_Caumaris_.
_Cauwachis_.
_Pacayas_.
_Pebas_.
To this list I add the Yeguas, Yaguas or Yahuas, found in the same
vicinity, and remarkable for their fine personal appearance, “the
most perfect physical type,” says M. Ordinaire, “of all the Indian
races.”[442] The vocabulary of their language obtained by Castelnau
shows unmistakable affinities to that of the Pebas.[443]
On the Rio Chambira, adjacent to the Yameos and Omaguas, dwelt in the
early part of the last century the _Itucales_ and Varinas or Uarunas,
who, according to Coleti, spoke allied dialects. The Itucales were
noteworthy as the aptest and most biddable converts obtained by the
missionaries on the river. They were agricultural and monogamous.[444]
Hervas classes them with the Musimos, the Mayorunas and the Barbudos,
under the Urarina language; but the last two are members of the Pano
stock.
The _Ticunas_ (Tecunas, Tucunas) are found along the lower Javary and
the Solimoes, adjacent to the Pebas. They wander about in a state of
nakedness, depending on hunting and fishing, and under a loose control
of the Brazilian government. Many of them can converse in Kechua, though
their own tongue is of a different group. They are given to dances of
a sacred character, in which the actors appear in masks. An operation
allied to circumcision is practiced on infants of both sexes at the time
of assigning them names.[445] One of the several tribes called “Orejones”
is thought by Pöppig to belong to the Ticunas.[446]
The tribes in the valley of the Huallaga were first visited by Franciscan
missionaries in 1676. In that year Father Jose de Araujo converted a
number of the Hibitos (Xibitos) in the Upper Huallaga, and wrote an
_arte_ of their language. He found it the same as that of the Chunchos
in the Sierra. Their neighbors further down the river, the Cholones,
speaking a different idiom, were brought under the instruction of Father
Francisco Gutierrez, who composed a work on their tongue. A century
later we find these two nations living together at the mission, counting
4800 souls, and occupying that portion of the province of Cajamarquilla
between 7° and 8° 30´ s. lat. They were peaceable and agricultural, with
fields of cotton and food plants.[447]
This fair scene disappeared in the turbulent life of the next generation,
and when the traveler Pöppig visited the Huallaga in 1834 he found the
mission in decay, and the natives, much reduced in numbers, had resumed
their wild life and again become savages.[448] At present, along the
main stream to the north, are the Cocamillas, the Aguanteas, and the
Puinahuas. All these appear to be of the Tupi stock, with dialects akin
to the Cocama and Omagua.[449]
_The Panos._ When the missionaries first crossed the Cordillera and
explored the upper Ucayali river, they found a number of related tribes,
the principal of whom were the Panos. By their traditions they had moved
from near the equator at the north. They differed little in culture from
their neighbors, and are now nearly extinct. By the earlier writers they
were placed in relation to the Omaguas as members of the Tupi stock,[450]
but the researches of M. Raoul de la Grasserie have vindicated for them
an independent position.[451] They are said to have possessed a form of
hieroglyphic writing, which they painted on a sort of paper manufactured
from vegetable fibre.
Some of the Mayorunas are reported as having thick beards and white skins
(Martius), but these peculiarities are probably attributable to early
admixtures with the white race.
The largest of these tribes at present is that of the Conibos, who
constitute now the greater part of the natives the traveler encounters on
the Ucayali. In appearance they have some resemblance to the Peruvians.
The nose is aquiline and prominent, the forehead broad, the eye large,
and the cheek bones not prominent. In intelligence they are superior
to their neighbors, learning the Spanish language readily, and proving
themselves valuable house-servants. They are apathetic, however, and none
of the Panos have shown any earnest desire to adopt a civilized life.[452]
The Cashibos are the most savage tribe on the Ucayali or its affluents,
and are said to have the ugly custom of eating their relations when they
die, and if this event is long delayed, the old men are killed. But such
is the power of ideas, that one of the obstacles to their conversion is
that they so much prefer their bodies to become food for their relatives
than a feast for worms![453]
The Pacaguaras or Pacavaras, on the rivers Beni and Mamore, classed by
D’Orbigny as a separate stock, belong among the Panos, as is clearly
seen by the vocabulary furnished by that traveler, and later that by Mr.
Heath.[454] The easternmost branch of the stock (not noted by M. de la
Grasserie), are the Canawarys (Canamarys), who live on the banks of the
Purus. Mr. Chandless heard that they were related to the Conibos, and the
few words he obtained of their language prove the statement correct.[455]
PANO. PACAGUARA. CANAWARY.
Sun, _bari_, _uari_, _wari_.
Fire, _chi_, _chi-i_, _chi-i_.
Water, _uaca_, _waka_.
Mr. Chandless also says, “The Conibos are of the same tribe as the
Manitenerys of the river Purus,” which would bring these latter also
into the Pano stock. The short vocabulary of their language which he
supplies does not bear out this assertion. Mr. Richard Spruce considered
that it proved them to be of the Carib stock;[456] but to me it seems
unmistakably a member of the Arawak family, as will be seen from the
following analysis:
MANITENERY. ARAWAK STOCK.
Sun, _cashi_, _catche_.
Moon, _siri_, _casiri_.
Fire, _chi-chi_, _chichi_.
Water, _huni_, _uni_.
From the above considerations I offer the following names as comprising
the