The Otomacos remain, as Gilii placed them, an independent stock, with their single dialect, the Tarapita. The Jesuits first encountered them in 1732, amid the forests south of the Orinoco, between the Paos and the Jaruros. In later years they are described as a low grade of savages, given to the eating of earth. They are also said to be monogamous, and the women among them enjoy an unusual degree of consideration, being permitted to take equal part in the public games.[411] Their present locality appears to be on or near the river Meta.

The tribes whom Gilii mentions as the Guamas and Quaquaros lived on the banks of the Rio Apure, and in his day had the reputation of “a numerous and valorous people.”[412] They were not unacquainted with some of the arts, and were particularly skillful in the manufacture of small figures in terra cotta, many of which are to be picked up on the sites of their ancient villages. Now, however, they have been smitten with the fate of their race, and are reduced to a few miserable vagrants, destined to disappear wholly in a few years. Their arts are lost, and the oppression of the whites has driven from them all hopes of bettering their condition.[413]

Of their language I have no specimens. According to Felipe Perez, it is related to the Omagua, and hence should be included in the Tupi stock; but this writer is not always dependable.

The Guaybas (Guahibos) and Chiricoas dwelt originally on the broad plains between the Casanare and Meta rivers; but a number of them were converted in the latter half of the seventeenth century and persuaded to come to the missions. They soon returned to their roving life. Cassani speaks of them as of mild and friendly disposition, but incorrigible vagabonds, “the gypsies of the Indies,” constantly migrating from place to place.[414] They have never lost their love of the wilderness, and it has been their salvation, for they still survive—quite a numerous people—on the left bank of the Orinoco, from the Rio Meta to the Vichada. They are rebellious to all attempts at civilization, and the white man is not safe who ventures into their territory.[415]

Humboldt, in his discussion of the tribes of the Orinoco, refers to the Guahibos as white in color, and founds some speculations on this fact. Their hue is indeed light, at times what may fairly be called a dirty white; but in this respect we are assured by recent and competent authority they do not differ from their neighbors, the Maquiritares and Piaroas. It is not a question of descent, but of climatic surroundings and mode of life.[416]

The home of the Jaruris, Yaruras, or, as they called themselves, Japurin, was on and near the Orinoco, between the rivers Meta and Capanapaco. They depended on hunting and fishing, and were indolent and averse to agriculture. They had few arts, but were friendly in disposition, not given to drunkenness, and usually monogamous. At present they number scarcely a hundred individuals, badly formed, afflicted with contagious disease, and rapidly on the road to extinction. They have lost their trait of sobriety, and a man will readily offer his wife or daughter in exchange for a bottle of brandy. (Chaffanjon.)

The Guaraunos, called by the English Warraus, continue to live in considerable numbers—some say about fifteen thousand—in and near the delta of the Orinoco. They are a thrifty, healthy people, building their houses ingeniously upon piles to protect them from the periodical overflows of the stream. This method of construction, however, was adopted only when they sought as refuge marshy and lonely spots to escape their enemies. Contrary to the statements of most travelers, those who know them best report them as preferring dry uplands, where they make clearings, plantations and houses with singular industry and skill. The favorite wood used in such construction is the temiche (not the moriche) palm, which they call, from its magnificent fronds, “the feathers of the sun,” ya juji.[417]

Humboldt placed their number at the beginning of the century at about six thousand, which is doubtless more correct than the later estimates. He adds that the Guayquiries, who inhabited the peninsula of Araya and the adjacent islands of Margarita, “admit the relationship of their language with that of the Guaraunos.”[418] At the beginning of the last century Gumilla found them living on the south bank of the Orinoco in a most wretched condition and nearly annihilated by their merciless enemies, the Caribs. It is probable, therefore, that they removed from that location to the coast.[419] No other dialect of the tongue, so far as I know, has been discovered, and it seems an independent stock.

In appearance they are dark in hue, of muscular build, hair black, abundant and very fine, noses straight and well-shaped, skull brachycephalic, stature below medium.