INHABITANTS OF COLOMBIA. 



175 



spurs of the Cordillera on the Atlantic side, the approaclies to the plateaux of 

 Antioquia, and even some districts in the Central American isthmus. To the 

 same ethnical group belong the various tribes of the Catios, between the Atrato 

 and the Cauca. Of all the Colombian wild tribes the Catios are perhaps the least 

 advanced in the social scale. In the marshy tracts of the lower Atrato they were 

 said to dwell in the branches of trees, like the ancient Guaraunos ] they mostly 

 went naked, and "fattened their prisoners of war for the table." At present they 

 are reduced to a few wretched fragments, who avoid contact with the whites, 



Fig 66. — Chief Indian Nations and Tribes of Colombia. 

 Scale 1 : 15,000,000 



372 Miles. 



although their speech is daily becoming more charged with Spanish elements. 

 The day is probably not distant when the Chocos, like the Quichuas of Popayan 

 and the Muyscas of Cundimamarca, will speak the language of the Conquerors. 



The Nutabe and the Tahami of Antioquia, the former between the Cauca and 

 the Force, the latter in the mountainous region between the Forcé and the 

 Magdalena, resembled the Muyscas in their customs and social state. They also 

 practised a rudimentary agriculture, manufactured earthenware, wove and dyed 

 cotton stuffs. Although they have left no such name in history as their neigh- 



