The shape of the body peculiar to the Indians of the north-east, has equally led to the supposition that they reckon some Europeans among their ancestors, an idea which appears all the more admissible, because in the tenth century the ancient Scandinavians undoubtedly had relations with America.

Consequently, the original race which has peopled the Western Hemisphere is almost impossible to be traced. Probably the population which existed in the New World before the arrival of the Europeans was made up of several types different from those that are extant at present in the other regions of the globe, types having a great tendency to modify themselves, and which were obliterated whenever they came in contact with the races of Europe. But to re-ascend back to this primordial population would now be impossible.

In commenting on the tribes of the Red Race, we shall separate the Indians who inhabit North America from those dwelling in the southern continent, for certain characteristics mark these two groups; in other words, we shall distinguish in the Red Race two divisions--the southern branch and the northern branch.

CHAPTER I.

SOUTHERN BRANCH.

The nations of the southern branch of the Red Race have affinity to those of the Yellow Race. Their complexion, which is often yellowish or olive, is never so red as that of the northern Indians; their head is usually of less length and their nose not so prominent, while they frequently have oblique eyes.

We intend to divide this branch into three families, named respectively the _Andian_, _Pampean_, and _Guarani_.

ANDIAN FAMILY.

This family contains three different peoples:--firstly, the _Quichuas_; secondly, the _Antis Indians_; and thirdly, the _Araucanians_.

The characteristics which the tribes belonging to this group possess in common are an olive-brown complexion, small stature, low retiring forehead, and horizontal eyes, which are not drawn down at the outer angle. They inhabit the western parts of Bolivia, Peru, and the State of Quito. These countries were completely subjugated by the Spaniards in the sixteenth century, and the natives converted to Christianity.

We shall notice in the first division, _Quichuas_ or ancient _Incas_, the _Aymaras_, the _Atacamas_, and the _Changos_.

_Quichuas_ or _Incas_.--The Quichuas were the princ.i.p.al people of the ancient empire of the Incas, and they still const.i.tute almost half the free Indian population of South America. In the fifteenth century the Incas were the dominant race among the nations of Peru, speaking a language of their own, called Quichu.

The former Incas, those who lived before the Spanish invasion, were possessed of a certain degree of civilization. They had calculated exactly the length of the solar year, had made rather considerable progress in the art of sculpture, preserved memorials of their history by means of hieroglyphics, and enjoyed a well-organized government and a code of good laws. Orators, poets, and musicians were to be found among them, and their figurative melodious language denoted prolonged culture.

Their religion was impressed to the highest degree with a devotional character. They recognized a G.o.d, the supreme arbiter and creator of all things. This divinity was the sun, and superb temples were raised by them to its honour. Their religion and their manners breathed great sweetness. The fierce Spanish conquerors encountered this mild, inoffensive race, and never rested until they had annihilated with fire and sword these unsophisticated, peaceable men, who were of more worth than their cruel invaders.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 179.--HUASCAR, THIRTEENTH EMPEROR OF THE INCAS.]

Figs. 179 and 180 represent types of Incas drawn from the genealogical tree of the imperial family, which was published in the "_Tour du Monde_," in 1863.

According to Alcide d'Orbigny, the naturalist, who has given a perfect description of this race, the Quichuas are not copper-coloured, but of a mixed shade, between brown and olive; their average height is not more than five feet two inches, that of the females being still lower. They have broad, square shoulders, and an excessively full chest, very prominent, and very long. Their hands and feet are small. The cranium and features of this people are strongly characteristic, const.i.tuting a perfectly distinct type, which bears no resemblance to any but the Mexican. The head is oblong from front to back, and a little compressed at the sides; the forehead slightly rounded, low, and somewhat retreating; yet the skull is often capacious, and denotes a rather large development of the brain. The face is generally broad; the nose always prominent, somewhat long, and so extremely aquiline, as to seem as if the end were bent over the upper lip, and pierced by wide very open nostrils. The size of the mouth is large rather than moderate, and the lips protrude, although they are not thick. The teeth are invariably handsome, and remain good during old age. Without being receding, the chin is a little short; indeed it is sometimes slightly projecting. The eyes are of moderate size and frequently even small, always horizontal, and never either drawn down or up at their outer angle. The eyebrows are greatly arched, narrow, and thin. The colour of the hair is always a fine black, and it is coa.r.s.e, thick, long, and extremely smooth and straight, and comes down very low at each side of the forehead. The beard is limited to a few straight and scattered hairs, which appear very late across the upper lip, at the sides of the mouth, and on the point of the chin. The countenance of these men is regular, serious, thoughtful, and even sad, and it might be said that they wish to conceal their thoughts beneath the still, set look of their features. A pretty face is seldom seen among the women.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 180.--COYA CAHUANA, EMPRESS OF THE INCAS.]

An ancient vase has been found on which is a painting of an Inca, who is in every way so entirely like those of the present day as to prove that during four or five centuries the lineaments of these people have not undergone any perceptible alteration.

The _Aymaras_ bear a close resemblance, so far as physical characteristics are concerned, to the Quichuas, from whom, however, they are completely separated by language.

They formed a numerous nation, spread over a wide expanse of country, and appear to have been civilized in very remote times. We may consider the Aymaras as the descendants of that ancient race which, in far-off ages, inhabited the lofty plains now covered by the singular monuments of Tiagnanaco, the oldest city of South America, and which peopled the borders of Lake t.i.ticaca.

The Aymaras resemble the Quichuas in the most remarkable feature of their organization, namely the length and breadth of the chest, which, by allowing the lungs to attain a great development, renders these tribes particularly suited for living on high mountains. In the shape of the head and the intellectual faculties, as well as in manners, customs, and industry, both peoples may be compared, but the architecture of the monuments and tombs of the former race diverges widely from that of the Incas.

Two nations inferior in numbers to those of which we have just spoken, may be mentioned here; they are the _Atacamas_, occupying the western declivities of the Peruvian Andes, and the _Changos_, dwelling on the slopes next the Pacific. Both one and the other are like the Incas in physical characteristics, but the colour of the skin of the Changos is of a slightly darker hue, being a blackish bistre.

_Antis._--The Antis Indians comprise many tribes, namely, the Yuracares, Mocetenes, Tacanas, Maropas, and Apolistas, races which inhabit the Bolivian Andes. Their complexion is lighter than that of the Incas, they have not such bulky bodies, and their features are more effeminate.

The account which M. Paul Marcoy has given in the "_Tour du Monde_" of his travels across South America from the sh.o.r.es of the Pacific to those of the Atlantic, is accompanied by several sketches representing Antis Indians and some wandering hordes which belong to the same group; and we have reproduced a few of these drawings in our pages, the first two (figs. 181 and 182) being types of the heads of these people. We also derive from the same source the following details as to this race.

The Antis is of medium stature and well-proportioned, with rounded limbs. He paints his cheeks and the part round his eyes with a red dye, extracted from the rocou plant, and also colours those parts of his body exposed to the air with the black of genipa. His covering consists of a long, sack-shaped frock, woven by the women, as is also the wallet, in the shape of a hand bag, carried by him across his shoulder, and containing his toilet articles, namely:--a comb made with the thorns of the Chouta palm; some rocou in paste; half a genipa apple; a bit of looking-gla.s.s framed in wood; a ball of thread; a sc.r.a.p of wax; pincers for extracting hairs, formed of two mussel-sh.e.l.ls; a snuff-box made from a snail's sh.e.l.l, and containing very finely ground tobacco gathered green; an apparatus for grating the snuff, made of the ends of reeds or two arm bones of a monkey, soldered together with black wax at an acute angle; sometimes, a knife, scissors, fish-hooks, and needles of European manufacture.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 181.--AN ANTIS INDIAN.]

Both s.e.xes wear their hair hanging down like a horse's tail, and cut straight across just over the eyes. The only trinket they carry is a piece of silver money flattened between two stones, which they pierce with a hole and hang from the cartilage of their nostrils. For ornaments they have necklaces of gla.s.s beads, cedar and styrax berries, skins of birds of brilliant plumage, tucana's beaks, tapir's claws, and even vanilla husks strung upon a thread.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 182.--AN ANTIS INDIAN.]

The Antis almost always build their dwellings on the banks of a water-course, isolated and half hidden by a screen of vegetation. The huts are low and dirty, and pervaded by a smell like that of wild beasts, for the air can scarcely circulate in them. In the fine season of the year sheds take the place of closed-up huts (fig. 183).

The weapons used by the Antis are clubs and bows and arrows. Fishermen capture their prey in the running streams with arrows barbed at the ends, or having three p.r.o.ngs like a trident. Other darts, with palm-points or bamboo-heads, are employed by the hunter for birds and quadrupeds.

The Antis occasionally poison the waters of the creeks and bays by means of the _Menispermum cocculus_. The fish become instantaneously intoxicated; they first struggle, then rise belly uppermost, and come floating on the surface, where they are easily taken with the hand (fig.

184).

The earthenware of this people is coa.r.s.ely manufactured, and is painted and glazed. They live in families, or in separate couples, and have no law beyond their own caprice. They do not elect chiefs, except in time of war, and to lead them against an enemy. The girls are marriageable at twelve years of age, and accept any husband who seeks them, if he has previously made some present to their parents. They prepare their lord and master's food, weave his clothes, look after and gather in the crops of rice, manioc, maize, and other cereals; carry his baggage on a journey, follow him to battle, and pick up the arrows which he has discharged; they also accompany him in the chase or when fishing, paddle his canoe, and bring back to their dwelling the booty gained from an enemy, and the game or fish which has been killed; and yet, notwithstanding this severe work and continual bondage, the women are always cheerful.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 183.--SUMMER SHED OF THE ANTIS.]

They use a large earthen vessel to cook the fish caught in the nearest stream, or the game killed in the adjoining forest.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 184.--ANTIS INDIANS FISHING.]

When one of this nation dies, his relatives and friends a.s.semble in his abode, seize the corpse (which is wrapped in the loose sack-like frock usually worn,) by the head and feet, and throw it into the river. They then wreck the dwelling, break the deceased's bow, arrows, and pottery, scatter the ashes of his hearth, devastate his crops, cut down to the ground the trees which he has planted, and finally set fire to his hut.

The place is thenceforth reputed impure, and is shunned by all pa.s.sers-by; vegetation very soon rea.s.serts its sway, and the dead is for ever effaced from the memory of the living.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 185.--PERUVIAN INTERPRETER.]

These people who thus treat their dead so badly, profess an equal disdain for the aged, for whom they reserve the refuse of their food, their worn-out rags, and the worst place at the hearth.

Their religion is a jumble of theogonies, in which however are recognizable a notion of the existence of a supreme G.o.d, the idea of the two principles of good and evil, and finally, a belief in reward or punishment on leaving this life.

The manners of these tribes are, as may be seen, a somewhat singular medley; free will is the ruling law and, as it were, the wisdom of their race, which lives unfettered in the bosom of nature.

The Antis Indians have a soft smooth idiom, which they speak with extreme volubility in a low, gentle tone that never varies.