The Arawacks are a tribe of Indians who at present dwell in British and
Dutch Guiana, between the Corentyn and Pomeroon rivers. They call
themselves simply _lukkunu_, men, and only their neighbors apply to them
the contemptuous name _aruac_ (corrupted by Europeans into Aroaquis,
Arawaaks, Aroacos, Arawacks, etc.), meal-eaters, from their peaceful
habit of gaining an important article of diet from the amylaceous pith
of the _Mauritia flexuosa_ palm, and the edible root of the cassava
plant.
They number only about two thousand souls, and may seem to claim no more
attention at the hands of the ethnologist than any other obscure Indian
tribe. But if it can be shown that in former centuries they occupied the
whole of the West Indian archipelago to within a few miles of the shore
of the northern continent, then on the question whether their
affiliations are with the tribes of the northern or southern mainland,
depends our opinion of the course of migration of the primitive
inhabitants of the western world. And if this is the tribe whose
charming simplicity Columbus and Peter Martyr described in such poetic
language, then the historian will acknowledge a desire to acquaint
himself more closely with its past and its present. It is my intention
to show that such was their former geographical position.
While in general features there is nothing to distinguish them from the
red race elsewhere, they have strong national traits. Physically they
are rather undersized, averaging not over five feet four inches in
height, but strong-limbed, agile, and symmetrical. Their foreheads are
low, their noses more allied to the Aryan types than usual with their
race, and their skulls of that form defined by craniologists as
orthognathic brachycephalic.
From the earliest times they have borne an excellent character.
Hospitable, peace-loving, quick to accept the humbler arts of
civilization and the simpler precepts of Christianity, they have ever
offered a strong contrast to their neighbors, the cruel and warlike
Caribs. They are not at all prone to steal, lie, or drink, and their
worst faults are an addiction to blood-revenge, and a superstitious
veneration for their priests.
They are divided into a number of families, over fifty in all, the
genealogies of which are carefully kept in the female line, and the
members of any one of which are forbidden to intermarry. In this
singular institution they resemble many other native tribes.