Races and Peoples: Lectures on the Science of Ethnography

by Daniel G. Brinton

West of the Paraguay River is an extensive plain called El Gran Chaco, beginning at the eighteenth degree of south latitude, and continuing to the Pampas of Buenos Ayres. This region was peopled by numerous wandering tribes, the Abipones, the Guaycurus, the Lules, and scores of others. They were in nowise related to the Guaranis, having short skulls, different linguistic stocks, and an inferior grade of culture. As they were warlike, and in constant strife with the whites, as well as among themselves, they have now nearly disappeared.

The tribes of the Pampas were on a similar plane of development, and have also given way before the march of the white race.

In the extreme south of the continent are the Patagonians and Fuegians. The former are sometimes called Tehuelches, or Southerners. They are a nomadic and hunting people, dark olive-brown in color, tall in stature and robust.

The Fuegians are generally quoted as among the most miserable of savages. Though exposed to a damp and cold climate and always insufficiently nourished, they wear scarcely any clothing, and are content with wretched huts of branches and weeds. They have long skulls (about 75), long, narrow eyes, well-shaped noses, and generally are good specimens of one of the American types. Their language is eminently polysynthetic and rich in terms to express the objects and incidents of their daily life.

7. The South Pacific Group.

The principal nations in the South Pacific group are the Chibchas and the Qquichuas.

The former, called also Muyscas, resided near the Magdalena River, near the present city of Bogota. They were sedentary, agricultural, and skilful in a number of arts. Their agriculture extended to maize, potatoes, cotton, yucca and other vegetables, and their fields were irrigated by canals. As potters and goldsmiths they ranked among the finest on the continent, and both for symmetry of form and richness of decoration some of the vases from their district cannot be surpassed from American products.

The most powerful and cultivated of the South American nations were the Qquichuas of Peru. Originally they were a small tribe near Lake Titicaca, where they dwelt in close relations to the Aymaras. About 1000 A. D., their chief, Manco Capac, conquered the valleys to the north and founded the city of Cuzco. His successors added to the territory of the state until it extended from a few degrees north of the equator to about 20° south latitude, or a distance along the coast of over 1500 miles. In width it varied from 200 to 400 miles. Of course it embraced a variety of distinct stocks, so that it is impossible to speak of any “Peruvian” type of skull or features, the less so as it was the policy of the Incas, as the rulers were called, to remove conquered tribes to distant parts of the realm.

The social organization of Peru rested upon the political union of clans or gentes, as it did in most other American nations. The ruler of the realm acted in accordance with the advice of the council elected by the gentes, but also exercised at times an autocratic power, and it would be an error to consider him not more independent than the war-chief of one of the hunting tribes. The office was hereditary in the female line, provided a satisfactory candidate appeared; otherwise it was elective.[195]

No American nation surpassed the Peruvians in agricultural arts. Maize, cotton, coca, potatoes, and tobacco were the principal crops. As the arable land in the narrow vales of their country was limited, they increased its extent by constructing terraces along the mountain sides, and to guard against the aridity, numerous dams were built, from which canals carried the water for miles to the various fields. Fertilizers were dug into the soil, and a rotation of crops observed to prevent its exhaustion. The domestication of animals had advanced further in Peru than elsewhere on the continent. Besides the dog, and a fowl like a goose, they had large herds of lamas, an animal they used for food and also for carrying burdens, though its chief value was its wool. This was spun and woven into articles of clothing, mats, etc. Quantities of cloth from this substance and from cotton are exhumed from the ancient tombs. The specimens are often in good preservation, showing geometrical designs worked with symmetry, and dyed of various bright colors.