The American Race: A Linguistic Classification and Ethnographic Description of the Native Tribes of North and South AmericaBrinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison)
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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
_Conis_.
_Cuchis_.
_Enetés_.
_Mages_.
_Mansiños_.
_Oromos_.
_Solostos_.
MOSETENA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
_Chimanis_.
_Magdalenos_.
_Maniquies_.
_Muchanis_.
_Tucupis_.
The Toromonas occupy the tract between the Madre de Dios and the Madidi,
from 12° to 13° south latitude. According to D’Orbigny they are, together
with the Atenes, Cavinas, Tumupasas and Isuiamas, members of one stock,
speaking dialects of the _Tacana_ language. He was unable to procure a
vocabulary of it, and only learned that it was exceedingly guttural and
harsh.[469] From their position and their Kechua name (_tuyu_), low or
swamp land, I am inclined to identify the Toromonas with the Tuyumiris
or Pukapakaris, who are stated formerly to have dwelt on the Madre de
Dios and east of the Rio Urubamba, and to have been driven thence by the
Sirineris (Tschudi).
According to recent authorities the Cavinas speak the same tongue as the
Araunas on the Madre de Dios, which are separated from the Pacaguaras by
the small river Genichiquia;[470] and as the language of the Toromonas is
called in the earlier accounts of the missions _Macarani_, I may make out
the following list of the members of the
TACANA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
_Araunas_.
_Atenes_.
_Cavinas_.
_Equaris_.
_Isuiamas_.
_Lecos_.
_Macaranis_.
_Maropas_.
_Pukapakaris_.
_Sapiboconas_.
_Tacanas_.
_Toromonas_.
_Tumupasas_.
_Tuyumiris_.
The Araunas are savage, and according to Heath “cannibals beyond a
doubt.” He describes them as “gaunt, ugly, and ill formed,” wearing the
hair long and going naked.[471] Colonel Labré, however, who visited
several of their villages in 1885, found them sedentary and agricultural,
with temples and idols, the latter being geometrical figures of polished
wood and stone. Women were considered impure, were not allowed to know
even the names of the gods, and were excluded from religious rites.[472]
The Cavinas, on the other hand, are described by early writers as
constructing houses of stone.[473] The Maropas, on the east side of the
river Beni near the little town of Reyes, speak a dialect of Tacana
as close to it as Portuguese to Spanish. They are erroneously classed
as a distinct nation by D’Orbigny, who obtained only a few words of
their tongue. The Sapiboconas, who lived at the Moxos Mission, and of
whose dialect Hervas supplies a vocabulary, are also a near branch of
the stock. We now have sufficient material to bring these tribes into
relation. With them I locate the Lecos, the tribe who occupied the
mission of Aten, and are therefore called also Atenianos.[474] At present
some civilized Lecos live at the mission of Guanay, between the Beni and
Titicaca; but we have nothing of their language.[475]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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