The Calchaquis,[646] the ancient inhabitants of the modern south-west provinces, Argenton, Catamarca, Rioja, Santiago, etc., probably also spoke a Quechua dialect. It was a very civilised population; the only one in the South American continent which knew how to construct buildings of freestone. Although partly borrowed from the Peruvians, the Calchaqui civilisation has a character of its own, and in several respects recalls that of the Pueblo Indians, particularly the Zuñis (arrangement of their cities in a series of seven, copper tools and weapons, etc.).

The Cuna Indians, also called Tula Dariens, etc., of southern Panama. They are people of low stature (1 m. 50, according to Brinton), thick-set, of light yellow complexion, very brachycephalic (ceph. ind. 88.6, according to Catat), with broad faces, somewhat resembling the Guaymis, their neighbours in the east (p. 545). It is asserted that individuals with grey eyes and chestnut or reddish hair are not rare among them. They are not numerous; the tribe of the Changuina Dorasks, which formerly numbered 5000, had dwindled down in 1883 to a dozen individuals, still speaking their mother-tongue; the Sambu Chocos, who occupied the whole of the lower valley of the Atrato, and extended westward to the Pacific coast, are now scarcely 600 in number in southern Darien. They are short (1 m. 55), brachycephalic (ceph. ind. on the liv. sub., 84.1), very broad-faced.[647] To the eastward of the Chibchas (p. 545) dwelt several families of the Paniquitas and Paezes, included in a distinct linguistic group, of which the other representatives, Colimas and Manipos, have entirely disappeared. In central Columbia (state of Antioquia) dwell the last remnants of the Nutabehs and Tahamis, tribes resembling the Muisca Indians (p. 546) in their customs and social state.

As to the Ando-Peruvian region, several ethnic groups, using special dialects, are also found there, having no relation with the Quechuas. Such as the small tribe of the Puquinas in the neighbourhood of Lake Titicaca, the Yuncas or Cuna-Yuncas (“inhabitants of the hot lands” in the Quechua tongue), settled on the Pacific coast between the 5th and 10th degrees of S. latitude; finally, the Atacameños, fishers of the Loa valley, and the Shangos or Changos, more to the south, in the desert of Atacama. These two tribes are characterised by their low stature (1 m. 60, according to D’Orbigny).

It may be as well to class with the Andeans the Araucans, or Mapu-che as they call themselves, whose linguistic affinities are still obscure, but whom we must connect with the Central American race by their physical characters; stature almost low (1 m. 61), sub-brachycephalic (ceph. ind. on the liv. sub., 82, skull 81), elongated face, with slightly projecting cheek-bones, straight or convex nose, etc., the general appearance recalling the Aymaras and the Quechuas;[648] certain ethnic characters (perfected weaving of stuffs, irrigation, hoe-culture, metallurgy, etc.) place them in the same category as the Andeans, and point to Peruvian influence. They are only found, in fact, to the north of the Bio-Bio river (37°–38° S. lat.)—that is to say, only in those places reached by the Inca civilisation. South of this line, with the exception of the coast, where European influence makes itself felt, the Araucans have remained until recent times hunters or nomadic shepherds, almost uncivilised. It is estimated that there are 40,000 Chilian Araucans. At a comparatively recent period some Araucan tribes migrated to the eastern slope of the Cordilleras (the Manzanieros)[649] and into the Argentine pampas, as far as the neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres. In these parts they have been pushed back, firstly by the European colonists, then by the Argentine soldiers, farther and farther south, beyond the Rio Negro. This population is a very mixed one; we find in it Patagonian, Quechua, Chaco, and even European elements (see p. 574).

From the social point of view, all the Araucans have preserved their ancient organisation of hordes governed by a hereditary chief. Little is known about their religious ideas; it is understood that they hold in the highest reverence an evil spirit called “Pilgan” by the Andean Araucans, “Nervelu” (“bird with metal beak and claws”) by the Araucans of the Pampas. Formerly, the Araucan warriors were buried with their weapons, their horse was felled on the grave and consumed.[650]

Among the Andean populations we must also mention the Yurucares, to the west of the Rio Mamoré, of very high stature, their skin being, it is said, almost as white as that of Europeans.

II. The Amazonians.—The vast plains and impenetrable forests, rich in birds and arboreal mammalia, watered by the great tropical streams, the Amazon and the Orinoco, are peopled by a large number of tribes who may be grouped to-day—thanks to the recent works of philologists—into four families. Two of these, the Carib and Arawak, or Maypure families, comprise the tribes of the eastern part of the country;[651] the two others, which are less important, the Miranha and Pano families, are composed of the tribes of the western part of the country.

1. The Carib Family.—It was thought until recently that the peoples of this linguistic group had settlements only in the Guianas and the Antilles, but recent studies have shown that they extended much farther over the South American continent, as far as the source of the Yapura on the west, and the 14th degree of S. latitude on the south. As the speech of the southern Caribs is purer, less sprinkled with Arawak words than that of their northern brethren, philologists suppose that the original home of the Caribs in general should be found somewhere in the centre of Brazil, to the south of the Amazon. It is from there that they must have migrated into Guiana, whence their hordes moved towards the Antilles probably two centuries before the arrival of Columbus. There they found already the Arawak tribes (see p. 557), whom they supplanted in the lesser Antilles, and against whom they directed their maritime expeditions as far as the east coast of the island of Haiti. These Antillian Caribs have been exterminated by the European colonists, and except in the islands in the vicinity of the Guianas, like Trinidad, there remain to-day but 192 individuals in the island of St. Vincent (census of 1881) and 200 individuals, of whom there are barely a dozen unhybridised, in the island of Dominica. Most of the Caribs of the island of St. Vincent were transported by the English in 1796 to Ruatan Island and Trujillo, on the north coast of Honduras. Their descendants, crossed with Negro blood, numbering about 6000, live in these places as well as in British Honduras, where they are known by the name of “Black Caribs.”

The most southerly tribes of the Caribs are the Bakairis (Fig. 172), and the Nahuquas of the upper Xingu, as well as the Palmellas of the lower Guapore, a sub-tributary of the right of the Rio Madeira. The Apiacas of the lower Tocantins, who must not be confounded with the Tupi tribe of the same name (p. 569), form the link between this distant branch and the bulk of the Caribs peopling Guiana. The latter are known as Apotos and Waywai in Brazilian Guiana; as Roucouyennes and Galibis in French Guiana; as Kalinas in Dutch Guiana (Figs. 167 and 168). The Caribs of British Guiana belong chiefly to the Macusi tribe, those of Venezuela are represented by the Makirifares in the east, and farther away to the west, by the Motilones, who keep to the borders of Colombia (Ernst). The ancient Carib tribes of Venezuela called Chaimas and Kumanas are represented at the present day by the Indians of Aguasai (87 miles north of Bolivar), who speak Spanish, but who have preserved the Carib type (Ten Kate). It is the same with the Aborigines of Oruba Island, to the north-east of the Gulf of Venezuela (Pinart). Lastly, in the upper basin of the Yapura, outside of Brazilian territory, there are likewise known members of the Carib family, particularly the Uitotos or Carijonas, who live side by side with the Miranhas (p. 560) (Crevaux). To judge from some ethnographical analogies (similarity of tattooing, etc.), the Araras or Yumas, who wander on the right bank of the Amazon, in the neighbourhood of the mouths of the Xingu, Tapajos, Madeira and Purus, belong also to the Carib family, but as yet nothing is known about their language.[652]

The physical type of the Caribs of Guiana and Venezuela differs slightly from that of the Caribs of the upper Xingu. The former are of low stature (1 m. 58 for men, 1 m. 45 for women), and mesocephalic (mean ceph. ind. in the liv. sub., 81.3), while the Caribs of the upper Xingu are below the average height and sub-dolichocephalic (1 m. 61 for men, 1 m. 52 for women; mean ceph. ind. on the liv. sub., 79.6).[653] What is characteristic of certain Carib tribes of the south (Bakairis, etc.) is the frequent occurrence of individuals with wavy or frizzy hair and convex nose, in the midst of the common type having straight hair, short and somewhat broad nose, etc. The ancient Caribs of the Antilles were short, somewhat light-skinned, and had the custom of deforming the head by flattening the frontal region of the skull.

From the ethnic point of view, the Caribs are distinguished by their acquaintance with the hammock; a plaited (not woven) texture; and a particular kind of cassava squeezer (p. 188); by their fondness for painting the body; by the practice of the “couvade” (p. 240), etc. The blow-pipe and poisoned arrows are not their “national weapons,” as has sometimes been said; the Caribs of the south are unacquainted with them, and, on the other hand, several non-Carib tribes of the Amazon basin make use of them. Their favourite weapon is or was the battle-axe of polished stone (basalt, diabase). The slight difference between the mode of life of the Caribs of the Antilles and that of the Caribs of the present day was due to the existence of anthropophagy, the presence of “communal houses” (Carbets), and to some other characteristics which denote their superiority over the modern Caribs from the social point of view.[654]

2. The Arawak linguistic family, as constituted by L. Adam, at first by the name of Maypure, has been called by Von den Steinen “Nu-Arawak,” from the prenominal prefix “nu” for the first person, common to all the Arawak tribes, scattered from the coast of Dutch Guiana and British Guiana to the upper basins of the Amazon and Orinoco. The principal tribes are: the Aturai and the Vapisiana of British Guiana; the Maypures and the Banivas of Venezuela; the Manaos and the Aruacos of the Rio Negro; the Yumanas and the Passehs of the left bank of the Solimães; the Marauas more to the south; the Paumary and the numerous Ipurina tribes of the Purus basin; lastly the half-civilised Moxos or Mohos of the upper Mamoré, and the Canopos or Antis of the forests of the upper basin of the Ucayale (Peru), of average stature, brown-coloured skin, skilful hunters.[655] The tribes of the upper Xingu are the Vaura and the Mehinacu. Let us also note the Parecis of the region of the sources of the Tapajos, among whom we observe the influences of the Quechua civilisation (Pandean pipes) or the Peruvian (a particular head-dress of birds’ feathers and porcupine quills, cotton textiles, plaited hats, etc.). In upper Paraguay, as far as the 21st degree of S. latitude, are also found tribes speaking the Arawak tongue; the Quinquinaos, the Layanas, etc. (This is the Moho-Mbaure group of L. Quevedo) On the other hand, in the marshy island of Marajos, in the middle of the estuary of the Amazon, there dwelt a few decades ago the Aruan people, who spoke an Arawak dialect, while in the north of Venezuela, the peninsula of Goajira is occupied by the Goajires tribe, which also belongs to the same linguistic family. De Brette estimates its numerical force at 30,000 individuals (1890–95).[656]

The pre-Columbian aborigines of Porto Rico, Haiti, Jamaica, and Cuba were Arawaks, to judge from the toponymy of these islands. The authors of the eighteenth century speak of the Ciboneys in Cuba, Bahama, and the west of Haiti, and of the “Aravagues” in the east of this latter island and in Porto Rico. These aborigines, although in a state of constant warfare with the Caribs, resembled them in certain characteristic customs (cranial deformation, colouring of the body, etc.). They were exterminated by the Whites, being reduced to 4000 in Cuba as far back as 1554. In 1848 there remained of these tribes but a few hybrid families in the Sierra Maestra of Cuba and the village of Boya to the north of the town of San Domingo.[657]

Physically the Arawaks present several types, as might have been expected from the wide diffusion of this group. Those of the Guianas, as well as the Ipurinas and their congeners are a little lower in stature (1 m. 55 and 1 m. 59 according to Ten Kate and Ehrenreich) and a little more brachycephalic (ceph. ind. 83.4) than the Caribs of the same regions. Those of the upper Xingu, on the contrary, are a little taller (1 m. 64) and more dolichocephalic (ceph. ind. 78.2) than their Carib-speaking neighbours. Their face is somewhat broader and their eyes often oblique. The difference between the tribes of the north and those of the south is thus more pronounced among the Arawaks than among the Caribs. The Ciboneys, to judge from the skulls found in Cuba and Jamaica, were hyper-brachycephalic in consequence of deformations (Haddon). The occurrence of individuals with wavy or frizzy hair is also as frequent among the Arawaks as among the Caribs. From the ethnographical point of view there are some differences between the Arawaks of the north and the south. The use of the blow-pipe is very general among the Arawak tribes of the upper Amazon and its tributaries, but it is unknown among others. With the exception of tribes influenced by the Quechua-Peruvian or European civilisation, the Arawaks are unacquainted with the weaving of cotton, and are still in the stone, and especially the wood age. Their scanty garments are made with plaited fibres or with beaten bark; their ornaments are birds’ feathers and the teeth of mammalia.

3. The tribes composing the Pano linguistic group, as established by R. de la Grasserie,[658] chiefly inhabited the north-west of eastern Peru, but they are likewise met with in the west of Brazil (the Karipunas of the banks of the Madeira), and in the north of Bolivia (the Pacaguara), separated from their racial brothers by a series of tribes speaking the Arawak dialects. The principal Pano tribes in Peru are: the Kassivo, cannibals of the upper Ucayle who resemble the Fuegians; the Conibos of the same river, very low in stature;[659] the Panos, of whom there remain but a few families.[660] The Araunos, of the region comprised between the two principal branches of the Madeira (Madre de Dios and Beni) speak a Pano language, but with a considerable admixture of Quechua elements.

4. The tribes of the banks of the Iça and the Yapura have received from their neighbours the name of Miranhas, which, it appears, means “rovers.” Ehrenreich employed this name to designate various tribes whose dialects presented a certain family likeness. Of these tribes, which are rarely visited by the Brazilian-Portuguese merchants, the following are the chief: the Miranhas properly so called (Figs. 169 and 170), between the Iça and the lower Yapura, mentioned long ago by Martius; the Kœrunas on the left bank of the Yapura; the Tucanos and the Jupuas to the east of the last-named, in the vicinity of the river Uaupes. The Miranhas have maintained their primitive condition. Of a very warlike disposition, they use as their principal weapon a particular kind of club, a sort of broadsword of hard wood. They employ the drum language (see p. 134). Though living on the banks of fish-yielding rivers, they do not fish, but confine themselves to hunting, like the ancient Quechuas, by means of nets stretched out between trees, into which they drive, with cries and gestures, the terrified animals (Crevaux).

In addition to the tribes forming the four families just described, several others, whose languages have not yet been classified, should be mentioned.

It is in the basin of the Orinoco that we meet with most of these tribes who have as yet been little studied; the Otomacs between the Apure and Meta rivers, geophagous and monogamous; the Guamos of the Rio Apure, reduced to a few families; the Piaroas, whose sub-brachycephalic heads are often deformed; the Chiricoas and the Guahibos, veritable “gypsies” of South America, who are encountered between the Meta, the Orinoco, and the Rio Branco; lastly, the Guaraunos or Warraus of the coast between the mouths of the Orinoco and the Corentin (Figs. 165 and 166), probably allied to the Guayqueris of the country around Cumana in Venezuela. The latter, however, are sub-dolichocephalic (ceph. ind. on five liv. subjects, 78.5 according to Ten Kate), while the Guaraunos are all mesocephalic (ceph. ind. 81.5 according to the same author). In the upper valleys of the numerous rivers which combine to form the Amazon, there are likewise dwelling tribes of undetermined linguistic affinities, whose names only are known. The most important, that of the Zaparos or Jeberos (about 15,000 individuals), is stationed between the Pastaza and Napo rivers, as well as along the Maranon from the mouth of the Zamora to that of the Morona. Farther north in the Cordilleras, in a state of complete independence, dwell the Jebaros or Jevaros (Civaros), fierce warriors, celebrated for their skill in preparing the heads of their vanquished enemies; these are hideous mummified and shrivelled objects with their long hair left on them.[661] To the east of the Jevaros are the Maynas, and on the Rio Javary, the Yameos or Lamas. Farther east again, near the Rio Napo, wander the hunting tribes, the Tecunas or Triconnas, and the Orejones, so named from their habit of inserting wooden plugs into the lobe of the ear, a practice which, however, is also found among several other peoples.

III. The Indians of East Brazil and the Central Region of South America belong on the one side to the Ges or Ghes linguistic family (formerly called Tapuyas, Botocudos, etc.), and on the other form several tribes whose affinities are yet to be determined. Lastly, the Tupi-Guarani linguistic family (see p. 567) is also represented in this region. From the ethnological point of view these three groups of population have felt the influence of environment and habitat; we must therefore consider separately the Indians of east Brazil and those of the central region, and lastly the Tupi-Guarani family.

1. East Brazil is composed of plateaux formed of friable rocks rising to the east of the Tocantins between the wooded Sierras. These plateaux do not afford so many resources as the Amazon region; thus it is that the tribes inhabiting them are more uncivilised, often more wretched than the Amazonians. The rarity of hard rocks suitable for the manufacture of tools causes many of them to be still in the wood age. The greater part belong to the Ges or Ghes linguistic family. This term, which comes from the syllable “ges” placed at the end of most of the tribal names, was adopted by Martius to designate the Botocudos and some neighbouring tribes. But of recent years Von den Steinen and Ehrenreich have widened the meaning of this word.[662] Henceforth it denotes a collection of tribes which, besides linguistic character, exhibit many other common features in their habits and mode of life (great phalansterial houses with private hearths for each family, absence of hammocks, ignorance of navigation,[663] use of “botocs” or ear and lip plugs, arrows barbed on one side, etc.). Among the tribes of the Ges tongue we must distinguish those which dwell on the right bank of the Tocantins in east Brazil and those who have migrated to the west of this river into the centre of Southern America. The former have retained much better their individual character, but they have been partly decimated by the European colonists, and are not very numerous at the present day. Of the ancient Kamakans, of the Patacho, and so many other tribes, there remain but the memory or a few hybrid descendants, but three tribes have yet preserved themselves more or less intact in the midst of their forests: the Botocudos, the Kayapos, and the Cainguas. The Botocudos or Aymoros,[664] who call themselves Burus, dwell between the Rio Doce and the Rio Pardo (Minas Geraes Prov.). They are men of low stature (1 m. 59 according to Ehrenreich), dolichocephalic (mean ceph. ind. 74.1 on the skull, according to Rey, Peixoto, etc.; 78.2 on the liv. sub.), and their skulls recall very strongly those of the prehistoric race of Lagoa Santa and the “Sambaquis,” while the living subjects are closely allied to the Fuegians, as much by the size and form of the head as by the lines of the face, the prominent supraciliary ridges, the sunk nose narrow at the root, etc. I have given (pp. 160, 210, etc.) several characteristics of the ethnography of the Botocudos. The Kayapos,[665] who were believed to be an extinct race, and who, on the contrary, are one of the most important and warlike tribes of Brazil, are divided into three sections. The Northern Kayapos occupy the middle Tocantins, and overflow on one side into the sterile “Sertaos” of the province of Maranon, and on the other into central Brazil, on the left bank of the lower Araguaya; the Western Kayapos, who keep in the upper valley of the Xingu, have been described by Ehrenreich and Von den Steinen under the names of Suya and Akua (the Chavantes-Cherentes of the Brazilians). They differ from the Botocudos in physique, being brachycephalic, tall, and very light-skinned. As to ethnical characteristics, these are for the most part borrowed from their Carib and Arawak neighbours. The Southern Kayapos (near the river Parana, 20° S. lat.) are merely known by name. The Kaingans or Kame, wrongly called Coroados (see p. 545), inhabit the mountains of the Brazilian provinces of São Paulo, S. Catharina, and Rio Grande do Sul; they are tribes of uncivilised and nomadic hunters.

Besides the clans of the Ges family, we must also mention in the eastern region of Brazil the following tribes whose languages have not been classified, and whose affinities with the Ges are not very clear. The more important of these tribes are the Puris or Pouris and the Kiriris, wrongly called “Tapuyas” or “Coroados” (see p. 545). At the beginning of the century the Puris in fairly large numbers still inhabited—together with the Koropos—the mountains between Rio de Janeiro and Uro Preto. There is but a small remnant left at the present day, consisting of a few individuals living together in the hamlet of San Laurenço and in the “aldeamento” of Etueto, near to the boundary line of the Minas Geraes and Spiritu Santo provinces. Formerly the Puris comprised several tribes, hunters and fishers. They plaited their hammocks, had special ceremonies when their daughters arrived at the age of puberty, believed in a superior spirit, “Tupan,” having the form of a white bird, etc.

The Kiriris or Sabuyas of the province of Pernambuco formed, two centuries ago, a powerful and semi-civilised nation; there are now only 600 left, living under wretched conditions in the lower valley of the São Francisco.

2. The central region of South America is formed of table-lands and wooded chains which cover the south-east of Bolivia and the Brazilian province of Matto Grosso (twice as big as France). Corresponding to the diversity of the elevations and climates there is a diversity of peoples inhabiting the country. We have already observed in this region tribes of Carib speech (Bakairi, etc.), of Arawak (Paressi, etc.), of Ges (western and southern Kayapos), and we may further notice tribes of Tupi speech (the Chiquitos, etc.). But outside of these classified peoples there are other ethnic groups occupying the table-lands of Matto Grosso, whose affinities are not yet well known, the more important of them being the Karayas, the Trumai, and Bororos.[666]

The Karayas are divided into two sections which know nothing of each other. It was the northern Kayapos of Ges speech who thus separated the Karayas, driving them, on the one side, into the valley of the Xingu, and on the other, into the valley of the Araguaya. Like the Ges, the Karayas are unacquainted with the use of the hammock, but, unlike them, are good boatmen and draughtsmen. It has been observed that they have a special language for the women, which appears to be the ancient form of the present language of the men. They are fairly tall (1 m. 69) and dolichocephalic (ceph. ind. 73), their nose is convex, and their hair sometimes curly.

The Trumai of the sources of the Xingu are, on the contrary, short (1 m. 59) and mesocephalic (ceph. ind. 81.1), and they have convex noses and retreating foreheads.

The Bororos (Fig. 173), scattered from the upper Paraguay to the upper Parana, are hunters; they have great bows and arrows of bamboo or bone. Polygamy exists among them, and there are also cases of polyandry. They are tall (1 m. 74) and mesocephalic (ceph. ind. 81.5).[667]

In spite of the diversity of language and race, several of the tribes of the central region, living side by side, have the same manners and customs, and the same kind of existence, as a result of mutual borrowings.[668] The best example of this is furnished by the Caribs, Arawaks, Ges, Tupis, and Trumai of the upper Xingu. They all go naked, the women sometimes wearing the triangular palm-leaf which plays the part of the fig-leaf; their huts are grouped around the “house of flutes,” or the dwelling of the young men—a Carib importation—in which are preserved symbolic masks, which, like the pottery, are of Arawak invention. The tools are primitive, frequently of stone.[669] One might almost say that these tribes in ploughing imitate the movements of burrowing animals, for in this operation they make use of the long claws of the front paws of a great armadillo (Dasipus gigas), two of them attached together. The throwing-stick and blunt arrows are used by the Trumai, as by the Tupi tribes. They have no domestic animals, but keep some wild animals in captivity—parrots, lizards (to hunt insects), etc. The custom of the couvade and the existence of witch medicine-men are common to all these tribes.

3. The Tupi-Guarani.—In South America there exist a great number of tribes scattered from Guiana to Paraguay, from the Brazilian coast to the eastern slope of the Andes, who speak the different dialects of the Tupi linguistic family.[670] They may be divided into two groups: on one side, to the east, the tribes speaking the ancient Tupi language, which, in imitation of Quechua, was a “lingua geral,” and on the other, the numerous tribes to the west, speaking different dialects which have only a vague resemblance to Tupi, according to L. Adam. At the time of the conquest the Tupi tribes, called Tupi-namba Tanuyo, who were cannibals, occupied not only the whole of the Brazilian coast from Para to Santos, but also the valley of the Amazon as far as Manaos. These primitive Tupis have mostly been exterminated by the Portuguese, but their language, which has become that of the converted Indians, has spread as far as the valley of the Rio Negro, a tributary of the Amazon, where there have never been any Tupi tribes.

The Eastern or Guarani Tupis, formerly so numerous in the Brazilian provinces of São Paulo and the Rio Grande do Sul, are reduced at the present time to a few families; on the other hand, they still form the bulk of the population of Paraguay, and the territory of Missiones in the Argentine Republic. The Guarani of Paraguay, “tamed” in the commanderies by the Jesuits, have intermingled their blood with that of the Spaniards, and adopted their mode of life. However, there still remain in the depths of the forest some tribes who have kept intact their type and manners. Among the more interesting of these we must note the Cainguas or Kaigguas[671] of south-east Paraguay and Missiones (Argentine), scattered in little groups, obeying one cacique or chief. They are short (1 m. 60), mesocephalic (mean ceph. ind. of 12 men, 80.4), of bronzed complexion; their hair is lank or wavy, often reddish in the children; the nose is straight, the cheek-bones are prominent. From ten to twenty thousand Cainguas are estimated to be in Paraguay alone. Extremely fond of dancing and music, they like drawing as well, and possess as a rule a quick understanding. They are husbandmen, going almost naked, obtain fire by friction, are acquainted with weaving and pottery, have barbed and sometimes blunt-pointed arrows.[672] Other tribes, the Jacunda, the Pacajas, the Tacunas, keep to the lower valley of the Xingu. The Mauhés, stationed between this latter river and the Madeira, are at the extreme limit of the expansion towards the west of the pure Tupis. On turning again towards the south we come across the Apiacas of Tapajos (who must not be confounded with the similarly named tribe of the Carib family), the Camayuras of the upper Xingu, the Chiquitos and the Chiriguanos of Bolivia, now Hispanified.

The migrations of the Tupis from the south to the north, conjectured in D’Orbigny’s day, have now been absolutely demonstrated. Paraguay and the east of Bolivia were the starting-points of these migrations. The exodus of the Tupis took place at first towards the coast, then along the seaboard to the mouth of the Para, and thence further northward into French Guiana, where some Tupi tribes are still to be found, the Emerillons of the valley of the Saï, a left tributary of the Inini, the Ovampis of the upper Oyapoc, etc. The Aramichaux (Fig. 172), who were believed to be extinct, and who dwell between the Uaqui and the Arua,[673] seem to be also of the Tupi stock. Another stream of migration may be traced straight towards the north-east; it passes through the upper basin of the Xingu, to terminate eastward of the Tocantins (the tribe of the Guajajaza). An isolated Tupi group exists far to the north-west of the territory occupied by the bulk of this family. It consists of the Omaguas and the Cocomas, half-civilised tribes of the upper valley of the Maranon (Peru), to the eastward of the Jivaros. Individuals with wavy or frizzy[674] hair are not rare among these hybrid peoples.

The family of the Western Tupis, whose linguistic affinities are less clear, comprises, provisionally, the Mundrucus, or Mundurukus, of the middle Tapajoz, the Yurunas of the lower Xingu, the Anetö of the upper course of this river, etc.

Physically, the Tupis differ but little from the Caribs; those of the north, the Mauhés and the Mundurukus for example, studied by Barboza Rodriguez, are 1 m. 58 and 1 m. 60 in stature, whilst the Kamayuras and the Anetö of the upper Xingu are taller (1 m. 62 on an average); the cephalic index of the latter is 79 (Ehrenreich). The Guarani should be, according to D’Orbigny, more than 1 m. 66 in height.[675] But the anthropological study of the Tupis is still to be made.

If we consider the accounts of the different dialects of the four great linguistic families which we have just described: Carib, Arawak, Ges, and Tupi, we are bound to admit the following hypothesis as to the migrations of the peoples belonging to these families. There have been two movements, centrifugal and centripetal. From the centre of the continent the Tupis have spread radially in all directions, and the Caribs towards the north-east, reaching as far as the Antilles. On the other hand, towards this centre converge the migrations of the Arawaks arriving from the north, perhaps from Columbia and the Antilles, and the migrations of the Ges coming from the east. Did the centrifugal movement of the Tupis and the Caribs and the centripetal movement of the Arawaks and the Ges take place simultaneously or in some order of succession? We have not sufficient information as yet to solve this problem, but the first supposition appears to be more probable, for we still see in our own day both movements going on simultaneously.

IV. The Pampeans and the Fuegians.—That portion of the American continent situated beyond the 30th degree of S. lat., between the Andes, the Atlantic, and the Strait of Magellan, is a vast plain which passes imperceptibly from the rich pasturage of Chaco to the monotonous Pampas, and from the latter to the bare plateaux of Patagonia.