ABOEIGINAL TEIBE8. 77 



N"ahootas) of the Missouri, who are strongly monyolised / 

 and who, it is believed, according to their own traditions, 

 came from the coast of Asia ? In the plains of South Ame- 

 rica we find only a very few hillocks of that kind called 

 cerros Jiechos a mano ;* and nowhere any works of fortifica- 

 tion analogous to those of the Ohio. However, on a vast 

 space of ground, at the Lower Orinoco, as well as on the 

 banks of the Cassiquiare and between the sources of the 

 Essequibo and the Eio Branco, there are rocks of granite 

 covered with symbolic figures. These sculptures denote 

 that the extinct generations belonged to nations different 

 from those which now inhabit the same regions. There 

 seems to be no connection between the history of Mexico, 

 and that of Cundinamarca and of Peru ; but in the plains of 

 the east a warlike and long-dominant nation betrays in its 

 features, and its physical constitution, traces of a foreign 

 origin. The Caribs preserve traditions that seem to indi- 

 cate ancient communications between North and South 

 America. Such a phenomenon deserves particular attention. 

 If it be true that savages are for the most part degenerate 

 races, remnants escaped from a common wreck, as their lan- 

 guages, their cosmogonic fables, and numerous other indica- 

 tions seem to prove, it becomes doubly important to examine 

 the course by which these remnants have been driven from 

 one hemisphere to the other. 



That fine race of people, the Caribs, now occupy only a 

 email part of the country which they inhabited at the time 

 of the discovery of America. The cruelties exercised by 

 Europeans have entirely exterminated them from the West 

 India Islands, and the coasts of Darien ; while under the 

 government of the missions, they have formed populous 

 villages in the provinces of New Barcelona and Spanish 

 Guiana. The Caribs who inhabit the Llanos of Piritu, and 

 the banks of the Carony and the Cuyuni, may be esti- 

 mated at more than thirty-five thousand. If we add to this 

 number the independent Caribs, who live westward of the 

 mountains of Cayenne and Pacaraymo, between the sources 

 of the Essequibo and the Eio Branco, we shall no doubt ob- 

 tain a total of forty thousand individuals of pure race, un- 

 aiixed with any other tribes of natives. Prior to ray travela, 

 * Hills made by the hand, or artificial bills. 



