The American Race: A Linguistic Classification and Ethnographic Description of the Native Tribes of North and South AmericaBrinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison)
History
The American Race: A Linguistic Classification and Ethnographic Description of the Native Tribes of North and South America
Brinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison)
Indians; Indians -- Languages
I have no hesitation in including in the Tupi family the Mundurucus, or
Paris, on the upper Tapajoz. Their relationship was fully recognized
by Professor Hartt, who was well acquainted with both dialects.[341]
They are a superior stamp of men, tall, of athletic figures, light in
color, their naked bodies artistically tattooed. Their women are skilled
in weaving cotton hammocks, and the men pursue some agriculture, and
manufacture handsome feather ornaments.
To the same family belong the Muras and Turas, in the swampy valley of
the Madeira in its middle course, “an amphibious race of ichthyophagi,”
as they are called by Martius, savage and hostile, and depraved by
the use of the _parica_, a narcotic, intoxicating snuff prepared from
the dried seeds of the _Mimosa acacioides_. At the beginning of this
century they were estimated at 12,000 bowmen; but this was doubtless
a great exaggeration. Though their dialect differs widely from the
_lingua geral_, the majority of their words are from Tupi roots.[342]
Others are related to the language of the Moxos, and in the last century
certain of their tribes lived in the immediate vicinity of these, and
were brought into the “reductions” of the Moxos Indians by the Jesuit
missionaries.[343] The tendency of their migrations has been down the
Madeira.
The tribes of this lineage in the extreme south of Brazil were numerous.
The Guachaguis, corresponding apparently to the modern Guachis, are
said by Lozano to speak a corrupt Guarani.[344] Vocabularies have
been obtained by Castelnau and Natterer, which indicate only a remote
resemblance. According to their own tradition, they migrated from near
the Moxos in the Bolivian highlands.
The Gualachos, who spread from the river Iguaza to the sea coast, spoke
a Guarani dialect in which the sounds of _f_, _j_ and _l_ were present,
which, in pure Guarani, are absent. They built thatched houses divided
into several rooms, and raised abundant harvests.[345]
The Omaguas and Cocamas, the most western of the Tupis, dwelling within
the limits of Ecuador, had evidently profited by their contiguity to
the civilization of Peru, as they are described by early travelers as
familiar with gold, silver and copper, living in permanent villages
connected by good roads, and cultivating large fields of cotton, maize
and various food-plants. The art-forms which they produced and the
prevalence of sun-worship, with rites similar to those of Peru, indicate
the source of their more advanced culture. By some authors the Omaguas
are stated to have migrated down the Rio Yupura from Popayan in New
Granada, where a tribe speaking their dialect, the Mesayas are alleged
still to reside.[346] The peculiar “mitred” skulls of the Omaguas are an
artificial deformity prized by them as a beauty.
The Tupi is rich in mythological tales which have been collected by
several competent students of their tongue. (Hartt, Magalhaes, etc.)
Their religion is a simple animistic nature-worship.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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