3. Unclassified Tribes.—In Columbia let us note the following tribes:—
The Cuna Indians, also called Tula Dariens, etc., of southern Panama. They are people of low stature (1 m. 50, according to Brinton), thick-set, of light yellow complexion, very brachycephalic (ceph. ind. 88.6, according to Catat), with broad faces, somewhat resembling the Guaymis, their neighbours in the east (p. [545]). It is asserted that individuals with grey eyes and chestnut or reddish hair are not rare among them. They are not numerous; the tribe of the Changuina Dorasks, which formerly numbered 5000, had dwindled down in 1883 to a dozen individuals, still speaking their mother-tongue; the Sambu Chocos, who occupied the whole of the lower valley of the Atrato, and extended westward to the Pacific coast, are now scarcely 600 in number in southern Darien. They are short (1 m. 55), brachycephalic (ceph. ind. on the liv. sub., 84.1), very broad-faced.[647] To the eastward of the Chibchas (p. [545]) dwelt several families of the Paniquitas and Paezes, included in a distinct linguistic group, of which the other representatives, Colimas and Manipos, have entirely disappeared. In central Columbia (state of Antioquia) dwell the last remnants of the Nutabehs and Tahamis, tribes resembling the Muisca Indians (p. [546]) in their customs and social state.
As to the Ando-Peruvian region, several ethnic groups, using special dialects, are also found there, having no relation with the Quechuas. Such as the small tribe of the Puquinas in the neighbourhood of Lake Titicaca, the Yuncas or Cuna-Yuncas (“inhabitants of the hot lands” in the Quechua tongue), settled on the Pacific coast between the 5th and 10th degrees of S. latitude; finally, the Atacameños, fishers of the Loa valley, and the Shangos or Changos, more to the south, in the desert of Atacama. These two tribes are characterised by their low stature (1 m. 60, according to D’Orbigny).
It may be as well to class with the Andeans the Araucans, or Mapu-che as they call themselves, whose linguistic affinities are still obscure, but whom we must connect with the Central American race by their physical characters; stature almost low (1 m. 61), sub-brachycephalic (ceph. ind. on the liv. sub., 82, skull 81), elongated face, with slightly projecting cheek-bones, straight or convex nose, etc., the general appearance recalling the Aymaras and the Quechuas;[648] certain ethnic characters (perfected weaving of stuffs, irrigation, hoe-culture, metallurgy, etc.) place them in the same category as the Andeans, and point to Peruvian influence. They are only found, in fact, to the north of the Bio-Bio river (37°–38° S. lat.)—that is to say, only in those places reached by the Inca civilisation. South of this line, with the exception of the coast, where European influence makes itself felt, the Araucans have remained until recent times hunters or nomadic shepherds, almost uncivilised. It is estimated that there are 40,000 Chilian Araucans. At a comparatively recent period some Araucan tribes migrated to the eastern slope of the Cordilleras (the Manzanieros)[649] and into the Argentine pampas, as far as the neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres. In these parts they have been pushed back, firstly by the European colonists, then by the Argentine soldiers, farther and farther south, beyond the Rio Negro. This population is a very mixed one; we find in it Patagonian, Quechua, Chaco, and even European elements (see p. [574]).
From the social point of view, all the Araucans have preserved their ancient organisation of hordes governed by a hereditary chief. Little is known about their religious ideas; it is understood that they hold in the highest reverence an evil spirit called “Pilgan” by the Andean Araucans, “Nervelu” (“bird with metal beak and claws”) by the Araucans of the Pampas. Formerly, the Araucan warriors were buried with their weapons, their horse was felled on the grave and consumed.[650]
Among the Andean populations we must also mention the Yurucares, to the west of the Rio Mamoré, of very high stature, their skin being, it is said, almost as white as that of Europeans.
II. The Amazonians.—The vast plains and impenetrable forests, rich in birds and arboreal mammalia, watered by the great tropical streams, the Amazon and the Orinoco, are peopled by a large number of tribes who may be grouped to-day—thanks to the recent works of philologists—into four families. Two of these, the Carib and Arawak, or Maypure families, comprise the tribes of the eastern part of the country;[651] the two others, which are less important, the Miranha and Pano families, are composed of the tribes of the western part of the country.
1. The Carib Family.—It was thought until recently that the peoples of this linguistic group had settlements only in the Guianas and the Antilles, but recent studies have shown that they extended much farther over the South American continent, as far as the source of the Yapura on the west, and the 14th degree of S. latitude on the south. As the speech of the southern Caribs is purer, less sprinkled with Arawak words than that of their northern brethren, philologists suppose that the original home of the Caribs in general should be found somewhere in the centre of Brazil, to the south of the Amazon. It is from there that they must have migrated into Guiana, whence their hordes moved towards the Antilles probably two centuries before the arrival of Columbus. There they found already the Arawak tribes (see p. [557]), whom they supplanted in the lesser Antilles, and against whom they directed their maritime expeditions as far as the east coast of the island of Haiti. These Antillian Caribs have been exterminated by the European colonists, and except in the islands in the vicinity of the Guianas, like Trinidad, there remain to-day but 192 individuals in the island of St. Vincent (census of 1881) and 200 individuals, of whom there are barely a dozen unhybridised, in the island of Dominica. Most of the Caribs of the island of St. Vincent were transported by the English in 1796 to Ruatan Island and Trujillo, on the north coast of Honduras. Their descendants, crossed with Negro blood, numbering about 6000, live in these places as well as in British Honduras, where they are known by the name of “Black Caribs.”
The most southerly tribes of the Caribs are the Bakairis (Fig. [172]), and the Nahuquas of the upper Xingu, as well as the Palmellas of the lower Guapore, a sub-tributary of the right of the Rio Madeira. The Apiacas of the lower Tocantins, who must not be confounded with the Tupi tribe of the same name (p. [569]), form the link between this distant branch and the bulk of the Caribs peopling Guiana. The latter are known as Apotos and Waywai in Brazilian Guiana; as Roucouyennes and Galibis in French Guiana; as Kalinas in Dutch Guiana (Figs. [167] and [168]). The Caribs of British Guiana belong chiefly to the Macusi tribe, those of Venezuela are represented by the Makirifares in the east, and farther away to the west, by the Motilones, who keep to the borders of Colombia (Ernst). The ancient Carib tribes of Venezuela called Chaimas and Kumanas are represented at the present day by the Indians of Aguasai (87 miles north of Bolivar), who speak Spanish, but who have preserved the Carib type (Ten Kate). It is the same with the Aborigines of Oruba Island, to the north-east of the Gulf of Venezuela (Pinart). Lastly, in the upper basin of the Yapura, outside of Brazilian territory, there are likewise known members of the Carib family, particularly the Uitotos or Carijonas, who live side by side with the Miranhas (p. [560]) (Crevaux). To judge from some ethnographical analogies (similarity of tattooing, etc.), the Araras or Yumas, who wander on the right bank of the Amazon, in the neighbourhood of the mouths of the Xingu, Tapajos, Madeira and Purus, belong also to the Carib family, but as yet nothing is known about their language.[652]