ARTICLE IV. 



THE ARAWAOK LANGUAGE OF GUIANA IN ITS LINGUISTIC AND ETHNOLOGICAL RELATIONS. 



1SY D. O. B1MNTON, M. I). 

 Read Aug. 10, 18T0. 



Tlie Arawaoks arc a tribe of Indians who at present dwell in British and Dutch Guiana, between the Corentyn 

 and Pomeroon rivers. They oall themselves simply lukkunu, men, and only their neighbors apply to them the con- 

 temptuous name aruae (corrupted by Europeans into Aroaquis, Arawaaks, Aroacos, Arawacks, etc.), meal-eaters, 

 from their peaceful habit of gaining an important article of diet from the amylaceous pith of the Mauriiia Jlexuosa 

 palm, and the edible root of the cassava plant. 



They number only about two thousand souls, and may seem to claim no more attention at the hands of the 

 ethnologist than any other obscure Indian tribe. But if it can bo shown that in former centuries they occupied the 

 whole of the West Indian archipelago to within a lew miles of (lie shore of the northern continent, then on the question 

 whether their affiliations are with the tribes of the northern or southern mainland, depends our opinion of the course 

 of migration of the primitive inhabitants of the western world. And ir ibis is the tribe whose charming simplicity 

 Columbus and Peter Martyr described in such poetic language, thou the historian will acknowledge a, desire to 

 acquaint himself more closely with its past and its present. It is my intention to show that such was their former 

 geographical position. 



While in general features there is nothing to distinguish them from the red race elsewhere, they have strong 

 national traits. Physically they arc rather undersized, averaging not over live feet four inches in height, but, strong- 

 limbed, agile, and symmetrical. Their foreheads are low, their noses more allied to the Aryan types than usual with 

 their race, and their skulls of that form defined by craniologists as orthognathic brachyeephalie. 



From the earliest times they have borne an excellent character. Hospitable, peace-loving, quiok to accept the 

 humbler ails of civilization and the simpler precepts of Christianity, they have ever offered a strong contrast to their 

 neighbors, the cruel and warlike Caribs. They are not at all prone to steal, lie, or drink, and their worst faults are 

 an addiction to blood-revenge, and a superstitious veneration lor their priests. 



They are divided into a number of families, over lil'ty in all, the genealogies of which are carefully kept in the 

 female line, and the members of any one of which an! forbidden to intermarry. In this singular institution they 

 resemble many other native tribes. 



LANGUAGE. 



The earliest specimen of their language under its present, name is given by Johannes do Laet in his Novuk Orhu, 

 S6U Deicriptio India; Ocridentalis (Lugd. Bat. 1688). It was obtained in 1598. In 1738 the Moravian brethren 

 founded several missionary stations in the country, but owing to various misfortunes, the last of their posts was given 

 up in 1808. To them wo owe the only valuable monuments of the language in existence. 



Their first instructor was a, mulatto boy, who assisted them in translating into the Arawack a life of Christ. I 

 cannot learn that this is extant. Between 1748 and 1755 one of the missionaries, Theophilus Schumann, composed a 

 dictionary, Deutsch- Arawahisohe* Wwrterbuch, and a grammar, BiuUch-Arawakhahe Sprachlehre, which have remained 



