2. The Chibchas
Most of the writers on the Chibchas have spoken of them as a nation standing almost civilized in the midst of barbarous hordes, and without affinities to any other. Both of these statements are erroneous. The Chibchas proper, or Muyscas, are but one member of a numerous family of tribes which extended in both directions from the Isthmus of Panama, and thus had representatives in North as well as South America. The Chibcha language was much more widely disseminated throughout New Granada at the time of the discovery than later writers have appreciated. It was the general tongue of nearly all the provinces, and occupied the same position with reference to the other idioms that the Kechua did in Peru.242 Indeed, most of the tribes in New Granada were recognized as members of this stock.243 Nor were they so much above their neighbors in culture. Many of these also were tillers of the soil, weavers and spinners of cotton, diggers of gold in the quartz lodes, skilled in moulding and hammering it into artistic shapes, and known widely as energetic merchants.
No doubt the Chibchas had carried this culture to the highest point of all the family. Their home was on the southern confines of the stock, in the valleys of Bogota and Tunja, where their land extended from the fourth to the sixth degree of north latitude, about the head-waters of the Sogamoso branch of the Magdalena. Near the mouth of this river on its eastern shore, rises the Sierra of Santa Marta, overlooking the open sea, and continuing to the neck of the peninsula of Goajira. These mountains were the home time out of mind of the Aroacos, a tribe in a condition of barbarism, but not distantly related in language to the Chibchas.
When the Spaniards first undertook the conquest of this Sierra, they met with stubborn resistance from the Tayronas and Chimilas, who lived among these hills. They were energetic tribes, cultivating fields of maize, yucca, beans and cotton, which latter they wove and dyed for clothing. Not only were they versed in stratagems, but they knew some deadly poison for their arrows.244
In later generations the Tayronas disappear entirely from history, but I think the suggestion is well founded that they merely became merged with the Chimilas, with whom they were always associated, and who still survive in the same locality as a civilized tribe. We have some information about their language.245 It shows sufficient affinity with the Chibcha to justify me in classing the Tayronas and Chimilas in that group.
An imperfect vocabulary of the native residents of Siquisique in the state of Lara, formerly the province of Barquisimetro, inclines me to unite them with the Aroac branch of this stock, though their dialect is evidently a mixed one.246
A still more interesting extension of this stock was that which it appears to have had at one time in the northern continent. A number of tribes beyond the straits, in the states of Panama and Costa Rica, were either filially connected or deeply influenced by the outposts of the Chibcha nation. These were the Guaymis in Veraguas, who possessed the soil from ocean to ocean, and the Talamancas of Costa Rica, who in a number of small sub-tribes extended quite to the boundaries of the present state of Nicaragua. It has been recently shown, and I think on satisfactory evidence, that their idioms contain a large number of Chibcha words, and of such a class that they could scarcely have been merely borrowed, but point to a prolonged admixture of stocks.247 Along with these terms are others pointing to a different family of languages, perhaps, as has long been suspected, to some of the Carib dialects; but up to the present time they must be said not to have been identified.
Thus Lucien Adam has pointed out that the two groups of the Guaymi dialects differ as widely, as follows:
Dr. Max Uhle, in a late essay, has collected numerous verbal identities between the various Guaymi and Talamanca dialects on the one hand, and the Aroac and Chibcha on the other, including most of the simple numerals and many words besides those which would be likely to be introduced by commerce. Not stopping with this, he has successfully developed a variety of laws of vowel and consonant changes in the dialects, which bring the resemblance of the two groups into strong relief and do away with much of their seeming diversity. Moreover, he points out that the terminations of the present and imperative are identical, and the placement of words in the sentence alike in both. These and his other arguments are sufficient, I think, to establish his thesis; and I am at greater pains to set it forth, as I regard it as one of unusual importance in its bearing on the relations which existed in pre-historic times between tribes along the boundary of the two continents.
As to the course of migration, I do not think that the discussion of the dialectic changes leaves any room for doubt. They all indicate attrition and loss of the original form as we trace them from South into North America; evidently the wandering hordes moved into the latter from the southern continent. So far, there is no evidence that any North American tribe migrated into South America.
To illustrate these points I quote from Uhle’s tables the following:
Comparison of the Chibcha with the Costa Rican Dialects.
(T. = Talamanca. G. = Guaymi.)
The numerous relics which since 1859 have been disinterred from the ancient sepulchres of Chiriqui may be attributed to the members of this stock; perhaps, as M. Pinart has suggested, to the ancestors of the Guaymis, or, as Dr. Berendt thought, to the Cunas or Coibas.248 These graves are scattered in small groups or cemeteries, rarely more than ten acres in extent, over the Pacific slope of the province of Chiriqui. The similarity of the culture of their makers to that of the Chibchas has not failed to impress archæological experts. Thus, W. H. Holmes remarks in his admirable article on the “Art of Chiriqui.” “In their burial customs, in the lack of enduring houses or temples, and in their use of gold, they were like the ancient peoples of middle and southern New Granada.”249
These relics are in stone, in pottery of many varieties and forms, and in the metals gold, copper, silver and tin in various alloys. So large was the quantity of gold that from a single cemetery over fifty thousand dollars in value have been extracted. No wonder that Columbus and his companions gave to this region the appellation Castillo del Oro, Golden Castilé.
Such a condition of civilization is in accord with the earliest descriptions of the Chiriqui tribes. When in 1521 Francisco Compañon overran their country, he found the Borucas and their neighbors living in villages surrounded with high wooden palisades, the posts firmly lashed together, making a solid wall of defence.250
The culture of the Chibchas has been portrayed by numerous writers, and it deserves to rank as next to that of the Nahuas and Kechuas, though in many respects inferior to both of these. Their chiefs held by succession through the female side, the matriarchal system prevailing throughout their tribes. Agriculture was diligently pursued, the products being maize, potatoes, yucca and cotton. Artificial irrigation by means of ditches was in extended use. Salt was prepared on a large scale by evaporation, and their skill in the manufacture of cotton cloth was notable. Copper and bronze were unknown, and all their tools and weapons were of wood and stone. In this respect they were in arrears of their not distant neighbors, the Kechuas. Gold, however, they had in quantity, and knew how to smelt it and to work it into vases and ornaments of actual beauty. The use of stone for building was unknown, and their finest structures were with wooden walls coated with clay and roofed with straw.
In spite of what has sometimes been brought forward, it is not likely that they had any method of writing, and much that has been advanced about their calendar is of doubtful correctness. They had neither the quipos of the Peruvians nor the picture writing of the Mexicans. The carved stones which have sometimes been produced as a species of calendar were probably merely moulds for hammering gold into shape.
Quite a body of their mythologic legends have been preserved, replete with interest to the student of the religious sentiment of this race. They indicate an active imagination and may be regarded as quite authentic.
The Chibchas proper, as well as the Aroacos, were meso- or brachycephalic, the cephalic index ranging above 80. They were of moderate stature, dark in color, the face broad, the eyes dark and often slightly oblique, the cheek-bones prominent and the general appearance not handsome.
CHIBCHA LINGUISTIC STOCK
Aruacs (Aroacos), in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and on Rio Paramo.
Bintucuas, a sub-tribe of the Aruacs.
Borucas, sub-tribe of Talamancas.
Bribris, sub-tribe of Talamancas.
Bruncas, see Borucas.
Cabecars, sub-tribe of Talamancas.
Chibchas, on upper Rio Magdalena, near Bogota.
Chicamochas, about 4° N. lat.
Chimilas, in the sierra of Santa Marta.
Chitas or Chiscas, near Sierra de Morcote.
Duits, near Duitama.
Guacicas, east of Bogota, on the head-waters of Rio Meta.
Guamacas, a sub-tribe of Aruacs.
Guaymis, on both slopes of the Cordillera, in Veraguas.
Köggabas, a sub-tribe of the Aruacs.
Morcotes, near San Juan de los Llanos.
Muois, a sub-tribe of the Guaymis.
Murires, a sub-tribe of the Guaymis.
Muyscas, see Chibchas.
Sinsigas, in the sierra near Tunja.
Talamancas, in the sierra in Costa Rica.
Tayronas, in the Sierra de Santa Marta.
Terrabas, a sub-tribe of Talamancas.
Tirribis, a sub-tribe of Talamancas.
Tucurriques, a sub-tribe of the Talamancas.
Tunebos, in the sierra east of Bogota.
Valientes, a sub-tribe of the Guaymis.
3. The Paniquitas and Paezes
A number of tribes living to the north and west of the Chibchas seem to have belonged to one stock. They are mentioned by the older historians as acting in alliance, as in constant war with the Chibchas, and several of them as speaking dialects of a tongue wholly different from the Chibchas. Their stage of culture was lower, but they were acquainted with the bow, the sling and the war-club, and had fixed habitations. I give the list of these presumably related tribes, and apply to the stock the name of one of the modern tribes which retain the language.251
PANIQUITA LINGUISTIC STOCK
Canapeis, sub-tribe of Colimas (Herrera).
Colimas, on the right bank of Magdalena, adjacent to the Musos.
Manipos, adjacent to the Pijoas.
Musos, on right bank of the Magdalena, adjacent and north of the Muyscas.
Nauras, on the Rio Carari.
Paezes, on the central Cordillera.
Panches, on the east bank of Magdalena, near Tocayma.
Paniquitas, between upper waters of the Magdalena and Cauca.
Pantagoros, on both shores of the Magdalena and in province of Quimbaya.
Pijaos, in Popayan, on the Cauca and Neyva.
My reasons for identifying the modern Paniquitas and Paezes with the ancient tribes named are, first, the identity of the location, and secondly, the presence of the initial syllable pan in the names of two of the principal extinct peoples, a word which in Paniquita means “mountain,” and clearly refers to the position of their villages in the sierra, between the head-waters of the Cauca and Magdalena Rivers.
Among the references in the older writers, I may mention that Herrera states that the language of the Panches was one of the most extended in that part of the country, and that the tribes speaking it almost surrounded the Muyscas;252 and Piedrahita specifically adds that the Pijaos, the most powerful tribe in Popayan, whose territory extended from Cartago to the city of Popayan, along the valley of the Neyva, and quite to San Juan de los Llanos, belonged to the same stock as the Pantagoros.
Some fragments have been preserved from the mythology of the Musos, who lived about 24 leagues northwest of Santa Fé, on the right bank of the Magdalena. Their legends pointed for the home of their ancestors to the left or western side of the river. Here dwelt, lying in a position of eternal repose, the Creator, a shadow whose name was Are. Ages ago he carved for his amusement two figures in wood, a man and a woman, and threw them into the river. They rose from its waters as living beings, and marrying, became the ancestors of the human species.253
Most of these tribes are reported to have flattened artificially their heads, and to have burned the bodies of their dead, or, in Popoyan, to have mummified them by long exposure to a slow fire.
The Paezes live on both slopes of the central Cordillera, across the valley of the Magdalena from Bogota, some two thousand in number, in twenty-one villages. They prefer the high altitudes, and are a hardy set of hunters and mountaineers. In spite of the cold they go nearly naked, but what is rare among native Americans, they wear a hat of reeds or bark, resembling in this some Peruvian tribes. Nor are they devoid of skill in hammering gold into ornaments, and weaving fibres of the maguey into mats and cloths. One of their peculiar customs is to burn down a house whenever a birth or a death takes place in it. The harsh dialect they speak has been rendered accessible by a publication of Señor Uricoechea. Its practical identity with the Panequita is obvious from the following comparison:254
4. South Columbian Tribes, Natives of Cauca, Coconucos, Barbacoas, Andaquis, Mocoas, Cañaris
In the states of Cauca and Antioquia there are scarcely any full-blood natives remaining, and the tribes after the conquest were so shifted about that it is difficult to know to which of them we should attribute the abundant remains of ancient art which are scattered profusely over this region. There are numerous sepulchral tumuli, especially in the Frontino and Dabeiba districts, which yield a rich harvest to the antiquary. They contain gold figures, vases and ornaments, stone implements of uncommon perfection, mirrors of polished pyrites, and small images in stone and terra cotta. There are also remarkable ruins in the valley of the Rio de la Plata, an affluent of the upper Magdalena. They consist in colossal statues rudely carved from stone, and edifices of the same material, partly underground, the walls of large slabs, and the roof supported by cylindrical carved pillars. A few of these still remain intact, but the majority have been wrecked by the earthquakes and by the vandalism of treasure-hunters.255
In an attempt to restore the ancient ethnography of this region, Dr. Posada-Arango thinks the former tribes can be classed under three principal nations:256
1. The Catios, west of the river Cauca.
2. The Nutabes, on the right bank of the Cauca, in its central course.
3. The Tahamies, toward the east and south.
In addition to these, there are the Yamacies, near the present city of Saragossa.
According to the early records, these tribes lived in fixed habitations constructed of wood and roofed with thatch. They were cultivators of the soil, skilled in the manufacture of pottery and stone implements, and had as domestic animals parrots and a small species of dog (perros de monte). Their clothing was of cotton, and they were much given to wearing ornaments, many of which were of gold.
From the unfortunate absence of linguistic material, I am unable to classify these interesting peoples.
In the valleys of the Sierra south of the Paezes dwelt the Guanucos, described by the first explorers as a warlike people in an advanced stage of culture. Their houses were of stone, roofed with straw. The sun was worshipped with elaborate ceremonies, including choruses of virgins and the ministration of thousands of priests.257 The dead were buried and the funeral solemnities associated with human sacrifice. At present the neighbors of the Paezes on the western slope of the Cordillera are the Moguexes or Guambianos, partially civilized and carrying on a rude agriculture. They are much given to dissolute dances to the sound of the marimba, and to stupefying themselves with stramonium, which they also use to catch fish.258
The informant of the Abbé Hervas, Señor Velasco, asserted that the Guanucos were a branch of the Coconucos, who dwelt near the foot of the mountain of that name in Popayan, and figure considerably in some of the older histories.259 Bollaert learned that some of them still survive, and obtained a few words of their language, which he was also told was the same as that of the Pubenanos.260 I have found by comparison that it is identical with that of the Moguexes and Totoros,261 and I am therefore enabled to present the following group as members of what I shall call the
COCONUCA LINGUISTIC STOCK
Coconucos, at the sources of the Rio Purase.
Guanucos, in the Sierra.
Guambianos, see Moguexes.
Moguexes, on the western slope of the Cordillera.
Pubenanos, adjacent to the Coconucos.
Mosqueras, sub-tribe of Moguexes.
Polindaras, head-waters of Rio Cauca.
Totoros, in the Sierra between the Magdalena and Cauca.
To these should probably be added the Conchucos and Guaycos, who appear to have been adjacent tribes speaking the same tongue, although also being familiar with the Kechua language.262
In the upper valleys of the rivers Daule, Chone and Tachi, there still survive some families of the “painted Indians,” who were referred to by Cieza de Leon as Manivis, now usually called Colorados, but whose own name is Sacchas, men or people. They are naturally of a light yellow hue, some with light hair and eyes, but are accustomed to go naked and cover their skin with a reddish vegetable pigment, which on the face is laid on in decorative lines. Their language,263 with which we have some acquaintance, appears to belong to the same family as that of the Barbacoas, to whom the Jesuit Father Luca della Cueva went as missionary in 1640, and that of the Iscuandes and the Telembis, all residing in the forests near the coast, between 1° and 2° north latitude. These are described by M. André, who visited them in 1880, as of mixed blood and reduced to a few hundreds, but still retaining something of their ancient tongue, of which he obtained a vocabulary of 23 words. The Cuaiqueres he reports as also speaking this idiom.264
Velasco mentions that the Barbacoas, Telembis and Iscuandes formed a confederation governed by a council of nine members chosen equally from the three tribes.
To the south of the Telembis and adjoining the Kechua-speaking Malabas in the district of La Tola were the Cayapas, of whom some remnants remain, still preserving their native tongue. A vocabulary of it, obtained by H. Wilcszynski, has recently been published.265 On comparing it with the Colorado vocabulary secured by Bishop Thiel and edited by Dr. Seler, it is clear that they are dialects of the same stock, as will be seen from these examples:266
The Cayapas are described as well-built, with oval faces and roman noses.267
As the Barbacoas were the first known and probably the most numerous member of this family, I shall select their name to apply to them all, and classify the group as follows:
BARBACOA LINGUISTIC STOCK
Barbacoas, on Upper Patia and Telembi.
Cayapas, on coast near La Tola.
Colorados, on Daule, Chone and Tachi Rivers.
Cuaiqueres, on the coast about 1° N. Lat.
Iscuandes, on Rio Patia.
Manivis, head-waters of Rio Telembi.
Sacchas, see Colorados.
Telembis, on Rio Telembi.
I have, in obedience to a sense of caution, treated of this stock as separate from the Cocanuca; but the fragmentary vocabularies at my command offer a number of resemblances between the two, and I expect that ampler material will show increased analogies, probably to the extent of proving them branches of the same family tree.
In the roughest part of the Eastern Cordillera, about the head-waters of the two rivers Fragua, (between 1° and 2° north latitude), live the Andaquis. They are wild and warlike, and are the alleged guardians of the legendary Indeguau, “House of the Sun,” a cavern in which, according to local tradition, lies piled the untold gold of the ancient peoples.268 At the time of the conquest their ancestors are said to have occupied the fertile lands between the Magdalena and Suaza rivers, especially the valley of San Augustin, where they constructed mysterious cyclopean edifices and subterranean temples, and carved colossal statues from the living rock. These have been described and portrayed by intelligent travelers, and give us a high opinion of the skill and intelligence of their builders.269
The only specimen I have found of the Andaqui language is the vocabulary collected by the Presbyter Albis. Its words show slight similarities to the Paniquita and the Chibcha,270 but apparently it is at bottom an independent stock. The nation was divided into many sub-tribes, living in and along the eastern Cordillera, and on the banks of the rivers Orteguasa, Bodoquera, Pescado, Fragua and San Pedro, all tributaries of the Caqueta.
The home of the Mocoas is between 1° and 2° north lat. along the Rio de los Engaños or Yari, (whence they are sometimes called Engaños or Inganos), and other tributaries of the Caqueta.271 They are partially civilized, and have seven or more villages near the town of Mocoa. They are the first natives encountered in descending the eastern slope of the Cordillera. Unfortunately, we have a very imperfect knowledge of their language, a few words reported by the Presbyter Albis being all I have seen. So many of them are borrowed from the Kechua, that I have no means of deciding whether the following list of the stock is correct or not:
MOCOA LINGUISTIC STOCK
Almaguereños.
Engaños or Inganos.
Mesayas.
Mocoas.
Pastuzos.
Patias (?)
Sebondoyes.
Of these, the Patias dwelt on the lofty and sterile plain between the two chains of the Cordilleras in Popayan. The Sebondoyes had a village on the Putumayo, five leagues south of the Lake of Mocoa (Coleti).
The region around the Gulf of Guayaquil was conquered by the Inca Tupac Yupanqui about 1450.272 The accounts say that it had previously been occupied by some five-and-twenty independent tribes, all of whom were brought under the dominion of the Kechuas and adopted their language. The most prominent of these were the Cañaris, whose homes were in the hot valleys near the coast. Before the arrival of the Incas they had a certain degree of cultivation, being skilled in the moulding of copper, which they worked with a different technique from the Kechuas. Many of their copper axes are ornamented with strange figures, perhaps totemic, cut into the metal. As much as five or six hundred pounds’ weight of these axes has been taken from one of their tombs.273 Some of the most beautiful gold work from the Peruvian territory has been found in modern times in this province, but was perhaps the work of Kechua rather than of Cañari artists.274
The original language of the Cañaris, if it was other than the Kechua, appears to have been lost.