The Tupi is rich in mythological tales which have been collected by several competent students of their tongue. (Hartt, Magalhaes, etc.) Their religion is a simple animistic nature-worship.
The dead were buried in large urns, usually in localities set aside for the purpose. One such on the island Maraho, near the mouth of the Amazon, has yielded a rich harvest to archæologists.
The general culture of the Tupis was superior to that of any other Brazilian tribes, but much inferior to that of the Incas. They were to a slight extent agricultural, raising maize, manioc, tobacco, which they smoked in pipes, and several vegetables. Some fowls, monkeys and peccaries were tamed and used as food. Their houses were of straw, lattice work and leaves, sometimes plastered with mud. The communal system prevailed, twenty or thirty families occupying one residence. A number of such houses would be erected on some favorable site and surrounded by a palisade of strong poles. These towns were, however, not permanent, and nearly half the year was spent in hunting and fishing expeditions along the streams. They went entirely naked, but wove excellent hammocks from the bark of trees and other vegetable fibres. Devoid of a knowledge of metals, they were in the height of the age of polished stone, many of their products in this direction being celebrated for symmetry and delicacy.[347] The art of the potter was also well developed, and the vases from the Amazon, called igasauas, rank both in symmetry, decoration and fine workmanship among the most creditable specimens of American ceramics.
The language which characterizes this widely distributed stock is polysynthetic and incorporating, with the flexibility peculiar to this class of tongues. It has been the subject of a number of works, but still lacks a thorough comparative treatment. The Jesuit missionaries adopted the Guarani dialect throughout their extensive “reductions,” and translated into it a variety of works for the instruction of their acolytes, some of which have been printed.
TUPI LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Ababas, in Bolivia.
- Amazonas, on lower Amazon.
- Anambes, on Rio Tocantins.
- Apiacas, near Rio Arinos and upper Tapajoz.
- Araguagus, on lower Paru.
- Bororos, near Rio Paraguay.
- Camaguras, in province Matogrosso.
- Cambevas, see Omaguas.
- Cambocas, mouth of Rio Tocantin.
- Caracatas, on upper Uruguay and Parana.
- Cayovas, on Rio Tapajoz.
- Chaneses, in Bolivia.
- Chiriguanos, in Bolivia.
- Chogurus, on Rio Pajehu.
- Cocamas, near Rio Nauta (upper Amazon) and Rio Ucayali.
- Cocamillas, near the Cocamas.
- Cuchiuaras, on Rio Tocantins.
- Guaranis, in Uruguay.
- Guarayos, in Bolivia.
- Guayanas, in Uruguay.
- Gujajaras, on Rio Maranhao.
- Jacundas, on Rio Tocantins.
- Jamudas, in province Pará.
- Maues, on the Amazon.
- Mbeguas, on Rio Parana.
- Manitsauas, on upper Schingu.
- Mitandues, near Rio Tapajoz.
- Mundurucus, on Rio Tapajoz.
- Muras, on Rio Madeira.
- Omaguas, on lower Iça.
- Oyampis, on upper Oyapok.
- Pacajas, on lower Amazon.
- Parentintims, in province Amazonas.
- Paris, see Mundurucus.
- Piturunas, on Rio Curitiba.
- Sirionos, on Rio Paray, Bolivia.
- Tamoyos, near San Vincente, Brazil (extinct).
- Tapaunas, on Rio Tocantins.
- Tapirapes, in province Goyaz.
- Tapes, on Rio Uruguay.
- Turas, on lower Rio Madeira.
- Uyapas, on Rio Arinos.
- Yurunas, on Rio Schingu, from 4° to 8°.
2. The Tapuyas.
The Tapuya stock is at once the most ancient and the most extensive now living on the soil of Brazil. Its various tribes are found from s. lat. 5° to s. lat. 20°, and from the Atlantic to the Schingu river. The name Tapuya was applied to them by the Tupis, and means “enemies” or “strangers”—two ideas which are always synonymous in primitive life. They are also called Crens or Guerens, the Old Ones or Ancient People. This seems to have reference to their possession of the coast before the arrival of the Tupi hordes from the south.
By some writers they are believed to have been the earliest constructors of the sambaquis, the shell-heaps or kitchen-middens, which are of great size and numerous, along the Atlantic and its bays. These are supposed to indicate an antiquity of 2,000 years;[348] but the Tapuyas can lay claim to a title to their land far older than that. The skulls and human bones which were discovered by Dr. Lund in the caves of Lagoa Santa in immediate juxtaposition to those of animals now extinct, came from a region occupied by the Tapuyas, and are in all respects parallel to those of the tribe to-day. This would assign them a residence on the spot far back in the present geologic period.
Their appearance is that of an antique race of men. They are of middle height, with long upper and short lower extremities. The face is broad, the eyes small and under prominent ridges, the forehead low and retreating; the sutures are simple, the face prognathic, and the skull decidedly dolichocephalic (73), but of good capacity (1470 cub. cent.), and leptorhinic; the mouth is large and the nose prominent. In color they present a variety of shades of reddish-brown, and their hair, which is coarse, verges rather on the dark-brown than the black.[349] They are not ugly, and the expression of the face, especially in the young, is often attractive. Those of them, however, who distend the lower lip with the large labret or botoque (from which the Botocudos derive their name), cannot be other than hideous to European eyes.