[225] He was superior general of the missions on the Marañon and its branches about 1730. See Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses, Tom. II., p. 111, for his own description of his experiences and studies.
[226] See especially his paper “Trois familles linguistiques des bassins de l’Amazone et de l’Orénoque,” in the Compte-Rendu du Congrès internationale des Américanistes, 1888, p. 489 sqq.
[227] Joaquin Acosta, Compendio Historico de la Nueva Granada, p. 168. (Paris, 1848.)
[228] Hist. de las Indias Occidentales, Dec. VII., Cap. XVI.
[229] Dr. Max Uhle gives a list of 26 Cuna words, with analogies in the Chibcha and its dialects. (Compte-Rendu du Cong. Internat. Américanistes, 1888, p. 485.) Alphonse Pinart, who has published the best material on Cuna, is inclined to regard it as affiliated to the Carib. (Vocabulario Castellano-Cuna. Panama, 1882, and Paris, 1890.)
[230] A. L. Pinart, Coleccion de Linguistica y Etnografia Americana, Tom. IV., p. 17; also the same writer in Revu d’Ethnographie, 1887, p. 117, and Vocabulario Castellano-Dorasque. Paris, 1890.
[231] On the Chocos consult Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 1876, s. 359; Felipe Perez, Jeografia del Estado del Cauca, p. 229, sq. (Bogota, 1862.) The vocabulary of Chami, collected near Marmato by C. Greiffenstein, and published in Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 1878, p. 135, is Choco. The vocabulary of the Tucuras, given by Dr. Ernst in the Verhandlungen der Berliner Anthrop. Gesell., 1887, p. 302, is quite pure Choco. The Chocos call their language embera bede, “the speech of men.”
[232] “Relacion de las tierras y provincias de la gobernacion de Venezuela (1546),” in Oviedo y Baños, Historia de Venezuela, Tom. II. Appendice. (Ed. Madrid, 1885.)
[233] Aristides Rojas, Estudios Indigenos, p. 46. (Caracas, 1878.)
[234] “Mas hermosas y agraciadas que las de otros de aquel continente.” This was the opinion of Alonzo de Ojeda, who saw them in 1499 and later. (Navarrete, Viages, Tom. III., p. 9). Their lacustrine villages reminded him so much of Venice (Venezia) that he named the country “Venezuela.”