In this list, as elsewhere, the term Guarayos has no ethnic significance. It is a Tupi word applied in this Spanish form to various wild, uncivilized tribes.
9. The Bolivian Highlands: the Chiquitos, Yurucares, Mosetenas, Tacanas, Samucus, Canichanas and others.
On the Atlantic face of the Cordillera, in the easternmost portion of Bolivia, where the head-waters of the Madeira are known by the names of the Mamore, the Guapai and the Beni, there is an astonishing variety of linguistic stocks. It would seem that the broken remnants of many diverse nations had sought refuge in the deep vales and dense forests of this region.
We have already seen that the Caribs were represented here by the Palmellas, and the Arawaks by the Moxos and Baures. South of the Moxos was the extensive region of the Chiquitos, stretching between south latitude 16° and 18°, and from the upper affluents of the Paraguay river to the summit of the Cordillera. On the south it adjoined the Gran Chaco, and on the west the territory of the Kechuas. They were a medium-sized, mild-mannered people, mostly of little culture, depending on the chase for food, but willingly adopting the agricultural life recommended to them by the missionaries. They were divided into a vast number of small roving bands, the most important group of which were the Manacicas, whose homes were near Lake Xaray, about the head-waters of the Paraguay. Their myths relating to a male and female deity and their son reminded the Jesuits of the Christian Trinity.[465] The Manacicas were agriculturists and remarkably skilful potters. The villages they constructed were surrounded with palisades and divided by broad streets. The corpses of the dead were deposited in underground vaults, and both property and rank passed in the male line to the sons of the deceased.
The Chiquito language is interesting for its scope and flexibility, being chiefly made up of generic particles capable of indefinite combination.[466] It is singular in having no numerals, not even as far as three. Its four principal dialects were those of the Taos, the Piñocos, the Manacicas and the Penoquies.[467] It was selected by the missionaries as the medium of instruction for a number of the neighboring tribes.
Of such tribes there were many, widely different in speech, manners and appearance from the Chiquitos. Some of them are particularly noteworthy for their un-Indian type. Thus, to the west of the Chiquitos, on the banks of the rivers Mamore and Chavari, were the Yurucares, the Tacanas and the Mosetenas, all neighbors, and though not of one tongue, yet alike in possessing a singularly white skin and fine features. Their color is as light and as really white as many southern Europeans, the face is oval, the nose straight, fine, and often aquiline, the lips thin, the cheek-bones not prominent, the eyes small, dark and horizontal, the expression free and noble. They are of pure blood, and the most important tribe of them derived their name, Yurucares, white men, from their Kechua neighbors before the conquest. They are usually uncommonly tall (1.75), bold warriors, lovers of freedom and given to a hunting life. The women are often even taller and handsomer than the men.
The traveler D’Orbigny suggested that this light color arose from their residence under the shade of dense forests in a hot and humid atmosphere. He observed that many of them had large patches of albinism on their persons.[468]
The branches of these stocks may be classed as follows: