Negro._--Here, as far as the politico-geographical division which
gives a boundary to the empire of Brazil is concerned, we have nothing
but the names of upwards of a dozen unknown tribes. By remembering,
however, that the eastern frontier of this area is British Guiana, and
by learning that some of the tribes are common to the two territories
we derive some light; since, for British Guiana, the researches of Sir
Robert Schomburgk have converted a (comparatively speaking) _terra
incognita_, into an area as well understood as some of the better known
parts of North America.
In British Guiana, the tribes not of Carib origin will be first
enumerated; since in British Guiana the words _not Carib_ have the same
import as the words _not Guarani_ have in Brazil. Like this last-named
language in South, and the Algonkin and others in North America, the
Carib is the _single language of a large area_, and like the Guarani
and Algonkin it, as such, stands in remarkable contrast with numerous
languages covering a small area which are spoken around it.
THE WAROWS.
_Locality._--Sea-coast to the north of the Pomeroon river,
mixed with the Arawaks.
Two points give prominence to the Warow tribe--the existence of a
decidedly maritime turn of mind, and the use of a language which
hitherto stands isolated. It has, however, numerous miscellaneous
affinities. A remarkable want of taste for the enlivening effects of
music has been attributed to many of the tribes of South America. Now,
whatever may be the case with those of Brazil, it is not so with the
Indians of Guiana. Not only does Sir R. Schomburgk especially notice
the music of the Carib Macusi, but that of other tribes as well;
amongst which are the Warow, who "possess several instruments, chiefly
flutes, made upon primitive principles; some of reeds or bamboo,
others of the thigh-bones of animals. The Warau Indians have, in large
settlements, the band-master, or hohohit, whose duty it is to train
his pupils to blow upon flutes made of reeds and bamboo, in which a
small reed, on the principle of the clarionet, is introduced, and,
according to the size of the opening, it causes a higher or deeper
sound, and this is in some instances powerfully increased by a hollow
bamboo, often five feet long, which is called wauawalli. These rude
musicians are taught, according as their band-master makes a sign, to
fall in with their instruments, and thus produce an effect similar
to the Russian horn-bands. The effect, chiefly at a short distance,
resembles strikingly that peculiar music of the Russians, and the
favourite melody of the Waraus has something musical in its composition
surpassing all others."
TARUMAS.[163]
_Locality._--Upper Essequibo.
_Numbers._--400.
_Measurements of a Taruma about fourteen years of
age._--Height, four feet eleven inches, three-tenths;
circumference of pelvis, two feet, ten inches; length of hand
six inches, six-tenths; breadth of hand, three inches.
_Notice of three Taruma Skulls, by Professor Owen._--"All
female; two have rather more prominent foreheads than the
Carib; in the third it curves backward in the same degree from
the interorbital prominence: the nasal bones are broader and
flatter, in other respects they closely agree with the Carib
skull: one of them, a young female about fourteen, presents an
abnormal elevation of the upper and right side of the frontal
bone."
WAPITYAN (WAPISIANA).[163]
_Locality._--The Savannahs of the Upper Rupununi, and the banks
of the Parima.
_Numbers._--About 400: reduced by small-pox.
_Sub-tribes._--_a._ Atorais and Dauris; nearly extinct. Number
100. Mixed. _b._ Amaripas; extinct.
_Notice of a Wapisiana Skull, by Professor Owen._--"The
Wapisiana skull presents the ovate form, but the occiput
is rather more prominent, and the prominent part more
circumscribed: the interorbital space is slightly depressed,
owing to the projection of the supraorbital ridges: the
forehead is a little more convex than in the Carib; but the
general resemblance is as close as that which usually obtains
between the skulls of two individuals of the same race."
MEASUREMENTS.
+-----------------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
| Supposed age. | Twelve years.|Fifteen years.|Sixteen years.|
|-----------------------+--------------+--------------+--------------|
| |ft. in. 10th. | ft. in. 10th.| ft. in. 10th.|
|Height of figure | 4 8 5 | 4 6 0 | 5 1 1 |
|Circumference of pelvis| 2 6 7 | 2 8 0 | 2 11 5 |
|Length of hand | 0 6 7 | 0 6 0 | 0 6 6 |
|Breadth of ditto | 0 3 0 | 0 2 8 | 0 3 6 |
+-----------------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
I still postpone the notice of the Carib tribes. The western extremity,
however, of their area leads to the following geographical subsection,
viz. that of the Indians of the Upper and Middle Orinoco.
The most eastern of these are:
SALIVA.
_Divisions._--1. Saliva Proper. 2. Atures. 3. Quaquas
(Mapoye)(?). 4. Macos (Piaroas).
_Area._--The rivers Vichada, Guaiare, Meta, Ventuari, and other
feeders of the Orinoco.
The Maco (Piaroa) at the mission of Canichana, have unlearned their
vernacular language, and speak (or rather have been taught by the
Missionaries) the Maypure instead.
The Atures, now extinct, give their name to the Atures cataracts
of the Orinoco. It is also the Atures whose mode of sepulture and
burial-cavern is thus described by Humboldt:--"The most remote part of
the valley is covered by a thick forest. In this shady and solitary
spot, on the declivity of a steep mountain, the cavern of Ataruipé
opens itself. It is less a cavern than a jutting rock, in which the
waters have scooped a vast hollow; when, in the ancient revolutions of
our planet, they attained that height. We soon reckoned in this tomb of
a whole extinct tribe, nearly six hundred skeletons, well preserved,
and so regularly placed that it would have been difficult to make an
error in their number. Every skeleton reposes in a sort of basket made
of the petioles of the palm-tree. These baskets, which the natives call
_mapires_, have the form of a square bag; their sizes are proportioned
to the age of the dead; there are some for infants cut off the moment
of their birth: we saw them from ten inches to three feet long, the
skeletons in them being bent together. They are all ranged near each
other, and are so entire that not a rib or a phalanx is wanting. The
bones have been prepared in three different manners, either whitened
in the air and the sun, dyed red with arnotto, a colouring matter
extracted from the bixa orellana; or, like real mummies, varnished
with odoriferous resins, and enveloped in leaves of the heliconea, or
the plantain tree. The Indians related to us, that the fresh corpse is
placed in damp ground in order that the flesh remaining on the bones
may be scraped off with sharp stones. Several hordes in Guyana still
observe this custom. Earthen vases, half-baked, are found near the
_mapires_, or baskets: they appear to contain the bones of the same
family. The largest of these vases, or funeral urns, are three feet
high, and five feet and a half long. Their colour is greenish grey, and
their oval form is sufficiently pleasing to the eye. The handles are
made in the shape of crocodiles, or serpents; the edge is bordered with
meanders, labyrinths, and real _grecques_, in straight lines variously
combined."
The Saliva seems to have been a class whose area has been one of a
_receding frontier_. The Atures are extinct, and the last words of
the Ature language are said to have been heard, not from the lips
of a human remnant of the nation, but from a parrot. In respect to
their extension eastward, Raleigh enumerates among the inhabitants of
Trinidad the _Salivi_, a nation dwelling on the Continent also, and
that to the south of the Quaquas.
Then as to the western area:--on the Orinoko, above the mouth of
the Meta, Humboldt often heard of the Quaquas, and adds, that it is
asserted that the missionary Jesuits have found them as far as Popayan.
MAYPURE.
_Divisions._--1. Maypure Proper. 2. Cavri (Caveri, Cabre). 3.
Pareni. 4. Guipunavi (Poignavi). 4. Meppurys(?). 5. Avani. 6.
Chirupa.
_Area._--The banks of the rivers Orinoco (middle part),
Amazons, and Negro.
_Conterminous_ with the Caribs, Salivi, and other unplaced
tribes.
The mission of Maypure is the centre of the language.
It is spoken also at the mission of Atures, by tribes other than
Maypures, _i.e._ by the Maco (Piaroa), who are Saliva, and by the
Guahivi, belonging to a third division of the Orinoko Indians.
THE ACHAGUA.
_Locality._--The river Casanare, a feeder of the river Meta.
The relation of the Achagua to the Maypure, is undetermined.
That there are many words common to the two tongues is certain.
According, however, to Gumilla, this is only from intercourse and
intermixture.--_Mithridates._
Their habits, manners, and civilization are nearly those of the Saliva,
_i.e._ imperfectly agricultural.
THE YARURA.
_Divisions._--1. Yarura Proper. 2. Betoi. 3. Situfa. 4. Airico.
5. Ele. 6. Quaquaro(?)
_Area._--The water-system of the river Casanare.
_Native name._--Yupuin.
THE OTTOMACAS.
_Locality._--Middle Orinoco, at its junction with the river
Sinaruco.
_Dialects._--1. Ottomaco Proper. 2. Taparita.
The Ottomacas are that tribe of South American Indians who have so
often been described as _The Dirt-eaters_. They fill their stomachs
with an unctuous clay found in the alluvium of their district; and
this, irrespective of the plenty or scarcity of other provisions. The
accurate chemical composition of this clay has yet to be ascertained.
The current statement that it is so full of organic matter as to
partake of the nature of animal or vegetable food, is probably
unfounded.
THE CHIRICOAS.
_Divisions._--1. The Guahivi. 2. The Chiricoas.
_Locality._--Left bank of the Orinoco. South of the Saliva.
It is nearly certain that this list of families is anything but
exhaustive for the Middle and Upper Orinoco. Thus, partly from the
notices of the _Mithridates_, and partly from the maps of Humboldt, we
find the following additional names of tribes:
_Curacicanas._--River Ventuari.
_Javaranas._--Ditto.
_Daricavaris._--River Inirida; cannibals.
_Pucherinavis._--River Inirida; cannibals.
_Manitivitaris._--Ditto, ditto.
_Equinabis._--Between the Rivers Negro and Orinoco.
_Manivas._--Ibid.
_Cheruvichahena._--Ibid.
_Maquitares._--River Ventuari.
_Aberianas._--Ibid.
_Marepizanos._--River Negro.
_Guareken._--Removed to the mission of Maypures, and _now_ speaking the
Maypures language.
_The Massanau, the Kaju-Kussianu, the Assawanu, the Wagudu._--Described
by the Arawaks to Quandt, as residing far in the interior on the
Orinoco.
_The Sagidaqueres._--Perhaps Chiricoas.
_The Guaneros_, and the _Guama._--On the River Apuré. Fluviatile
manners. Said to have descended the stream.
The two great stocks of the eastern side of South America may now be
considered the Guarani, the great family of Brazil, and the Carib, the
great family of Guiana--the South American analogues of the Algonkin
and Sioux groups of the Northern continent.
THE GUARANI.
_Synonyms._--Tupi, Brazilian, Guarani-Brazilian, Tupi-Guarani.
_Area._--From the mouth of the river Plata, south-east, in
35° south latitude, to the river Napo, on the opposite side
of the continent, in 3° south latitude, north-west, in, or
over, the Empire of Brazil, and in the Republics of Buenos
Ayres(?), Entre Rios, Corrientes, Monte Video, Paraguay (the
chief locality of the true Guarani), Bolivia (in the province
of Santa Cruz), Guiana(?), Ecuador(?), Bolivia and Venezuela.
_Distribution._--Discontinuous.
_Divisions._--A. Tupi-Guaranis--
1. _Southern Guaranis._--In the southern provinces of Brazil,
and in the Republics of Buenos Ayres, Entre Rios, Corrientes,
Monte Video and Paraguay.
_a._ _The Pinarés_ (or _Pinarís_).--South of the sources of the
river Uraguay.
_b._ _The Patos._--Fishermen on the Laguna de los Patos.
_c._ _The Tapés_ (or _Tapis_).--Monte Video, and the Brazilian
province of Rio Grande del Sul.
_d._ _The Guïcanáns._--In the Campos de Vaccaria of the last-named
province.
_e._ _The Biturunas=Blackfaces_ or _Nightmen._--South of the river
Curubita.
_f._ _The Guaranis Proper._--Between the rivers Parana and Paraguay.
2. _Tupis_ (_Tupinambas_) or Brazilian Guarani.--Scattered along the
coast of Brazil from (there or thereabouts) 30° south latitude to the
mouth of the Amazons.
_a._ _The Tamoyas._--Formerly very numerous, on the bay of the Rio de
Janeiro, at present almost extinct.
_b._ _The Tupinakis._--Formerly in Porto Seguro and the Comarca dos
Ilheos, now occupying villages in Belmonte, Camamú, Valença, &c.
_c._ _The Tupinaes._--In Bahia.
_d._ _The Tupinambases._--Ditto.
_e._ _The Obacatuwaras_=_Good Woodsmen._--Islands of the river San
Francisco.
_f._ _The Potiwaras._--Parahyba and Maranham.
_g._ _The Cahatés._--Once numerous in Pernambuco, now either extinct
or incorporate. Falling into sub-divisions, viz., _the Guanacás_, _the
Yaguaranas_, _the Teremembes_, _the Kitarioris_, _the Viatanis_, _the
Cahy-cahys(?)_
_h._ _The Tupagaros_, (or _Tupiwaras_).--Para and the northern parts of
Maranham.
_i._ _The Guajojaras._--Head-waters of the river Mearim.
_j._ _The Manajós._--_Ibid._
3. _North-eastern Tupis._--In the Island of Marajó, and about the
junction of the rivers Amazons and Tocantins.
_a._ _The Taramambases._
_b._ _The Nhenga-hibas_, of Marajó Island.
_c._ _The Pacajases._
_d._ _The Apantos._
_e._ _The Mamayamases._
_f._ _The Anajases._
_g._ _The Guayanases_, or _Boatmen._
_h._ _The Tocantinos._
_i._ _The Cuchewaras_ (or _Tochi_).
_j._ _The Cambocas_ (or _Bocas_).
_k._ _The Cupewaras(?)_ (or _Ant-Indians_).
_l._ _The Yuruúnas(?)._
4. _The Guarani (or Tupi) of the river Tabajos._--
_a._ _The Apiacases._
_b._ _The Cahahivas._
5. Bolivian Tupi (or Guarani).--In the province of Santa Cruz de la
Sierra, and conterminous with the Indians of the Missions of Moxos and
Chiquitos, by which, as well as by the Indians of the Chaco, they are
isolated from the other Guaranis.
_a._ _The Chiriguanos._
_b._ _The Sirionos._
_c._ _The Guarayos._
B. Omaguas--
1. Of the rivers Napo and Putumayo, speaking the Yete, the Putumayo,
and the Zeokeyo dialects of the Sucumbia language.
2. Omaguas of the river Japura, or Omaguas Proper.
3. Omaguas to the west of the river Ucayale, and to the south of the
river Amazons, on the borders of Peru, speaking the Cocamello and Uebo
dialects of the Cocamo language.
The limits of the Omaguas are preeminently uncertain: so that it is
possible that in the foregoing notice I may, in carrying them so far as
the neighbourhood of Quito, have gone too far west. On the other hand,
good authorities have even extended their geographical area further
north, and their ethnological affinities to the Achagua. That they are
really connected with the Guarani is a well substantiated doctrine; at
least such is the evidence of the languages, although Vater objected to
it.
Whether, however, the Guarani descended from the Omaguas, of the
north and west, or the Omaguas from the Guarani of the south-east, is
uncertain. There are facts and opinions both ways.
Preeminently fluviatile (we can scarcely use the word _marine_) in
their habits, the Omaguas have been called the Phœnicians of the
western world; a fact which, perhaps, should be taken along with their
distribution on the coast, the Amazons, the Paraguay, and the Orinoco.
The Omaguas, and many others of the Guaranis, are Flat-heads.
THE CARIBS.
_Area._--From the mouth of the Amazons to parts about the Lake
Maracaybo; perhaps farther. The territories and republics
of Portuguese, French, Dutch, British and Spanish Guiana,
Venezuela. The Lesser Antilles.
_Divisions._--1. Caribeans Proper. 2. Tamanaks. 3. Arawaks.
_Sub-divisions of unascertained value._--Proceeding from south
to north or north-west--
1. Caribs of Portuguese Guiana, between the rivers Amazons and
Oyopok.
2. _Galibi_ of French Guiana. Language more Carib than either
Tamanak or Arawak.
3. _Arawaks._--Dutch and British Guiana.
4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.--_Accaways_,
_Waikas_, _Macusi_, _Zaparas_, _Arecunas_, _Soerikong_,
_Guinau_, _Wayamara_, _Makakwa_ (or _Maopetyan_), _Woyawai_,
_Maongkong_, _Pianoghotto_, _Drio_, _Zaramata_, _Tiverighotto_.
16. _Guayanos._--Spanish Guiana.
17. _Yaoi_--Aborigines of Trinidad.
18. _Pariagotos._--On the Gulf of Para.
19. _Cumanagotos._--Mission of Piritu, in Caraccas. Of this the
following are dialects--_a._ The Tomuzas. _b._ The Piritu. _c._
The Cocheyma. _d._ The Chacopatas. _e._ The Topocuares. This is
probably an approach to the--
20. _Chayma._--The highlands which, in the eastern part of
Cumana, form the northern watershed of the Orinoco. Tamanak
rather than Proper Carib. The fixation of the Chaymas as Carib,
is Humboldt's.
21. _Palenca._--Province of Barcelona.
22. _Guarive._--Ibid. Intermediate to the Carib Proper, and the
Tamanak.
23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32.--_The Pareche_,
_Uocheari_, _Uaracapaccili_, _Uaramucuru_, _Paiure_,
_Achericoto_, _Oje_, _Chirichiripi_, _Macchiritari_,
_Areveriani_.--Subsections of the Tamanak spoken to the south
of the Orinoco.
33.--_Caribs of the Lesser Antilles._--Extinct.
Like the Iroquois and Algonkins of North America, the Caribs were one
of the first tribes of _South_ America, which were known to Europeans;
so that it is they from whom the earliest and most current notions of
the intertropical American were taken.
That they were the aborigines to the Lesser Antilles is certain; and
it is nearly certain that, as a pure race, this section of them is
extinct; since the so-called black Caribs of St. Vincent, although
partially descended from the insular division of the class, are mixed
with Negro blood, and are not the aborigines of the island, but
immigrants from Barbadoes and elsewhere.
How far they extended further than the Lesser Antilles is doubtful.
Father Raymond, who, in considering the subject, during the existence
of the Caribs of the Islands, but subsequent to the expulsion of the
aborigines from Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and St. Domingo (_i.e._
early in the seventeenth century), remarks that an unequivocal remnant
(the only one) of those Indians who escaped from the massacres and
cruelties of the Spaniards, the refugee Indians of Curaçoa, had no
Carib words in their language.
Again, the same writer, on the authority of Mr. Brigstock, a gentleman
well versed in the Floridian and Virginian languages, attributes to the
whole stock a _North_ American origin; their progenitors, the Colfachi,
having availed themselves of a Mexican migration of the Appalachians to
take possession of a portion of Florida. Thence, after a time, a part
was ejected, and so found its way to both the Islands and the Southern
Continent. Upon the tradition itself I lay little stress. Upon the fact
of certain words being common to the Colfachi who remained in Florida,
and the true Caribs, I lay more. Probably, the existence of certain
points common to the two populations originated the tradition--the
connexion (if real) being different from what is described in the
legend.
It should be remembered that the series of islands from Trinidad to
Florida forms a second line of connexion between North and South
America.
That a nation so widely spread as the Caribs should have migrated from
North America as a body of fugitives, and that within the traditional
epoch, is improbable, the unlikelihood being increased by the number of
dialects into which the languages are divided. It is far more likely
that a part of them conquered their way from South to North. On their
own hemisphere they are preeminently the people of an encroaching area,
and the frontier-fights between the Caribs and the Caveri of the Middle
Orinoco are the analogues of the wars of the Iroquois and Algonkins in
Pennsylvania.
In the ethnography of Polynesia certain peculiar customs in respect to
the language of caste and ceremony were noted. The Carib has long been
known to exhibit a remarkable peculiarity in this respect. The current
statement is--that the women have one language and the men another;
so that while the husband talks (say) French, the wife answers in
English. The real fact is less extraordinary. Certain objects have two
names; one of which is applied by males, the other by females only.
Raymond says that the latter terms are Arawak, and that the Arawaks
were the older inhabitants of the islands, the men whereof were
exterminated and the women adopted as wives. No explanation is more
probable than this, and it is applicable in other parts of the world
besides America.[164]
That many of the Carib tribes are flat-headed, and that they are also
cannibals, is well known. A nation of women, however, forming a section
of their population, has yet to be discovered.
_Necdum finitus Orestes._--Vast as is the area already disposed of, the
whole of South America has not yet been exhausted. There are tracts
which have still to be filled up.
I. The _eastern_ slope of the Andes from about 17° south latitude
to the Equator.--It is only where the American continent begins to
contract in breadth (_i.e._ about 17° south latitude), that the
_western_ limits of any of the tribes already noticed, such as those
of the Missions and the Chaco, come in contact with the _eastern_
Peruvians of the Andes.
Beginning, then, with the parts north-east of Potosi, we have between
them and the parts east of Lima, as the most southern tribes, between
Cochabamba west, and Santa Cruz de la Sierra, east--
THE YURACARES.
_Conterminous_ with the Quichua Peruvians, the isolated Guarani
(Chiriguanos and Sirionos), the Indians of the Mission of
Chiquitos, and the Mocéténès. From 17' to 16' south latitude.
_Name._--Quichua. _Yurak_=_white_+_kari_=_men_.
_Divisions._--1. Solostos on the east. 2. Mansinos on the
west. Other sections of them extinct, or incorporate, or else
mentioned under different names--_Oromos_, _Conis_, _Cuchis_,
_Enétés_.
_Synonym._--For the Solostos, _Mages_--so called by the people
of Santa-Cruz.
_Religion._--1. Of the Mansinos, Paganism. 2. Of the Solostos,
Christianity.
_Numbers in 1832._ 1. Mansinos, 1000. 2. Solostos, 337.
MOCÉTÉNÈS.
_Synonyms._--_Manaquiés_; so-called by the Yuracares.
_Chunchos_, by the Bolivian-Spaniards. Also, _Magdalenos_,
_Chimanisas_ (or _Chimanis_), _Muchanis_, _Tucupi_.
_Locality._--North of Cochabamba, on the head-waters of the
river Beni. From 16' to 15' south latitude.
_Conterminous_ with the Aymaras, Quichuas, Moxos Indians,
Yuracares, and Apolistas.
_Religion and numbers._--1. Christian, about 1600. 2. Pagan,
about 800.
_Language._--Different (according to D'Orbigny) from the
Yuracares.
TACANA.
_Synonyms or partial terms._--_Atenianos_, _Isiamas_,
_Cavinas_, _Toromonas_.--This last is the name of the still
savage tribes speaking the _Tacana_, which is the name of a
_language_ rather than of a section of population.
_Conterminous_ with the Aymaras, Mocéténès, Apolistas, Maropas,
and (to the north), the Huacanahuas and Suriguas.
_Numbers._--Of the Mission of Aten 2,033
---- Tsiamas 1,028
---- Cavinas 1,000
---- Tumapasa 1,170
---- San José 73
Pagans Toromonas 1,000
-----
Total 6,304
_Original locality._--The head-waters of the Beni, north of the
Tacanas.
_Present locality._--The Mission de Reyes, of Moxos.
_Language._--Not known from a vocabulary, but one which, to
D'Orbigny, seemed different from that of the Mocéténès.
APOLISTAS.
_Present locality._--Apolobamba, on the river Apolo. Probably
the _original_ locality also.
_Numbers and religion._--In 1832, A.D., 3,616 Christians,
_i.e._ 841 in Santa Cruz, and 2,775 in Apolobamba.
The Yuracares, Mocéténès, Tacana, Apolista and Maropa sections form
a division of the South American population characterised by the
remarkable fairness of its complexion, a fact indicated by the very
term _Yuracares_ = _white men_. D'Orbigny, who raises the section to a
class under the name of _Antisien_, and who is the writer to whom we
owe nearly all our information, makes this lightness of colour coincide
with the woody and shady character of the quarters inhabited; the
Maropas, who are in the most exposed countries, being also the darkest
in hue.
Northwards we have only the names of tribes to fill up the two
following vast geographical gaps, _i. e._
A. The water-system of the Upper Ucayale.
B. The Eastern Andes north of the Amazons. They are taken from the
_Mithridates_, the oldest authorities on these points being the best.
A. 1. The _Heresilocana_, allied to the _Orocotana_ and _Rocotane_(?).
2. The _Chiriba_, allied to the Chomana.
3. The tribes speaking the Caniscana language.
4. The _Mopeziana_.
5. The _Icabizizi_.
6, 7, 8, 9. The _Caisina_, _Capingel_, _Caliciono_, and _Ucoiño_.
10. The _Cavinæ_, who built stone houses.
11. The _Collæ_, makers of roads.
12. The _Carapuchos_, whose language was so guttural as to be the bark
of a dog rather than the speech of a man. Cannibals; as were also--
13. The _Casibos_.
14. The _Sipibos_.
15, 16, 17, 18, 19. The _Panos_, the _Piri_, the _Canibi_, the
_Campa_, the _Comavi_, who, in A.D. 1695, threw off the control of the
Missionaries.
20. The _Chipeos_, part of the Panos.
21, 22, 23, 24. The Cunivos, the Mananahuas, the Mochovos, the Remos.
25. The Chamicunos, speaking a language allied to that of the Chipeos
and Panos.
B. 1. _The Aguanos._
2. The _Xeberos_, of which the _a_, _Cutinanas_; _b_, the
_Paranapuras_; _c_, the _Chaybitas_; _d_, the _Muniches_(?), are
sections.
3. The _Andoas_.
4. The _Ayacore_.--Language peculiar.
5. The _Parana_.--Ditto.
6. The _Encapelladas_.--This is a Spanish name, applied as a collective
term to the following tribes of the Upper Napo.--_a_, the _Abicheres_;
_b_, the _Angateres_; _c_, the _Cunchies_; _d_, the _Ycahuates_; _e_,
the _Payaguas_.
The most eastern of these are probably Omagua.
II. French Guiana.--For French Guiana I find the following tribes, or
nations, in the _Atlas Ethnologique_, being unable to give them any
ethnological position:--
1. _Rocouyenne._--Nearly annihilated by--
2. The _Oampi_--The most numerous and powerful nation of French Guiana,
occupants of the Upper Oyapok.
3. _Emerillons._--A numerous and independent nation of French Guiana,
on the River Inini. Stature tall; language not known through any
vocabulary.--Balbi: _Atlas Ethnologique_, xxix.
* * * * *
The details of the ethnology of America having been thus imperfectly
exhibited, the first of the two questions indicated in pp. 351, 352,
still stands over for consideration.
A. The unity (or non-unity) of the American populations one amongst
another, and--
B. The (unity or non-unity) of the American populations as compared
with those of the Old World.
In p. 351, it is stated that the two (three?) sections of the American
aborigines which interfere with the belief that the American stock is
fundamentally _one_, are--
I. The Eskimo.
II. The Peruvians (and Mexicans).
I. Taking the Eskimo first, the evidence in favour of their isolation
is, _physical and moral_.
The latter I think is worth little except in the way of cumulative
evidence, _i. e._ when taken along with other facts of a more
definite and tangible sort. The Eskimo civilization (such as it is)
is _different_ from that of the other Americans; and how could it be
otherwise when we consider their Arctic _habitat_, their piscatory
habits, and the differences of their Fauna and Flora? It is not
_lower_; _i. e._ not lower than that of the ruder Indians; a point well
illustrated in Dr. King's paper[165] on the Industrial Arts of the
Eskimo.
The physical difference is of more importance.
And, first as to _stature_.--Instead of being shorter, the Eskimo are,
in reality, taller than half the tribes of South America.
Next, as to _colour_.--The Eskimo are _not_ copper-coloured. Neither
are the Americans in general. It is only those best known that are
typical of the so-called _Red_ race; there being but little of the
copper tinge when we get beyond the Algonkins and Iroquois.
Lastly, as to the conformation of the skull, a point where (with
great deference) I differ from the author of the excellent Crania
Americana.--The Americans are said to be _brakhy_-kephalic, the Eskimo
_dolikho_-kephalic. The American skull is of smaller, the Eskimo of
larger dimensions. I make no comment on the second of these opinions.
In respect to the first, I submit to the reader the following extracts
from Dr. Morton's own valuable tables, premising that, as a general
rule, the difference between the occipito-frontal and parietal
diameters of the Eskimo is _more_ than seven inches and a fraction as
compared with five inches and a fraction, and that of the other Indians
_less_ than seven and a fraction, as compared with five and a fraction.
Now, the following extract from Dr. Morton's tables shows the approach
to the dolikhokephalic character on the part of twenty-four American
specimens--
Long. diam. Parietal diam.
[166]E. 1. _Eskimo_ 5.7 5.4
2. " 7.3 5.5
3. " 7.5 5.1
4. _Eskimo_ 6.7 5.
A. 5. _Ojibbwa_ 7.3 5.8
6. " 7.2 5.5
7. _Potowatomi_ 7.8 5.7
8. _Sauk_ 7.5 5.9
9. _Missisaugi_ 7. 5.2
10. _Lenapé_ 7. 5.5
11. " 7.8 5.4
12. _Manta_(?) 7. 5.1
13. _Quinnipeak_(?) 7. 5.7
I. 14. _Iroquois_ 7.5 5.5
15. " 7.1 5.4
16. " 7.1 5.5
17. _Oneida_ 7.5 5.6
18. _Cayuga_ 7.8 5.1
S. 19. _Assineboin_ 7.6 5.8
20. _Minetari_ 7.3 4.4
21. _Mandan_ 7.1 5.4
22. " 7. 5.3
C. 23. _Choctah_ 7.2 5.
24. _Seminole_ 7.1 5.6
25. " 7.3 5.9
26. " 7. 5.5
27. " 7.3 5.6
28. " 7. 5.9
The language, as before stated, is admitted to be the American, in
respect to its grammatical structure, and can be shown to be so in
respect to its vocables.
II. The Peruvians.--Here the question is more complex, the argument
varying with the extent we give to the class represented by the
Peruvians, and according to the test we take, _i.e._ according as we
separate them from the other Americans on the score of a superior
civilization, or on the score of a different physical conformation.
_a._ When we separate the Peruvians from the other Americans, on the
score of a superior civilization, we generally take something more than
the Proper Peruvians, and include the Mexicans in the same category.
I do not trouble the reader with telling him what the Peruvio-Mexican
(or Mexico-Peruvian) civilization was; the excellent historical works
of Prescott show this. I only indicate two points:--
1. The probability of its being over-valued.
2. The fact of its superiority being a matter of _degree_ rather than
kind.
Phraseology misleads us. We find certain phænomena in the social and
political constitution both of Mexico and Peru which put us in mind of
certain European customs, _e.g._ (two amongst many) the dependence of
subordinate chiefs on a superior one, and the use of certain ceremonies
previous to the warrior's first achievements in war. How easy is it,
in such cases, to take a false impression if we illustrate the habits
in question by comparisons drawn from European feudalism and chivalry,
instead of from their truer analogues, the probationary tortures of
tribes like the Mandans, and the constitution of such an empire as
Powhattans in Virginia.
Again, phrases, like _picture-writing_, are only safe so long as we
compare them with their real equivalents; and these are not the painted
and sculptured walls of Ægypt, but the rude hide of the Pawni, whereon
he scratches or daubs a sketch of his exploits.
More exceptionable still is the term _hieroglyphics_;[167] of which
the following is said to be a specimen. The sign denoting _Cimatlan_,
the name of a place, was compounded of the symbol of _Cimatl_, a
_root_, and _tlan_, signifying _near_. Surely this is no example of
phonetic spelling. _C-i-m-a-tl-tl-a-n_, consists of eight elementary
articulate sounds. How then can two signs spell it phonetically: eight
are required to do it properly; and unless it can be shown that the
symbol=_cimatl_ be in the same category with the letter _x_ (_ks_), and
that it is a compendium for two or more (in this case eight) simple
single signs, the phonetic character either falls to the ground, or the
term changes its meaning. Again, the spelling is not even syllabic.
_Cim-atl-an_, consists of three syllables; which have only two signs to
express them.
The real spelling is neither more nor less than rhæmatographic, with
one sign for one word, and two signs for two; just as if in English we
spelt the word representing the idea of a _shore_ by one combination
of points and lines, that of a _ham_ by another, and that of the town
_Shore-ham_ by a combination of the two. Now no one would say that this
spelt _Sh-o-re-h-a-m_.
One more instance--since I am indicating rather than exhausting lines
of criticism--shall be taken from the account of a so-called remarkable
phænomenon in the arithmetic of the tribes akin to the Mexican.
Some of the rudest tribes of South America, like the generality
of the Australians, are unable to count beyond five. The Mexicans,
however, have a simple term for twenty. Nay more, for 400 and 8000,
they have simple terms also, _i.e._ for the first and second powers of
twenty; just as we have in the words _hundred_ and _thousand_, simple
undecompounded names for the first and second powers of ten. A great
contrast this! exhibiting multiplicational as well as mere numerational
arithmetic.
What else?--there is a Notation as well, and certain symbols stand for
20, 800, and 4000.
Gallatin observes, that the symbols thus standing for these numbers
also express words equivalent to _company_, _regiment_, and _army_,
in the military system, and, thence, he argues that the vigentesimal
system determined the organisation of the legions of Montezuma. I do
not say that such was not the case. I believe, however, that it is much
more likely that the organisation of the army determined the so-called
vigentesimal numeration, and that, just as the word for 20=_man_
(_i.e._ 10 fingers and 10 toes), so the word for 400 was the name of 20
companies of 20, and that for 8,000 the name for 20 regiments of 400.
If this be true, so far from the Mexican multiplying 20 by 20, he might
be unable to count to 45; having names for the higher numbers furnished
him by an accident, but without terms for the intermediate ones.
As for the agricultural condition of the Mexicans, contrasted, as
it may be, with the hunter-state of the Sioux and others, it is no
contrast, except in degree, with the habits of the _Diggers_ and other
tribes of California and Oregon, where game is scarce and esculent
roots abundant; and whilst the archæology of the Valley of the
Mississippi shows rudiments of their architecture, the more important
confederations, such as the Creek, are analogues of what may be
somewhat grandiloquently called their imperial organisation.
Then as to the Casas Grandes, surely these show Mexican architecture
beyond the area of Mexico (_i. e._ _Aztek_ Mexico). But what if they
also show the extent to which the Mexican civilisation extended
itself? In such a case they prove nothing as to the _independent_
civilisational development of the nation on the area where they occur.
But is this the _only_ inference that they suggest? No. It is not
even the most legitimate one. Casas Grandes, in localities a thousand
miles from Mexico, indicate, not that the Mexican influence was spread
so far beyond the Valley of Mexico, but that more nations than one
built with stone and brick. To assume colonisation from community of
characteristics is inadmissible.
I have now only to add, that if this sort of criticism--such as it
is--has not been shown to be applicable to the Mexican astronomy and
the Mexican chronology, it is only because the magnitude of the subject
excludes it from the present volume.
_b._ When we separate the Peruvians from the rest of the Americans, on
the score of a different physical conformation, we take something less
than the whole nation, _i. e._ only a particular section of it. How
this happens is explained by the following statements:--
1. In the parts about the Lake Titicaca, within the Aymara area, are
found, along with vast stone ruins and other remarkable relics of an
early age, several burial places of the ancient inhabitants; the skulls
of which are flattened in front, behind, or laterally, as the case may
be, with the suture of the cranium obliterated.
2. The present inhabitants of this area are _not_ in the habit of
flattening the skull.
3. The _old_ race of the flattened skulls is the race which appears
to have been the executors of the _oldest_ portion of the Peruvian
architectural antiquities, and as such, civilised or semi-civilised.
4. The _present_ Aymaras exhibit no traces of being the descendants of
a people more civilised than themselves.
These facts are generally admitted. It is also, perhaps, as generally
admitted that, taken by themselves, they are not sufficient to
disconnect what may be called the old Peruvians of Titicaca, from the
modern Aymaras; since civilisation may become retrograde, and the habit
of flattening skulls, like any other habit, may be abandoned.
But what if the flatness of the old Titicacan skulls be not artificial,
but _natural_? In this case the Aymaras are anything but the
descendants of the civilised flat-head ancestors in question, and the
ancient stock itself is extinct--extinct without congeners, and without
posterity.
This is no more than what follows from the position that the cranial
depression is _natural_. On the other hand, if artificial, it falls to
the ground.
Now, notwithstanding the very high authorities on the other side, I am
not prepared to admit the necessity of a skull having been flattened
_in utero_ and in the way of normal development, simply and solely
because the traces of artificial manipulation are not discoverable. All
that any facts of the kind prove, is that Art can imitate Nature most
skilfully.
The conclusive proof that the old Titicacans were naturally flat-headed
would be the not impossible discovery of a mummied _fœtus_, with a
facial angle preternaturally acute. Such, however, has yet to be
discovered. Till then the Aymaras, who can be proved by historical
evidence to have once flattened the forehead, must pass for the
descendants of the Titicacans.
* * * * *
What breaks down the distinctions between the Peruvian and Eskimo,
breaks down _à fortiori_ all those lesser ones by which the other
members of the American population have been separated from each other.
Still, as a sample of arrangement, and as a practical exhibition of the
differences in physical conformation which are found within the limits
of South America, I conclude the section upon the American Mongolidæ
with a view of D'Orbigny's classification of the Indians between the
Isthmus of Darien and Cape Horn; at the same time referring the reader
to his valuable monograph (_L'Homme Americain_).
SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS.
Colour, yellow, brown, or copper-red; height, variable; hair, thick,
coarse, black, smooth, and long; beard, thin, coarse, black, never
wavy, late in making its appearance; chin, short; eyes, small,
deep-set; jaws, prominent; teeth, nearly vertical; eyebrows, prominent.
1. _Primary divisions, or races (so-called)_--
A. _Ando-Peruvian._--Colour, olive-brown; stature, low; forehead,
either depressed, or but slightly vaulted; eyes, horizontal, never
_bridés_ at their outer angle.
B. _Pampa._--Stature, often considerable; forehead, vaulted; eyes,
sometimes _bridés_ at the outer angle.
C. _Brazilio-Guarani._--Colour, yellowish; forehead, not retreating;
eyes, oblique.
A. _Ando-Peruvians_--
_a._ _Peruvian branch._--Colour, deep olive-brown; form, massive;
trunk, long in proportion to the limbs; forehead, retreating; nose,
aquiline; mouth, large; physiognomy, sombre.--Aymara and Quichua
Peruvians.
_b._ _Antisian branch._--Colour, varying from a deep olive to nearly
white; form, not massive; forehead, not retreating; physiognomy,
lively, mild.--Yuracares, Mocéténès, Tacanas, Maropas, and Apolistas.
_c._ _Araucanian branch._--Colour, light olive; form, massive; trunk,
somewhat disproportionately long; face, nearly circular; nose, short
and flat; lips, thin; physiognomy, sombre, cold.--Indians of Chili and
the Chonos Archipelago. The Fuegians.
B. _Pampas_--
_a._ _Pampa branch._--Colour, deep olive-brown, or _marron_; form,
Herculean; forehead, vaulted; face, large, flat, oblong; nose,
short; nostrils, large; mouth, wide; lips, large; eyes, horizontal;
physiognomy, cold, often savage.--Indians of the Chaco and Patagonia.
_b._ _Chiquito branch._--Colour, light olive; form, moderately
robust; mouth, moderate; lips, thin; features, delicate; physiognomy,
lively.--Indians of the Mission of Chiquitos.
_c._ _Moxos branch._--Form, robust; lips, thickish; eyes, not _bridés_;
physiognomy, mild.--The Indians of the Mission of Moxos.
C. _Brazilio-Guarani._--A simple branch.--Colour, yellowish, with
a slight tinge of red; form, massive; height, moderate; face,
circular; nose, short and straight; nostrils, narrow; mouth, moderate;
lips, thin; eyes, oblique; eyebrows, prominent; features, delicate
(_efféminés_); physiognomy mild.--Guarani, Caribs(?), and all the
unplaced tribes of Paraguay, Brazil, the Guianas, and Venezuela(?).
FOOTNOTES:
[104] The g is sounded hard.
[105] As the French _n_ in _bon_.
[106] Transactions of the British Association, &c., 1847, p. 121.
[107] United States Exploring Expedition.
[108] Transactions of the American Ethnological Society, vol. ii. p.
105.
[109] United States Exploring Expedition--Ethnology, p. 298.
[110] Pickering--Races of Men.
[111] From the Capital of Massachusetts.
[112] _King George._
[113] _Old Man._
[114] The name of a European who went mad.
[115] The Seal.
[116] Savage.
[117] Nootkan words.
[118] Chinúk.
[119] Pickering, from notes of Messrs. Agate and Brackeridge.
[120] See p. 310.
[121] Marked(?) because we find Paduca Kaskaias.
[122] A table of the chief affinities between the Bethuck and the other
Algonkin languages (or dialects) has been published by the present
writer in the Proceedings of the Philological Society for 1850.
[123] Transactions of the American Ethnological Society, vol. ii.
[124] Ibid.
[125] Transactions of American Ethnological Society. II., cxiii.
[126] Transactions of Philological Society, 1849 and 1850.
[127] Marked(?) because we find _Anies_ amongst the Iroquois (p. 333),
and _Inies_ amongst the Caddos.
[128] The date of Gallatin's Synopsis.
[129] See p. 349.
[130] Transactions of the Ethnological Society, vol. i. Transactions of
British Association for the advancement of Science.
[131] See p. 344.
[132] In Mr. Bollaert's list there only appears the name of Wacoes, who
are said to be a branch of the Cumanches.
[133] Extracted from Prichard, vol. v. p. 304.
[134] Transactions of the Literary and Historical Department of the
American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, vol. i.
[135] Pp. 287.
[136] "The only reference we have to the mounds of Oregon is contained
in a paragraph in the Narrative of the United States Exploring
Expedition, vol. iv. p. 313:--We soon reached the Bute Prairies,
which are extensive, and covered with tumuli, or small mounds, at
regular distances. As far as I can learn, there is no tradition among
the natives concerning them: they are conical mounds, thirty feet in
diameter, about six or seven feet above the level, _and many thousands
in number_. Being anxious to ascertain if they contained any relics, I
subsequently visited these prairies, and opened three of the mounds,
but found nothing in them but a pavement of round stones."
[137] Smithsonian Contributions, p. 2.
[138] Some of these have been published, _e.g._ in the Philological
Transactions.
[139] Gallatin, in American Ethnological Transactions, cxxxi.
[140] As may be seen in p. 370.
[141] We have just seen that this, in the American languages, is the
case even in words like _John's hand_, which would, there, be _John he
hand_.
[142] For further criticism see the remarks on the Otomi language.
[143] Transactions of American Ethnological Society, vol. ii. pp.
xxxviii. and li.
[144] Vol. iii. p. 3.
[145] The reasons for the italics and the(?) may be seen in p. 397.
[146] Transactions of the American Ethnological Society, vol. ii. p. 83.
[147] Prichard, vol. v. p. 423.
[148] New Mexico and California. By E. G. Squier, M.A.
[149] American Review, for November, 1848.
[150] See p. 390.
[151] From a short, but unique vocabulary of Lieutenant Emory's.
[152] The meaning of the Italics may be seen in p. 397.
[153] The meaning of the italics may be seen in p. 397.
[154] We have no vocabulary of the Pimos Indians of the Gila, north of
the Apaches.
[155] Travels in the Interior of Mexico, p. 465.
[156] See p. 410.
[157] Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 1835.
[158] Published by the Hackluyt Society.
[159] Dampier's Voyages.
[160] See Prichard, vol. v., p. 479.
[161] Of Easter Island.
[162] See p. 428.
[163] Schomburgk, Transactions of the Ethnological Society.
[164] Perhaps in such terms as _Xanthus_=_Scamander_,
_Briareus_=_Ægcon_, we have the phænomenon of a second language.
[165] Ethnological Transactions, Vol. I.
[166] E.=Eskimo, A.=Algonkin, I.=Iroquois, S.=Sioux, C.=Cherokee.
[167] Of course, I mean _Phonetic_ hieroglyphics; since it is only
these that indicate a higher civilization than picture-writing.
G.
INDIAN MONGOLIDÆ.
The present notice of the Mongolidæ of Hindostan will contain
little beyond an enumeration of their chief divisions. The further
questions--too numerous, even in their proper place, to be considered
in detail--will be found in the ethnography of the Iapetidæ.
THE INDIAN STOCK.
_Area._--Hindustan, Cashmere, Ceylon, the Maldives and
Laccadives, part of Beloochistan.
_Conterminous_ with the Iapetidæ(?) of Beloochistan and Cabúl,
the Seriform tribes of Little Tibet and the Sub-Himalayan
countries of Bisahur, Nepaul, Sikkim, the Koch and Bodo
country, the Garo country, Assam, and Aracan.
_Political relations._--Chiefly either English or Independent.
Partially French, Dutch, Danish, and Portuguese.
_Religions._--Brahminism, Buddism, with a variety of eclectic
and intermediate creeds, Parsi fireworship, Mahometanism, with
creeds intermediate to it and Brahminism or Buddhism, Paganism,
fragments or rudiments of Judaism and Christianity.
_Physical condition of country._--Chiefly intertropical, with
_a._ Fluviatile alluvia (deltas of the Indus and Ganges).
_b._ Mountain and forest ranges (the Ghants, &c.). _c._
Sandy steppes (Ajmeer and the Punjaub). _d._ Portions of the
Himalayan range (Cashmere).
_Social and civilizational influences._--_a._ Ante-Mahometan;
Persian, and Greek. _b._ Mahometan; Arabic, Persian, Turk,
Mongol. _c._ Recent; Portuguese, Dutch, French, Danish, British.
_Physical conformation._--The two extreme forms.--_a._ Colour
dark, or even black, skin coarse, nasal profile flattened,
cheek-bones prominent, lips thick, hair coarse and generally
straight, beard scanty, limbs oftener slender than massive,
stature oftener short than tall.
_b._ Colour brunette, sometimes of great clearness and
delicacy, skin delicate, nose aquiline, eyebrows arched
and delicate, frontal profile perpendicular, cranium
dolikhokephalic, zygomatic development moderate, lips thin,
stature sometimes tall, limbs often powerful, the whole body
being well-formed, even when not muscular, and the face oval,
with regular and expressive features.
_Habits._--Agricultural and industrial. More rarely pastoral.
Sometimes predatory.
_Nutrition._--Varied. Sometimes nearly wholly vegetable;
sometimes almost exclusively animal.
_Social constitution._--Castes; the higher the caste, the more
predominant the second type of physical conformation.
_Intermixture._--Arabs on the western, Malays, Indo-Chinese, on
the eastern coast. In earlier time, Turanian Turks, Mongols,
Scythians(?), Persians.
_Emigrant and Indians._--1. The Gypsies. 2. Hindu traders in
different parts of Asia.
_Frontier._--Partly _encroaching_ on that of the Sub-Himalayan
Seriform tribes (_i.e._, in Kumaon, Gurhwhal, and Bisahur),
partly _receding_, _i.e._ in Nepaul.
_Antiquities._--Rock temples, tombs, columns, coins,
inscriptions in the Pali. Ancient literature in the Sanskrit
language.
_Epochs._--1. Ante-historical Persian, _i.e._ the epoch of the
introduction of the languages represented by the Sanskrit,
and the germs of the Brahminical system. 2. Macedonian, from
the time of Alexander to the breaking-up of the Indo-Bactrian
kingdom. 3. Mahometan. 4. European.
_Alphabets._--1. With the letters more square than round,
manifestly derived from the Sanskrit. 2. With the letters
more round than square, derived from the Sanskrit, but not so
visibly as the former.
_Divisions._--1. The Tamul. 2. The Pulinda. 3. The Brahúi. 4.
The Indo-Gangetic. 5. The Purbutti. 6. The Cashmirian. 7. The
Cingalese. 8. The Maldivian.
THE TAMUL.
_Area._--Continuous. The Dekhan, from Cape Comorin to an
irregular line from Goa, west, to Chicacole, east.
_Physical appearance._--Chiefly referable to the first type.
Complexion oftener a black than a clear brunette; the latter,
however, the case with certain hill-tribes (the Tudahs of the
Nilgherries). A high stature and aquiline nose rarer than with
Indo-Gangetic tribes. Lips often thick. Skull probably more
dolikhokephalic than brakhykephalic. Maxillary profile often
prognathic. The general physiognomy exhibiting many points
common to the African.
_Religion._--Paganism, and in the cases of Brahminism, with a
considerable amount of the original Paganism intermixed.
_Language._--Containing Sanskrit words in proportion to the
_non_-Pagan character of the tribe by which it is spoken; in no
case, however, are they so numerous as to prevent the original
_non_-Sanskritic character of the language from being admitted.
_Alphabets._--Of the second class.
_Quasi-Pulinda[168] sections of the population._--Tudahs,
Buddugurs, Erulars, Curumbars, Cohatars.
_Languages._--_a._ _The Tamul Proper._--Falling into two
varieties, _a._ The High Tamul or Literary Dialect, and, _b._
The Low Tamul.
_Spoken._ From the parts about Pulicat to Cape Comorin, and as
far west as Coimbatoor, the south portion of Mysore.
_Conterminous_ with the Telinga (Teluga), Kanara, and Malayálam.
_b._ _Tbelinga_ (Telugu). _a._ High. _b._ Low.
_Spoken_, immediately to the north of the Tamul from Pulicat
to about 18° north latitude on the coast, and as far inland as
Bangalore south, and the head-waters of the river Tapti, north.
_Conterminous_ with the Udiya, the Mahratta, certain Pulinda
dialects(?), and the Kanara.
_c._ _Kanara_.--_a._ High, _b._ Low.
Central part of the Deccan from Beder, north, to the
lower-third of Mysore, south.
_Conterminous_ with the Mahratta, Telinga, certain Pulinda
dialects, the Udiya, the Telugu, the Kanarese, and the Tamul.
_d._ _Tulava._--A dialect of the Kanarese. Spoken on the
western coast between Goa and Mangalore, _i.e._ chiefly in the
province of Kanara.
_e._ _Malayálam._--South-west coast, from the limits of the
Kanara to Cape Comorin.
_f._ _Coorgi._--Spoken in Coorg. Unwritten.
_g._ _Tudah._--Mountaineers of the Nilgherri Hills. Unwritten.
The remarkable custom of polyandria,[169] which has been noticed as
one of the characters of the Seriform Tibetans, reappears among the
Tamuls of Malabar. "The marriages of the Nayrs" (the caste next in
dignity to the Brahmins), "so termed, are contracted when they are ten
years of age; but the husband never lives with his wife, who remains
in the home of her mother or brother, and is at liberty to choose any
lover of a rank equal to her own. Her children are not considered as
her husband's, nor do they inherit from him. Every man looks upon his
sister's children, who alone are connected with him by ties of blood,
as his heirs."--_Prichard_, iv. 161.
THE PULINDAS.
_Area._--Irregular, and in the present state of our knowledge,
discontinuous. Nearly encompassed by that of the Indo-Gangetic
Indians. Chiefly mountain-ranges.
_Physical appearance._--Exclusively of the first type,
approaching by an increased zygomatic development, with the
northern tribes, that of the Seriform Mongolidæ.
_Religion._--Absolute Paganism, or Paganism with the _minimum_
amount of Brahminical influences.
_Languages or dialects._--Numerous. All unwritten, and but
partially known. Even when mutually unintelligible, evidently
connected with each other. Evidently, also, connected with the
Tamuls. Proportion of Sanskrit at the _minimum_.
_Vocabularies._--1. Kol. 2. Larka-Kol. 3. Sontal. 4. Soar. 5.
Bhumij. 6. Mandala. 7. Rajmahal. 8. Goandi.
_Divisions._--A. Northern Pulindas. B. Eastern Pulindas. C.
Central Pulindas.
_Distribution._--A. The Ganges on the confines of Bahar and
Bengal, in the mountain-range between Baghulpur and Rajmahal.
B. Orissa, the Northern Circars, and the _Eastern_ part of
Gundwana--Kóls, Khonds, and Soárs.
C. _Western_ Gundwana--Goands.
RAJMAHALI.
_Locality._--Mountains in the neighbourhood of Rajmahal, on the
confines of Orissa and Bengal.
_Physical appearance._--Average height about five feet three
inches. "A flat nose seems the characteristic feature, but it
is not so flat as that of the Cafirs of Africa, nor are their
lips so thick, though generally thicker than the inhabitants
of the plain." "Fairer than the Bengalese; have broad faces,
small eyes, and flattish or rather turned-up noses; but the
Malay, or Chinese character of their features, from whom they
are said to be descended, is lost in a great degree on closer
inspection."--_Asiatic Researches._
_Pantheon._--Bedo Gossaik, Pow Gossaik, Davary Gossaik, Kali
Gossaik, &c.
The tables of Hodgson show the affinity of the Rajmahali with the Kol,
Bhumij, and the true Khond dialects of Orissa; as well as with the
Goandi of Central India.
THE BRAHÚI.
_Locality._--Beloochistan.
_Conterminous_ with the Indians of Scinde and the Balooches
(Biluchi) of Persia.
That the Brahúi numerals were liker those of Southern India than any
others, is indicated by Lassen. That the language, in general, is
Tamul, may be seen by a comparison of the vocabularies at large. To
this fact the Brahúi locality, so far west and north, gives great
importance. The date, however, of their occupancy still remains
unsettled. They may be recent settlers, or they may be aborigines, for
anything known from history.
THE INDO-GANGETIC INDIANS.
_Area._--The systems of the Indus, and of the Ganges, Northern
India. Continuous, but not uninterrupted; Pulinda populations
being interspersed.
_Physical appearance._--Often of the second type, and almost
exclusively supplying the standard specimens of it.
_Religion._--Brahminism, with a _minimum_ amount of Paganism,
Buddhism, Mahometanism. Sects, and intermediate creeds.
Parseeism.
_Language._--Non-Sanskritic in respect to its grammar, but so
full of Sanskrit vocables as to appear to be Sanskritic in
origin.
_Alphabets._--Of the first class.
_Quasi-Pulinda populations._--_a._ _Bhils._--In the wider parts
of the Vindhya chain, and northern part of the western Ghauts.
_Kulis._--South of the Bhils of the Ghauts.
_Ramusis_, _Berdars._--The Ghauts of the Mahratta country,
south of the Kulis.
_Waralis and Katodis._--The wilder part of the Concan.
_Languages._--1. _The Punjabi._--Conterminous with the Pushtú
of Affghanistan. Literature recent, and of Hindu origin. The
language of the Sikhs.
2. _The Multani_ (Ooch).--Moultan; no native literature.
3. _The Gipsy._--Considered here because, although spoken by
Indians who are spread over Europe and Asia in general, rather
than occupants of their natural soil, the Multan is the Indian
dialect to which it is most allied.
4. _The Sindi._--Locality Sinde; native literature little or
none.
5. _The Cutch._--Probably a dialect of the Sindi, or else of--
6. _The Gujerati._--Spoken in Gujerat. Native literature
considerable, especially in respect to writings on the Parsi
religion, of which Gujerat is the chief seat.
7. _Bikhaneer_ (Vikaneer).--Rajasthana.
8. _Odipoor._--Ditto.
9. _Jeypoor._--Ditto.
10. _Haroti._--Ditto.
11. _Mewar._--Ditto.
12. _Malwah._--The province so-called.
13. _Bundelcund._--Country round Allahabad.
14. _The Hindi._--Agra, Delhi, Oude, said to form the basis
of the Sub-Himalayan languages of Gurwhal, Sirmor, Kumaon,
Bisahur, and Nepaul(?).
15. _The Hindostani._--The Hindi proper converted by the
introduction of Persian and other words into a sort of lingua
Franca.
16. _The Maithili._--Spoken in South Bahar.
17. _The Bengali._--Bengal.
18. _The Assamese._--South-western part of Assam. Not the
indigenous language even to that district. Closely akin to the
Bengali, of which it is, perhaps, scarcely more than a dialect.
This and the Bengali are conterminous with the monosyllabic
languages of the eastern Sub-Himalayan range, and the northern
portion of the Transgangetic Peninsula.
19. _The Udiya._--Spoken in Cuttack and Orissa, as far south as
18° south latitude (there or thereabouts); conterminous with
the Bengali on the north.
The southern part of the Udiya area is irregularly bounded
by portions of the country belonging to the _first_ class,
and its western by portions belonging to the _second_ class
of Indian languages. As the Udiya is the most southern of the
Indian tongues belonging to the first division on the east,
the--
20. _Mahratta._--Is the most southern on the west side of the
Peninsula; bounded on the north by the Satpura Mountains, as
far as Nagpore; thence it follows the course of the Nagpore
river as far as its junction with the River Wurda. Westward,
the boundary between it and the Kanara (of the second division)
runs in an irregular line to Goa.
21. _The Concani._--The strip of coast between the western
Ghauts and the sea between Bombay north, and Goa south. The
district of Concana interrupting the area of the Mahratta
language, of which, perhaps, it is a dialect.
THE PURBUTTI(?) (MOUNTAINEERS).
_Distribution._--The Sub-Himalayan range between Cashmir west,
and the River Teesta on the borders of Sikkim, east.
_Area._--Kumaon, Gurwhal, Sirmor, part of Bisahur, Kulu,
Chambá, Mandi, Kangrah, Sukhet, Gulihur, Lahoul.
_Physical appearance._--Hindu, modified by either Seriform
intermixture or influences of climate and altitude, or both.
_Language._--Indo-Gangetic(?). In many cases a near approach
to the Hindi; in others, probably, to the Punjabi and the
Cashmirian.
_Religion._--Chiefly Brahminic.
_Divisions._--1. Central Purbutti, or Khasiyas, in Gurwhal and
Kumaon. 2. Eastern Purbutti, from Nepaul to the Bodo frontier;
few and equivocal. 3. Western Purbutti, in the parts between
the Sutlege and Cashmir.
The character of these populations is, as stated above, derived from
either the influences of a mountain climate, or from intermixture with
Seriform Tibetans, or both.
Admitting the latter as an important element, it then remains to be
considered which of the two stocks is the original one. Were the
sub-Himalayan terraces originally Seriform and afterwards peopled
by Indians, or was the population originally Pulinda, with which
was subsequently intermixed an Indo-Gangetic element. This is the
uncertainty which is denoted by the note of interrogation(?).
The question which it involves is by no means answered by saying that
the advent of the Brahminical Hindus of Gurwhal, Sirmor, and Kumaon,
as conquerors and colonists, is a matter of history. Even, then, the
nature of the primitive race remains uncertain, _i. e._ it is an open
question whether they were southern branches of the Seriform stock,
or northern Pulindas; to say nothing about the likelihood of their
being intermediate to the two, or different for different parts of the
frontier.
That they were Seriform is the likelier doctrine of the two. Still
when we see, on the eastern side of the peninsula, how nearly the
northern Pulindas of Rajmahal approach the southern Seriform Garos, the
difficulties of the question become apparent.
The division of the Purbuttis into three groups is natural. The
Khasiyas, in Kumaon and Gurwhal, are Indo-Gangetic Indians with the
_minimum_ of intermixture, it being stated that in those two countries
the aboriginal impure race is extinct. On the east the extreme tribes
are likely to pass into the Bodo and Dhimál, on the west into the
Cashmirian type.
Again, the political relations of the eastern Purbutti are with Nepaul.
Those of the west with Cashmir and the Punjâb.
As to the real phænomena of intermixture, they can only be ascertained
by a great increase of our information for the parts in question; since
they are preeminently irregular in their distribution, _e. g._ in
Konawer, where the language is Seriform, and the physiognomy Tibetan,
the religion is an imperfect Brahminism; whilst in Jobool (and probably
elsewhere) we find by the side of a Hindu language and physiognomy the
custom of Polyandria, common to both the Seriform Tibetans and the
Tamul Malabars.
THE CASHMIRIAN(?).
_Locality._--The Valley of Cashmir.
_Language._--Indo-Gangetic.
_Religion._--Mahometanism.
_Physical appearance._--Referable to the second type, with
clearness of complexion and regularity of features at its
maximum.
The note of interrogation denotes that the _non_-Indo-Gangetic element
of the Cashmirians is uncertain. It may be Tamul; it may be Seriform;
it may, on the other hand, belong to the class represented by the
Siaposh, and other Quasi-Iranian, or Iranian, populations.
THE CINGALESE.
_Locality._--Ceylon.
_Language._--So full of Sanskrit vocables as to be classed with
the Indo-Gangetic rather than with the Tamul tongues.
_Religion._--Buddhism rather than Brahminism. Paganism.
_Quasi-Pulinda population._--The Vaddahs.
THE MALDIVIAN(?).
_Localities._--The Maldive and Laccadive islands.
The note of interrogation indicates that the Maldivians are, perhaps,
a sub-division of the Cingalese rather than a separate substantive
section of the Indian Mongolidæ.
FOOTNOTES:
[168] For the meaning of this term, see the notice of _India_ under the
head of the _Iapetidæ._
[169] See p. 20.
ATLANTIDÆ.
DIVISIONS.
A.--THE NEGRO ATLANTIDÆ.
B.--THE KAFFRE ATLANTIDÆ.
C.--THE HOTTENTOT ATLANTIDÆ.
D.--THE NILOTIC ATLANTIDÆ.
E.--AMAZIRG--ATLANTIDÆ.
F.--THE ÆGYPTIAN ATLANTIDÆ.
G.--THE SEMITIC ATLANTIDÆ.
In respect to the general phænomena of ethnological distribution,
we are now fully prepared for all that will be presented in Africa.
Large areas covered by single nations, and small ones parcelled out
amongst many, are what we have already seen both in Asia and America.
The influences of a climate, at once tropical and continental, we
shall find at their _maximum_; those of extended river-systems, and of
mountain-ranges of the first magnitude, being less important. So also
is the influence of the ocean; the insular system of Africa being the
smallest in the world, and the African sea-board being the one least
indented.
From the greater heat of climate, the steppes of High Asia become sandy
deserts in Africa: whilst the central portion of the continent where
the highest table-land is to be expected, has yet to be explored.
Still the effect of a high level above the sea as manifested (for
instance) in Abyssinia, is to be taken into our consideration of the
physical conditions of Africa, _i.e._ as a condition that, to a certain
degree, in certain cases, counteracts the effects of excessive heat.
On the other hand, alluvial tracts, like the valleys of the Nile and
Niger are to be placed in the opposite scale, as assistant to the
influences of a tropical and equatorial sun.
The region, however, of the Atlantidæ is not Africa alone; it is Africa
and something else--Africa _plus_ the African side of Asia, _i.e._
Syria and Arabia; and here, in attending to the African character
of the latter of these two areas, we must not lose sight of their
physical relations to the sterile table-land of Persia, and the true
steppe-country of Turkestan and Mongolia; for such is the line of
continuity, in the way of steppes or desert, from Sahara to Siberia.
Strictly adhering to the order of the supposed affinities, it would be
proper to take the Atlantidæ of Asia first; in which case we should
begin with the Arab and Jew, and proceed with the Ægyptian, the Berber,
and Abyssinian, when the arrangement would be strictly natural.
Nevertheless, a different and more artificial arrangement will be
adopted here, and the portion of the Atlantidæ, which will be dealt
with first, will not be those who are most closely allied to the
Mongolidæ or the Iapetidæ, but those who least resemble either; in
other words, those who exhibit the Atlantidean type in its most
remarkable form. Hence, it is its typical character rather than its
affiliation and descent, which places the _Negro_ division at the head
of the Atlantidæ.
A.
NEGRO ATLANTIDÆ.
_Physical conformation._--Skin black, unctuous, and soft. Hair
woolly, lips thick, maxillary profile prognathic, frontal
retiring, nasal depressed.
_Distribution._--Low-lands, sea-coasts, and the delta and
courses of rivers, chiefly of the rivers Senegal, Gambia,
Niger, and Upper Nile. Nearly limited to the Tropic of Cancer.
_Area._--Western Africa from the Senegal to the Gaboon, Sudan.
The alluvial portions of the system of the Upper Nile.
_Divisions._--1. Western Negroes. 2. Central Negroes. 3.
Eastern Negroes.
No fact is more necessary to be remembered than the difference between
the Negro and African; a fact which is well verified by reference to
the map. Here the true Negro area, the area occupied by men of the
black skin, thick lip, depressed nose, and woolly hair, is exceedingly
small; as small in proportion to the rest of the continent as the area
of the district of the stunted Hyperboreans is in Asia, or that of
the Laps in Europe. Without going so far as to maintain that a dark
complexion is the exception rather than the rule in Africa, it may
safely be said that the hue of the Arab, the Indian, and the Australian
is the prevalent colour. To realize this we may ask, what are the
true Negro districts of Africa? and what those other than Negro? To
the latter belong the valleys of the Senegal, the Gambia, the Niger,
and the intermediate rivers of the coast, parts of Sudania, and parts
about Sennaar, Kordofan, and Darfúr; to the former, the whole coast of
the Mediterranean, the Desert, the whole of the Kaffre and Hottentot
areas south of the line, Abyssinia, and the middle and lower Nile. This
leaves but little for the typical Negroes. Such, however, as it is, it
will be dealt with--taking the Senegal as a starting-point.
Again, sub-typical deviations from the true Negro type will be found
within the group in question; since the Sudanian Blacks have the
characters of their class in a less degree than the more extreme
Negroes of the Niger and the Gambia.
Lastly; the class in question is not strictly ethnological, and that
for the following reasons:--It is based upon elements other than those
of affiliation and descent. Thus in respect to descent, the Negro of
Sennaar has his closest relations in the way of language, manners, and
blood, with the Africans of Kordofan, Abyssinia, and the parts about
his own country. Not so, however, his physical conformation. These are
with the Africans of Senegambia and Guinea; a fact brought about by the
common conditions of heat, moisture, and a low sea-level; conditions,
however, which render the group artificial and provisional rather than
natural and permanent. The same would be the case if we threw all the
mountaineers of Europe in one and the same class, irrespective of
their real ethnological differences, simply on the ground of their all
exhibiting certain common phænomena of colour, stature, and habits.
I repeat the statement, therefore, that the class of the Negro
Atlantidæ is only partially an ethnological one.
The chief area of the Negro is Western Africa, and the point at which
the notice of the Negro group most conveniently begins is the mouth
of the Senegal, the most northern locality of the _Western Negro
Atlantidæ_.
WESTERN NEGRO ATLANTIDÆ.
_Area._--The Lower Senegal and Gambia, the coast as far as the
Kong Mountains, the Lower Niger, and the coast south of that
river.
_Chief divisions._--1. The Woloffs. 2. The Sereres. 3.
The Serawolli. 4. The Mandingo. 5. The Sapi-Felúp. 6. The
Ibo-Ashantí.
Of these the most northern are--
THE WOLOFF (IOLOF, JOLOFF, OUOLOFF).
_Locality._--The Lower Senegal, _i.e._ Cayor on its north, and
the coast as far as Cape Verde on its south bank. Conterminous
with the Fulahs, Sereres, Serawolli, Mandingos, Berbers, and
Moors of the Western Sahara.
_Religion._--Feticism.
_Physical conformation._--Tall, well-made Negroes, with the
nasal profile less depressed, and the lips less prominent than
is the case with the more typical tribes.
THE SERERES.
_Locality._--Cape Verde, conterminous with and surrounded by
the Woloffs.
The Sereres are considered (and that upon fair grounds) to have been
the original inhabitants of a great part of the Woloff country.
Consequently, they are tribes of a receding area.
The affinities of the language are problematical; being with the Woloff
and the Fulah almost equally. It has also many words common to it and--
THE SERAWOLLI (SERACOLET).
_Locality._--Senegambia in the kingdoms of Galam, Kaarta, in
parts of the Bambarra country, and in parts of Ludamar, north
of the Senegal.
The affinities of the Serawolli language are, perhaps, most with the
Sereres, and, after that, with the Mandingo.
THE MANDINGO.
_Area._--North and south (south-east).--From the parts about
Cape Verde to Liberia; with an extension, inland, beyond Sego
and the Kong Mountains.
_Conterminous_ with the Woloff, Fulah, Sungai, Howssa, Grebo,
and Fantí areas.
_Divisions._--1. Mandingo Proper. 2. Mandingos of Bambouk. 3.
Bambarrans. 4. Yallonkas. 5. Susu. 6. Bullom. 7. Timmani. 8.
Kossa.(?) 9. Pessa. 10. Vei. 11. Mendi. 12. Kissi. 13. Sokko.
14. Sulimana. 15. Sangara. 16. Kooranko.
_Vocabularies._--For the first thirteen of the preceding
divisions.
_Physical conformation._--Hair, woolly; nose, depressed; lips,
thick; stature, high; skin, black, with a tinge of yellow;
sclerotica, tinged with yellow.
_Religion._--Mahometanism and Paganism.
_Alphabets._--1. The Arabic of the Mandingos Proper. 2. The Vei
(syllabic).
[Illustration: Fig. 15.]
This last deserves special notice. About the middle of January, 1849,
Lieutenant Forbes, Commander of H.M.S. Bonetta, inquired of the
missionaries of Sierra Leone, whether they had heard of a _written
language_ amongst the natives of those parts, since he himself
possessed a book in the language of the natives near Cape Mount. The
Rev. S. W. Koelle, a missionary of Sierra Leone, undertook a personal
investigation of the matter. He found that it was not only composed
within the memory of man, but that the composer was alive; a man
of the Vei country, named Doala Bukara. Doala Bukara, although an
imperfect Mahometan, had seen Arabic books, and, though no Christian,
an English Bible. The fact of these being _written_, haunted him in a
dream, wherein he was shown a series of letters adapted to his native
tongue--the Vei.
Nevertheless, the real alphabet was a joint production--_i.e._ of
Doala and others; since, in the morning, he could not remember the
signs shown him by night. Therefore, he and his friends put their
heads together, and coined new ones. The king of the country made its
introduction a matter of state, and built a large house in Dshondu,
as a day-school. But a war with the Guru people disturbed both the
learners and teachers, so that the latter removed to Bandakoro, where
all grown-up people, of both sexes, can now read and write.
The Vei alphabet is a syllabarium; of which the preceding was a
specimen.[170]
South of the Gambia, the Mandingo area, although extended so far in the
interior, does not quite reach the coast, so that the lower portions
of the rivers Caçamanca, Cacheo, Nunez, &c., are occupied by tribes
not as yet distinctly recognised to be Mandingo. Neither are they
as yet considered as allied either to the Woloff, or to each other.
Speaking languages, mutually unintelligible, they are typical Negroes
of the rudest and savagest kind; all being pagans. At Sierra Leone, the
Mandingo reappears on the coast, _i.e._ amongst the Bullom and Timmani
tribes.
SAPI-FELÚPS.
Of these the most northern are--
THE FELÚP.
_Locality._--The forests and low-lands at the mouth of the
Caçamanca.
_Language._--With miscellaneous, but without special affinities.
THE PAPEL.
_Locality._--River Cacheo, south of the Felúps.
_Language._--Said to be peculiar; the only vocabulary of it,
however, has been lost.
THE BISSAGO ISLANDERS.
_Locality._--The Bissago Isles. Probably the same stock as the
Papels.
THE BALANTES.
_Locality._--Isle of Bassi and the opposite coast South of the
Papels.
_Language._--Said to be peculiar, but not known from any
vocabulary.
THE IOLAS.
THE BASARES.
_Locality._--Between the Balantes and--
THE BAGNON.
_Locality._--The river Cacheo.
THE NALOO.
_Locality._--The Nunez.
THE SAPI.
_Locality._--Sea-coast in the neighbourhood of the Nunez.
BAGOES.
_Locality._--South of the Nalus, on the coast. Conterminous
with the Susu Bullom, and Timani Mandingos to which they
perhaps belong.
A convenient transition is now made to the area of--
THE IBO-ASHANTÍ.
Here come, first in order--
THE FANTÍ.
_Area._--The Gold-Coast, and the Ashantí country. From the
river Asinese, west, to the river Volta, east. Inland extension
uncertain. Continuous, but not uninterrupted.
_Conterminous_ with the Mandingo Súsús, and the Whidahs of
Dahomey.
Within the Fantí area are spoken several unclassed tongues, _i.e._
THE AKVAMBU(?)
THE ADAMPI(?)
and, more important than any, that of--
THE GHÁ.
_Synonym._--Acra or Inkra.
_Locality._--Cape Coast.
The Ghá are Negroes in appearance; speaking a language unintelligible
to the Fantí populations, but with undoubted general and miscellaneous
affinities. They have the appearance of being derived from some country
in the interior of Africa, a fact which Mr. Hanson--himself a native
preacher, who has studied the ethnology of his country with great
zeal--thinks can be verified by the comparison of an Acra vocabulary
with one from the parts near Timbuctú.
More important still, is the unequivocal occurrence of _numerous
well-marked Jewish characters_ in their religious and other ceremonies.
A paper of Mr. Hanson's[171] on this subject, leaves no doubt of the
_fact_. The interpretation, however, is more uncertain. The present
writer believes that such phænomena, _i.e._ points of similarity with
the Semitic nations, is the rule rather than the exception with the
African tribes--Negro and _non_-Negro; a fact which makes the Jews,
Arabs, and Syrians, African, rather than the Africans Semitic.
THE WHIDAH.
_Area._--Kingdom of Dahomey. From the river Volta to the river
Lagos.
_Physical conformation._--Typically Negro.
_Religion._--Feticism in its lowest form.
THE MAHA.
_Locality._--North of Dahomey, at the foot and on the sides of
the Kong Mountains.
THE BENIN TRIBES.
_Locality._--The sea-coast on the Bight of Benin. Conterminous
with the Whidah and Yarriba.
The peculiar distribution of the Mandingos must now be considered,
along with the configuration of the Guinea coast, and, the
imperfectly-known range of highlands, which, at irregular distances
from the ocean, runs nearly parallel with it; this range of highlands
being the assumed watersheds of the following rivers between Sierra
Leone and the western frontier of the Fantí country--the rivers Jong,
Gallinas, Cape Mount, St. Paul's, St. John's, Cestos, Lagos, Negros,
Costa. All these are inconsiderable, indicating that the elevations
in which they rise are near the coast. On the other hand, in Ashantí
and Dahomey, the rivers are of considerable magnitude, and indicate
that the mountain range in which they rise (the Kong mountains) is far
inland.
Now the low coast is the area of the following sections of a typically
Negro population.
THE GREBO.
_Synonym._--Cru, or Cruman.
_Locality._--The Grain Coast.
_Conterminous_ with the Vei, and other South-Mandingo dialects,
north; with the Avekvom, south.
_Religion._--Paganism.
_Physical conformation._--Typically Negro.
I am far from being sure that the Grebo is not a section of the
Mandingo class.
THE AVEKVOM.
_Synonym._--Quaqua.
_Locality._--Ivory Coast.
_Conterminous_ with the Grebo tribes, west, the Fantí, east,
and probably, certain Mandingo tribes of the Sokko section,
inland.
_Dialects._--1. Frisco. 2. Bassam. 3. Asini. 4. Apollonia.[172]
_Religion and appearance._--Pagan Negroes.
We now pass over the Fantí, Whidah, and Benin areas (already
considered) to the typical Negroes of the Delta of the Niger.
BONNY.
_Locality._--The river Bonny or New Calabar.
_Language._--Unintelligible to the natives of--
OLD CALABAR.
_Locality._--The Old Calabar river.
_Language._--Different from--
THE IBO.
_Area._--The Lower Niger, nearly as far as Funda.
_Conterminous_ with the Whidah(?), Benin(?), Bonny, Old
Calabar, Bimbia(?), Yarriba, and Tapua tribes.
ADIYAH.
_Locality._--Fernando Po.
_Language._--Not _identical_ with any tongue of the Continent;
though with miscellaneous affinities.
THE BIMBIA.
_Locality._--The Lower Cameroons.
In the Bimbia country the low coast is at its minimum breadth, the foot
of the Cameroons Mountain nearly reaching the sea.
CENTRAL NEGRO ATLANTIDÆ.
By following the course of the Niger, we are again brought in contact
with the Mandingo area, _i.e._ with the northern portion of it. Hence,
the populations which will now be noticed encompass and surround
the Mandingo nations, much as the Mandingo nations encompassed and
surrounded the Grebo and Avekvom tribes.
THE YARRIBA.
_Locality._--The right and left(?) bank (banks) of the Niger to
the back of the Ibo and Benin countries.
_Area._--Borgho, Wawa, Boussa, Yaouri.
_Religion._--Paganism.
_Physical conformation.--Sub_-typical Negroes.
_Habits._--Tattooed.
THE TAPUA.
_Synonym._--Nyffe.
_Locality._--The country between the rivers Niger, Makumnee,
and Coodoonia.
_Conterminous_ with the Ibo (south), the Yarriba (south-west),
the Fellatah country (east and north-west), the Haussa(?)
country, north.
_Religion._--Paganism. Nearly that of Yarriba.
_Physical conformation._--_Sub_-typical Negroes; with better
shapes and clearer skins than even the Yarribians.
HAUSSA (HOWSSA).
_Area._--Irregular, being deeply indented by that of the
Fellatahs.
_Conterminous_ with the Tapua(?), Yarriba, Fellatahs, Bornúi,
the Berber Tuaricks.
_Philological divisions._--Haussa Proper, Guberi, Kashna,
Mallowa(?), Quollaliffa(?), Kallaghi(?).
_Religion._--Mohametanism and Paganism.
_Physical appearance._--_Sub_-typical Negroes.
THE FULAHS.
_Area._--In the present state of our knowledge, discontinuous.
Encroaching.
_Divisions._--1. Senegambian Fulahs. 2. Fellatahs.
_Localities._--1. Of the Senegambian Fulahs. _a._ The northern
bank of the Senegal, about Lake Kayor, conterminous with the
Moors of the Sahara and Woloff. _b._ Fouta-Torra, south of the
Senegal, in the same longitude, probably conterminous with
the first locality; conterminous with the Woloff, Sereres,
Mandingos, and Serawollis. _c._ Bondou, west of Fouta-Torro
(with which it is probably conterminous), on the Rio Nerico.
_d._ Foota-jallo and Tembu, on the head-waters of the Rio
Grande, between the Nalus and the Susu and Solimana Mandingos.
How close these come to sea is uncertain. The Susu, although
said to be Fulah, are certainly Mandingo. _e._ Brooko and
Fuladu, between the great eastern feeders of the Senegal north
of Jallonka Mandingos. _f._ Wassela(?), south-east of Fuladu.
_g._ Massina, on the Niger, between Jenne and Timbuktú.
2. Of the Fellatahs--Cubbi, Ader, Guber; parts of Borgu,
Boussa, Kano, Zegzeg, as far as 10° north latitude, and 10°
east latitude, _i.e._ parts, probably, occupied by encroachment
on the Haussa, Yarriba, and Nufi areas.
_Religion._--Mahometanism, Paganism.
_Physical appearance._--_Sub_-typical Negroes.
The civilization of the Mahometan Fulahs is on the same level with that
of the most civilized (or Proper) Mandingos.
The departure from the Negro type is, in some instances, greater than
has been the case with any of the sub-typical Negroes enumerated; so
much so, that the Fulahs of the Gambia have been called the _red_
Fulahs.
Their extension over Howssa, the Yarribian and the Tapua countries, has
taken place within the historical period, under a leader named Danfodio.
Nevertheless, the exact original locality of the stock has yet to be
determined.
CUMBRI.
_Locality._--Forests, mountain fastnesses and swamps of Borgho,
Bowssa, Youri, and Wawa.
_Language._--Not known by a vocabulary, but said to differ from
that of the neighbouring tribes, Tapua and Yarriba.
_Physical conformation._--That of the Yarriba.
_Religion._--Pagan.
The Cumbri appear to be in the same relation to the Yarribeans and
Fellatahs that the Pulindas are to the Indo-Gangetic Indians, _i.e._
the representatives of a dispossessed population.
SUNGAI.
_Locality._--From the parts east of Sego (Sansangding) on the
Niger to the parts about Timbuctú. Probably in Timbuctú itself.
KISSÚR.
_Locality._--Parts about Timbuctú. Probably Timbuctú itself.
As the Sungai vocabulary of Hodgson represents a different language
from the Kissour of Caillié (both professing to represent the language
of Timbuctú) I leave the investigation for future inquiry.
BORNÚ.
_Locality._--Bornú, on the Lake Tshad.
_Divisions._--1. Bornúi, semi-civilised and Mahometan. 2. Bedi,
rude and Pagan.
_Physical conformation._--More truly Negro, and less
_sub_-typically Negro than any of the populations of the
interior already enumerated.
BIDDUMA.
_Locality._--Islands of Lake Tshad. Known by name only.
BEGHARMI.
_Locality._--The River Shary, South of Lake Tshad.
_Political relations._--Subject to Bornúi.
_Language._--Known by a vocabulary, and different from both the
Bornúi and the--
MANDARA(?)
_Locality._--South and south-west of Begharmi.
_Language._--Known by a vocabulary, and different from both the
Begharmi and Bornúi.
_Extract from Denham and Clapperton._--"On penetrating a short
distance in this direction, with some people from Mandara, we
saw the inhabitants run up the mountains quite naked, with
ape-like agility. On another occasion, a company of savages
were sent from a Kerdy, or Pagan village, termed Musgow, as
a peace-offering, to deprecate the Sultan, who was on the
eve of making a kidnapping expedition into their country. On
entering his palace they threw themselves upon the ground,
pouring sand upon their heads, and uttering the most piteous
cries. On their heads, which were covered with long, woolly, or
rather bristly hair, coming quite over their eyes, they wore
a cap of the skin of a goat or some animal like a fox; round
their arms and in their ears were rings of what appeared to be
bone, and around the necks of each were from one to six strings
of the teeth of the enemies they had slain in battle; teeth
and pieces of bone were also pendent from the clotted locks
of their hair; their bodies were marked in different places
with red patches, and their teeth were stained of the same
colour. Their whole appearance is said to have been strikingly
wild and truly savage. Endeavours to set on foot intercourse
with them were in vain; they would hold no communication, but
having obtained leave, carried off the carcase of a horse to
the mountains, where the fires that blazed during the night,
and the savage yells which reached the valley, proved that they
were celebrating their brutal feast."
This, short as it is, is a notice which would apply to no Negro tribe
yet mentioned; indeed, there are many reasons for believing that south
of the Mandaras the type changes, and that the populations represented
by them are the almost unknown tribes of Central and Equatorial Africa.
At any rate, the Mandaras are the most southern tribes hitherto known
of the longitude of Bornú.
And now the comment upon the words _typical_, and _sub-typical_ Negroes
finds place. The two divisions coincide closely with the physical
character of the area to which each applies; the departure from the
true Negro features being greatest where the approach to a _high_-land
or a _table_-land is the closest; the Bornúi being, at one and the same
time, the most like the Negroes of the Coast, and the occupants of the
most notable basin of Central Africa, _i. e._ the basin of Lake Tshad.
Due east of Lake Tshad we have, according to a variety of imperfect
descriptions, a series of Negro districts; and here it must be admitted
that the coincidence between the Negro conformation and the existence
of fluviatile, lacustrine, or oceanic low-lands is not found to occur;
the greater part of the tract being, according to all accounts, a
table-land.
MOBBA.
_Locality._--East of Lake Tshad.
_Synonyms._--Called by the Arabs _Dar-Saleh_ and _Waday_;
Darfurians, _Bergú_.
_Religion._--Chiefly Mahometanism.
_Intermixture._--Arab.
FURIANS.[173]
_Locality._--Dar-Fúr.
_Religion._--Mahometanism.
_Intermixture._--Arab.
KOLDAGI.[173]
_Locality._--Kordofan.
EASTERN NEGRO ATLANTIDÆ.
South and east of the country of the Koldagi we come to the Negroes of
the White Nile (Bahr el Abiad); where the fluviatile character of the
soil and the physical appearance of the occupants coincide.
THE SHILLUK.[173]
THE DENKA.[173]
THE TUMALI.[173]
THE SHABÚN.[173]
_Locality._--South, or south-west, of the Koldagi.
THE FERTIT.[173]
_Locality._--South of the Shabún.
All these agree in being Pagan Negroes, south and south-west of Obeyd,
the capital of Kordofan.
They also agree in being slave countries, the markets they supply being
those of Ægypt.
Lastly, their languages have undoubted affinities with those of the
Nubian class, a fact which verifies the statement at the beginning
of the present section, _viz._ that the group of African Negroes was
artificial rather than natural, since tested by physical form, the
Denkas, &c., fall in the same class with the Ibos, &c., whereas their
real affiliation is with the Nubians.
Through the researches of Dr. L. Tutshek, one of these languages is
known grammatically, _i. e._ the Tumali; and it may be as well to
remark that it has (amongst others) as a _Semitic_ character, the
method of expressing grammatical relations by means of internal change
rather than by the addition of prefixes, postfixes, or inter-fixes, and
also that such changes (as in the Semitic tongues) fall upon the vowel
rather than the consonantal elements of the word.
More undoubted Negroes of the Nile are--
THE QÁMAMYL.
_Locality._--Fazoglo, or Fazoel, south of Sennaar.
_Language._--Peculiar, but with miscellaneous affinities.
THE DALLAS.
_Locality._--The Tacazze; called by Salt, the Shangalla
(Shankali) of the Tacazze.
_Language._--Peculiar, but with miscellaneous affinities.
THE DOBA.
I presume that these are the Dar-Mitchegan Shangallas of Salt, and the
Agaumider Shankalas of Beka. If so, they are occupants of the interior
of Abyssinia, and conterminous with the Agows of that country; their
language being peculiar, but with miscellaneous affinities.
And now follow two sections which I place amongst the Negroes
provisionally; the first because its characteristics, although
pretty well known, are aberrant; the second, because our information
concerning them is preeminently imperfect.
They are separated from one another by a large area, one being
north-west, the other south-east of Darfúr and Kordofan, and have
little in common except the uncertainty of their position.
THE TIBBOO(?).
_Area._--The Eastern Sahara; bounded by the Tuaricks, Ægypt,
Kanem (of which the ethnology is uncertain), Mobba, and the
Furian and Nubian tribes.
_Divisions._--1. Rechádeh, or Tibboos of the rocks, to the
southward and south-east of Fezzan. The towns of Abo and
Tibesty belong to them.
2. The Febabos, situated about ten days' journey towards the
south, south-west of Augelah.
3. The tribe of Borgou, placed further southward, nearly on the
parallel of the southern part of Fezzan.
4. The tribe of Arno.
5. The tribe of Bilma, which is the greatest tribe of the
Tibboo nation, and occupies the country between Fezzan and
Bomon.
6. Nomadic Tibboos, on the borders of the empire of Bornú.
_Physical appearance._--Lips, thick; hair, curly rather than
woolly; complexion, varied, from jet-black to a copper colour;
nose, in some tribes, flat, in others aquiline; frame, slender.
_Language._--With no special, but with numerous miscellaneous
affinities. Improperly considered to be Berber.--_From
Prichard_, vol. ii.
THE GONGAS(?).
_Present locality._--The valleys of the Rivers Abai and Godjeb.
_Original locality._--Enarea, and a large tract south of
Abyssinia.
_Area._--Discontinuous; the division being effected by the
invasion of Galla tribes.
_Dialects._--1. Kaffa. 2. Woratta. 3. Wolaitso, 4. Yangaro.
_Vocabularies._--Those of Dr. Beke, published in the
Transactions of the Philological Society.
The Gonga tribes are in the same relation to the Abyssinians as the
Mandara to the Bornúi, _i. e._ the occupants of the most southern part
of the geographical area known; the parts immediately beyond either
being _terræ incognitæ_.
If, however, the current notions respecting the geographical structure
of Central Africa be correct, and if the views here exhibited
respecting the coincidence between the Negro type in the way of
physical conformation and the geographical conditions of a fluviatile
low-land be well-founded, the tribes of the interior should depart
materially from the tribes already described; a probability which has
been indicated in the notices of the Mandara and Mobba Africans.
Nay more, inasmuch as the stock next in order of notice is a stock
with a preeminently encroaching frontier, it is probable that the
true affiliations of the southern Abyssinians may be lost through the
encroachments of the Gallas and Kaffres, and the consequent extinction
of the tribes representing them.
FOOTNOTES:
[170] For the meaning see Note at the end of the Volume.
[171] Read before the British Association for the Advancement of
Science, at Swansea, in 1848.
[172] American Journal of Oriental Literature.
[173] See Rüppell's Reise, &c., that author being the first to give the
true affinities of the Koldagi language, _i.e._ with the Nubian.
B.
KAFFRE ATLANTIDÆ.
The preliminary facts of most importance in the ethnology of the great
Kaffre area are two--connected with the language, and from their
combined effects giving it the appearance of differing in kind from any
other African tongue.
These two peculiarities, which are illustrated from Boyce's Kaffre, and
Archbell's Bechuana Grammars, are as follows:--
1. _The system of prefixes._--Every Kaffre noun is preceded by an
adventitious syllable, apparently destitute of any separate meaning;
just as if, in English, we said, instead of--
Father, _al_-father.[174]
Son, _el_-son.
Mother, _em_-mother.
So far is this principle carried that the words introduced by the
missionaries, from our own language, all become thus modified. Hence
_priest_ changes to _um-priest_; _pharisee_, _um-pharisee_. I imagine
that without this prefix the simple root would be as impossible a form
for a Kaffre or Bechuana as a word like ὀρνιθ- (_i. e._ a root without
any concomitant inflection) would be to a Greek. Nevertheless, the
Kaffre prefix is no sign of case or number.
In the following words the syllables in italics are the prefixes,
wholly independent in origin from the root, and wholly non-radical:--
ENGLISH. KAFFRE.
Person _um_tu.
Horse _i_hashe.
Chief _in_kosi.
Servant _isi_kaka.
Infant _u_sana.
River _um_lambo.
Face _u_buso.
Ford _ak_utya.
People _aba_ntu.
Words _ama_swe.
Cattle _ink_omo.
Trees _imi_ti.
2. _The euphonic or alliterational concord._--This is a point of Kaffre
syntax, and occurs when certain words come together; _e. g._ in the
case of a substantive governing another in the possessive case, or an
adjective agreeing with a substantive. In either of these cases the
_secondary word changes its initial sound into that of the primary one,
or into some sound allied to it_.
If in English we expressed the relation between the nominative and
possessive cases on the same principle that occurs in the Kaffre and
Bechuana, we should say instead of--
_M_an's dog--_d_an dog.
_S_un's beam--_b_un beam.
_F_ather's daughter--_d_ather daughter, &c.
It may easily be imagined that languages thus characterised, taken
along with undoubted points of physical difference, have supplied the
grounds for a somewhat broad line of demarcation between the Kaffre and
the other Africans. That such a line is natural, is certain; whether it
has not been made too broad, is another question.
KAFFRE NATIONS AND TRIBES.
_Physical conformation._--Modified Negro.
_Language._--Prefixional and alliterational.
_Area._--Western, Central(?), and Eastern Africa, from the
north of the Equator to the south of the Tropic of Capricorn.
_Chief divisions._--1. Western. 2. Southern Kaffres. 3. Eastern
Kaffres.
That there is no broad line between the Kaffre and _non_-Kaffre
Africans, on the western side of Africa at least, is shown by the
following populations; whereof both the languages, as known by
vocabularies, and the physical conformations are intermediate or
transitional.
1.
WESTERN KAFFRES.
Beginning with the parts south of the Bimbia area we have between the
river of that name and the Portuguese kingdom of Loango--
THE BATANGAS.
_Native name._--Bânâka.
_Locality._--Sea-coast of Western Africa 3° north latitude,
half way between the Camaroons and Gaboon.
_Physical appearance._--More Kaffre than Negro; skin more
copper-coloured than black; sclerotica clear.
THE PANWES.
_Locality._--Eastward to, and more in the interior than the
Batangas; from 3° north latitude to 3° south latitude, on the
Head-waters of the Gaboon.
THE MPOONGAS.
_Locality._--Mouth of the Gaboon.
Then follow the nations of--1. Loango; 2. Congo; 3. Angola; and 4.
Benguela; closely allied both in language and appearance, and nations
whose place in the Kaffre division has long been recognised.
That there is, however, considerable difference in respect to the
physical conformation of the different tribes, is certain; some
writers, reducing the native of Portuguese Africa to the Negro, others
to the proper Kaffrarian, or South Kaffre, type.
If the difference between these two extremes be rightly estimated by
the present writer, the former should prevail along the courses, the
latter on the watersheds of the rivers. His information, however, is
imperfect upon this point.
2.
SOUTHERN KAFFRES.
_Area._--The extra-tropical portion of South Africa, _minus_
the parts south, Walvisch Bay on the west, and the water-system
of the Orange River.--Encroaching.
_Chief divisions._--1. Amakosas, nearest the Cape. 2.
Bechuanas, north of the head-waters of the Orange River. 3.
Zulus, north of the Bechuanas, with an undetermined extent
inland. Numerous sub-divisions.
_Physical conformation._--Cranium, more vaulted and less
prognathic than the Negro; hair, tufted, and as such
approaching that of the Hottentot; zygomatic development,
outwards rather than downwards, so that the cheek-bones become
projecting, and the forehead and chin tapering; lips, generally
thick, and nasal profile less generally depressed than with the
Negro; colour, black, dark brown, clear brown; stature, tall.
_Habits._--Pastoral rather than agricultural.
_Religion._--Paganism.
_Customs._--Circumcision and tattooing.
_The Dammaras._--Are the Dammaras Kaffre? This will be noticed in p.
495.
The Kaffres of Lagoa Bay, darker and more Negro-like than the typical
Kaffres of Kaffraria, form the transition between the southern Kaffres
and the eastern divisions of the tribes of Inhambane, Sofala, and
Botonga, and the water-system of the river Yambezi. They are Negro
rather than Kaffrarian, their languages being but imperfectly known.
3.
EASTERN KAFFRES.
So are those of Mozambique and Zanzibar; chiefly represented by the
Makuas, the Monjous, and the tribes speaking the Suaheli language.
A vast accession to our philological data for these parts proves
incontestably the Kaffre structure of the languages of the coast from
the Cape of Good Hope to nearly 5° north latitude.
But the tribes of the unknown parts of Central Africa, south of the
equator, are also, probably, either wholly, or almost wholly, Kaffre.
It is this which has induced me to pass _sicco pede_ over the numerous
details of the Kaffres of the coast, so as to allow space for a short
notice of the newer additions to our knowledge of the inland Kaffres,
west and east.
_a._ _West._--_The Kazumbi_, said to live at such a distance from the
coast, as to be obliged to travel three or four moons, before they
reach any of the possessions of the Portuguese and to speak a language
which resembles, in many words (especially the numerals), the Congo.
This is probably the Cazambe of the maps, nearly in the centre of
Africa, in 13° south latitude.
_The Koniunki._[175]--From some captured Negroes examined by the Rev.
T. Arbousset, of the Paris Missionary Society, a few words have been
collected of the Koniunki language. They are apparently of the Kaffre
class.
_English_, eyes
Koniunki, _maro_
Kaffre, _amehlo_
Sechuana, _matlo_
Makua, _meto_
Monjou, _mezo_
Suaheli, _matsho_
_English_, water
Koniunki, _mose_
Kaffre, _amanzi_
Sechuana, _metse_
Delagoa Bay, _amate_
Makua, _amazi_
Monjou, _mizi_
_English_, tree
Koniunki, _mote_
Kaffre, _umti_
Sechuana, _sefate_
_English_, two
Koniunki, _mapele_
Kaffre, _amabini_
Sechuana, _maberi_
Delagoa Bay, _mabizi_
Suaheli, _mabizi_
_English_, three
Koniunki, _mataru_
Suaheli, _madato_
Kaffre, _amatatu_
Sechuana, _mararu_
Delagoa Bay, _mararu_
The locality of the Koniunkis was also said to be so far in the
interior, as for the gang to have been three or four months in reaching
the Mozambique coast.
This indicates that they were _east_ of the Kazumbi, whilst the
affinity of the language with the Bechuana gives them a southward
direction.
_The Mazenas_, mentioned along with the Koniunkis, as lying between
them and the Makuas.[176]
Hence, the Congo, the Kazumbi, Koniunki, and Mazena areas, probably,
carry us across the whole continent in (about) 13° south latitude;
whilst the likelihood of the southern Koniunki and northern Bechuanas
being conterminous, helps to fill up the void spaces north of the parts
about Litakú.
_b._ _East._--Parts about Mombaz, Formosa Bay, Lama, Patta, &c.
POCOMO.
_Locality._--River Pocomosi (Maro).
_Conterminous_ with the southernmost section of the Gallas.
WANIKA.
_Locality._--North and west of Mombaz.
The Mahometanism of the Wanikas, if it exist at all, is of the most
imperfect kind. They practise circumcision, it is true; but this is a
general African, quite as much as a particular Semitic, rite--"They
bury their dead, placing the head to the east; and it is customary,
after waiting ten days, to kill a bullock and make a feast, pouring
the blood upon the grave." The Wanika man seen by Pickering, "bore the
marks of a national designation; consisting of a single notch, filed
between the two upper front teeth, with numerous small scars on the
breast."
WAKAMBA.
_Synonym._--Merremengo.
_Locality._--Mixed with, and conterminous with the Wanika.
WATAITA(?).
_Locality._--Five days from the coast; conterminous with the
Wakamba.
TAVAITI(?).
_Locality._--Westward of the Wataita.
_Language._--Different from the Chaga and M'Kuafi. Probably
akin to the Wanika.
M'SIGUA.