Guaranis.
Botocudos.
In this classification, the distinctions of “races” and “branches” are
based exclusively on physical characteristics, and are at times in
conflict with a linguistic arrangement. The Botocudos and Guaranis, for
instance, are wholly dissimilar and should no more be classed together
than the Peruvians and the Tupis; the Saravecas and Paiconecas speak
Arawak dialects; and other examples could be cited. When D’Orbigny
confined himself to the identification of related tribes by a close
scrutiny of their idioms, he rendered valuable service by introducing
order into the chaotic nomenclature of earlier writers, as he forcibly
points out; but his physical discriminations are of little value.
About the middle of this century, two German travelers, Von Tschudi and
Von Martius, gave close attention to the linguistic ethnology of the
continent, Von Tschudi in Peru and Von Martius in Brazil. The former
found the field so unoccupied that he did not hesitate to write in a
work published less than ten years ago, “In fact, the knowledge of the
languages of South America is to-day less than it was two hundred years
ago.”[222] His own divisions of the linguistic regions (_Sprachgebiete_)
of the continent is less satisfactory than we might expect. He describes
three principal and seven minor districts, the former being, 1. The
Pampo-Andean; 2. The inter-Andean; and 3. The Tupi-Guarani regions. The
minor centers are, 1. The Arawak-Carib region; 2. That of Cundinamarca;
3. The Rio Meta; 4. The Rio Tolima; 5. The Rio Atrato; 6. The Rio Salado;
7. The Chaco; 8. That of the Moxos.
These are so far from meeting the requirements of our linguistic
possessions at present that scarcely one of them can be accepted. Von
Tschudi was an able and critical scholar in his particular field, that
of the Kechua tongue, but he had not made a wide study of South American
languages.
Von Martius was much more of a comparative linguist. His work on the
ethnography and linguistics of South America[223] is a mine of general
information, and indispensable to every student of the subject. Taking
the numerous and confused dialects of Brazil, and the almost hopeless
synonymy of its tribal names, he undertook a classification of them by
establishing verbal and grammatical similarities. It is now generally
recognized that he went too far in this direction. He maintained, for
instance, that there is a demonstrable relationship between the Tupi,
the Carib, and the Arawak stocks; later studies have not endorsed
this, but have tended to show that they cannot be traced to any common
mother-speech. What Martius called the “Guck” nations, which he
brought into connection through the word of that sound used by them to
designate the paternal uncle, are now considered to be without general
relationship. The researches of Karl Von Den Steinen and Lucien Adam have
overthrown this theory.
It is especially in studying the vast and largely unexplored regions
watered by the upper streams of the mighty Amazon, that one is yet at a
loss to bring the native inhabitants into ethnic order. Of the various
explorers and travellers who have visited that territory, few have paid
attention to the dialects of the natives, and of those few, several have
left their collections unpublished. Thus, I have been unable to learn
that Richard Spruce, who obtained numerous vocabularies along the Amazon
and its branches, gave them to the press; and there were in the hands
of Von Tschudi more than a hundred vocabularies collected by the German
naturalist, Johannes Natterer, in the interior of Brazil,[224] most of
which I learn are still in manuscript. In default of material such as
this, the classification of the tribes of Brazil must remain imperfect.
It is also a matter of much regret that no copy can be found of the work
of the celebrated missionary, Alonso de Barcena, _Lexica et Precepta in
quinque Indorum Linguis_, published at Lima, in 1590--if, indeed, it
was ever really printed. It contained grammars of the Kechua, Aymara,
Yunca, Puquina and Katamareña, (spoken by the Calchaquis). Of the two
last mentioned idioms no other grammar is known, which makes the complete
disappearance of this early printed book particularly unfortunate.
Another Jesuit, Father Guillaume D’Étré, wrote out the catechism and
instructions for the sacraments in eighteen languages of eastern Peru and
the upper Orinoco;[225] but this, too, seems lost.
Of late years no one has paid such fruitful attention to the relationship
and classification of the South American tribes and languages as M.
Lucien Adam. Although I have not in all points followed his nomenclature,
and have not throughout felt in accordance with his grouping, I have
always placed my main dependence on his work in the special fields he
has selected--the three great South American families of the Amazon
region, the Arawak (called by him the Maypure), the Carib, and the
Tupi.[226]
The general plan which I shall adopt is rather for convenience of
arranging the subject than for reasons based on similarities either of
language or physical habitus. It is that which allows the presentation of
the various stocks most in accordance with their geographic distribution
and their historic associations.
It is as follows:
I. The South Pacific group.
1. The Columbian region.
2. The Peruvian region.
II. The South Atlantic group.
1. The Amazonian region.
2. The Pampean region.