The physical features of the Caribs assimilate closely to those of the Arawaks. They are taller in the average and more vigorous, but their skulls are equally brachycephalic and orthognathic. They are beardless, and have the same variability in color of skin. As good specimens of the modern Caribs we may take the tribes of Venezuela. These are spoken of as “the strongest, handsomest and most intelligent of any of the natives in northern South America.”[386] They are tall, straight and symmetrical, the women not less muscular than the men. The hair is sometimes slightly wavy, as Von den Steinen saw among the Bakairi.
The Caribs have had a bad reputation as to culture on account of their anthropophagous tendencies. Indeed, the word cannibal is a mispronunciation of their proper name, Karina. But they were quite on a par with their neighbors, the Arawaks, and in some respects superior to them. For instance, their canoes were larger and finer, and they had invented the device of the sail, which seems to have been unknown to all the other tribes on the continent. To some extent they were agricultural, and their pottery was of superior quality.
The beginnings of picture-writing were in use among them, and the remarkable rock inscriptions still visible on the Orinoco and the Essequibo are attributable to them, and were probably intended as conjurations to the supernatural powers, similar to others which remain in St. Vincent and other islands from the date of the Carib occupation.[387] Their family life was not usually communal, but each household occupied its own dwelling. In some parts, as in the deltas of the Essequibo and Orinoco, and even on the dry savannas, their huts were built on a substructure of piles which lifted them five or six feet from the ground or the water, as the case might be.
The religious rites they observed were often elaborate. Their principal divinities are said to have been the sun, moon and earth, the latter of which was spoken of as the mother of the race. They practiced the couvade, and their priests, called piaye, exercised unlimited power, and were correspondingly feared.
It was the opinion of Von Martius that the Carib, the Tupi-Guarani and the Arawak stocks are traceable to some very ancient common tongue. This view is at first sight strengthened by a wide comparison of vocabularies, but is weakened by an examination of the grammars of the three families, especially their pronominal elements. It is probable that the three ancestral tribes had early and close communication, but not original identity.
The seeming relationship has been rendered more prominent in certain instances by free later borrowings. M. Adam has shown that some of the northern dialects are in the condition of jargons, their grammar on the Carib model, their words drawn from various stocks. Such are the “Island Carib,” which is largely Arawak, and the Boni-Ouyana, described by Dr. Crévaux.[388]
CARIB LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Akavais, or Accowoios, in southern British Guiana.
- Apalais, on the lower Paru.
- Apiacas, on the lower Tocantins.
- Arecunas, on Rio Branco.
- Aricoris, see Yaos.
- Bakairis, on the Upper Schingu.
- Caribisis, in Guiana.
- Carijonas, head-waters of the Caqueta.
- Cariniacos, on lower Orinoco.
- Chaimas, in ancient province of Cumana.
- Cumanagotos, in ancient province of Cumana.
- Galibis, in French Guiana.
- Guaques, on the upper Caqueta.
- Guaharibos, on the upper Caura.
- Guayqueris, in province of Cumana.
- Jauamerys, on Rio Jauapery.
- Macusis, on Rio Negro.
- Maqueritares, on Rio Branco.
- Motilones, near R. Zulia in Venezuela.
- Palmellas, on Rio Paruahyba.
- Paramonas, sub-tribe of Akavais.
- Paravilhanas, on Rio Branco.
- Pianagotos, on Rio Branco.
- Pimenteiras, on Rio Paruahyba.
- Purigotos, on Rio Jauapery.
- Roucouyennes, in French Guiana.
- Tamanacas, on Rio Cuccivero.
- Tiverighotto, on Rio Branco.
- Trios, on upper Corentyn.
- Vaiyamaras, on Rio Branco.
- Voyavois, on Rio Branco.
- Yaos, in Guiana.
- Zurumutas, sub-tribe of Macusis.
- (The Orinoco sub-stock will be described later.)