A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro,

by Alfred Russel Wallace

Head = root b-d in Uainambeu, Tariana (?), Isanna (?).

Mouth = root n-m in Uainambeu, Tariana, Isanna, Barré, Tomo-Maroa.

Eye = root -t or -d, in Uainambeu, Tariana, Isanna, Barré.

Nose = root t-k in Uainambeu, Tariana, Isanna.

Teeth = root -i- in Uainambeu, Tariana, Isanna, Barré.

This list may be extended, but the foregoing words suffice for illustration. That the root, in many cases, agrees where the pronouns differ is evident: but it must be remembered that the position to which the present writer commits himself is simply that of the greatest amount of radical affinities going along with the greatest amount of pronominal similarity. He by no means asserts, that where the pronouns differ everything else differs also.

When specimens of a language are laid before the public, and such specimens are, at one and the same time, limited in extent and the first of their kind, it is rarely safe to go beyond the indication of their probable affinities, and a general sketch of the class they illustrate. This is the reason why the present writer limits himself to observations of the miscellaneous and unsystematic character of those here made.

The Barré.—The Barré forms the centre of a group—a group of which the value is uncertain. The other members of this, are the Baniwa of the Tomo and Maroa to the north, the Uainambeu to the south, the Tariana, and Baniwa of the Isanna to the west.

This statement (as has been already suggested) lies in the identity of the prefix n-, throughout.

The name requires notice. In Humboldt’s account of the population between the Orinooko and Amazon, we meet with a notice of the Poignavi, called also Gui-punavi: which are probably neither more nor less than Baniwa, as modified by the pronunciation of a different dialect or language. The localities coincide nearly as closely as the name. That branches however of the same population are denoted by these forms is by no means certain; inasmuch as the name may be applied by one population to several,—just as the root Wel-sh (a term equally foreign to Wales, Italy, Wallachia, and the French portion of Belgium, as a native name) is applied to the Germans, to the Welsh, the Italians, the Wallachians, and the Walloons.