THE GUIANAS AND VENEZUELA 



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fine. In all Arawakans the skill is much lighter than in the Warraus, partly owing to 

 its natural colour, and partly to the cleanly habits of these people. The tribes of the 

 Caribean group are all characterised by the darkness of the skin, the degree varying in the 

 different tribes. The true Caribs are rather taller than the Arawaks, with well-knit frames, 

 and coarser, although distinctly powerful features. The Ackawois are shorter and slighter in 

 body; their general appearance, perhaps owing to their habits, being decidedly wretched. The 

 Macusis are still darker than the true Caribs and Ackawois, but taller, slighter, and better- 

 made; while their features are more regular, and their expression, although timid, is bright 

 and intelligent. Darkest of all are the Arecunas, who in build and feature are very like the 

 Macusis, although they are more powerful and fierce. 



The Warraus, who are timid people of filthy habits, originally dwelt in houses built 

 on poles in swamps and on the seashore, and are the great canoe-builders for their inland 

 neighbours. The Arawaks are the cleanest and most civilised of all, many of them speaking 

 English, wearing European clothes, and being Christians. Although their original habits have 

 been much modified, they still dwell in houses of the primitive type, and still maintain their 

 hereditary hatred of the Caribs. The Wapianas, Atorais, and kindred tribes are the great 

 middlemen or traders of the districts they inhabit, and are likewise the canoe-builders for the 

 coast tribes. Unlike their neighbours, they eat the cassava, which is the staple vegetable 

 food of all the tribes, in the form of rough meal (farine), rather than of bread or cakes; 

 in this respect they resemble the Brazilian natives. Although all the members of the Caribean 

 stock are fiercer and more warlike than their neighbours, these attributes attain the maximum 



Photo by Wm. Ran] 



NATIVE HOUSE, ECUADOR. 



