MAYA LINGUISTIC STOCK
Achis, in eastern Guatemala, now extinct.
Aguatecas, in Aguacatan, Guatemala.
Cakchiquels, in central Guatemala.
Chaneabals, in eastern Chiapas.
Chinantecos or Cinantecos, same as Tzotzils.
Choles, in Depart. Palenque, in Chiapas.
Chortis, in valley of Rio Montagua, near Copan.
Huastecas, on Rio Panuco, north of Vera Cruz.
Ixils, on head-waters of Rio-Salinas, in Guatemala.
Lacandons, on the Rio Lacandon.
Mams, in western Guatemala.
Mayas, in peninsula of Yucatan.
Mopans, north of the Chols, in Guatemala.
Quekchis, on Rio Cahabon, in Guatemala.
Quiches (Utlateca), head-waters of Rio Grande, Guatemala.
Pokomams, south of Rio Grande, in Guatemala.
Pokonchis, in central Guatemala.
Tzendals, in Tabasco and Chiapas.
Tzotzils, in Chiapas.
Tzutuhils, south of lake Atitlan, Guatemala.
Uspantecas, on Rio Negro, Guatemala.
11. THE HUAVES, SUBTIABAS, LENCAS, XINCAS, XICAQUES, “CARIBS,” MUSQUITOS, ULVAS, RAMAS, PAYAS, GUATUSOS
The small tribe of the Huaves occupies four hamlets on the isthmus of Tehuantepec on the Pacific Ocean.212 The men are tall and strong but the women are unusually ugly. Their occupation is chiefly fishing and they have the reputation of being dull. The language they speak is said to be of an independent stock, and according to various writers the tribe claims to have come from some part of the coast a considerable distance to the south. The vocabularies of their tongue are too imperfect to permit its identification.
The Subtiabas are inhabitants of the valley of that name near the modern city of Leon in Nicaragua. They were called Nagrandans by Mr. E. G. Squier,213 because the site of ancient Leon was on the plain of Nagrando and the province also bore this name at the time of the conquest. They are probably the descendants of the ancient Maribois, whom both Oviedo and Palacios place a few leagues from Leon and to whom they ascribe an independent language; but it is an error of some later writers to confound them with the Chorotegans or Mangues, to whom they had no relationship whatever. Their language stands by itself among the inter-isthmian stocks.
The Lenca is spoken by several semi-civilized tribes in central Honduras. Its principal dialects are the Intibucat, Guajiquero, Opatoro and Similaton. It is an independent stock, with no affinities as yet discovered. The Guajiqueros dwell in remote villages in the San Juan Mountains southwest of Comayagua, the capital of Honduras. We owe to the late Mr. E. G. Squier vocabularies of all four dialects and an interesting description of the present condition of the stock.214
A little known tribe in a low stage of culture dwelt on the Rio de los Esclavos, the Xincas. They extended about fifty miles along the Pacific coast and thence back to the Sierra which is there about the same distance. The one vocabulary we have on their tongue shows some loan words from their Nahuatl neighbors the Pipiles, but in other respects it appears to be a stock by itself. Its radicals are generally monosyllabic, and the formation of words is by suffixes.215 The tribe was conquered by Alvarado, in 1524, who states that their principal village was at Guazacapam. It was built of wood and populous. There are some reasons for believing that previous to the arrival of the Quiches and Cakchiquels on the plains of Guatemala that region was occupied by this nation, and that they gave way before the superior fighting powers of the more cultured stock.
The Xicaques live in the state of Honduras to the number of about six thousand. Their seats are on the waters of the Rio Sulaque and Rio Chaloma. They acknowledge one ruler, who is elective and holds the office for life. Their language contains a few Nahuatl words, but in the body of its vocabulary reveals no relationship to any other stock.
The word Carib is frequently applied by the Spanish population to any wild tribe, merely in the sense of savage or wild. Thus on the upper Usumacinta the Lacandons, a people of pure Maya stock, are so called by the whites; on the Musquito coast the uncivilized Ulvas of the mountains are referred to as Caribs. There are a large number of pure and mixed Caribs, probably five or six thousand, in British Honduras near Trujillo, but they do not belong to the original population. They were brought there from the island of St. Vincent in 1796 by the British authorities. Many of them have the marked traits of the negro through a mingling of the races, and are sometimes called “Black Caribs.” The Rev. Alexander Henderson, who has composed a grammar and dictionary of their dialect, gives them the name Karifs, a corruption of Carib, and is the term by which they call themselves.
That portion of Honduras known as the Musquito coast derived its name, not from the abundance of those troublesome insects, but from a native tribe who at the discovery occupied the shore near Blewfield Lagoon. They are an intelligent people, short in stature, unusually dark in color, with finely cut features, and small straight noses—not at all negroid, except where there has been an admixture of blood. They number about six thousand, many of whom have been partly civilized by the efforts of missionaries, who have reduced the language to writing and published in it a number of works. The Tunglas are one of the sub-tribes of the Musquitos.
On the head-waters of the streams which empty along the Musquito coast reside the numerous tribes of the Ulvas, called by the English Smoos. These are dark, but lighter in color than the Musquitos, and are much ruder and more savage. The custom of flattening the head prevails among them, and as their features are not handsome at the best, and as they are much afflicted with leprous diseases, they are by no means an attractive people.
THE ULVA LINGUISTIC STOCK
Bulbuls, see Poyas.
Carchas or Cukras, on Rio Meco above Matlack Falls.
Cocos, on Rio Coco.
Micos, on Rio Mico.
Parrastahs, on Rio Mico.
Pantasmas, on upper basin of Rio Coco.
Melchoras, on Rio de los Ramas.
Siquias, on upper Rio Mico.
Smoos, see Woolwas.
Subironas, on Rio Coco.
Twakas, at San Blas and on Rio Twaka.
Woolwas, Ulvas, Smoos, on head-waters of Blewfield river.
The Ramas, described as men of herculean stature and strength, with a language of their own, reside on a small island in Blewfield Lagoon.
Toward the mountains near the head-waters of Black River, are the Payas, also alleged to be a separate stock. But unfortunately we have no specimens of these tongues.216
The upper waters of the Rio Frio and its affluents form the locality of the Guatusos or Huatusos. By some older writers these were supposed to be of Nahuatl affinities, and others said that they were “white Indians.” Neither of these tales has any foundation. I have seen some of the Guatusos, and their color is about that of the average northern Indians; and as for their language, of which we have rather full vocabularies, it is not in the slightest related to the Nahuatl, but is an independent stock. They are a robust and agile set, preferring a wild life, but cultivating maize, bananas, tobacco and other vegetables, and knitting nets and hammocks from the fibres of the agave. The huleros, or gatherers of india rubber, persecute them cruelly, and are correspondingly hated. It is doubtful if at present they number over six hundred.217
The mountain chain which separates Nicaragua from Costa Rica, and the head-waters of the Rio Frio from those of the more southern and eastern streams, is the ethnographic boundary of North America. Beyond it we come upon tribes whose linguistic affinities point towards the southern continent. Such are the Talamancas, Guaymies, Valientes and others, which I must include, in view of recent researches into their languages, in the next section.
SOUTH AMERICAN TRIBES
GENERAL REMARKS
The linguistic classification of the South American tribes offers far greater difficulties than that of North America. Not only has it been studied less diligently, but the geographical character of the interior, the facilities with which tribes move along its extensive water-ways, and the less stable temperament of the white population have combined to obscure the relationship of the native tribes and to limit our knowledge about them.
The first serious attempt to take a comprehensive survey of the idioms of this portion of the continent was that of the Abbé Hervas in his general work on the languages of the globe.218 Balbi and Adelung did scarcely more than pursue the lines he had traced in this portion of the field. So little had these obtained definite results that Alexander von Humboldt renounced as impracticable the arrangement of South American tribes by their languages, because “more than seven-eighths would have remained what the classifying botanists call incertæ sedis.”219
This eminent naturalist, however, overlooked no opportunity to collect material for the study of the native tongues, and on his return to Europe placed what he had secured in the hands of his distinguished brother for analysis. William von Humboldt, who was the profoundest linguist of his day, gave close attention to the subject, but rather from a purely critical than an ethnographic aspect. He based upon the South American languages many principles of his linguistic philosophy; but so little general attention was given the subject that his most valuable study was first given to the press by myself in 1885.220
Sixty years ago the French traveler, Alcide D’Orbigny, published his important work devoted to South American Ethnography, but confined to that portion of the continent he had visited, south of the parallel of 12° south latitude.221 His classification was based partly on language, partly on physical traits, and as it seemed simple and clear, it has retained its popularity quite to the present day. He subsumes all the tribes in the area referred to under three “races,” subdivided into “branches” and “nations” as follows:—
In this classification, the distinctions of “races” and “branches” are based exclusively on physical characteristics, and are at times in conflict with a linguistic arrangement. The Botocudos and Guaranis, for instance, are wholly dissimilar and should no more be classed together than the Peruvians and the Tupis; the Saravecas and Paiconecas speak Arawak dialects; and other examples could be cited. When D’Orbigny confined himself to the identification of related tribes by a close scrutiny of their idioms, he rendered valuable service by introducing order into the chaotic nomenclature of earlier writers, as he forcibly points out; but his physical discriminations are of little value.
About the middle of this century, two German travelers, Von Tschudi and Von Martius, gave close attention to the linguistic ethnology of the continent, Von Tschudi in Peru and Von Martius in Brazil. The former found the field so unoccupied that he did not hesitate to write in a work published less than ten years ago, “In fact, the knowledge of the languages of South America is to-day less than it was two hundred years ago.”222 His own divisions of the linguistic regions (Sprachgebiete) of the continent is less satisfactory than we might expect. He describes three principal and seven minor districts, the former being, 1. The Pampo-Andean; 2. The inter-Andean; and 3. The Tupi-Guarani regions. The minor centers are, 1. The Arawak-Carib region; 2. That of Cundinamarca; 3. The Rio Meta; 4. The Rio Tolima; 5. The Rio Atrato; 6. The Rio Salado; 7. The Chaco; 8. That of the Moxos.
These are so far from meeting the requirements of our linguistic possessions at present that scarcely one of them can be accepted. Von Tschudi was an able and critical scholar in his particular field, that of the Kechua tongue, but he had not made a wide study of South American languages.
Von Martius was much more of a comparative linguist. His work on the ethnography and linguistics of South America223 is a mine of general information, and indispensable to every student of the subject. Taking the numerous and confused dialects of Brazil, and the almost hopeless synonymy of its tribal names, he undertook a classification of them by establishing verbal and grammatical similarities. It is now generally recognized that he went too far in this direction. He maintained, for instance, that there is a demonstrable relationship between the Tupi, the Carib, and the Arawak stocks; later studies have not endorsed this, but have tended to show that they cannot be traced to any common mother-speech. What Martius called the “Guck” nations, which he brought into connection through the word of that sound used by them to designate the paternal uncle, are now considered to be without general relationship. The researches of Karl Von Den Steinen and Lucien Adam have overthrown this theory.
It is especially in studying the vast and largely unexplored regions watered by the upper streams of the mighty Amazon, that one is yet at a loss to bring the native inhabitants into ethnic order. Of the various explorers and travellers who have visited that territory, few have paid attention to the dialects of the natives, and of those few, several have left their collections unpublished. Thus, I have been unable to learn that Richard Spruce, who obtained numerous vocabularies along the Amazon and its branches, gave them to the press; and there were in the hands of Von Tschudi more than a hundred vocabularies collected by the German naturalist, Johannes Natterer, in the interior of Brazil,224 most of which I learn are still in manuscript. In default of material such as this, the classification of the tribes of Brazil must remain imperfect.
It is also a matter of much regret that no copy can be found of the work of the celebrated missionary, Alonso de Barcena, Lexica et Precepta in quinque Indorum Linguis, published at Lima, in 1590—if, indeed, it was ever really printed. It contained grammars of the Kechua, Aymara, Yunca, Puquina and Katamareña, (spoken by the Calchaquis). Of the two last mentioned idioms no other grammar is known, which makes the complete disappearance of this early printed book particularly unfortunate. Another Jesuit, Father Guillaume D’Étré, wrote out the catechism and instructions for the sacraments in eighteen languages of eastern Peru and the upper Orinoco;225 but this, too, seems lost.
Of late years no one has paid such fruitful attention to the relationship and classification of the South American tribes and languages as M. Lucien Adam. Although I have not in all points followed his nomenclature, and have not throughout felt in accordance with his grouping, I have always placed my main dependence on his work in the special fields he has selected—the three great South American families of the Amazon region, the Arawak (called by him the Maypure), the Carib, and the Tupi.226
The general plan which I shall adopt is rather for convenience of arranging the subject than for reasons based on similarities either of language or physical habitus. It is that which allows the presentation of the various stocks most in accordance with their geographic distribution and their historic associations.
It is as follows:
I. The South Pacific group.
1. The Columbian region.
2. The Peruvian region.
II. The South Atlantic group.
1. The Amazonian region.
2. The Pampean region.
I. THE SOUTH PACIFIC GROUP
1. THE COLUMBIAN REGION
This region includes the mountainous district in northwestern South America, west of the basin of the Orinoco and north of the equator—but without rigid adherence to these lines. The character of its culture differed considerably from that found in the Atlantic regions and was much more closely assimilated to that of Peru. Three lofty mountain chains traverse New Granada from north to south, the intervening valleys being beds of powerful rivers, rich in fish and with fertile banks. This configuration of the soil has exerted a profound influence on the life and migrations of the native inhabitants, severing them from the fellow-members of their race to the east and directing their rovings in a north and south direction.
The productive valleys were no doubt densely populated; though we must regard as a wild extravagance the estimate of a modern writer that at the conquest the native inhabitants of New Granada reached “six to eight millions”227; and I hope that the historian Herrera was far beyond the truth when he asserted that in Popayan alone, in a single year fifty thousand of the Indians died of starvation, five thousand were killed and eaten by the famishing multitude, and a hundred thousand perished from pestilence!228
1. Tribes of the Isthmus and Adjacent Coast
At the discovery, the Isthmus of Panama was in the possession of the Cunas tribe, as they call themselves. They are the same to whom were applied later the names Darien Indians (Wafer), Tules, Cunacunas, Cuevas, Coybas, Mandingas, Bayanos, Irriacos, San Blas Indians, Chucunacos, Tucutis, etc.
They extended from the Gulf of Uraba and the river Atrato on the east to the river Chagres on the west. In that direction they were contiguous to the Guaymis, while on the right bank of the Atrato their neighbors were the Chocos.
The Cunas are slightly undersized (about 1.50), but symmetrical and vigorous. Their color is light, and individuals with chestnut or reddish hair and grey eyes have always been noted among them, and have erroneously been supposed to be albinos. Their skulls are markedly brachycephalic (88) and their faces broad.
In spite of the severe measures of the Spaniards, they have never been thoroughly reduced, and still manifest an unconquerable love of freedom and a wild life. When first met they lived in small villages composed of communal houses, raised maize and cotton, working the latter into garments for the women, and possessed some gold, which they obtained from the mountain streams and by working auriferous veins. The men usually appeared naked and used poisoned arrows.
The Cuna language does not seem to be positively connected with any other stock, nor have dialects of it been discovered elsewhere. A number of verbal similarities have been pointed out with the Chibcha, and it has also a certain similarity to the Carib;229 but with our present knowledge it would be hasty to class it along with any other.
The Changuina or Dorasque tribes of the Isthmus lived latterly on the River Puan, a branch of the Telorio, and are said to have numbered 5000 persons, though but a few miserable remnants are surviving. They are lighter in color than the Guaymis, with whom they were in a constant state of quarreling. In earlier times they were bold warriors, lived by hunting, and were less cultured than their neighbors; yet a remarkable megalithic monument in the pueblo of Meza is attributed to them.230 At the period of the conquest they dwelt in the high Sierras back of the volcano of Chiriqui and extended to the northern coast near Chiriqui Lagoon, where the River Changuina-Aula (aula, in the Mosquito language, means river), still preserves their name. They were an independent warlike tribe, and gave the Spaniards much trouble. Finally, these broils led to their practical extinction. The last member of the Dorasque branch died in 1882, and few others remain.
CHANGUINA LINGUISTIC STOCK
Chalivas, on upper Changuina-Aula.
Changuinas, near Bugaba.
Chumulus, near Caldera.
Dorasques, on the Rio Puan.
Gualacas, near San Francisco de Dolega.
Teluskies, near Rio Puan.
The Chocos were the first nation encountered in South America on passing beyond the territory of the Cunas. They occupied the eastern shore of the Gulf of Uraba, and much of the lower valley of the Atrato. Thence they extended westerly across the Sierra to the Pacific coast, which they probably occupied from the Gulf of San Miguel, in north latitude 8°, where some of them still live under the name of Sambos, down to the mouth of the San Juan River, about north latitude 4°, on the affluents of which stream are the Tados and Noanamas, speaking well-marked dialects of the tongue. To the east they reached the valley of the Cauca, in the province of Antioquia. The Tucuras, at the junction of the Sinu and the Rio Verde, are probably their easternmost branch.231
Anthropologically, they resemble the Cunas, having brachycephalic skulls, with large faces, but are rather taller and of darker color. Here the resemblance ceases, for they are widely dissimilar in language, in customs and in temperament. Instead of being warlike and quarrelsome, they are mild and peaceable; they lived less in villages and communal houses than in single isolated huts. Most of them are now Catholics and cultivate the soil. They have little energy and live miserably. At the time of the conquest they were a trafficking people, obtaining salt from the saline springs and gold from the quartz lodes, which they exchanged with the tribes of the interior. Some of them were skilful in working the metal, and fine specimens of their products have been obtained from their ancestral tombs.
CHOCO LINGUISTIC STOCK
Angaguedas, west of province of Cauca.
Cañasgordas, west of province of Cauca.
Caramantas, west of province of Cauca.
Chocos, on Rio Atrato.
Chamis, near Marmato.
Chiamus or Chocamus, on the Pacific.
Citaraes, on Rio Buei and Rio Buchado.
Murindoes.
Necodades.
Noanamas, on head-waters of Rio San Juan.
Paparos, between rivers Sapa and Puero.
Patoes. Rio Verdes, on the Rio Verde.
Sambos, on Rio Sambo, south of Gulf of San Miguel.
Tados, head-waters of Rio San Juan.
Tucuras, on Rio Senu.
It is worth while recording the names and positions of the other native tribes along the northern coast at the time of the discovery, even if we are unable to identify their linguistic connections. An official report made in 1546 furnishes a part of this information.232 At that time and previously the eastern shore of Venezuela was peopled by the Chirigotos, who are probably the Chagaragotos of later authors.233 Their western neighbors were the Caracas, near the present city of that name. They were warlike, wove hamacs, poisoned their arrows, and wore ornaments of gold. The whole coast from Caracas to Lake Maracaibo was in possession of the Caquetios, who also wove hamacs, and dwelt in stationary villages. They were of milder disposition and friendly, and as a consequence were early enslaved and destroyed by the Spaniards. Even at the date of the Relation they had disappeared from the shore. It is possible that they fled far inland, and gave their name in later days to the river Caqueta.
Along the eastern border of Lake Maracaibo were the Onotes, “The Lords of the Lagoon,” Señores de la Laguna, a fine race, whose women were the handsomest along the shore.234 They lived in houses built on piles in the lake, and fished in its waters with nets and hooks. They traded their fish for maize and yuca to the Bobures. These dwelt on the southern shore of the lake, and are distinguished as erecting temples, mesquites adoratorios, for their religious rites.235 The Sierra on the west of the lake was the home of the warlike Coromochos.
These warriors probably belonged to the Goajiros, who then, as now, occupied the peninsula on the northwest of Lake Maracaibo.
It is not easy to say who were the Tirripis and Turbacos, who lived about the mouth of the Magdalena River, though the names remind us of the Chibcha stock. Approaching the Gulf of Darien from the east, we find the highlands and shores on its west peopled by the Caimanes. These undoubtedly belonged to the Cunas, as is proved by the words collected among them in 1820 by Joaquin Acosta.236 The earliest linguistic evidence about their extension dates from a report in 1515,237 in which the writer says that all along this coast, up to and beyond San Blas, the natives call a man uma and a woman ira, which are words from the Cuna dialects.
In the mountainous district of Mérida, south of the plains in the interior from Lake Maracaibo, there still dwell the remains of a number of small bands speaking dialects of a stock which has been called from one of its principal members, the Timote. It has been asserted to display a relationship to the Chibcha, but the comparisons I have made do not reveal such connection. It seems to stand alone, as an independent tongue.
All the Timotes paid attention to agriculture, raising maize, pepper and esculent roots of the potato character. Those who lived in the warm regions painted their bodies red and went naked; while those in the uplands threw around them a square cotton blanket fastened at the waist. Some of them buried their dead in caves, as the Quindoraes on the banks of the Motatan. With them they placed small figures in terra cotta. The Mocochies, living where caves are rare, built underground vaults for their dead, closing the entrance with a great stone.238
From the writings of Lares and Ernst I make the following list of the members of the
TIMOTE LINGUISTIC STOCK
Aricaguas.
Aviamos.
Bailadores.
Canaguaes.
Chamas.
Escagueyes.
Guaraques.
Guaquis.
Iguiños.
Insumubies.
Jajies.
Miguries.
Mirripuyas.
Mocochies.
Mocotos.
Mocombos.
Mombunes.
Mucuchaies.
Mucunchies.
Mucurabaes.
Mucutuyes.
Quindoraes.
Quinos.
Quiroraes.
Tabayones.
Taparros.
Tatuyes.
Tiguinos.
Tricaguas.
Few of these names are found in the older writers. In the Taparros we recognize the “Zaparas,” who, in the last century, lived in contiguity to the Goajiros of the adjacent peninsula.239 The Mucuchis gave their name to an early settlement of that name in the province of Mérida.240 The prefix muco or moco, which is very common in place-names of that region, is believed by Lares to have a locative significance. Such names give approximately the extent of the dialects at the settlement of the country.
In the highlands near the present city of Caracas, and in the fertile valleys which surround the beautiful inland lake of Valencia to the southeast, were at the discovery a number of tribes whose names, Arbacos, Mariches, Merigotos, etc., give us no information as to their affinities. They are now extinct, and nothing of their languages has been preserved. All the more store do we set by the archæology of the district, about which valuable information has been contributed by Dr. G. Marcano.241 He opened a number of burial mounds where the bones of the dead, after having been denuded of flesh, were interred, together with ornaments and utensils. These were in stone, bone and terra cotta, the only metal being gold in small quantity. The character of the work showed the existence of a culture belonging to the highest stage of polished stone. Many of the skulls were artificially deformed to a high degree, the frontal obliquity in some cases being double the normal. Add to this that there was present an almost unexampled prognathism, and we have crania quite without similars in other parts of the continent. When not deformed they were brachycephalic, and both series gave a respectable capacity, 1470 c. c.