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
The Coroados derive their name from the Portuguese word _coroa_, a crown,
the term “crowned” being applied to several native tribes who wore their
hair in a peculiar manner. It is not at all an ethnic designation, and I
use it to bring into relief the need of some term of greater precision.
Thus, there are the Coroados who are neighbors and linguistically related
to the Puris, dwelling on the Paruahyba river. By some they have been
included among the Tapuyas as alleged relatives of the Botocudos. But
not only is there no relationship of language, but physically they
are widely apart. The Puris-Coroados are a dark yellow brown, with
mesocephalic heads, dark brown oblique eyes, large mouths and thick
lips--nowise the type of the Botocudo. They are moreover agricultural in
habits, and farther advanced in the arts.[392]
There are other Coroados in the extreme south of Brazil, in the province
of Rio Grande do Sul, whither they are said to have wandered from the
north. These do not appear to be Botocudos either. They have round heads,
dark brown eyes, low foreheads, and are of a light coffee color. They
are noticeable for their clean and ornamental huts, and for their skill
in hunting, in which they employ arrows five feet in length, with bone
points. They pray to certain stars as protective divinities, and like
some northern tribes, clean and preserve the bones of the dead.[393]
The _Carajas_ belong to a stock who dwell on the affluents of the
river Araguay, in the province of Goyaz in southern Brazil. The
traveler Castelnau[394] penetrated to them, and was our earliest source
of information about them. They are wild and warlike, with a bad
reputation among their neighbors. He was told they had no religion and
no rites, but also that they were strictly monogamous and singularly
firm moralists, punishing libertinage with the death of both parties;
statements which do not accord. Their method of burial was curious. The
corpse was interred in an upright position, the head out of the ground.
An ample stock of bananas and other food was placed near it, and renewed
from time to time. This clearly indicates a belief in life after death.
The pure Carajas are markedly dolichocephalic.
The Caraja language is known too imperfectly to permit a proper study of
its relationship. It is complex and difficult, and spoken differently by
the men and the women. From the scant material at hand I perceive lexical
relationship in some important words to the Tapuya stock,[395] but a wide
divergence in phonetics and apparently in construction. Its members are
as follows:
CARAJA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
_Carajahis_, about Salinas.
_Carajas_, on the Rio Araguay.
_Chimbioas_, on the eastern affluents of lower Araguay.
_Javahais_, on upper Araguay and island of Bananal.
_Ximbioas_, see _Chimbioas_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account