The Tarumas and Maopityans, who now live in southern British Guiana, but are said to have originally come from the Rio Negro, speak related dialects.
They enjoy a rather high degree of culture, being celebrated for the manufacture of cassava graters, for the hunting dogs which they breed and train, and for the fine pottery they manufacture. Both Schomburgk and Im Thurn regard them as an independent stock; but from a comparison of the fifteen nouns given by the former in their language,[366] I infer that they are an Arawak tribe, speaking a dialect mixed with some Carib and Tupi words, and with frequent vowel elision.
| Taruma. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sun, | ouang, | (auvan-ialü, Paravilhana). |
| Moon, | piwa, | (pia, Baniva, piua, Ouayéoué). |
| Fire, | hua, | (hua-to, Carib). |
| Water, | tza, | (tuná, Carib). |
| Head, my, | a-tta, | (no-totia, Baré). |
| Eye, my, | a-tzi, | (a-kussi, Arawak). |
| Mouth, | me-ruku-kanna, | (ülle-rukuhu, Arawak). |
| Nose, | assa, | (issi-rihi, Arawak). |
| Hand, | ahu, | (kx-aua, Bakairi). |
| Foot, | appa, | (upu, Galibi). |
| Bow, | tzeika, | (takou, Carib). |
| Star, | uingra, | (uinari, Baré). |
This comparison leaves little doubt but that this mixed dialect is chiefly of Arawak lineage.
The Arawaks wandered as far east as the upper Schingu river, where Von den Steinen found the Kustenau, a distant member of the stem, with various minor tribes, as the Vauras, Mehinacus, etc. Along the river Ventuari the populous tribe of the Maipures have taken a conspicuous place in the annals of the missions. Indeed, the whole stock is sometimes called by their name;[367] but it is well to retain the better known Arawak, which is the appellation of that portion of the tribe in Guiana between the Corentin and Pomeroon rivers. It means “meal-eaters,” and was first applied to them in derision on account of their large consumption of cassava bread.
There is a prevailing similarity in their physical type. The adults are slightly undersized, rarely reaching above five feet six inches, with low foreheads and straight narrow noses. The form of the skull is short and the jaws are not protruding—orthognathic and brachycephalic.[368] The physical force averages less than that of the European, and there is decidedly less power of resisting disease.[369] The Jesuit Eder mentions a peculiarity among the Peruvian Arawaks, (Moxos, Baures). It is that the end of the little finger does not reach to the last joint of the third finger. The absence of this peculiarity he states will reveal a mixture of Spanish blood to the third generation.[370] It would be interesting to learn how widely this is noticeable.
The culture of the Arawak stock was generally somewhat above the stage of savagery. On the West Indian islands Columbus found them cultivating maize, potatoes, manioc, yams and cotton. They were the first to introduce to Europeans the wondrous art of tobacco smoking. They wove cotton into garments, and were skilful in polishing stone. They hammered the native gold into ornaments, carved curious masks of wood, blocked rude idols out of large stones, and hollowed the trunks of trees to construct what they called canoes.
Such is approximately the culture of the existing tribes of the stock. The Arawaks of Guiana also raise cassava and maize, though they depend largely on hunting and fishing. Like the northern tribes, they have well-developed gentile or totemic systems, with descent in the female line.[371] Marriages are by purchase, and the strange custom of the couvade obtains; that is, at the period of parturition the husband takes to his hammock, and is waited on as if he was the sick one. Their houses are usually single, not communal, and are furnished with swinging hammocks, mats, basket-work and pottery.
The Haytian mythology was quite extensive, and the legends of the Arawaks of Guiana have been collected, and are also rich. In all the tribes the dead were generally buried, and often the house of the deceased was destroyed or the spot deserted.