_Bohanes_, on the Paraguay near the Rio Negro (extinct).
_Chanes_, adjacent to the Bohanes.
_Charruas_, on the coast east of the Rio Uruguay.
_Guenoas_, east of the Uruguay.
_Martidanes_, east of the Uruguay.
_Minuanes_, between the Uruguay and Parana.
_Yaros_, on east bank of Uruguay (extinct).
Dr. Paul Ehrenreich describes them as they are to-day, splendid riders
and daring soldiers, but faithless and tricky;[518] so they have not much
improved since Father Chomé in 1730 stigmatized them as _francs voleurs
de grand chemin_.[519]
The _Guatos_ or Vuatos were accolents of the upper Paraguay and Araguay,
and had fixed settlements near Albuquerque. Travelers report them as an
unusually handsome people. They are well-built, light in hue, with Roman
noses and regular features, and the men with a well-developed beard on
lip and chin. This appearance does not belie their intelligence, which is
above the average. Polygamy prevails to an uncommon extent. Von Martius
thought that they were of a northeastern origin, connected perhaps with
the Malalis of Bahia, who are a Tapuya people.[520] There may have
been some admixture, as from a small vocabulary I quote the following
resemblances:
GUATO. TAPUYA.
Water, _maguen_, _magnan_.
Head, _dōken_, _dicran_.
Hand, _ida_, _danicra_.
Foot, _apoo_, _po_, _ipaa_.
Tooth, _maqua_, _aiqua_.
Tongue, _chagi_, _dageuto_.
A recent writer does not give so favorable an opinion of this people. He
found them living about the junction of the Rio San Lorenzo with the Rio
Paraguay, and in a depraved condition. Girls who were not more than five
or six years old were used by the men as wives. Sterility and premature
decrepitude were the natural consequences.[521]
On the western border of the Chaco, in the provinces of Tucuman and
Catamarca, resided the _Calchaquis_, a tribe interesting as the only one
in the South Atlantic Group who constructed walls of cut stone. At least,
such are found in their country, as for instance, one about thirty miles
from Andalgala, where there is a well-constructed dry wall about ten
feet high, enclosing a space nearly a mile in diameter, evidently once a
walled city. Stone built tombs are also frequent, from which the rifler
is rewarded with mummies, ornaments of impure gold, and small idols of
copper. But I doubt if the Calchaquis developed any such ripe arts as
these. History tells us that they voluntarily accepted the rule of the
Incas about the middle of the fifteenth century, and that their land
became part of the _Collasuyu_ or southern district of the empire. All
these remains have a distinct impress of Kechua art, and we may be sure
that their inspiration was throughout Peruvian.[522]
The earliest missionaries depict the Calchaquis with curious usages
and with a certain barbaric splendor. A widow became the wife of her
husband’s brother, as of old in Israel. So long as she was a virgin, a
girl could dress in the gaudiest colors, but once _prostrato pudore_,
as the monk delicately puts it, she must change to sober weeds. Their
ornaments were of silver and copper, and the nobles wore a circlet of
gold and brilliant feathers. Their seasons of mourning were accompanied
with the most violent orgies. Over the dead they raised heaps of stones,
and held that the souls became stars.[523]
We have no specimen of the language of the Calchaquis, although a
grammar of it was written by the Jesuit, Alonso de Barcena, and perhaps
published. It is called the Katamareño or Cacana tongue, terms derived
from the Kechua. The proper names, however, which have been preserved in
it indicate that it was different from the Kechua.[524] I have already
referred (page 227) to Von Tschudi’s suggestion that it survives in the
modern Atacameño.
From the few specimens of skulls which have been examined, the Calchaquis
appear allied to the Aucanian stock,[525] and it may be that further
research will prove them a branch of the Araucanians.