THE RED RACE
This race is sometimes designated as the American, because in the fifteenth century it formed in itself alone almost the whole population of the two Americas. But Europeans, and especially the English of the United States, constitute, at present, the greatest part of the inhabitants of America. They have to a certain extent monopolised the name of “Americans,” so much so that people generally call the nations of the Red Race Indians, a title which was given to them by the Spaniards, in the time of Christopher Columbus, in consequence of that strange mistake of the great Genoese navigator, who discovered the New World without knowing it, that is to say, while imagining that he had simply found a new passage by which to reach the “Great Indies,” in Asia.
The denomination of Red Race is, besides, a defective one, in so much that several tribes ranked in this group have no shade of red in their colour. This division is, in fine, rather imperfect from an ethnological point of view, but it possesses the advantage of fixing geographically the habitat of the nations included in it.
The American Indians approach closely to the Yellow Race belonging to Asia, in their hair, which is generally black, rough, and coarse, in the scarceness of their beard, and in their complexion, which varies from yellow to a red copper colour. Among one portion of them the very prominent nose and large open eyes recall to mind the White Race. Their forehead is extremely retreating, but no other race have the back part of the head more developed, or broader eye-sockets. Though usually hospitable and generous, they are cruel and implacable in their resentments, and make war for the most frivolous causes. Two of these nations, the primitive Mexicans and Peruvians, had formerly founded wide empires, and had attained a somewhat advanced civilization, though lower than that of Europeans of the same epoch. But these monarchies having been swept away by their Spanish conquerors, progress was checked. The Indians who escaped the destruction of their race, and submitted to the victors, are now no better than husbandmen or artisans, while as for those that remained independent, they wander in the woods and the prairies, and are the last representatives of man in the savage or semi-savage state. They live in the forests and savannahs, on the produce of their hunting and fishing; their wives are kept by them in a state of the greatest abjectness, and are loaded with the heaviest labour; while certain tribes still continue to offer human sacrifices to their idols.
A fact which deserves notice is, that the Indians who were already settled and who were husbandmen when the Spaniards arrived, speedily submitted to the strangers, but never has it been found possible to tame those who have shown themselves, from the fifteenth century to this day, rebels to foreign influence, and who have preferred to become masters of the forest solitudes rather than accept the yoke and customs of the Europeans. Moreover, the number and population of the wild tribes of the two Americas diminish every year, especially in the north, a result attributable to their continual wars, the ravages of the small-pox, and, above all, to the fatal passion of these savage nations for brandy.
Anthropologists have taken great trouble to discover the real origin of the Indians of America, and to establish their affinity with the other human families, but up to the present their studies have led to no satisfactory result. The Indians cannot be accurately brought into connection with either the White, Yellow, or Brown Race; nor on the other hand can the mingling of these three groups be explained, nor the American Indian be recognized as a determinate original type.
The great differences, both in the shape of the skull and the colour of the skin, which are known to exist among the Indian tribes, proclaim numerous crossings. Many circumstances prove that in very remote times some Europeans made their way into America by the north, and that they found there one or many native races, whom they partially overcame, and with whom they are mingled to the present day. The degree of civilization that had been reached by the Mexicans and Peruvians of old, when Columbus landed in the New World; the American tradition which holds that the founders of their empires were foreigners; the existence on the Northern continent of ruins announcing a state of things at least as far advanced as that of the Nahuath and the Quichuas, (the former Mexicans and Peruvians); such are the facts which establish that a blending formerly took place between the primitive Indians and Northern Europeans.
The shape of the body peculiar to the Indians of the north-east, has equally led to the supposition that they reckon some Europeans among their ancestors, an idea which appears all the more admissible, because in the tenth century the ancient Scandinavians undoubtedly had relations with America.
Consequently, the original race which has peopled the Western Hemisphere is almost impossible to be traced. Probably the population which existed in the New World before the arrival of the Europeans was made up of several types different from those that are extant at present in the other regions of the globe, types having a great tendency to modify themselves, and which were obliterated whenever they came in contact with the races of Europe. But to re-ascend back to this primordial population would now be impossible.
In commenting on the tribes of the Red Race, we shall separate the Indians who inhabit North America from those dwelling in the southern continent, for certain characteristics mark these two groups; in other words, we shall distinguish in the Red Race two divisions – the southern branch and the northern branch.
CHAPTER I.
SOUTHERN BRANCH
The nations of the southern branch of the Red Race have affinity to those of the Yellow Race. Their complexion, which is often yellowish or olive, is never so red as that of the northern Indians; their head is usually of less length and their nose not so prominent, while they frequently have oblique eyes.
We intend to divide this branch into three families, named respectively the Andian, Pampean, and Guarani.
Andian Family
This family contains three different peoples: – firstly, the Quichuas; secondly, the Antis Indians; and thirdly, the Araucanians.
The characteristics which the tribes belonging to this group possess in common are an olive-brown complexion, small stature, low retiring forehead, and horizontal eyes, which are not drawn down at the outer angle. They inhabit the western parts of Bolivia, Peru, and the State of Quito. These countries were completely subjugated by the Spaniards in the sixteenth century, and the natives converted to Christianity.
We shall notice in the first division, Quichuas or ancient Incas, the Aymaras, the Atacamas, and the Changos.
Quichuas or Incas. – The Quichuas were the principal people of the ancient empire of the Incas, and they still constitute almost half the free Indian population of South America. In the fifteenth century the Incas were the dominant race among the nations of Peru, speaking a language of their own, called Quichu.
The former Incas, those who lived before the Spanish invasion, were possessed of a certain degree of civilization. They had calculated exactly the length of the solar year, had made rather considerable progress in the art of sculpture, preserved memorials of their history by means of hieroglyphics, and enjoyed a well-organized government and a code of good laws. Orators, poets, and musicians were to be found among them, and their figurative melodious language denoted prolonged culture. Their religion was impressed to the highest degree with a devotional character. They recognized a God, the supreme arbiter and creator of all things. This divinity was the sun, and superb temples were raised by them to its honour. Their religion and their manners breathed great sweetness. The fierce Spanish conquerors encountered this mild, inoffensive race, and never rested until they had annihilated with fire and sword these unsophisticated, peaceable men, who were of more worth than their cruel invaders.
179. – HUASCAR, THIRTEENTH EMPEROR OF THE INCAS.
Figs. 179 and 180 represent types of Incas drawn from the genealogical tree of the imperial family, which was published in the “Tour du Monde,” in 1863.
According to Alcide d’Orbigny, the naturalist, who has given a perfect description of this race, the Quichuas are not copper-coloured, but of a mixed shade, between brown and olive; their average height is not more than five feet two inches, that of the females being still lower. They have broad, square shoulders, and an excessively full chest, very prominent, and very long. Their hands and feet are small. The cranium and features of this people are strongly characteristic, constituting a perfectly distinct type, which bears no resemblance to any but the Mexican. The head is oblong from front to back, and a little compressed at the sides; the forehead slightly rounded, low, and somewhat retreating; yet the skull is often capacious, and denotes a rather large development of the brain. The face is generally broad; the nose always prominent, somewhat long, and so extremely aquiline, as to seem as if the end were bent over the upper lip, and pierced by wide very open nostrils. The size of the mouth is large rather than moderate, and the lips protrude, although they are not thick. The teeth are invariably handsome, and remain good during old age. Without being receding, the chin is a little short; indeed it is sometimes slightly projecting. The eyes are of moderate size and frequently even small, always horizontal, and never either drawn down or up at their outer angle. The eyebrows are greatly arched, narrow, and thin. The colour of the hair is always a fine black, and it is coarse, thick, long, and extremely smooth and straight, and comes down very low at each side of the forehead. The beard is limited to a few straight and scattered hairs, which appear very late across the upper lip, at the sides of the mouth, and on the point of the chin. The countenance of these men is regular, serious, thoughtful, and even sad, and it might be said that they wish to conceal their thoughts beneath the still, set look of their features. A pretty face is seldom seen among the women.
180. – COYA CAHUANA, EMPRESS OF THE INCAS.
An ancient vase has been found on which is a painting of an Inca, who is in every way so entirely like those of the present day as to prove that during four or five centuries the lineaments of these people have not undergone any perceptible alteration.
The Aymaras bear a close resemblance, so far as physical characteristics are concerned, to the Quichuas, from whom, however, they are completely separated by language.
They formed a numerous nation, spread over a wide expanse of country, and appear to have been civilized in very remote times. We may consider the Aymaras as the descendants of that ancient race which, in far-off ages, inhabited the lofty plains now covered by the singular monuments of Tiagnanaco, the oldest city of South America, and which peopled the borders of Lake Titicaca.
The Aymaras resemble the Quichuas in the most remarkable feature of their organization, namely the length and breadth of the chest, which, by allowing the lungs to attain a great development, renders these tribes particularly suited for living on high mountains. In the shape of the head and the intellectual faculties, as well as in manners, customs, and industry, both peoples may be compared, but the architecture of the monuments and tombs of the former race diverges widely from that of the Incas.
Two nations inferior in numbers to those of which we have just spoken, may be mentioned here; they are the Atacamas, occupying the western declivities of the Peruvian Andes, and the Changos, dwelling on the slopes next the Pacific. Both one and the other are like the Incas in physical characteristics, but the colour of the skin of the Changos is of a slightly darker hue, being a blackish bistre.
Antis.– The Antis Indians comprise many tribes, namely, the Yuracares, Mocéténès, Tacanas, Maropas, and Apolistas, races which inhabit the Bolivian Andes. Their complexion is lighter than that of the Incas, they have not such bulky bodies, and their features are more effeminate.
The account which M. Paul Marcoy has given in the “Tour du Monde” of his travels across South America from the shores of the Pacific to those of the Atlantic, is accompanied by several sketches representing Antis Indians and some wandering hordes which belong to the same group; and we have reproduced a few of these drawings in our pages, the first two (figs. 181 and 182) being types of the heads of these people. We also derive from the same source the following details as to this race.
The Antis is of medium stature and well-proportioned, with rounded limbs. He paints his cheeks and the part round his eyes with a red dye, extracted from the rocou plant, and also colours those parts of his body exposed to the air with the black of genipa. His covering consists of a long, sack-shaped frock, woven by the women, as is also the wallet, in the shape of a hand bag, carried by him across his shoulder, and containing his toilet articles, namely: – a comb made with the thorns of the Chouta palm; some rocou in paste; half a genipa apple; a bit of looking-glass framed in wood; a ball of thread; a scrap of wax; pincers for extracting hairs, formed of two mussel-shells; a snuff-box made from a snail’s shell, and containing very finely ground tobacco gathered green; an apparatus for grating the snuff, made of the ends of reeds or two arm bones of a monkey, soldered together with black wax at an acute angle; sometimes, a knife, scissors, fish-hooks, and needles of European manufacture.
181. – AN ANTIS INDIAN.
Both sexes wear their hair hanging down like a horse’s tail, and cut straight across just over the eyes. The only trinket they carry is a piece of silver money flattened between two stones, which they pierce with a hole and hang from the cartilage of their nostrils. For ornaments they have necklaces of glass beads, cedar and styrax berries, skins of birds of brilliant plumage, tucana’s beaks, tapir’s claws, and even vanilla husks strung upon a thread.
182. – AN ANTIS INDIAN.
The Antis almost always build their dwellings on the banks of a water-course, isolated and half hidden by a screen of vegetation. The huts are low and dirty, and pervaded by a smell like that of wild beasts, for the air can scarcely circulate in them. In the fine season of the year sheds take the place of closed-up huts (fig. 183).
The weapons used by the Antis are clubs and bows and arrows. Fishermen capture their prey in the running streams with arrows barbed at the ends, or having three prongs like a trident. Other darts, with palm-points or bamboo-heads, are employed by the hunter for birds and quadrupeds.
The Antis occasionally poison the waters of the creeks and bays by means of the Menispermum cocculus. The fish become instantaneously intoxicated; they first struggle, then rise belly uppermost, and come floating on the surface, where they are easily taken with the hand (fig. 184).
The earthenware of this people is coarsely manufactured, and is painted and glazed. They live in families, or in separate couples, and have no law beyond their own caprice. They do not elect chiefs, except in time of war, and to lead them against an enemy. The girls are marriageable at twelve years of age, and accept any husband who seeks them, if he has previously made some present to their parents. They prepare their lord and master’s food, weave his clothes, look after and gather in the crops of rice, manioc, maize, and other cereals; carry his baggage on a journey, follow him to battle, and pick up the arrows which he has discharged; they also accompany him in the chase or when fishing, paddle his canoe, and bring back to their dwelling the booty gained from an enemy, and the game or fish which has been killed; and yet, notwithstanding this severe work and continual bondage, the women are always cheerful.
183. – SUMMER SHED OF THE ANTIS.
They use a large earthen vessel to cook the fish caught in the nearest stream, or the game killed in the adjoining forest.
184. – ANTIS INDIANS FISHING.
When one of this nation dies, his relatives and friends assemble in his abode, seize the corpse (which is wrapped in the loose sack-like frock usually worn,) by the head and feet, and throw it into the river. They then wreck the dwelling, break the deceased’s bow, arrows, and pottery, scatter the ashes of his hearth, devastate his crops, cut down to the ground the trees which he has planted, and finally set fire to his hut. The place is thenceforth reputed impure, and is shunned by all passers-by; vegetation very soon reasserts its sway, and the dead is for ever effaced from the memory of the living.
185. – PERUVIAN INTERPRETER.
These people who thus treat their dead so badly, profess an equal disdain for the aged, for whom they reserve the refuse of their food, their worn-out rags, and the worst place at the hearth.
Their religion is a jumble of theogonies, in which however are recognizable a notion of the existence of a supreme God, the idea of the two principles of good and evil, and finally, a belief in reward or punishment on leaving this life.
The manners of these tribes are, as may be seen, a somewhat singular medley; free will is the ruling law and, as it were, the wisdom of their race, which lives unfettered in the bosom of nature.
The Antis Indians have a soft smooth idiom, which they speak with extreme volubility in a low, gentle tone that never varies.
Araucanians.– These tribes spread themselves over the western slopes of the Andes, from 30 degrees south latitude to the extremity of Tierra del Fuego, and also occupy the upper valleys and plains situate to the east of the Cordilleras.
The Araucanians constitute two nations, namely, the people who properly bear that name, indomitable warriors, whose heroism is celebrated in the history of the Spanish conquest of Peru: and the Pecherays, who inhabit the most southern link of the American mountain chain.
According to A. d’Orbigny, both these races present a great similitude as regards their physical characteristics, which consist of a head that is large in proportion to the body, a round face, prominent cheekbones, a broad mouth, thick lips, a short, flat nose, wide nostrils, a narrow retiring forehead, horizontal eyes, and a thin beard.
Fig. 186 is a representation, after Pritchard, of one of those Araucanian Indians who may be considered as forming the least barbarous of the independent native tribes of South America.
These people do not, in fact, lead the nomadic existence of Indians. Being protected by thick forests from the attacks and invasions of the Americans, they build what are real houses with wood and iron, and their customs denote a rudimentary civilization.
A Périgueux attorney has rendered the Araucanian nation celebrated in France. He had succeeded in getting himself chosen as its king, and when chased away by the Peruvians came to relate his Odyssey in Europe, returning afterwards to reconquer his unstable throne. Orélie, the First of the name, has according to rumour recovered at present his lofty position among the Indians of Araucania. We wish him a tranquil reign.
186. – ARAUCANIAN.
The Pecherays inhabit the coast of Tierra del Fuego and both shores of the Straits of Magellan. The life they lead and the ice covering all the interior of the hilly country they occupy, force them to remain exclusively on the borders of the sea.
Their colour is olive or tawny; they are well built but of clumsy figure, and their legs bowed, from continually sitting cross-legged, give them an unsteady gait. Their pleasant natural smile gives indication of an obliging disposition.
Being essentially nomadic, they do not form themselves into communities, but move about in small numbers, by groups of two or three families, living by hunting and fishing, and changing their resting-place as soon as they have exhausted the animals and shell-fish of the neighbourhood. Dwelling in a region which is split up into a multitude of islands, they have become navigators, and continually traverse every shore of Tierra del Fuego as well as of the countries situated to the east of the strait. They build large boats, twelve to fifteen feet long and three feet broad, from the bark of trees, with no other implements than shells or hatchets made of flint.
187. – PECHERAY HUTS.
Their huts (fig. 187) are covered over with earth or sealskins and some fine morning the whole family will abandon them and take to their canoes with their numerous dogs. The women ply their oars, while the men hold themselves in readiness to pierce any fish they perceive, with a dart pointed by a sharpened stone. When in this way they arrive at another island, the women, having placed their little vessel in safety, start in search of shell-fish and the men go hunting with the sling or the bow. A short stay is followed by a fresh departure.
These poor people are thus incessantly exposed to the dangers of the sea and the inclemency of the seasons, and yet they are, it may be said, without clothing. The men’s shoulders are barely covered with a scrap of sealskin, whilst the whole apparel of the women consists in a little apron of the same material.
Notwithstanding this rude existence, the Pecherays display some coquetry. They load their necks, arms, and legs with gewgaws and shells, and paint their bodies, and oftener their faces, with different designs in red, white, and black. The men occasionally ornament their heads with bunches of feathers. All wear a kind of boot made of sealskin.
Like all other tribes who subsist by hunting, the Pecherays have among themselves frequent quarrels, and even petty wars, that last only a short time but are continually renewed.
They share their food with their faithful companions, the dogs; it consists of cooked or raw shell-fish, birds, fish, and seals, and they eat the fat of the latter raw. They do not, like the inhabitants of the North Pole, pass the most rigorous period of the winter underground, but pursue their labours in the open air, protecting themselves as best they can against the cold which prevails on these shores, notwithstanding the deceitful name of Tierra del Fuego. This “Land of Fire,” by reason of its proximity to the South Pole, is, during the greater part of the year, a region of ice.
The women are subjected to the roughest labours. They row, fish, build the cabins, and plunge into the sea, even during the most intense cold, in their search for the shell-fish attached to the rocks.
The language of the Pecherays resembles that of the Patagonians and the Puelches in sound, and that of the Araucanians in form. Their weapons and their religion, as well as the paintings on their faces, are also those of these three neighbouring nations.
Pampean Family
The rather numerous tribes of South America who compose this family are frequently of tall stature, with arched and prominent foreheads overhanging horizontal eyes which are sometimes contracted at the outer angle. They inhabit the immense plains or Pampas, situated at the foot of the eastern slope of the Andes. They rear great numbers of horses, and consequently the men, like the tribes who roam over the steppes of Asia, are nearly always mounted.
The peoples comprised in this family are: the Patagonians, properly so called; the Puelches, or the tribes of the Pampas to the south of the La Plata river; the Charruas, in the vicinity of Uruguay; the Tobas, Lenguas, and Machicuys, who occupy the greater part of Chaco; the Moxos, the Chiquitos, and the Mataguayos; and finally the famous Abipones; the centaurs of the New World. We can only speak of some of these groups.
Patagonians.– Under this name we include, besides the Patagonians proper, several other nomadic races resembling them, who are found, some to the north, and others to the south, of the La Plata. The latter wander over the pampas which stretch from that river as far as the Straits of Magellan; while the northern tribes, who bear a physical resemblance to the genuine Patagonians, inhabit that portion of the country comprised between the Paraguay river and the last spurs of the Cordilleras, and which stretches northward as far as the twentieth degree of latitude, including the inland plains of the province of Chaco.
The Patagonians are the nomads of the New World. They furnish the horsemen who scour its vast arid tracts, living under tents of skins, or who hide in its forests, in huts covered with bark and thatch. Haughty and unconquered warriors, they despise agriculture and the arts of civilization, and have always resisted the Spanish arms.
These savages have darker skins than most of those in South America. Their complexion is an olive-brown; and among the men composing them we find the tallest stature as well as the most athletic and robust frames. The tribes dwelling furthest south are the tallest, and the height of the others diminishes as the Chaco region is approached.
As has been stated in the introduction to this work, the stature of this people has been heretofore greatly exaggerated. M. Alcide d’Orbigny, who resided for seven months among many distinct divisions of the Patagonians, measured several individuals in each. He assures us that the tallest of all was only five feet eleven inches in height, and that the average is not above five feet four.
M. Victor de Rochas, in the account he has given of his voyage to Magellan’s Straits, has proved in a similar manner that the stature of the Patagonians is by no means extraordinary. He found them possessed of a brown complexion; coarse straight black hair, little beard; serious countenances – those of the men being manly and haughty, and the women’s mild and good – and regular but coarse features. The hands and feet of the females were small.
Broad, robust bodies, stout limbs, and vigorous constitutions characterise all the tribes in question, the women as well as the men. The Patagonians proper have large heads and wide flat faces with prominent cheek-bones.
Among the nations of Chaco, which we shall speak of further on, the eyes are small, horizontal, and sometimes slightly contracted at the outer corner; the nose is short, flat and broad, with open nostrils; the mouth big, the chin short, and the lips thick and prominent; they have arched eyebrows, little beard, long straight black hair, and gloomy countenances, frequently of ferocious aspect.
Though the languages of these races are essentially distinct, they have a certain analogy between themselves; all are harsh, guttural, and difficult of pronunciation.
The details which follow are derived from the narrative of a traveller, M. Guinard, who spent three years in captivity among the Patagonians. Fate threw him into the hands of the tribe of the Poyuches, who wander along the southern bank of the Rio Negro, from the neighbourhood of Pacheco Island.
Whether these nomadic Indians live in the vicinity of the Spanish Americans or in the solitudes of Patagonia, beneath the outlying woody spurs of the Cordilleras, or on the bare, wild soil of the Pampas, they lead identically the same life. Their occupations are the chase, tending their domestic animals, horsemanship, and the use of the lance, the sling, and the lasso.
Their dwellings consist of hide tents, carried by these savages from place to place in their migrations. Their costume is composed of a piece of some sort of stuff with a hole in the middle to pass the head through, and their waist is girt by another fragment of smaller size. A cloth rag is tied round their head, separating the hair in front, and allowing it to fall in long waves over the shoulders. They carefully pluck the hair from every part of their bodies, without even sparing the eyebrows. Their faces are painted with volcanic earths which the Araucanians bring them, the colours varying according to taste, but red, blue, black, and white have the preference. The women wear a frock with holes for their heads, arms, and legs; they pull out their hair and eyebrows like the men, and paint their faces, the strange and hard expression of which is enhanced by ornaments of coarse beads. Bracelets and square ear-rings complete their toilette. They can throw the lance and the lasso with as much ease as the men, and ride on horseback like them. M. Guinard learned how to manage the horses and use the weapons of this people, for they made him join in their nandu and guanaco hunts.
188. – PATAGONIAN.
The chief occupation of these Indians is, in fact, the chase, and they devote themselves to it all through the year. The Chen-elches, one of the Patagonian tribes, who have no horses, pursue their game on foot.
189. – A PATAGONIAN HORSE SACRIFICE.
On their return from hunting the Patagonians abandon themselves to gambling and debauchery. They cheat at play and become intoxicated to madness, when they fight among themselves with fury. Two religious festivals are observed by them during the year, on which occasions they dance and indulge in fantastic cavalcades.
A custom of piercing their children’s ears exists among these people, and the ceremony which then takes place is analogous to that of baptism. The child is laid on a horse, which has been thrown down by the chief of the family or tribe, and a hole is solemnly bored through the little lobe of his ear.
Let us add that the existence of a new-born infant is submitted to the consideration of the father and mother, who decide upon its life or death. Should they think fit to get rid of it, it is smothered, and its body carried a short distance, and then abandoned to wild dogs and birds of prey. If the poor little one is judged worthy to live, its mother nurses it until it is three years old, and at four years of age its ears are solemnly pierced, as described above.