_Angaguedas_, west of province of Cauca.
_Cañasgordas_, west of province of Cauca.
_Caramantas_, west of province of Cauca.
_Chocos_, on Rio Atrato.
_Chamis_, near Marmato.
_Chiamus_ or _Chocamus_, on the Pacific.
_Citaraes_, on Rio Buei and Rio Buchado.
_Murindoes._
_Necodades._
_Noanamas_, on head-waters of Rio San Juan.
_Paparos_, between rivers Sapa and Puero.
_Patoes._
_Rio Verdes_, on the Rio Verde.
_Sambos_, on Rio Sambo, south of Gulf of San Miguel.
_Tados_, head-waters of Rio San Juan.
_Tucuras_, on Rio Senu.
It is worth while recording the names and positions of the other native
tribes along the northern coast at the time of the discovery, even if we
are unable to identify their linguistic connections. An official report
made in 1546 furnishes a part of this information.[232] At that time and
previously the eastern shore of Venezuela was peopled by the Chirigotos,
who are probably the Chagaragotos of later authors.[233] Their western
neighbors were the Caracas, near the present city of that name. They were
warlike, wove hamacs, poisoned their arrows, and wore ornaments of gold.
The whole coast from Caracas to Lake Maracaibo was in possession of the
Caquetios, who also wove hamacs, and dwelt in stationary villages. They
were of milder disposition and friendly, and as a consequence were early
enslaved and destroyed by the Spaniards. Even at the date of the Relation
they had disappeared from the shore. It is possible that they fled far
inland, and gave their name in later days to the river Caqueta.
Along the eastern border of Lake Maracaibo were the Onotes, “The Lords of
the Lagoon,” _Señores de la Laguna_, a fine race, whose women were the
handsomest along the shore.[234] They lived in houses built on piles
in the lake, and fished in its waters with nets and hooks. They traded
their fish for maize and yuca to the Bobures. These dwelt on the southern
shore of the lake, and are distinguished as erecting temples, _mesquites
adoratorios_, for their religious rites.[235] The Sierra on the west of
the lake was the home of the warlike Coromochos.
These warriors probably belonged to the Goajiros, who then, as now,
occupied the peninsula on the northwest of Lake Maracaibo.
It is not easy to say who were the Tirripis and Turbacos, who lived
about the mouth of the Magdalena River, though the names remind us of
the Chibcha stock. Approaching the Gulf of Darien from the east, we find
the highlands and shores on its west peopled by the Caimanes. These
undoubtedly belonged to the Cunas, as is proved by the words collected
among them in 1820 by Joaquin Acosta.[236] The earliest linguistic
evidence about their extension dates from a report in 1515,[237] in which
the writer says that all along this coast, up to and beyond San Blas,
the natives call a man _uma_ and a woman _ira_, which are words from the
Cuna dialects.
In the mountainous district of Mérida, south of the plains in the
interior from Lake Maracaibo, there still dwell the remains of a number
of small bands speaking dialects of a stock which has been called from
one of its principal members, the _Timote_. It has been asserted to
display a relationship to the Chibcha, but the comparisons I have made do
not reveal such connection. It seems to stand alone, as an independent
tongue.
All the Timotes paid attention to agriculture, raising maize, pepper
and esculent roots of the potato character. Those who lived in the warm
regions painted their bodies red and went naked; while those in the
uplands threw around them a square cotton blanket fastened at the waist.
Some of them buried their dead in caves, as the Quindoraes on the banks
of the Motatan. With them they placed small figures in terra cotta. The
Mocochies, living where caves are rare, built underground vaults for
their dead, closing the entrance with a great stone.[238]
From the writings of Lares and Ernst I make the following list of the
members of the