Brinton.] 



76 



[Feb. 5, 



V. 



A TEXT IN THE MANAO DIALECT. 



Two hundred years ago the Manaos occupied an extensive tract 

 near where the Rio Negro empties its dark waters into the Amazon. 

 They were, indeed, the most numerous accolents of the Black river 

 on its lower course, and were estimated at something like ten 

 thousand souls. Their large and shapely canoes and plastered 

 conical dwelling houses bespoke a certain advancement in the arts, 

 and their repute as daring warriors extended far among the Tupi 

 tribes, who adjoined them on the Amazon. 



They were not affined in blood or language to the Tupis, but 

 belonged to what is now known as the Arawak or Nu-Arawak (or, as 

 M. Adams prefers to call it, the Maipure) linguistic stock. In the 

 early history of the country, their name is connected with the 

 legend of El Dorado and the land of the Amazons. Later they 

 willingly received religious instruction from the Carmelite mission- 

 aries, who gathered them in settlements. But the kidnapping 

 Portuguese carried off many of the converts into slavery, and the 

 remainder fled to the trackless forests, so that half a century ago 

 scarcely a pure-blood representative of the tribe could be seen on 

 the river. 



Of their language there are but two specimens known to me ; the 

 one, a vocabulary of about 150 words, collected by the traveler. 



