"Whatever the true figures may have been, it is certain that the region laying between the Putumayo and the Japurá (or Caquetá) was for many years known to be prolific in native life, and furnished therefore the most attractive field for slave-raiding in the earlier years of the last century. No civilised settlements would seem to have arisen in this region until towards the close of the nineteenth century, and the Indian tribes continued to dwell in their primitive state, subject only to visits from slave-searching white or half-breed bands until a quite recent period. "The four principal tribes were the Huitotos (pronounced _Witotos_), the Boras, the Andokes, and the Ocainas, with certain smaller tribes, of which the Ricigaros and the Muinanes are frequently mentioned. These tribes were all of kindred origin and identical in habits and customs, although differing in language and to some extent in feature, complexion, and stature. The Huitotos are said to have been the most numerous, and may at one time recently have numbered 30,000 individuals, although to-day they amount to nothing like that figure. "The Huitotos, although the most numerous, were physically the least sturdy of the four chief tribes named. The name 'Huitotos' is said to signify 'Mosquito,' I know not with what truth, and to have been applied to these people by their stouter neighbours in derision of their attenuated extremities, for neither their arms nor legs are shapely or muscular. The Boras are physically a much finer race than the Huitotos, and, generally speaking, are of a lighter hue. While some of the Huitotos are of a dark bronze or chocolate complexion, I have seen Boras little, if at all, of darker skin than a Japanese or Chinese. The Mongolian resemblance was not alone confined to similarity of colour, but was often strikingly apparent in features as well as in stature, and in a singular approximation of gait to what may be termed 'the Asiatic walk.' So, too, with the hair and eyes. Both are singularly Mongolian, or at least Asiatic, in shape, colour, and, the former, in texture, although the Indian hair is somewhat less coarse and more abundant than either Chinese or Japanese. "A picture of a Sea Dyak of Borneo using his _sumpitan_, or blow-pipe, might very well stand for an actual presentment of a Boras Indian with his _cerbatana_. The weapons, too, are identical in structure and use, and in several other respects a striking similarity prevails between two races so widely sundered.