X.] THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 365 



in their daily habits, in the conditions of their existence, and 

 their general culture V Yet amongst them are represented 

 three of the radically distinct linguistic groups of Brazil, some 

 (Bakairi and Nahugua) belonging to the Carib, some (Aneto and 

 Kamayura) to the Guarani-Tupi, and some (Mehinaku and Vaura) 

 to the Arawak family. Obviously these could not be so discrimi- 

 nated but for their linguistic differences. On the other hand the 

 opposite phenomenon is occasionally presented of tribes differing 

 considerably in their social relations, which are nevertheless of the 

 same origin, or, what is regarded by Ehrenreich as the same thing, 

 belong to the same linguistic group. Such are the Ipurinas, the 

 Paumari and the Yamamadi of the Purus valley, all grouped 

 as Arawaks because they speak dialects of the Arawakan stock 

 language. At the same time it should be noted that the social 

 differences observed by some modern travellers are often due to the 

 ever-increasing contact with the whites, who are now encroaching 

 on the Gran Chaco plains, and ascending every Amazonian tribu- 

 tary in quest of rubber and the other natural produce abounding 

 in these regions. 



In the introduction to his valuable list Sir Clements Markham 

 observes that the evidence of language favours the theory that the 

 Amazonian tribes, ''now like the sands on the sea-shore for 

 number, originally sprang from two or at most three parent 

 stocks. Dialects of the Tupi language extend from the roots of 

 the Andes to the Atlantic and southwards into Paraguay... and it 

 is established that the differences in the roots between the 

 numerous Amazonian languages are not so great as was generally 

 supposed." This no doubt is true, and will account for much. 

 But when we see it here recorded that of the Carabuyanas (Japura 

 river) there are or were 16 branches, that the Chiquito group 

 (Bolivia) comprises forty tribes speaking " seven different lan- 

 guages"; that of the Juris (Upper Amazons) there are ten divisions; 

 of the Moxos (Beni and Mamore rivers) 26 branches, "speaking 

 nine, or according to Southey, thirteen languages"; of the Uaupes 

 (Rio Negro) 28 divisions, and so on, we feel how much there is 

 still left to be accounted for. Attempts have been made to weaken 



1 Urbewohner Brasiliens, p. 46. 



