142 BUEEAU OF AMEBICAlSr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 60 



but appear to resemble the decoratiA-e art of the Guianas and the 

 West Indies. 



A number of very striking and handsome vessels obtained from 

 graves and caverns in the valley of the Couanani are manifestly the 

 work of related peoples. It is impossible at present to define fully 

 the area over which the delta culture extends. Grotesque images 

 in clay, of small size, representing men and animals, are of very gen- 

 eral occurrence throughout the Arawak-Carib areas and were, doubt- 

 less, for the greater j^art mere embellishments for vases. kStone imple- 

 ments of usual southern forms and more rarely grooved axes of 

 northern type are found within the ai'ea. 



Among the explorers who have noted the arciieological remains of 

 the delta may be mentioned Brett and Lange. 



21. Priaiitive South America 



The vast region which extends from the eastern slope of the Andes 

 to the Atlantic Ocean, comprising three-fourths of 

 Extent of Area the Continent, may, with slight exceptions, appropri- 

 ately be referred to as primitive if not as savage 

 South America. At its southern extremity it connects culturally and 

 also racially across the Andes with southern Chile, and at the north 

 the art forms grade into those of the Guiana coastal belt. This area 

 is occupied by very many stocks and tribes of diversified physical 

 characteristics, a few only of which have been the subject of scientific 

 study. Aside from the limited districts over which the Inca influence 

 extended, it is practically without architectural remains or monu- 

 ments of any kind except occasional burial mounds and shell heaps. 

 It is not to be understood that the whole of this region affords 

 evidence of a uniform state of advancement pre- and 

 Culture status post-Columbian. There are vast areas occupied by 

 unnumbered tribes of which little is known and of 

 which little that is good can be said. Many of these are described as 

 nomadic savages without permanent homes and without clothing, sub- 

 sisting on fruits, fish, and game, and in cases on human flesh. These 

 conditions are doubtless due in part to the occurrence of extensive 

 areas of marshy lowland, barren plains, and impenetrable forests 

 equally unfavorable to social progress. It is apparent, however, that 

 the people as a whole do not lack in ability and in certain sections 

 where conditions were favorable agriculture was practiced and cul- 

 ture rose in numerous respects above the dead level of savagei-y. 

 Among the nudtitude of tribes belonging to the Arawak, Carib, Tupi, 

 and other stocks very many have evinced capacity wdiich it would 

 seem only required favorable environment to turn them toward paths 

 of higher culture. The Arawak of the Matto Grosso. far out in the 

 primitive area, are spoken of in terms of praise by early missionaries. 



