THE PUELCHES. 135 



Atures, pursued by the Caribbees, escaped to the rocks that rise in the middle of 

 the Great Cataracts; and there that nation, heretofore so numerous, became 

 gradually extinct, as well as its language. The last families of the Atures still 

 existed, in 1767, in the time of the missionary Gili. At the period of our voyage 

 an old parrot was shown at Maypures, of which the inhabitants related, and the 

 fact is worthy of observation, that, " they did not understand what it said, because 

 it spoke the language of the Atures."* 



PLATE XII. 



ATURIAN OF THE ORINOCO. 



This cranium presents the large face and ponderous jaw so common in the 

 American race, together with the retreating forehead, prominent cheek bones and 

 large orbits of that people. The head is more elongated than usual, and less 

 flattened in the occipital region. This skull never came under my personal 

 inspection, for which reason I am unable to add any measurements, or other 

 precise observations. The original is preserved in the Museum of the Jardin du 

 Roi, in Paris : Professor Flourens kindly permitted a drawing to be made from 

 it, which was taken by M, Werner, an excellent artist, under the supervision of 

 my friend Dr. Edmund C. Evans, of this city. 



Baron Humboldt procured several of these skulls, but the vessel in which 

 several of them were shipped, was lost at sea, and I believe but two reached 

 Europe. One of these is figured by Professor Blumenbachf, and presents a much 

 higher head and flatter occiput than the one represented above. 



THE PUELCHES. 



The Puelches, whose name implies Eastern People^ wander over the extensive 

 plains between the 36° and 39° of south latitude. They are divided into many 

 tribes, which extend from the Straits of Magellan to the Rio de la Plata, and 



* Personal Narr. 5, p. 617. t Decad. Cran. Tab. XL VI. 



