1892.] 45 [Brinton. 



Studies in South America?;. Native Languages. 



By Daniel G. Brinton, M.D. 



(^Read before the American Philosophical Society, February j, i8g2.) 



Introductory. 



It is not too much to say that the languages of the native tribes 

 of South America are the least known of any on the globe. The 

 problems they present in their grammatical character and affinities 

 remain the furthest from solution, and the materials to undertake 

 such a task are the scantiest from any equal area on the earth's 

 surface. In spite of the labors of such earnest workers as Von den 

 Steinen, Ehrenreich, Adam, Ernst, Darapsky, Middendorff and 

 others, there are numerous tongues of which we know absolutely 

 nothing, or have but bare and imperfect vocabularies. 



In the present series of studies I present a variety of material 

 from either unpublished or rare works, accompanied by such sug- 

 gestions as to its character and relations as have occurred to me in 

 its preparation, and by some observations on the ethnography of 

 the tribes mentioned. As I am convinced that the only ethno- 

 graphic classification possible of the native tribes of America is that 

 based on language, I do not hesitate to apply this whenever 

 possible. 



I. 



THE TACANA GROUP. 



In my work on The American Race,^ I offered the following 

 classification of this group ; 



Tacana Linguistic Stock. 



Araonas, Isuiamas, Pukapakaris, Tumupasas, 



Atenes, Lecos, Sapiboconas, Tuyumiris. 



Cavinas, Maracanis, Tacanas, 



Equaris, Maropas, Toromonas, 



From this list we must strike out the Atenes or Atenianos and 

 Lecos, as I shall show that these spoke a tongue nowise akin to the 



* The. American Race: A Linguistic Classification and Ethnographic Description of the 

 Native Tribes of North and South America. By Daniel G. Brintou. 1 vol., 8vo, pp. 392 

 (N. D. C. Hodges, New York, 1891). 



