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 informant of the Abbé Hervas, Señor Velasco, asserted that the
Guanucos were a branch of the _Coconucos_, who dwelt near the foot of the
mountain of that name in Popayan, and figure considerably in some of the
older histories.[259] Bollaert learned that some of them still survive,
and obtained a few words of their language, which he was also told was
the same as that of the Pubenanos.[260] I have found by comparison that
it is identical with that of the Moguexes and Totoros,[261] and I am
therefore enabled to present the following group as members of what I
shall call the
COCONUCA LINGUISTIC STOCK.
_Coconucos_, at the sources of the Rio Purase.
_Guanucos_, in the Sierra.
_Guambianos_, see _Moguexes_.
_Moguexes_, on the western slope of the Cordillera.
_Pubenanos_, adjacent to the Coconucos.
_Mosqueras_, sub-tribe of Moguexes.
_Polindaras_, head-waters of Rio Cauca.
_Totoros_, in the Sierra between the Magdalena and Cauca.
To these should probably be added the Conchucos and Guaycos, who appear
to have been adjacent tribes speaking the same tongue, although also
being familiar with the Kechua language.[262]
In the upper valleys of the rivers Daule, Chone and Tachi, there still
survive some families of the “painted Indians,” who were referred to by
Cieza de Leon as Manivis, now usually called Colorados, but whose own
name is Sacchas, men or people. They are naturally of a light yellow
hue, some with light hair and eyes, but are accustomed to go naked and
cover their skin with a reddish vegetable pigment, which on the face is
laid on in decorative lines. Their language,[263] with which we have
some acquaintance, appears to belong to the same family as that of the
Barbacoas, to whom the Jesuit Father Luca della Cueva went as missionary
in 1640, and that of the Iscuandes and the Telembis, all residing in the
forests near the coast, between 1° and 2° north latitude. These are
described by M. André, who visited them in 1880, as of mixed blood and
reduced to a few hundreds, but still retaining something of their ancient
tongue, of which he obtained a vocabulary of 23 words. The Cuaiqueres he
reports as also speaking this idiom.[264]
Velasco mentions that the Barbacoas, Telembis and Iscuandes formed a
confederation governed by a council of nine members chosen equally from
the three tribes.
To the south of the Telembis and adjoining the Kechua-speaking Malabas in
the district of La Tola were the Cayapas, of whom some remnants remain,
still preserving their native tongue. A vocabulary of it, obtained by H.
Wilcszynski, has recently been published.[265] On comparing it with the
Colorado vocabulary secured by Bishop Thiel and edited by Dr. Seler, it
is clear that they are dialects of the same stock, as will be seen from
these examples:[266]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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