pay
them in cotton goods, harpoon and arrow-heads, hooks, beads, knives,
cutlasses, etc.
The next tribe, the Purupurús, are in many respects very peculiar, and
differ remarkably in their habits from any other nation we have yet
described. They call themselves Pamouirís, but are always called by the
Brazilians Purupurús, a name also applied to a peculiar disease, with
which they are almost all afflicted: this consists in the body being
spotted and blotched with white, brown, or nearly black patches, of
irregular size and shape, and having a very disagreeable appearance:
when young, their skins are clear, but as they grow up, they invariably
become more or less spotted. Other Indians are sometimes seen afflicted
in this manner, and they are then said to have the Purupurú; though
it does not appear whether the disease is called after the tribe of
Indians who are most subject to it, or the Indians after the disease.
Some say that the word is Portuguese, but this seems to be a mistake.
The Purupurús, men and women, go perfectly naked; and their houses
are of the rudest construction, being semicylindrical, like those
of our gipsies, and so small, as to be set up on the sandy beaches,
and carried away in their canoes whenever they wish to move. These
canoes are of the rudest construction, having a flat bottom and
upright sides,—a mere square box, and quite unlike those of all other
Indians. But what distinguishes them yet more from their neighbours
is, that they use neither the gravatána, nor bow and arrows, but have
an instrument called a “palheta,” which is a piece of wood with a
projection at the end, to secure the base of the arrow, the middle of
which is held with the handle of the palheta in the hand, and thus
thrown as from a sling: they have a surprising dexterity in the use of
this weapon, and with it readily kill game, birds, and fish.
They grow a few fruits, such as yams and plantains, but seldom have any
mandiocca, and they construct earthen pans to cook in. They sleep in
their houses on the sand of the prayas, making no hammocks or clothing
of any kind; they make no fires in their houses, which are too small,
but are kept warm at night by the number of persons in them. They bore
large holes in the upper and lower lip, in the septum of the nose, and
in the ears; at their festivals they insert in these holes sticks, six
or eight inches long; at other times they have only a short piece in,
to keep them open. In the wet season, when the prayas and banks of the
river are all flooded, they construct rafts, of trunks of trees bound
together with creepers, and on them erect their huts, and live there
till the waters fall again, when they guide their raft to the first
sandy beach that appears.
Little is known of their domestic customs and superstitions. The men
have each but one wife; the dead are buried in the sandy beaches;
and they are not known to have any pagés. A few families only live
together, in little moveable villages, to each of which there is a
Tushaúa. They have, at times, dances and festivals, when they make
intoxicating drinks from wild fruits, and amuse themselves with rude
musical instruments, formed of reeds and bones. They do not use salt,
but prefer payment in fish-hooks, knives, beads, and farinha, for the
salsaparilha and turtle-oil which they sell to the traders.
May not the curious disease, to which they are so subject, be produced
by their habit of constantly sleeping naked on the sand, instead of
in the comfortable, airy, and cleanly hammock, so universally used by
almost every other tribe of Indians in this part of South America?
The Catauixis, though in the immediate neighbourhood of the last, are
very different. They have permanent houses, cultivate mandiocca, sleep
in hammocks, and are clear-skinned. They go naked like the last, but
do not bore holes in their nose and lips; they wear a ring of twisted
hair on their arms and legs. They use bows, arrows, and gravatánas, and
make the ervadúra, or ururí poison. Their canoes are made of the bark
of a tree, taken off entire. They eat principally forest game, tapirs,
monkeys, and large birds; they are however cannibals, killing and
eating any Indians of other tribes they can procure, and they preserve
the meat, smoked and dried. Senhor Domingos, a Portuguese trader up the
river Purús, informed me that he once met a party of them, who felt his
belly and ribs, as a butcher would handle a sheep, and talked much
to each other, apparently intimating that he was fat, and would be
excellent eating.
Of the Jamamarís we have no authentic information, but that they much
resemble the last in their manners and customs, and in their appearance.
The Jubirís are equally unknown; they however most resemble the
Purupurús in their habits and mode of life, and, like them, have their
bodies spotted and mottled, though not to such a great extent.
In the country between the Tapajóz and the Madeira, among the labyrinth
of lakes and channels of the great island of the Tupinambarános, reside
the Mundrucús, the most warlike Indians of the Amazon. These are, I
believe, the only perfectly tattooed nation in South America: the
markings are extended all over the body; they are produced by pricking
with the spines of the pupunha palm, and rubbing in the soot from
burning pitch to produce the indelible bluish tinge.
They make their houses with mud walls, in regular villages. In each
village they have a large building which serves as a kind of barrack,
or fortress, where all the men sleep at night, armed with their bows
and arrows, ready in case of alarm: this house is surrounded within
with dried heads of their enemies: these heads they smoke and dry,
so as to preserve all the features and the hair most perfectly. They
make war every year with an adjoining tribe, the Parentintins, taking
the women and children for slaves, and preserving the heads of the
men. They make good canoes and hammocks. They live principally on
forest-game, and are very agricultural, making quantities of farinha
and growing many fruits. The men have each one wife, and each village
its chief. Cravo or wild nutmegs, and farinha, are the principal
articles of their trade; and they receive in exchange cotton cloth,
iron goods, salt, beads, etc.
In the Rio Branco are numerous tribes, and some of them are said to
practise circumcision.
Others, near the sources of the Tapajóz, make the girls undergo the
same cruel initiation as has been already described as common among the
Uaupés and Isánna Indians.
On the north banks of the Rio Negro are many uncivilized tribes, very
little known.
On the south banks, the Manaós were formerly a very numerous nation. It
appears to have been these tribes who gave rise to the various accounts
of imaginary wealth prevalent soon after the discovery of America: the
whole of them are now civilized, and their blood mingles with that of
some of the best families in the Province of Pará: their language is
said still to exist, and to be spoken by many old persons, but I was
never fortunate enough to meet with any one understanding it.
One of the singular facts connected with these Indians of the Amazon
valley, is the resemblance which exists between some of their customs,
and those of nations most remote from them. The gravatána, or
blow-pipe, reappears in the sumpitan of Borneo; the great houses of
the Uaupés closely resemble those of the Dyaks of the same country;
while many small baskets and bamboo-boxes, from Borneo and New Guinea,
are so similar in their form and construction to those of the Amazon,
that they would be supposed to belong to adjoining tribes. Then
again the Mundrucús, like the Dyaks, take the heads of their enemies,
smoke-dry them with equal care, preserving the skin and hair entire,
and hang them up around their houses. In Australia the throwing-stick
is used; and, on a remote branch of the Amazon, we see a tribe of
Indians differing from all around them, in substituting for the bow a
weapon only found in such a remote portion of the earth, among a people
differing from them in almost every physical character.
It will be necessary to obtain much more information on this subject,
before we can venture to decide whether such similarities show any
remote connection between these nations, or are mere accidental
coincidences, produced by the same wants, acting upon people subject
to the same conditions of climate and in an equally low state of
civilization; and it offers additional matter for the wide-spreading
speculations of the ethnographer.
The main feature in the personal character of the Indians of this part
of South America, is a degree of diffidence, bashfulness, or coldness,
which affects all their actions. It is this that produces their quiet
deliberation, their circuitous way of introducing a subject they have
come to speak about, talking half an hour on different topics before
mentioning it: owing to this feeling, they will run away if displeased,
rather than complain, and will never refuse to undertake what is asked
them, even when they are unable or do not intend to perform it.
It is the same peculiarity which causes the men never to exhibit any
feeling on meeting after a separation; though they have, and show, a
great affection for their children, whom they never part with; nor can
they be induced to do so, even for a short time. They scarcely ever
quarrel among themselves, work hard, and submit willingly to authority.
They are ingenious and skilful workmen, and readily adopt any customs
of civilized life that may be introduced among them; and they seem
capable of being formed, by education and good government, into a
peaceable and civilized community.
This change however will perhaps never take place: they are exposed
to the influence of the refuse of Brazilian society, and will
probably, before many years, be reduced to the condition of the other
half-civilized Indians of the country, who seem to have lost the good
qualities of savage life, and gained only the vices of civilization.
VOCABULARIES
| | | | _Curetú._
_English._ |_Lingoa Geral._| _Uainambeu._ | _Juri._ |(_R. Jupura, and
| | | |R. Apaporis._)
| | | |
1. Man, male |Apegaúa |Achíjari |Tchoucú |Ermeú
2. Woman, female |Cúnha |Ináru |Tchúre |Nomí
3. Boy |Curumí |Maishú |Raiuté |Ing̃ig̃u
4. Girl |Cunhañtáñ |Maishú |Uítemi |Nomi amang̃á
5. Head (my) |Acánga |(Eri)bída |(Tcho)kircú |Cuilrí
6. Mouth (my) |Eúru |(Eri)núma |(Tcho)iá |Dishí
7. Eye (my) |Sésa |(Eri)dóe |(Tcho)ití |Yeëllúh
8. Nose (my) |Etíñ |(Nü)etácu |Youcóne |Ergílli
9. Teeth (my) |Sánha |(Nu)áei |(Tcha)tíkou |Gophpecuh
10. Belly (my) |Maríca |(Nu)cútu |Tura-éh |Tohtóno
11. Arm (my) |Juá |(Eri)bédo |(Tcho)uá |Dicáh
12. Hand (my) |Epó |(Eri)kiápi |(Tcho)upumáu |Muhú
13. Fingers (my) |Pumirí |(Nu)cápi |(Tcho)upeí |Muétshu
14. Toes (my) |Pumirí |(Nu)ipaména |(Tcho)upomórli|Giápa muélshu
15. Foot (my) |Ipi |(Eri)ípa |(Tcho)u-óti |Giápaʰ
16. Bone (my) |Cañéra |(Nu)ápi |(Tcho)uinó |Gnuéh
17. Blood (my) |Tuí |(Nu)ira |Ehcóniᵉʳⁱ |Dií
18. Hunger |Eumasí |Oaríkena | |Yehaurí
19. Thirst |Shauputari i |Macararinuámba| |Deco ilré
|(I want water) | | |
20. Meat |Söó |Irií |Tuóieh |Séheá
21. Fat |Caúa |Kési |Iiá |Giauí
22. Water |I |Uné |Coörá |Deco
23. Farinha |Oí |Cáou |Omohó |Bagarín
24. Language |Henga |Nodásha | |Goco
25. The tongue (my) |Siapecu | |(Tcho)uté |Dolóʳ
26. Tobacco |Pitíma | |Iiyá |
27. Fire |Tatá |Itchípa |Ií |Piúˡre
28. Wind |Oitú |Opírina |Rereáh |Tchultchúe
29. Egg |Supiá |Rëébi |Eaté |Diá
30. Cassava bread |Mehu |Úre |Oró |Baëdéʰ
31. Knife |Kisé |Baá |Iíno |Uipeí
32. Bow |Mirapára |Páro |Mechouaí |Patueipeí
33. Arrow |Juía |Isíepe |Poconé |Garléh
34. Basket |Ursacánga |Caáme |Coömó |Diillú
35. Pan |Panéra |Ítse |Coöwé |Shooló
36. House |Óca |Panísi |Tíno |Ueé
37. Ground |Euípi |Ípai |Péa |Tʰetáh
38. Forest |Caápi |Aapánn |Noiyú |Puú
39. Path |Pé |Idjápu |Nemó |Maá
40. Tree |Mirá |Abána |Noinó |Yabú
41. Grass |Capim (Port.) |Imitsi |Pinóu |Taá
42. Bird |Uerá |Sibéni |Récapu |Mirˡá
43. Fish |Pirá |Idjá |Oöó |Iaú
44. Pig |Taihassú |Capéna |Aáte |Tshetshé
45. Dog |Iaoára |Tchábi |Wéri |Imaᵗsa
46. Banana |Pacóa |Panári |Weramá |Gopeiabúh
47. Fruit |Iuá |Duákisari | |Unhú
48. Leaf |Caá |Aápana |Noiyóu |Giˡrá
49. Bark |Piríra (skin) |Reéma |Coinoá |Peiaposi
50. Hair (my) |Siaúa | |Tikiriú |Phoá
51. Beard (my) |Seniaúa | |(Tch)upéri |Gocolópuáh
52. Cord |Tupasáma |Uádasi |Nepenöólⁱ |Pohnculú
53. Réde |Maquéira |Hamáka |Nebipé |Puú
54. Canoe |Igára |Íta |Noöwú |Cumú
55. Paddle |Apecuitoúa |Déna |Noomé |Ueepihn
56. Sun |Curasé |Camúi |Iyé |Aoué
57. Moon |Iási |Cári |Noimó |Iamímaíga
58. Star |Siúsi |Ibídji |Oúca |Omoari
59. Morning |Coéma |Amáraa | |Uahuhí
60. Evening |Carúka |Daiaábe | |Maigaᵁhúa
61. Day |Ára |Amáraki |Oáh |Ipáni
62. Night |Pitúna |Dapiibé |Epóri |Iamí
63. Father |Paía |Paí i |Háto |Yiupuíh
| | | |
64. Mother |Maía |Ámi |Iyuhó |Maí (?)
| | | |
65. Son |Taiéra |Núiri |Owúye |Simugí
66. Daughter |Taiéra |Núito |Owúye |Noimí
67. Good |Cató |Mísare |Óco |Oá
68. Bad |Púshi |Pítseai |Eéñ |Uelrí
69. Hot |Sacú |Amóiri |Noré |Bicashiá
70. Cold |Erosanga |Ipíriri |Reréya |Bicashushága
71. Long |Pucú |Biáshiri |Meyé |Uadú
72. Short |Iátuca |Adákiri |Erímo |Uawádu
73. Hard |Sañtañ |Tchítchiri |Cowní |Bicádya
74. Soft |Mimbéca |Kidjáma |Coaná |Nilyiyúh
75. White |Murutínga |Áriri |Ahré |Borliéda
76. Black |Pishúna |Tcháriri |Tuyí |Niiyá
77. Red |Piránga |Cáriri |Ahrí |Dianá
78. Yellow |Itaúa |Ebári |Coetí |Ebó
79. One |Iapé |Apári |Comeéh |Tchudyú
80. Two |Mocoín |Matchámi |Paoó |Apaᵈyú
81. Three |Mosapúiri |Matsiáca |Keuyecopáh |Arayú
82. Four |{ }|Apuacápi |Cominó púh |Apaedyái
83. Five |{ }|Adápui |Weuóri |Tchumupá
84. Six |{ The }|Etaípui |Pañinopúh |Tchurutchuarú
85. Seven |{ Portuguese }|Apecápecapisi | |Pahá
86. Eight |{ are used }|Aiapéi aiapéi | |Apamupá
|{ for these }| apaiápesi | |
87. Nine |{ }| | |Apamuparéwa
88. Ten |{ }|Bitchicápesi | |Tchewerá
89. Twenty |{ }|Beitchimacáni | |Tchewerá
90. Give me |Erimehí |Bei nodiá |Etuwáni ere |Heouashú
91. Come here |Júri |Piúca náikeni |Ereiniáh |Uarishá
92. Go |Icóin |Pipína |Imaraíu |Uaiashú
93. Go fetch |Icoin piamo |Piátacuni |Irínecu |Uatá
94. Let us go fetch |Iaso ipiámo |Tcháubitacumi | |Tchemeuacíu
95. Have you water |Ai coe será i |Idjária puníni|Rií |Iasí deco
96. Have you farinha|Ai coe será oi |Idjaria cáou | |Iasí bagaría
97. I am ill |Se ma ci |Eidiríkeno |Tcharichéouki |Bicuhpúnha
98. I am well |Se cató |Misabihano | |Pulimeihóa
| | |
_Cobeu._ | _Tucáno._ | _Tariána._ | _Baniwa._
| | | (_R. Isanna._)
| | |
1. Erméu |Érmeu |Tchíali |Atchináli
2. Nomiá |Nómio |Ínalʰu |Ínaru (nuino, wife)
3. Hethoukí |Muktúinᵍʰ |Inapaíʰ |Mápen
4. Nomihetokoú |Muktúin |Ínalʰutáki |Mápeni
5. Ipóbu |Righpóah |(Nhu)hída |(Nhú)ideu
6. Ihécuno |Igséro |(No)núma |(No)numá
7. Yacóli |Cá_ch_peri |(Nó)ti |(Nu)íti
8. Nuénca |Í_ch_kenᵍa |(No)tákhu |(Ni)tueú
9. Coping |Oᵍʰpíri |(Nó)e |(Nó)yeihei
10. Yapíbu |Pára |(No)öúa |(No)sháda
11. Amoué |Ómogha |(No)cápi |(No)zeté
12. Piulrí |Tómogha |(No)cápi wána |(Nu)cápi
13. Amoíyo |Omóghpia |(No)páda |(Nu)capi
14. Ibólowa |Ni póghpigha |(No)páda |(Nu)hipá
15. Kiboúba |Dí pogha |(No)híbama |(Nu)pipa
16. Cualhó |Oʰwa |(Nó)api |(No)apí
17. Iwé |Díi |Ílhei |(Nu)ira
18. | | |Mauítukei
19. | | |Nuíra úni
| | |
20. Iárlre |Diíro |Núibe |Ueneinéu
21. Neaú |Tsé |Núisi |Rhoieugéu
22. Óghcógh |Óghcogh |Úni |Úni
23. Utilʳhá |Poóca |Cáui |Matchúca
24. | | |
25. Erimendó |Iáméro |(No)énana |(Nu)niñe
26. EButí |Béuro |Iéma |
27. Touá |Pekhámi |Tsiaúa |Tidgé
28. Oomé |Uílonho |Calédhi |Carlía
29. Carduhín |Niéri |Diéve |Liaué
30. Aoúno |Ahóua |Peilítha |Perité
31. Cauwé |Niípei |Marliá |Marlíhe
32. Temutalabi |Miábgaki |Yaviteábʰu |Djepitábu
33. Témuyu |Anúᵍʰa |Shidóa |Capoúi
34. Iaibó |Wuhíbati |Ápa |Uapa
35. Cuíya |Kibúdti |Tchíwa |Caturéwabi
36. Kelámi |Wíi |Pánishi |Panthi
37. |Obó |Diíta |Hipéi |Hipéi
38. Yocá |Pulí |Panapʰe |Djecápe
39. Má |Maá |Inípu |Anípo
40. Okérgi |Yúkena |Heícu |Heicúi
41. Coniá |Taá |Canápithi |Lhijudeu
42. Miwér |Mírimágheu |Capilla |Tepirá
43. Móaki |Waií |Copʰé |Copʰé
44. Wáni |Yétste |Ábia |Hapíja
45. Youimi |Díeiyi |Tchíno |Tchínu
46. Órlhi |Ohóh |Délʰi |Pálaneu
47. | | |Héikeuda
48. Onirocá |Púghli |Denípe |Apánape
49. Okigikái |Cághseri |Tápa |Tchekéia
50. Pohlá |Poárli |(No)tsialliʰ |(No)chídupe
51. Ewí |Ughsíkapori |(No)édha |(No)chínumu
52. Pómboka |Póhlamo |Nódusi |Ninórua
53. Pównki |Póhneu |Hámaka |Makeitiba
54. Yówliko |Uhkérsiweu |Íta |Íta
55. Yowliwé |Uihówape |Héicuita |Tíwe
56. Ouiá |Uípo |Kéthi |Camuí
57. Ouiá |Uípo |Kéthi |Kerí
58. Amiócowa |Uáhcoa |Uallípele |Hiwiri
59. | | |Danacadjéni
60. | | |Deikéna
61. Alowí |Ermérlico |Coápi |Hecuápi
62. Yamuí |Yámi |Dépi |Depipomijoíokeu
63. Ipáki |Paguí |Paíca |Padjo
| | |
64. Ipáko |Máou |Náca |Nádjo
| | |
65. Himáki |Yéhmacuh |Noénipe |Níri
66. Himáki |Yéhmacunah |Nóitu |Nóitu
67. Mehámihi |Anyóöni |Mátsia |Matcheradi
68. Méhouméhou |Mánii |Madsi |Matchídi
69. Boiúthi |Achtsínika |Hámuna |Heúmode
70. Erhérwe |Yeughsianítsa |Hápaimuᵐ |Iwírde
71. Oárwi |Yoánii |Uía |Iápide
72. Oárbowi |Youoúeh |Mandoáde |Madúadi
73. Aahárwi |Búchtiniani |Tálʰa |Táradi
74. Arharméma |Cabínin |Helémi |Awíladi
75. Bówi |Yietsísi |Harlégʰa |Yalanóui
76. Yeméhum |Yéntsi |Cadamaʰ |Tapaíuna
77. Uwówa |Tsuártsi |Íleʰ |Iréidi
78. Kilhiomí |Ewiᵏ |Éwa |Ewádi
79. Cuináki |Nekeú |Paíta |Cadúdi
80. |Picano |Piána |Yamhémpa |Djámi
81. Nopécuno |Itiána |Mandárlipa |Madállipa
82. Youicuwéno |Bapalitína |Hepunípe |Manupéga nóuiki
83. Napulipé |Nicumakína |Pemapacápi |
84. Apepelucouiní |Piámo penipána |Yemimamacábi |
85. Pepeliapecouilími |Bapalati penipána |Yemimabacapilianúda|
86. Pepelicoloblicouilini|It’sa apenipána |Pehipelianúda |
| | |
87. (The same as eight) |Manamo apenipana |Paihipáwalianúda |
88. |Amamopipametína |Paihipawalianúda |
89. |Mano deno dipopimeno|Yemawanalianuda |
90. Irihiárki |Yída óya |Piniúda |Pia nohíulni
91. Daháki |A’tia |Pinú |Uátchi
92. Ihánki |Teá |Piauégada |Pipitu
93. Ikíluiaki |Miníta |Piteigúda |Pitiken cadja
94. | | |Cadja piatchin
95. Kewaculimá |Kióti maur |Pidinénul |Utcháperi úni
96. | | |Utchaperi matchuca
97. Ihiwudjúrni |Doáti wetsaá |Nucamia gúmahu |Cacálinapuhli
98. | | |Matchiuphíha
| |
_Barré._ | _Baniwa._ | _Baniwa._
|(_Tomo, Maroa._) | (_Javíta._)
| |
1. Hénul |Henúmi |Caténimuni 1.
2. Inéituti (nunio, wife) |Néyau |Thalinafemi 2.
3. Hantitchuli |Irlubeʳlib |Mathicoyu 3.
4. Heineítutchli |Néyau férium |Mathicoyu 4.
5. (No)dúsia |Nobu |(Wa)sího 5.
6. (No)núma |Enomá |(Wa)nóma 6.
7. (Nu)iti |(No)fúrli |(Wa)hólisi 7.
8. (Nu)tí |(Nú)yapeu |(Wa)síwi 8.
9. (Na)heí |(Ná)si |(Wa)thi 9.
10. (No)dúllah |Panéni |(Wa)hnwíti 10.
11. (No)dana |(Na)nu |(Wa)cano 11.
12. (Nu)cábi |(Na)phi |(Wa)cávi 12.
13. (Nu)cabi heíntibe |(Na)phibu |(Wa)cavi thiani 13.
14. Nísi heíntibi |Geiutsísini |(Wa)tsítsi culohási 14.
15. Nisi |(Nú)itsipalu |(Wa)tsitsi 15.
16. Nábi |(Nó)piuna |(Wa)ʳlanuku 16.
17. Níya |Miasi |(Wa)thanúma 17.
18. Wamári |Mauáli |(Wa)táva 18.
19. Macáinᵍ inuni |Núcalouwénifi |Úno 19.
| |
20. Nuodíti |Émeu |Básu 20.
21. Cuníhin |Rípa | 21.
22. Úni |Wéni |Wéni 22.
23. Matᶜʰúca |Matsúca |Matshúca 23.
24. Nahélluca | | 24.
25. (No)néna |Patáli |(Wa)táli 25.
26. |Eeli |Djéema 26.
27. Camíni |Ársi |Cáthi 27.
28. Ouisí |Uítsi | 28.
29. Teinico |Íneneu | 29.
30. Cúsi |Cáca |Ahósi 30.
31. Titéhi |Marlía |Cotsio 31.
32. Suépi |Saúitouli |Saútolethi 32.
33. Dábida |Uéipipi |Saúto 33.
34. Uápa |Sétau |Canato 34.
35. Yúlleti |Rhíli |Ániothi 35.
36. Pʰani |Panísi |Panithi 36.
37. Cadi |Yatsiphe |Caatsi 37.
38. Demacállabu |Taúape |Titsvená 38.
39. Denábu |Tenepo |Coathá 39.
40. Áda |Witsípha | 40.
41. Hibéni |Nunábi | 41.
42. Tábatᵉ |Eiúwi | 42.
43. Cobáti |Ríme |Simási 43.
44. Habíja |Aminami | 44.
45. Tchínu |Tsíno | 45.
46. Pálanu |Palátna |Palatana 46.
47. Dábu |Pinábi | 47.
48. Dabánube |Tsápi |Barlbúnna 48.
49. Adáda |Átaphi máta | 49.
50. (Ní)ta |Notsipana |(Wa)maoó 50.
51. (Nu)sínamu |Noránumi |Fasanumá 51.
52. Nunaheí |Enonási |Kinósi 52.
53. Míh |Mítsa |Hamáka 53.
54. Ísa |Murupuriáni |Báca 54.
55. Néhew |Nehewᵖᵃ |Néhew 55.
56. Camu |Námouri | 56.
57. Tʰé, Kʰé |Narhíta |Énoo 57.
58. Wénadi |Uimínari | 58.
59. Yehani |Yauwáiha |Yahenáse 59.
60. Piúakan |Yaúwa |Yáthi 60.
61. Yeháni |Pépurhi |Yahenusíta 61.
62. Hebinameh |Yarápu |Meroría 62.
63. { Mbaba, my father } |Nomámi | 63.
{ Biákari, your father } | |
64. { Memi, my mother }|Nosurámi | 64.
{ Biakou, your, his, mother}| |
65. Noditulh |Noü’ta | 65.
66. Nísu | | 66.
67. Dúari |Anétua |Yenií 67.
68. Mapʰo |Ónsubarlo | 68.
69. Tacʰuñ |Árte |Cathií 69.
70. Huméneni begu |Apatiwáli |Cafatené 70.
71. Hulábi | | 71.
72. Hebúcati | | 72.
73. Capudʰ |Tépe | 73.
74. Cusani |Urlrái | 74.
75. Tikíne, Balíne |Árlu |Caátsi 75.
76. Tapaiun |Ríre |Anuithi 76.
77. Kíyun |Íre | 77.
78. Witun |Eiúlinare | 78.
79. Bucunákilhi |Yabibulim | 79.
80. Micúnumᵃ |Enábe | 80.
81. Tricúnumi |Yabebuli | 81.
82. Ualibucúbi |Yunúlibumítsi | 82.
83. Ualibucúbi |Pinawiáphi | 83.
84. Bucunabicúbi |Pimiri | 84.
85. Bobadunabucubi |Yúmaliwi | 85.
86. Casainabuacúbi |Piúrhuili | 86.
| |
87. Ualibacúbi |Pieírurwhi | 87.
88. Amakinneícubi |Picalaurwhili | 88.
89. Amakinnaeiuesi |Itsiruápi | 89.
90. Decaníko | | 90.
91. Douáti |Maihipéta | 91.
92. Bihíwa | | 92.
93. Bihíwa hówa |Ripianati | 93.
94. Bihiwa hoúa |Raioata | 94.
95. Duca bicu úni |Ubeda piu weni | 95.
96. Duca bicu matchuca |Ubeda pi matsuca | 96.
97. Nucu beheini | | 97.
98. Douulína | | 98.
APPENDIX.
VOCABULARIES OF AMAZONIAN LANGUAGES.
The accompanying Vocabularies were collected with much care, and
several of them tested by a second party. The words are spelt with
the vowels sounded as in Portuguese, thus, _a_, _e_, _i_, _o_, _u_,
_ai_, pronounced _ah_, _a_, _e_, _o_, _oo_, _i_, and the consonants as
in English. A til, thus ~, over a letter denotes that it has a nasal
sound; the accent shows where the stress is to be laid; and a letter
placed above the line shows that it is to be very faintly sounded,
often in a peculiar way, as the _l_ in walnut. The languages are
arranged in geographical order, commencing with those spoken on the
banks of the Amazon, near the frontiers of Ecuador and terminating on
the tributaries of the Orinooko. The Lingoa Geral is placed first,
because it is the most widely spread language of South America, but
it does not contain a single word in common with any of the other ten
languages here given; and those that agree with it in not placing the
pronoun “_my_” as a prefix to the words signifying parts of the body,
differ most remarkably from it in the general combinations of the
letters and the sounds of the words.
The Lingoa Geral, the Uainambeu, and the languages spoken at Maroa
and Javita are soft and euphonious, while the Curetu and Tucano are
particularly harsh and guttural, the former having the _ll_, and
the latter the _ch_, sounded as in Welsh. The Tucano and Tariana are
spoken by adjoining tribes on the Uaupés, who often intermarry, yet
they have not a word in common, and differ remarkably in the character
of the pronunciation. The last two languages in the list are spoken in
villages not twenty miles apart.
In order to elucidate in some degree the grammatical forms of these
languages, I subjoin a few idioms in the Lingoa Geral, which probably
much resembles the rest in this respect.
_Change of the initial consonant._
Eggs Súpia.
Fowls’ eggs Sapucáia rupia.
Alligators’ eggs Jacaré rupia.
_Different forms used by male and female._
The father says—
My son Seraíra.
My daughter Seraíra cunhá.
The mother says—
My son Señ bira.
My daughter Señ bira cunhá.
_Form of the genitive case._
This is the white man’s knife Coa caríwa kisé.
This a white knife Coa kisé murutínga.
_Form of the superlative._
Pretty Puránga.
Very pretty Purángareté.
Canoe Igára.
Good canoe, large canoe Igárité.
_Composition of words._
Small stream Igarapé (literally “path of the canoe”).
Dog Iauará.
Jaguar (great or real dog) Iauarité.
Eagles, hawks (great birds) Uera assú.
Smoke (white fire) Tatatínga.
Very well, yes, or a general
affirmation, used also for
farewell Eré.
No, I will not, (negative) Nim bá, een tío.
_Names of natural objects, showing the repetition of vowels and
syllables._
_Names of Palms._
Jará.
Caraná.
Baccába.
Patawá.
Bussú.
Marajá.
Murumurú.
_Names of Forest-trees._
Masserandúba Milk tree.
Itaúba Iron-wood tree.
Socoúba Heron tree.
Jacaréuba Alligator tree.
Miratauá Yellow wood.
Mirapiními Painted wood.
Mirapiránga Red wood.
_Names of Animals and other natural objects._
Paraná River.
Maracajá Tiger-cat.
Caiarára A monkey (_Cebus gracilis_).
Surucuá Trogons.
Arára Macaw.
Arapapá Boatbill.
Maracaná Parrot (genus _Conurus_).
Parawá Parrot.
Panapaná Butterfly.
Jararáca A serpent (_Craspedocephalus_).
Surucucú A serpent (_Lachesis mutus_).
Sucurujú Water boa (_Eunectes murinus_).
As connected with the languages of these people, we may mention the
curious figures on the rocks commonly known as picture-writings, which
are found all over the Amazon district.
The first I saw was on the serras of Montealegre, as described in my
Journal (p. 152). These differed from all I have since seen, in being
painted or rubbed in with a red colour, and not cut or scratched as in
most of the others I met with. They were high up on the mountain, at a
considerable distance from any river.
The next I fell in with were on the banks of the Amazon, on rocks
covered at high water just below the little village of Serpa. These
figures were principally of the human face, and are roughly cut into
the hard rock, blackened by the deposit which takes place in the waters
of the Amazon, as in those of the Orinooko.
Again, at the mouth of the Rio Branco, on a little rocky island in the
river, are numerous figures of men and animals of a large size scraped
into the hard granitic rock. Near St. Isabel, S. Jozé, and Castanheiro,
there are more of these figures, and I found others on the Upper Rio
Negro in Venezuela. I took careful drawings of all of them,—which are
unfortunately lost.
In the river Uaupés also these figures are very numerous, and of
these I preserved my sketches. They contain rude representations of
domestic utensils, canoes, animals, and human figures, as well as
circles, squares, and other regular forms. They are all scraped on the
excessively hard granitic rock. Some are entirely above and others
below high-water mark, and many are quite covered with a growth of
lichens, through which however they are still plainly visible. (Plates
VII. and VIII.) Whether they had any signification to those who
executed them, or were merely the first attempts of a rude art guided
only by fancy, it is impossible now to say. It is however beyond a
doubt that they are of some antiquity, and are never executed by
the present race of Indians. Even among the most uncivilized tribes,
where these figures are found, they have no idea whatever of their
origin; and if asked, will say they do not know, or that they suppose
the spirits did them. Many of the Portuguese and Brazilian traders will
insist upon it that they are natural productions, or, to use their
own expression, that “God made them;” and on any objection being made
they triumphantly ask, “And could not God make them?” which of course
settles the point. Most of them in fact are quite unable to see any
difference between these figures and the natural marks and veins that
frequently occur in the rocks.
[Illustration: _Plate VII._
_Figures on The Granite Rocks of the River Uaupes._
A. R. Wallace del. et. lith. F. Reeve, imp.]
[Illustration: _Plate VIII._
_Figures on the Granite Rocks of the River Uaupes._
A. R. Wallace, del. et lith. F. Reeve, imp.]
REMARKS ON THE VOCABULARIES.
BY R. G. LATHAM, M.D.
The observation which is the most necessary to the general student,
as a preliminary to Mr. Wallace’s tables, is the nature of certain
syllables which in the Uainambeu, Juri, Tariana, and other lists,
appear at the beginning of the names of the different parts of the
human body. It is certainly not by accident that in one language they
all begin with _eri-_, in another with _n-_; and so on. It is equally
certain that these prefixes are no part of the original word. In the
Baniwa of the Rio Isanna, the term for _hand_ is _capi_; the syllable
_nu-_ is a _non_-radical prefix. Now the non-radical prefix is (almost
to a certainty) the possessive pronoun, so that _nu_-cabi = _my head_:
the amalgamation of the two elements being common in the American,
as well as in certain languages of the Old World. (Appendix to
Macgillivray’s ‘Voyage of the Rattlesnake’—Languages of the Louisiade.)
The distribution of these prefixed possessive pronouns is a better
guide than the affinities of the substantives themselves: since the
personal pronouns are parts of speech which languages are slow to
borrow from each other.
To apply the observation to the details of the vocabularies under
notice, we find that the Juri and Javita prefixes are different
from each other, and different from those of the Tariana, etc.
throughout,—the pronominal syllables being _tch_, and _wa_,
respectively. Neither of these elements lead to anything very clear
and patent in the way of affinity. On the other hand it is equally
clear that in the Tariana, Isanna, Barré, and Tomo-Maroa lists the
prefix (_-n-_) is constant, however much the roots which follow it may
differ; so that the inference, in favour of the possessive pronouns (at
least) being the same throughout those four tongues, is legitimate.
In the Uainambeu the case is slightly different. It is only in some
of the words that the prefix is _-n_: in others it is _-eri_. This
however is not very material, since the two forms, in all probability,
represent two persons,—_nu_ = _my_, and _eri_ = _thy_ (or _vice versâ_)
respectively.
Without, then, taking cognizance of the roots at all, the
classification of the languages before us, according to the similarity
of their pronominal prefixes, is as follows:—
_a. Allied._—Uainambeu, Tariana, Isanna, Barré, Tomo-Maroa.
_b. Disconnected._—Juri, Javíta.
_c. Uncertain._—Lingoa Geral, Coretu, Cobeu, Tucano.
The geographical localities of these tongues coincide with the nature
of their pronominal prefix, and favour (_pro tanto_) the notion that
they all belong to one and the same class,—a class of which the value
is at present wholly conjectural.
How far are the roots themselves similar? Upon the whole it may be said
that where the geography and where the pronominal prefixes indicate
affinity, the roots themselves do the same; though not so clearly and
patently as the investigator unpractised in American philology has a
tendency to expect. To go into the reasons of this would take up much
time and paper. It is sufficient to state that, whether the percentage
of similar words be great or small, it tallies with the similarity of
the prefixes. This may be verified by noticing the distribution of such
words as the following:—
_Head_ = root _b–d_ in Uainambeu, Tariana (?), Isanna (?).
_Mouth_ = root _n–m_ in Uainambeu, Tariana, Isanna, Barré, Tomo-Maroa.
_Eye_ = root _-t_ or _-d_, in Uainambeu, Tariana, Isanna, Barré.
_Nose_ = root _t–k_ in Uainambeu, Tariana, Isanna.
_Teeth_ = root _-i-_ in Uainambeu, Tariana, Isanna, Barré.
This list may be extended, but the foregoing words suffice for
illustration. That the root, in many cases, agrees where the pronouns
differ is evident: but it must be remembered that the position to which
the present writer commits himself is simply that of the _greatest
amount of radical affinities going along with the greatest amount of
pronominal similarity_. He by no means asserts, that where the pronouns
differ everything else differs also.
When specimens of a language are laid before the public, and such
specimens are, at one and the same time, limited in extent and the
first of their kind, it is rarely safe to go beyond the indication
of their probable affinities, and a general sketch of the class they
illustrate. This is the reason why the present writer limits himself to
observations of the miscellaneous and unsystematic character of those
here made.
_The Barré._—The Barré forms the centre of a group—a group of which the
value is uncertain. The other members of this, are the Baniwa of the
Tomo and Maroa to the north, the Uainambeu to the south, the Tariana,
and Baniwa of the Isanna to the west.
This statement (as has been already suggested) lies in the identity of
the prefix _n-_, throughout.
The name requires notice. In Humboldt’s account of the population
between the Orinooko and Amazon, we meet with a notice of the
_Poignavi_, called also Gui-_punavi_: which are probably neither more
nor less than _Baniwa_, as modified by the pronunciation of a different
dialect or language. The localities coincide nearly as closely as
the name. That branches however of the same population are denoted
by these forms is by no means certain; inasmuch as the name may be
applied by one population to several,—just as the root _Wel_-sh (a term
equally foreign to Wales, Italy, Wallachia, and the French portion of
Belgium, as a native name) is applied to the Germans, to the Welsh, the
Italians, the Wallachians, and the Walloons.
The Poignavi of Humboldt are said to speak a form of the Maypure; which
is likely enough, and which is by no means incompatible with their
affinities to the Baniwa. A full vocabulary however of their language
is wanting. In place hereof we have but two words,—
ENGLISH. POIGNAVI.
_Water_ Oueni.
_Moon_ Zenquerot.
Of these _oueni_ is Baniwa.
Further notice of the name will occur when we come to the Baniwa of
Javita. That the _Manivas_ of the maps are _Baniwa_ is suggested by Mr.
Wallace; and probably the E-_quinabi_ are but little different.
_The Juri._—The geographical relations of the Juri to the other
languages of Mr. Wallace’s list may be seen on the map. The
population which uses it lies south of the Japura, and probably on
the water-system (we can scarcely apply the word _valley_ to these
vast levels) of the Iça or Putumayo. It is perhaps as far from the
Uainambeu, as the Uainambeu is from the Isanna; and certainly farther
from any other member of the class last under notice than any such
members are from each other. Hence, the _primâ facie_ view afforded by
its geographical position is in favour of comparative isolation, at
least as far as regards the tongues which delight in the use of the
_n-_ prefix.
Neither is it in any very close geographical contact with the Tucano
and Coretu, the nearest of the other languages.
It is comparatively _isolated_, as far as the languages of the present
tables are concerned.
Now if we go from these to the ordinary maps, we find the contiguous
populations to bear the names Tapaxana, Cambeva, Ticuna, etc., etc.
What are the relations of the Juri tongue in this direction? Unknown.
We have no specimens of the Ticuna, no specimens of the Cambeva, no
specimens of the Tapaxana. There may be anything or nothing in the way
of likeness; anything or nothing in the way of difference.
_The Baniwa of Javita._—The relation of this to the other Baniwas must
be determined by the vocabulary itself: since (as has been already
suggested) the identity of name goes for nothing either way. It proves
nothing in favour of affinity; nothing in favour of difference.
The pronominal prefixes (_wa-_) are different; but this again is only
_primâ facie_ evidence of real difference. A pronoun of a different
person (as has also been already suggested) may have been used.
_The Lingoa Geral._—Last in the order of notice, though first in the
list, is the Lingoa Geral. The basis of this is the Guarani language;
and, with two exceptions, the distribution of the numerous dialects
and subdialects of the Guarani tongue is the most remarkable in the
world; the exception lying with the Malay and the Athabascan tongues.
The Malay numerals have long been known to extend from Polynesia on
one side to Madagascar on the other, and, along with the numerals, a
notable percentage of other words as well. The Athabascan dialects
are spoken on the shores of the Arctic Sea, at the mouth of the River
Columbia, and within the tropics; since the speech of certain of the
formidable Apach tribes of Mexico has been shown to belong to the same
class with that of the Loucheux at the month of the Mackenzie River.
These are the two most remarkable instances of a wide and irregular
distribution of language known to investigators; and next to these
comes, as already stated, that of the Guarani tongues.
It matters little from what point we begin to consider them. Perhaps
the mouth of the Amazons is as convenient as any. If this be our
starting-point, we may follow the coast southwards, and in the
direction of the River Plate. In nine cases out of ten, as often as the
earlier Portuguese adventurers came upon an Indian population occupying
the sea-shore, that population spoke a language which they called
_Tupi_, _Tupi_naki, _Tupi_nambi, or something similar in the way of a
compound of the root _tup_, and which they found to be intelligible
with the forms of speech spoken in several distant districts elsewhere.
If they landed on the parts about Bahia, the language was akin to what
they had previously heard at Olinda, and what they would afterwards
hear at Rio Janeiro: and so on along the whole sea-board. Hence,
there were Tupi forms of speech as far north as the Island of Marajo,
Tupi forms of speech as far south as Monte Video, and Tupi forms of
speech in all (or nearly all) the intervening points of coast. The
fishermen of the Laguna de los Patos spoke Tupi. The Cahetes of Bahia
did the same. So did the Tamoyos of the Bay of Rio Janeiro, and so the
Tupinaki, Tupinambi, and Tupinaes—the Tupi Proper so to say. This made
the Tupi pass for the leading language of Brazil; so long at least as
Brazil was known imperfectly, or along the sea-coast only.
It was soon however noticed that, as a general rule, the Tupi was
spoken to only an inconsiderable distance inland, _i.e._ until one
got to the Province of San Paolo, going southwards. In Goyaz, in the
hill-ranges of Pernambuco, Bahia, Porto Seguro, etc., came forms of
speech which those who spoke the Tupi separated from their own,—forms
of speech of the barbarians (so to say) of the interior as opposed to
the more civilized mariners of the coast. The Botocudo, the Canarin,
the Coroado, the Coropo, the Machacari, the Camacan, the Penhami, the
Kirivi, the Sabuja, the Gran, the Timbyra, and a vast list of other
Brazilian Indians besides, were different from and other than the Tupi.
But this distinction between the coastmen and the inlanders ceases as
we go southwards; and when Cabeza de Vaca, in 1540, made his overland
journey from St. Catalina to the city of Assumcio on the Parana, the
chief Indians with whom he came in contact were allied to each other
and allied to the tribes of the coast.
But the nomenclature changed with the change from Portuguese to Spanish
dominion; and, though the Indians of the Brazilian province of San
Paolo (the province of Brazil where they first began to extend inland
and towards the centre of the continent) and those of Rio Grande de Sul
might be Tupi, the allied populations of Entre Rios, Corrientes, Monte
Video, and Paraguay were known under the designation of _Guarani_. This
gave us a _Tupi-Guarani_ class of languages in which it was not very
incorrect to say that the Tupi were the Guarani of Brazil, and the
Guarani the Tupi of Paraguay. The _chief_ difference was a verbal and
nominal one.
The first part, then, of the South American continent where the
Tupi-Guarani (or Guarani-Tupi) were found in large masses, with an
extension inland as well as an extension coastwise, were the Brazilian
provinces of San Paolo in its southern part, the Brazilian province
of Rio Grande de Sul, and the Spanish territories of Entre Rios,
Corrientes, part of Buenos Ayres, Monte Video, and Paraguay—Paraguay
in its southern and eastern rather than in its northern and western
parts. In these quarters the language changed, and the affinities of
the populations were with the Indians of the Chaco—the Mocobi, Toba,
and Abiponians, etc.
It was through the Guarani of Paraguay that the Jesuits did the chief
part of their labours in the way of conversion, and it was through the
Tupi of Brazil that the Portuguese did the chief part of their Indian
trading: facts which favoured the formation of a Lingua Franca on a
Tupi-Guarani basis.
At present we have seen the Indians of this family following the
coast or the water-system of the Plata. But there is another series
of fact connected with their distribution, clear and patent enough to
have been known to the earlier philologists, such as Hervas and his
contemporaries. The extension of populations akin to the Tupi-Guarani
was just as great along the course of the Amazon as it was along
that of the Parana,—just as great, and probably greater. It was also
spread along the feeders of the Amazon; the southern feeders, and the
northern feeders of that river. By the southern feeders the line ran
towards the system of the Parana, by the northern towards that of the
Orinoco. So that as far northwards as the equator, and as far south as
Buenos Ayres, Tupi-Guarani were to be found. More than this, as the
Amazon arises on the Andes, and as its head-waters were Tupi-Guarani,
the extension of that family from east to west was as remarkable as
its diffusion from south to north. Still it gives us the hem of the
garment, the fringe of the carpet, rather than the carpet or the
garment itself. It gave the circumference of a circle rather than the
parts pertaining to the centre. I call it a circle for the sake of
illustration; for the sake of showing that there were a vast class of
distinct and different languages which it had more or less completely
surrounded. In reality the outline was irregular, formed in the main
by the Ocean and the Amazons, but with long processes attached to it;
dipping in towards the centre on one side, and flying off from the
periphery on another.
We will go further in the details of the same processes, offsets,
indentations, or prolongations. The Omaguas are found as far west as
the Napo; and they preponderate at the junction of the Japura. They are
said to speak the Yete, Putumayo, and Zeokeyo dialects of the Sucumbia
language. This gives us a third term; possibly a third philological
division—Tupi, Guarani, Sucumbia. Such are the names of the languages,
the populations being Tupi, Guarani, and Omagua; the Tupi (chiefly)
in Brazil, the Guarani in Paraguay, the Omagua in New Granada. The
full details of the Tupi-Guaranis of the Amazons are somewhat obscure.
At the mouth of the Tapajos, and the mouth of the Tocantins, they
are specially mentioned, so they are in the great island of the
Tupenambazes.
The Napo and Putumayo are the chief rivers that carry us along the
Tupi-Guarani (Omagua) lines northwards. The most important of the
southern lines are those of the Ucayale and the Huallaga, rivers, be
it observed, of the extreme west; the latter running at the very foot
of the Andes. The Cocamas and the Cocamillas occupy the watershed of
these two streams for an undetermined distance southwards; and they
navigate them with the boldness of the Omaguas. This gives us a fourth
section—Tupi, Guarani, Omagua, Cocamilla.
Fifthly and (in the present state of our knowledge) lastly, come
the Indians of the Peruvian province of Santa Cruz de la Sierra,
extended, on one side, into the Republic of Tarija and the Chaco,
and, on another, into the Mission of Chiquitos. Three sections of the
division have been visited and described—_a_, the Guarayos; _b_, the
Chiriguanos; _c_, and the Sirionos. These are described by D’Orbigny in
his ‘Homme Américain,’ pp. 338–348.
It is submitted that, in the question as to the original _habitat_
and _focus_ of the Guarani family the _primâ facie_ evidence is in
favour of the Provinces of Santa Cruz de la Sierra; the locality
of the Guarayos, Chiriguanos and Sirionos, the two latter bearing,
probably, the same name in a modified form. This view is proposed
because the locality in question is the only portion of the Guarani
occupancy which is common to the two great water-systems on which
they are so remarkably distributed; and it rests upon the principle
of not multiplying causes unnecessarily, rather than upon any special
evidence. In one respect indeed, there is an accredited fact against
it. The Chiriguanos are said to have been pressed forward into their
present locality by the Spanish conquest—a fact, however, of which
the evidence is very unsatisfactory, and one which does not apply to
the Guarayos. I repeat the statement that the present notice goes no
further than the indication of the _primâ facie_ probabilities of the
question, and that it merely points out the most promising line of
criticism, a line which has yet to be worked out.
But there is a point of detail which may well find its place here. The
languages which have hitherto been placed in the Guarani class are
languages of which the Guarani character has long been admitted. Of
new additions no notice has been taken; yet one such new addition can
probably be made—one, and perhaps more.
Into the details of a language spoken to the south of the Amazons,
and to the east of the Madeira, the language of the Mundrucu Indians,
I have gone no further than the short list of Balbi’s ‘Atlas
Ethnographique.’ However, the inspection of this is sufficient to show
that it is more Guarani than aught else.—_e. g._
_English_ Sun.
Mundrucu _uashi_.
Guarani _cuarazi_.
Lingoa Geral _arassi_.
Tupinamba _gouarassi_.
Tupi _coaracy_.
Omagua _huarassi_.
_English_ Moon.
Mundrucu _uashiat_.
Guarani _yaci_.
Lingoa Geral _iassu_.
Tupinamba _iasce_.
Tupi _iacy_.
Omagua _yase_.
_English_ Earth.
Mundrucu _ipu_.
Guarani _ibi_.
Lingoa Geral _bu_.
Tupinamba _ubuy_.
Tupi _ibi_.
Omagua _tujuca_.
_English_ Water.
Mundrucu _hu_.
Guarani _i_.
Lingoa Geral _hu_.
Tupi _i_.
Omagua _uni_.
_English_ Fire.
Mundrucu _tasha_.
Guarani, etc. _tata_.
_English_ Eye.
Mundrucu _uieta_.
Guarani _teza_.
Lingoa Geral _tessa_.
Tupinamba _dessa_.
Tupi _tesa_.
Omagua _ssissazaicana_.
_English_ Head.
Mundrucu _oija_.
Guarani _acang_.
Lingoa Geral _acanga_.
Tupinamba _acan_.
Tupi _acanga_.
Omagua _yacae_.
_English_ Nose.
Mundrucu _ueinampo_.
Guarani _hu_.
—— _tu_.
Lingoa Geral _una_.
Tupinamba _tin_.
Tupi _un_.
Omagua _ti_.
_English_ Mouth.
Mundrucu _woi-pi_.
Guarani _yurù_.
Lingoa Geral _puru_.
Tupinamba _ioure_.
Tupi _puru_.
Omagua _yuru_.
_English_ Tongue.
Guarani _wai-co_.
Lingoa Geral _cu_.
—— _apo-cum_.
Tupinamba _ape-cou_.
Tupi _ape-cu_.
Omagua _cu-muera_.
_English_ Tooth.
Mundrucu _woi-no_.
Guarani _tai_.
Lingoa Geral _tanha_.
Tupinambi _ram_.
Tupi _tanha_.
Omagua _sai_.
—— _dai_.
_English_ Hand.
Mundrucu _woi-po_.
Guarani _po_.
—— _mbo_.
Lingoa Geral _po_.
Tupinambi _po_.
Tupi _poo_.
Omagua _pua_.
_English_ Foot.
Mundrucu _woi-canuputa_.
Guarani _pi_.
—— _mbi_.
Lingoa Geral _purumga_.
Tupinambi _povy_.
Tupi _pu_.
Omagua _pueta_.
If this view be tenable, the _uaschi_ of Mundrucu simply = _light_, and
its difference in form from the Guarani words is explained. So is its
similarity to the name _uashiat_ = _moon_.
_The Coretu._—It by no means follows that because two languages have
the same name they are identical; on the contrary, they may be widely
different—a point which has already been noticed. Now the ‘Atlas
Ethnologique’ of Balbi gives us a short Coretu vocabulary which is
_not_ the Coretu of Mr. Wallace.
ENGLISH. CORETU (_Balbi_). CORETU (_Wallace_).
_Sun_ haie aoué.
_Moon_ haia-pucku jamímaíga.
_Earth_ gaira thetáh.
_Water_ cootabre deco.
_Fire_ aegacae puílre.
_Eye_ siroho yeellúh.
_Head_ caumeo cuilrí.
_Nose_ liiissapo ergílli.
_Mouth_ hiamolecko dishí.
_Tongue_ coahuri dolóʳ.
_Tooth_ simahapo gophpecuh.
_Hand_ coholo muhú.
_Foot_ namacgo giápah.
In these two lists the only two similar words are the names for _sun_.
Hence, the phenomenon illustrated by the name _Baniwa_ is repeated in
the case of the word _Coretu_.
Upon the _Cobeu_ and _Tucano_, no facts beyond those that lie in the
tables themselves are known.
With the exception of the Lingoa Geral, Mr. Wallace’s vocabularies
represent languages hitherto unknown. What is their geographical
relation to the known ones?
It is only through the northern tongues (the Baniwa of Javita and the
Tomo) that we even approach the areas of any well-described dialect.
The Uainambeu in the south-west, the Juri in the south, and the Coretu
in the west, are each and all on the limits of _terræ incognitæ_. For
the parts between the western watershed of the Rio Magdalena in New
Granada, the 71st degree of west longitude, the 4th degree of north
latitude (there or thereabouts), the River Napo, and the Amazons, I
know of no vocabularies, still less of any grammars. Hence, of any
tongue spoken at one and the same time to the west of the Rio Negro, to
the south of the Rio Inirida, to the north of the Amazons, and to the
east of the Putumayo, the only specimens are the ones under notice.
1. To the east of the Rio Negro, the vocabularies that bring us nearest
to Mr. Wallace’s are those of Sir Robert Schomburgk, of which the
Guinau is the most western. They are all dealt with by Sir Robert
Schomburgk himself as members of the great Carib (Carib-Tamanak)
family, and this upon reasonable and sufficient grounds.
2. For the north we must seek our chief data in the ‘Mithridates’ and
in Humboldt.
Along the rivers Meta, Vichada, and Guaviare, feeders of the Orinoco,
different forms of the Saliva language are spoken—a language of which
the distribution reminds us of the Guarani, although it is far less
remarkable for its extent. At the same time it is so far _fluviatile_
as to follow to the system of the Orinoco, and so far extensive as to
occur on the Upper Meta at the present time, and to be supposed (on
reasonable grounds) to have once reached as far eastwards as Trinidad.
_b._ Conterminous with the Saliva, and also conterminous with the
Guiana and Venezuelan members of the great Carib family, lie the
populations speaking languages akin to the Maypure and Pareni—of both
of which forms of speech we have specimens (Humboldt’s and that of the
‘Mithridates’), though short and insufficient. That the Caveri, the
Avani, and the Poignavi (Guipunavi) speak dialects akin to each other
and to the Maypure rests upon external evidence. Specimens are wanted.
South of the Rio Uapes in Arrowsmith’s London Atlas lie the Meppuris,
similar in name to the Maypure, but by no means necessarily allied to
them.
_c._ Further north (in a north-western direction) on the Casanare and
the Lower Meta, are the Yarura, Betoi, and Otomaca tongues.
3. South of the Amazons we must descend as far as the Province of
Moxos (on the Beni) before we get anything beyond the most fragmentary
specimens of language.
4. _Westwards_, and in the direction of the Andes, the break is greater
still. For New Granada, a few words of the old Muysca language from the
parts about Tunja, and, then, a short list from the mouth of the Atrato
(at the very neck of the Isthmus of Darien) constitute the whole of our
materials.
_b._ And matters are but little better in Ecuador. Between the Andes
(of which the different Quichua dialects are pretty well known) and the
area now under notice, the Zapara vocabulary of Osculati’s recently
published work is all we have. The Zapara is spoken on the Rio Napo.
Hence, if we pass from the area illustrated by the specimens before
us—specimens from a _terra incognita_—to the region of known dialects,
we have (after a few Puru and Mundrucu samples from the south bank of
the Amazons), as languages nearest in respect to their geographical
localities—
_East._—-The, Carib dialects, of which the nearest is Sir R.
Schomburgk’s Guinau.
_North._—The Maypure and Saliva families.
_West._—The Zapara.
_South._—The languages of the Province of Moxos.
To the Zapara the present vocabularies are the _least_ like; and
perhaps they are _most_ like the Carib dialects. Now the Carib dialects
have numerous affinities—some of them of a very remarkable kind. In the
first place they have them with the Maypure and Saliva; next, they have
them with the Guarani; thirdly, there is the statement (accompanied
by a table which partially verifies it) in the ‘Mithridates’ that the
Moxos and Maypure have several important elements in common.
* * * * *
The following Tables are formed from a very slight collation, viz. from
one with short specimens of Guiana languages by Sir R. Schomburgk,
and the equally scanty lists in D’Orbigny’s ‘Homme Américain.’ They
are laid before the reader less on account of their own merits than
for the sake of counteracting the common (but erroneous) belief that
the South American tongues are wholly unconnected in respect to their
vocabularies. The extent to which the commoner roots occur in different
languages may be surmised from even so short a table as the subjoined.
_English_ Head.
Cobeu i-_pobu_.
Carabisi yu-_bupo_.
Accaway yu-_popo_.
Macusi _pupei_.
Woyawai i-_pawa_.
Arecuna o-_puwei_.
—— o-_pei_.
_English_ Mouth.
Uainambeu eri-_numa_.
Baniwa (I.) no-_numa_.
Barre no-_numa_.
Baniwa (J.) wa-_noma_.
Baniwa (T.M.) e-_noma_.
Tariana no-_numa_.
Guinau noma.
_English_ Nose.
Baniwa (T.M.) ny-_apeu_.
Aturia _ohipe_.
Dauri _ohebe_.
Juri _youcone_.
Tucano ich-_kena_.
Sœrikong _akone_.
Salivi _incuu_.
_English_ Hand.
Uainambeu eri-_kiapi_.
Baniwa (I.) nu-_capi_.
Barre nu-_cabi_.
Baniwa (J.) wa-_cavi_.
Guinau in-_kabo_.
Mawakwa ngn-_kowa_.
Atorai un-_kuai_.
Arawàk de-_cabbu_.
Maypure nu-_capi_.
_English_ Foot.
Uainambeu er-_upa_.
Baniwa (I.) nu-_hipi_.
Macusi _hupu_.
Taruma _appa_.
Cobeu ki-_bouba_.
Carabisi _pupu_.
Saliva caa-_bapa_.
_English_ Water.
Baniwa (I.) _uni_.
Barre _uni_.
Baniwa (J.) _weni_.
Baniwa (T.M.) _weni_.
Tariana _uni_.
Guinau _oni_.
Mawakwa _wune_.
Taruma _ona_-bo.
Arawak _wuni_-abo.
Maypure _weni_.
Sarabeca _une_.
Paioceneca _une_.
Moxa _une_.
Pacaguara _jene_.
_English_ Water.
Tucano _oghcogh_.
Cobeu _oghcogh_.
Saliva _cagua_.
_English_ Fire.
Baniwa (I.) _tidge_.
Guinau _tsheke_.
Mawakwa _tshikase_.
Wapisiana _tegherre_.
Atorai _tegherre_.
Dauri _tekerre_.
Sarabeca _tikiai_.
Mataguayo _itag_.
Baniwa (J.) _cathi_.
Maypure _cãtti_.
Araucanian _cutal_.
_English_ Fire.
Juri _ii_.
Taruma _hua_.
_English_ Bow.
Uainambeu _paro_.
Atorai[3] _parauri_.
_English_ Arrow.
Baniwa (I.) _capoui_.
Taruma _cupa_.
_English_ Tree.
Tucano _yukena_.
Zapara _nackuna_.
_English_ Sun.
Cobeu _ouia_.
Carabisi _wehu_.
Accaway _wiyheu_.
Macusi _weh_.
Arecuna _wae_.
_English_ Sun.
Juri _iye_.
Warau _yah_.
Maypure _khie_.
_English_ Sun.
Uainambeu _camiu_.
Baniwa (I.) _camuí_.
Barre _camu_.
Guiana _kamuhu_.
Woyawai _kamu_.
Mawakwa _kamu_.
Wapisiana _kamo_.
Atorai _kamoi_.
Dauri _tamoi_.
Sarebeca _caame_.
_English_ Moon.
Uainambeu _cari_.
Baniwa (I.) _keri_.
Quichua _killa_.
Mataguayo _guela_.
Guinau _kewari_.
Mawakwa _kirsu_.
Wapisiana _keirrh_.
Atorai _keirrhe_.
Dauri _kaiira_.
Baniwa (J.) _enu_.
Carabisi _nuna_.
_English_ Star.
Baniwa (I.) _kiwiri_.
Wapescana _weri_.
_English_ One.
Uainambeu _apari_.
Mawakwa _apaura_.
Arawak _abaru_.
_English_ One.
Tariana _paita_.
Wapisiana _peit_-e-ieppa.
Atorai _peit_-aghpa.
Dauri _weit_-appa.
[3] In several of the other Carib dialects the root _p–sr_ = _arrow_.
THE END.
PRINTED BY
JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR, LITTLE QUEEN STREET,
LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS.
Transcriber’s Notes:
- Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
- Blank pages have been removed.
- Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.