The Human Race

“Both sexes pierce their ears when extremely young, and pass through them a bit of wood, the width of which they keep incessantly increasing, so that towards forty years of age the holes are of enormous dimensions. I measured several of these orifices, and found their average length to be two inches and a half, whilst their diameter was somewhat less considerable. The pieces of wood are solid, irregularly rounded, and about an inch and three-quarters in thickness at their widest part. The Lenguas often replace them by a long fragment of the bark of a tree, rolled spirally like a wire spring. This ear-ring is called a barbote.

“The Lenguas comb their hair, which they cut at the top of the forehead, forming a lock which is drawn backwards, passing over the left ear, until it falls into the mass collected and tied behind with a riband or a woollen string. This body of hair, which is always black, straight, and generally very fine and even silky, then falls between the shoulders. The women do not always dress their hair in this way; I saw many who allowed it to hang in loose disorder. Moreover, though they may sometimes comb it, no one can say that these people take care of their hair; their extreme filthiness argues to the contrary, for nothing can possibly be seen dirtier than this nation, which in this respect closely resembles the others.

“The weapons of the Lenguas consist of a bow and arrows, which they carry behind their backs bound up in a hide; they have also an axe, called by them achagy, borne in a similar manner. They carry in their hand a mahana, or staff, made of hard, heavy wood; and to these is also added a spear tipped with iron, and they sometimes have the bolas and the lasso. They are excellent horsemen, riding barebacked with their wife and children, all on the same animal, and all, women and men, sitting in the same way. They use no bit, contenting themselves with a piece of stick; they make reins from the fibres of the caraguata.

“Their olive brown colour, darker than that of the Tobas, their prominent cheek-bones, small eyes, broad flat faces, slightly depressed noses, wide mouths, and large lips, give to the countenance of these savages a peculiar look which is not a little enhanced by a pair of ears that come down to the base of the neck, and with some individuals as far as the collar bone. The Lenguas, like all Indians, become hideous as they grow old.

“A few weeks had passed since my excursion in this direction, when, as I was returning to Assumption from a fresh journey into the interior of the country, I heard that the Quartel had been the object of a completely unforeseen attack on the part of the Chaco tribes, and that, after an encounter in which two Indians had lost their lives, the troops had been able to recover the stolen cattle and to take some prisoners, who were immediately sent on to the capital, where they were confided to the keeping of the guard at the cavalry barrack near the arsenal and port. A more favourable opportunity could not have offered for continuing and completing my ethnological studies, so the next day I hastened to the building.

“On arriving there I found a dozen Indians loaded with irons, seated here and there in the centre of a narrow court. They were covered with dirty European garments, in tattered ponchos, or draped in antique fashion with wretched blankets. Two boys, one eight and the other fifteen years old, were among the prisoners, and all seemed sad and dejected. They preserved a profound silence, which I had some trouble to make them break.

“Side by side with the Lenguas, whom I had seen at the Quartel, there were some Tobas and Machicuys; but although known to the first, my interpreter questioned them in vain as to the motive of their attack.

“The Tobas are generally of tall and erect stature. I measured three of them, and found their height to be respectively, 5 feet 101⁄4 inches, 5 feet 81⁄2 inches, and 5 feet 61⁄4 inches. Their muscular system is developed, and their well-formed limbs, like those of all the other nations of the Chaco, are terminated by hands and feet which would cause envy to an European.

“They have an ordinary forehead, which is not retreating; lively eyes, larger than those of the Lenguas, and narrow thin eyebrows. The iris is black, and they do not pluck out their eyelashes. Their long regular nose is rounded at the end, where it becomes slightly enlarged, and their mouth, which is a little turned up at the angles, is better proportioned and smaller than that of the Lenguas, and is furnished with fine teeth, which are preserved to a very advanced age. They are also without prominent cheek-bones, and their faces are not so broad as that of the other nation.

191. – A BOAT ON THE RIO NEGRO.

“The Tobas seem to have renounced the use of the barbote, which at the time of Azara they still wore, and none of them had any scar on the lower lip. Their ears were not pierced. They allow their hair to grow, letting it float freely without being tied; a few, however, cut it straight across the forehead, a habit which is even practised by some of the women.

“The colour of their skin is an olive brown, not so dark as that of the Lenguas, and contains no yellow tint; but I confess to the great difficulty there is in expressing shades so varied in hue.

“Nothing could draw the prisoners from their taciturnity; their countenances remained impassive, cold, and serious during all our questioning. A winning smile and interesting face are attributed by some travellers to the women while still young; but their features deteriorate at an early age, and, like the men, they grow into repulsive ugliness. Their breasts, which are of moderate size and well formed at first, lengthen to such an extent as to enable them to suckle the children carried on their backs.

“The Toba nation occupies, or, to speak more accurately, overruns a considerable extent of the Chaco plains. We meet its members on the banks of the Pilcomayo, from its mouth to the first spurs of the Andes, where they come in contact with the Chiriguanos, with whom they are often at war.

“Being usually nomadic, the Tobas occupy themselves in fishing and hunting; their weapons consist of arrows, makanas, long spears with iron points, and the bolas. Some of their tribes, more settled in their habits, add the produce of agriculture to that of the chase, by cultivating maize, manioc, and potatoes.

“The children of both sexes wear no covering; men and women roll a piece of cloth round their loins, or envelope themselves in a cloak made from the skins of wild animals. Necklaces and bracelets of glass beads or small shells form the ornaments of the females, while in some tribes the men twine round their bodies long white rows of beads, composed of little fragments of shells rounded like buttons, and strung together at regular intervals.”

Machicuys.– Dr. Demersay does not share the opinion expressed by M. d’Orbigny that the Machicuys may be nothing more than a tribe of the Tobas, whose language they perhaps speak. According to the first-named traveller, the tongues of the two nations are different, and other distinctions separate them.

“The Machicuys,” says Dr. Demersay, “are more sedentary in their habits, are greater tillers of the soil, and are endowed with less fierce manners than the Lenguas, but they resemble them in the extraordinary dimensions of the lobe of the ears as well as in their weapons and method of fighting. Azara says that they differ in the shape of their barbote, which is said to resemble that of the Charruas. To reiterate an observation we have already made, we say that none of the Machicuys we have seen showed any marks of the opening intended for the reception of this savage ornament, which they are abandoning, after the example of the Brazilian Botocudos, whilst certain tribes of the ancient continent religiously preserve it. In the same way the Berrys, a black nation on the borders of the Saubat, a tributary on the right bank of the Nile, pierce their lower lip, in order to insert a piece of crystal more than an inch long.

“In height, formation, and proportions the Machicuys are similar to the Lenguas, and like them they have small eyes, broad faces, large mouths, flat noses, and wide nostrils. Their hair is allowed to hang loosely, and its thick curls partly cover their faces and fall on their shoulders.

“The language of these nations, like that of all the Indians of the Chaco, is strongly accentuated and full of sounds that require an effort to be forced from the nose and throat; it contains double consonants extremely difficult to pronounce.”

Moxos and Chiquitos. – The interior and, to some extent, central regions of South America lying north of the Chaco, have been called by the Spaniards the “Provinces of the Moxos and Chiquitos,” from the names of the two principal families of Indian race living in these countries.

The Moxos inhabit vast plains, subject to frequent inundations and overrun by immense streams, on which they are constantly obliged to navigate in their boats. They are the ichthyophagists of the river districts of the interior.

The land of the Chiquitos is a succession of mountains inconsiderable in height, covered with forests and intersected by numerous small rivers. They are husbandmen and have fixed abodes.

192. – EXAMINADOR OF CHILI.

The Chiquitos live in clans, each of which has its own little village. The men go about naked, but the women wear a flowing garment, which they like to ornament. These Indians are gifted with a happy disposition and amiable manners; they are sociable, hospitable, inclined to gaiety, and passionately fond of dancing and music. They have become permanently converted to Christianity. Their physical characteristics include a large and spherical head, almost always circular, a round, full face, prominent cheekbones, a low, arched forehead, a short nose, slightly flattened and with narrow nostrils, small horizontal eyes, full of expression and vivacity, thin lips, fine teeth, a mediocre mouth, little beard, and long black, glossy hair, which does not whiten in extreme old age, but grows yellow.

The manners of the Moxos are strongly analogous to those of the Chiquitos. Their colour is an olive brown, and their stature of the average height. They have not very vigorous limbs, their nose is short and not very broad, their mouth of medium size, their lips and cheekbones but little prominent; their face is oval or round, and their countenances mild and rather merry. This race dwells on the confines of Bolivia, Peru, and Brazil.

Before the conquest these tribes were established on the banks of the rivers and lakes. They were fishers, hunters, and more especially agriculturists. The chase was a relaxation for them; fishing a necessity; husbandry afforded them provisions and drinks. Their customs, however, were barbarous. Superstition made a Moxos sacrifice his wife in case she miscarried, and his children if they happened to be twins. The mother rid herself of her offspring if it wearied her. Marriage could be dissolved at the will of the parties to it, and polygamy was frequent. These Indians were all, more or less, warriors; but tradition and writings have only preserved for us the memorials of one single nation, the members of which were cannibals and devoured their prisoners. The counsels of the missionaries have modified the manners of this people, without removing all its savage usages.

Both the Moxos and the Chiquitos have broad shoulders, extremely full chests, and most robust bodies.

Each of these two races includes a certain number of hordes which we see no necessity for alluding to particularly here, for their half wild habits resemble those of the tribes we have just commented on; and for similar reasons we shall pass over in silence the other races ranked in the Pampean family, and whose names have been enumerated in a preceding page.

Guarany Family

The Guarany Family is spread over an immense space, from the Rio de La Plata as far as the Caribbean Sea. Its principal characteristics consist of a yellowish complexion, a little tinged with red, a middle stature, a very heavy frame, a but slightly arched and prominent forehead, oblique eyes turned up at the outer angle, a short, narrow nose, a moderate-sized mouth, thin lips, cheekbones without much prominence, a round, full face, effeminate features, and a pleasing countenance.

D’Orbigny has established two divisions only in this family, namely, the Guaranis and the Botocudos.

Guaranis.– At the period of the discovery of South America, all that portion of the continent lying to the east of the Paraguay and of a line drawn from the sources of that river to the delta of the Orinoco, was inhabited by numberless indigenous nations, belonging to two great families. One of these families was that of the Guaranis, diffused over the whole of Paraguay, and allied with the wild tribes of Brazil; the other included the races occupying the more northern provinces, and extending to the gulf of Mexico. The Indians appertaining to both these families strongly resemble each other in features as well as complexion, and d’Orbigny attributes to them the same physical type, one marked by a yellowish colour, medium height, foreheads that do not recede, and eyes frequently oblique and always raised at the outer angle.

The entirely exceptional aptitude which the Guarany nation has evinced for entering on the path of social improvement, renders it one of the most interesting in South America. The Southern Guaranis, or natives of Paraguay, include at the same time the tribes who have submitted to the sway of the missions, in the establishments which the Jesuits have formed in the country, and others who still roam in freedom throughout the forests of that province. Besides the Guaranis, properly so called who are all Christians, and inhabit thirty-two rather extensive villages situated on the borders of the Parana, the Paraguay, and the Uruguay rivers, there exists a certain number of wild hordes belonging to the same race, who remain hidden in the depths of the woods. These tribes bear names derived in most instances from those of the rivers or mountains in whose vicinity they dwell, and among the principal of them are mentioned the Topas, Tobatinguas, Cayuguas, Gadiguès, Magachs, etc.

M. Demersay, who has visited the Jesuit establishments in Paraguay, also traversed the forests inhabited by the wild races of which we are speaking, and the results of his observations were published by him in the “Tour du Monde” in 1865. We shall avail ourselves here of those parts of his narrative which refer to the savage nations of Paraguay.

“The history of the American races,” says M. Demersay, “might be comprised in a few pages. Some have accepted the semi-servitude which the conquerors imposed on them; the others, more rebellious, preferred to struggle, and have been destroyed; those who still struggle will also perish. The nations which chose subjection rather than death, have, by mingling their blood in strong proportions with that of the Europeans, only disappeared as a race in order to enter as an integral and sometimes dominant element into the American nationalities. The great family of the Guaranis forms the most striking example of this intimate fusion offered to the notice of the ethnologist.

“But in its midst, side by side with the unsubdued hordes of the Grand Chaco, so remarkable for their fine proportions, there exists yet another tribe, small in numbers, whose ranks grow thinner every day, and which on the eve of its disappearance, has bequeathed intact to the present generation, along with its complete independence, its creeds, its customs, and the glorious traditions of its ancestors.

“At the time of their discovery, the Payaguas, as this valiant race is called, were divided into two tribes, the Gadiguès and the Magachs, who lived on the banks and numerous islands of the Rio Paraguay, towards 21° and 25° S. latitude. Their dwelling places were by no means fixed; masters of the river and jealous of its control, they started from Lake Xarayes, and made distant excursions on the Parana as far as Corrientes and Santa Fé on one side, and to Salto Chico on the other.

“A rather rational etymology which has been proposed for the name of these Indians, is that of the two Guarany words ‘pai’ and ‘aguaà,’ which signify, ‘tied to the oar,’ a meaning quite in unison with their habits. In the term ‘Paraguay,’ applied as the denomination of the river, before it became the name of the province, some have wished to perceive a corruption of ‘Payagua,’ a likely enough derivation, and one which seems to us highly admissible.

“Whatever there may be in this supposition, the value of which we shall not discuss here, this unconquered and crafty nation was during two centuries the most redoubtable adversary of the Spaniards. The writers on the conquest, the works of Azara, the ‘Historical Essay’ of Funes, and numerous documents preserved in the archives of Assumption, contain a recital of their daring enterprises.

“.. What their numbers were in the first half of the XVIth century it is impossible to say with certainty; but the old narratives, which do not seem on this point to deserve the reproach of exaggeration more than once and with justice attributed to them, estimate them as no fewer than several thousand combatants. In Azara’s time the entire tribe scarcely reckoned a thousand souls, and at the present day it cannot count two hundred.

“Their stature is remarkable, and unquestionably surpasses that of most nations of the globe. The measurements of eight individuals, taken at random, would justify the application of this epithet to the Payaguas, as they gave me an average of 5ft. 9in. The women’s height is no less striking: that of four females over twenty was – the first and second, 5 feet; the third, 5 feet 2 inches, and the fourth, 5 feet 33⁄4 inches; or an average of 5 feet 11⁄4 inches. Many conclusions may be drawn from this double series of measurements. On comparing the average stature of the Payaguas with that of mankind in general, which physiologists agree in fixing at about 5 feet 6 inches, it will be seen that the difference in favour of the former is no less than 3 inches. And further, if we place in comparison the measurements taken by accurate travellers of the races which pass for the tallest on the globe, of the Patagonians for instance, we find that their average height as stated by M. d’Orbigny is 5 feet 7 inches. Consequently the Payaguas actually surpass by two inches the height of a race which has from time immemorial been regarded as fabulously tall.

“The Payaguas are invariably lanky, none but the women ever showing signs of corpulence. Their shoulders are broad and the muscles of their chests, arms, and backs display a development produced by constant use of the oar, for they live in their canoes; but, as a species of compensation, the predominance of the proportions of the upper limbs causes the lower extremities to appear slight and meagre.

193. – A PARAGUAYAN MESSENGER.

“Their skin, smooth and soft to the touch, like that of the natives of the New Continent, is of an olive-brown shade, which it would be difficult to define more accurately. It seems somewhat lighter than that of the Guaranis, and does not exhibit the same yellowish or Mongolian tints.

“The Payaguas carry their massive heads erect, and have an abundant supply of long, straight, or slightly curly hair, which they cut across the foreheads, and never comb, allowing it to grow and fall about them in disorder. The young warriors alone partly gather it at the back of the crown where it is tied by a little red string, or by a strap cut from a monkey skin. A similar custom obtains among the Guatos of Cuyaba, who, we may say incidentally, have more resemblance to this nation than to the Guaranis, though a learned classification has placed them side by side with the latter. Their small, keen eyes, a little contracted but not turned up at the outer angle, have an expression of cunning and shrewdness, and the lines of the long slightly rounded nose recall the Caucasian conformation to the mind. Their cheekbones are but little prominent; their lower lip protrudes beyond the upper, thus imparting to their grave and impressive countenances an expression of scornful pride, well in keeping with the character of this unsubdued race.

“The women when young are well-proportioned without being slight, but they fatten early, their features become deformed, and their figures grow squat and dumpy. To atone for this, however, their hands and feet always retain a remarkable smallness, although they walk barefooted and take no care whatever of their persons. I have also observed this delicate formation, a distinction which European ladies covet so much, among the tribes of the Chaco, who are, with the Payaguas, the finest in America. Their hair is allowed to float about the shoulders and is never confined.

“A young girl on emerging from childhood undergoes tattooing. By means of a thorn and the fruit of the genipa, a bluish streak, about half an inch wide, is drawn perpendicularly across the forehead and down the nose as far as the upper lip; and when she marries this stripe is prolonged over the under lip to below the chin. Its shades vary from violet to a slate-coloured blue, and its marks are indelible. Some women add other lines to this, as well as designs traced with the flaming tint of the urucu; this latter fashion, however, though general half a century ago, and which Azara describes minutely, has become more and more uncommon.

“The Payaguas go about naked in their tents (toldos), but out of doors they wear a small cotton garment encircling them from the pit of the stomach to just below the knee. This piece of cloth which they lap round their bodies in the style of the chiripa of the creoles, is one of the few productions of their ingenuity. Its manufacture devolves upon the women, and they make it with no other help than that of their fingers, without using either shuttle or loom. Some others content themselves with a short shirt, devoid of collar or sleeves, rather like the tipoy of the Guarany. Nevertheless the use of clothing seems to become every day more familiar to all of them; and amongst those I saw roaming through the streets of Assumption not one was satisfied, as in former times, with covering his limbs with paintings representing vests and breeches.

“Other ancient customs have also disappeared, such as that which the men had of wearing, as the case might be, either the barbote or a little silver rod analogous to the tembeta of the wild Guaranis or Cayaguas. Others are only resumed at rare intervals or at certain epochs, on which solemn occasions long tufts of feathers fixed on the top of the head are seen to reappear, and all manner of fanciful patterns tattooed in bright colours on face, arm, and breast; as well as necklaces of beads or shells, and lastly bracelets of the claws of capivaras, rolled round wrist and ankle. But the tradition of this elaborate ornamentation has been religiously preserved by the paye or medicine-man of the tribe.

“The Payaguas live on the left bank of the Rio Paraguay. They never take up their abode on the opposite side, where the Indians of Chaco, with whom they are always at war, would not be slow to attack them. Their principal hut (tolderia) is erected on the river’s edge, and consists of a large oblong cabin from twelve to fifteen feet high, and made with bamboos laid on forked poles and covered over with unplaited cane mats. Jaguar or capivaras’ skins are spread on the ground for beds, and weapons and fishing and household utensils hang on the posts sustaining the frail roofing of the dwelling, or lie pell-mell with earthen vessels, in a corner.

“.. The very limited occupation of this people constitutes nevertheless their sole resource, for they are perfectly ignorant of husbandry, and cultivate neither maize, potatoes, nor tobacco. They are fishermen, spend their lives on the water, and become early in life very expert sailors. Sometimes they are to be seen in the stern of a canoe, letting it float with the current while watching their lines; at another, standing upright in a row, they bend to their oars in good time and make the little craft fly along with the swiftness of an arrow. Their boats are from five to a little over six feet in length, and between two and a half to three feet wide; they are hollowed from the trunk of a timbo, and terminate in a long tapering point at each end.