In conformity to old authorities, Markham classes the _Ardas_ as a sub-tribe of the Yameos. Their home was between the rivers Napo and Masso. On the latter they were in immediate contiguity to the Massamaes (Coleti). There has been published a _Doctrina_ in their language, from which the Lord’s Prayer is quoted by Ludewig.[441] This version has no resemblance to the Pater in Yamea contained in the Mithridates; so for the present I leave the Ardas unclassified. Higher up the river Javary are a number of tribes speaking related dialects of what I shall call the _Peba_ stock, though there are some reasons to consider it a corrupt dialect of the Omagua, and hence related to the Tupi. PEBA LINGUISTIC STOCK. _Caumaris_. _Cauwachis_. _Pacayas_. _Pebas_. To this list I add the Yeguas, Yaguas or Yahuas, found in the same vicinity, and remarkable for their fine personal appearance, “the most perfect physical type,” says M. Ordinaire, “of all the Indian races.”[442] The vocabulary of their language obtained by Castelnau shows unmistakable affinities to that of the Pebas.[443] On the Rio Chambira, adjacent to the Yameos and Omaguas, dwelt in the early part of the last century the _Itucales_ and Varinas or Uarunas, who, according to Coleti, spoke allied dialects. The Itucales were noteworthy as the aptest and most biddable converts obtained by the missionaries on the river. They were agricultural and monogamous.[444] Hervas classes them with the Musimos, the Mayorunas and the Barbudos, under the Urarina language; but the last two are members of the Pano stock. The _Ticunas_ (Tecunas, Tucunas) are found along the lower Javary and the Solimoes, adjacent to the Pebas. They wander about in a state of nakedness, depending on hunting and fishing, and under a loose control of the Brazilian government. Many of them can converse in Kechua, though their own tongue is of a different group. They are given to dances of a sacred character, in which the actors appear in masks. An operation allied to circumcision is practiced on infants of both sexes at the time of assigning them names.[445] One of the several tribes called “Orejones” is thought by Pöppig to belong to the Ticunas.[446] The tribes in the valley of the Huallaga were first visited by Franciscan missionaries in 1676. In that year Father Jose de Araujo converted a number of the Hibitos (Xibitos) in the Upper Huallaga, and wrote an _arte_ of their language. He found it the same as that of the Chunchos in the Sierra. Their neighbors further down the river, the Cholones, speaking a different idiom, were brought under the instruction of Father Francisco Gutierrez, who composed a work on their tongue. A century later we find these two nations living together at the mission, counting 4800 souls, and occupying that portion of the province of Cajamarquilla between 7° and 8° 30´ s. lat. They were peaceable and agricultural, with fields of cotton and food plants.[447]