﻿786 
  SOUTH 
  AMERICAN 
  INDIANS 
  [B. 
  A. 
  E. 
  Bull. 
  143 
  

  

  scribes 
  to 
  distinguish 
  between 
  the 
  native 
  substructure 
  and 
  the 
  alien 
  

   Inca 
  overlay 
  with 
  which 
  he 
  was 
  more 
  familiar. 
  

  

  TRIBAL 
  DIVISIONS 
  

  

  We 
  know 
  little 
  about 
  the 
  Esmeralda, 
  Mania, 
  Huancavilca, 
  and 
  the 
  

   Pund 
  who 
  lived 
  on 
  the 
  coast 
  (map 
  7) 
  . 
  After 
  sporadic 
  mention 
  by 
  the 
  

   very 
  early 
  chroniclers, 
  these 
  groups 
  were 
  either 
  annihilated 
  or 
  rapidly 
  

   incorporated 
  into 
  Hispanic 
  society, 
  and 
  today 
  the 
  population 
  of 
  the 
  

   Coast 
  has 
  lost 
  its 
  Indian 
  character. 
  The 
  Coastal 
  inhabitant 
  of 
  today, 
  

   the 
  montuvio 
  of 
  mixed 
  Indian, 
  Negro, 
  and 
  White 
  descent, 
  speaks 
  

   Spanish, 
  dresses 
  like 
  a 
  poor 
  White 
  peasant, 
  and 
  overtly 
  partakes 
  of 
  

   Ecuadorean 
  (as 
  opposed 
  to 
  Indian) 
  culture. 
  

  

  Knowledge 
  is 
  also 
  limited 
  about 
  the 
  Pasto, 
  the 
  Cava, 
  the 
  Panzaleo, 
  

   the 
  Puruhd, 
  the 
  Canari, 
  and 
  the 
  Palta 
  who, 
  in 
  that 
  order 
  from 
  north 
  

   to 
  south, 
  inhabited 
  the 
  territory 
  of 
  present-day 
  Highland 
  Ecuador. 
  

   The 
  tribal 
  entities 
  these 
  names 
  represent 
  have 
  been 
  disorganized 
  and 
  

   are 
  completely 
  obliterated. 
  Their 
  different, 
  mutually 
  unintelligible 
  

   languages 
  are 
  gone 
  and 
  lost; 
  no 
  written 
  documents 
  have 
  been 
  pre- 
  

   served, 
  and 
  the 
  last 
  speakers 
  died 
  in 
  the 
  18th 
  century. 
  And 
  still 
  

   the 
  Indian 
  has 
  not 
  disappeared. 
  Highland 
  Ecuador 
  is 
  largely 
  an 
  

   Indian 
  country. 
  Over 
  a 
  million 
  Ecuadoreans, 
  almost 
  half 
  of 
  the 
  pop- 
  

   ulation, 
  consider 
  Quechua 
  their 
  native 
  tongue. 
  

  

  The 
  Ecuadorean 
  Andes, 
  divided 
  into 
  an 
  Eastern 
  and 
  Western 
  Cor- 
  

   dillera, 
  form 
  a 
  chain, 
  with 
  massive 
  nudos, 
  or 
  "knots," 
  repeatedly 
  

   closing 
  the 
  links. 
  The 
  inclosed 
  valleys 
  have 
  been 
  heavily 
  populated 
  

   by 
  a 
  sedentary, 
  agricultural 
  population 
  in 
  both 
  aboriginal 
  and 
  modern 
  

   times. 
  The 
  climate 
  is 
  favorable 
  to 
  the 
  cultivation 
  of 
  crops 
  character- 
  

   istic 
  of 
  both 
  subtropical 
  and 
  temperate 
  zones, 
  because 
  of 
  the 
  high 
  

   altitude 
  which 
  offsets 
  the 
  low 
  latitude. 
  Numerous 
  rivers 
  water 
  these 
  

   basins 
  and 
  open 
  deep 
  gorges 
  through 
  the 
  volcanic 
  Andean 
  walls. 
  

   Some 
  are 
  affluents 
  of 
  the 
  Amazon 
  River, 
  others 
  flow 
  to 
  the 
  Pacific. 
  

   They 
  open 
  the 
  Sierra 
  or 
  Highland 
  area 
  to 
  contacts 
  and 
  influences 
  from 
  

   the 
  western 
  lowlands 
  as 
  well 
  as 
  from 
  the 
  Amazon. 
  

  

  Six 
  linguistic 
  groups 
  occupied 
  this 
  area, 
  but 
  their 
  territorial 
  limits 
  

   are 
  not 
  well 
  known. 
  As 
  the 
  tribal 
  units 
  long 
  since 
  disappeared, 
  their 
  

   identity 
  and 
  habitat 
  must 
  be 
  reconstructed 
  from 
  the 
  fragmentary 
  

   information 
  of 
  chronicles, 
  inadequately 
  studied 
  land 
  grants, 
  and 
  the 
  

   fairly 
  well-known 
  aboriginal 
  toponymy. 
  Sr. 
  Jacinto 
  Jij6n 
  y 
  Caamafio 
  

   (1940-41; 
  also 
  Paz 
  y 
  Mifio, 
  1940-42) 
  has 
  provided 
  the 
  most 
  recent 
  

   study 
  of 
  tribal 
  territorial 
  limits, 
  and, 
  generally, 
  we 
  have 
  followed 
  his 
  

   outline. 
  

  

  The 
  Pasto 
  were 
  the 
  northernmost 
  group 
  in 
  the 
  Highland. 
  In 
  abo- 
  

   riginal 
  times 
  they 
  lived 
  on 
  both 
  sides 
  of 
  the 
  Colombian-Ecuadorean 
  

   border, 
  in 
  the 
  San 
  Juan 
  and 
  Patia 
  Valleys. 
  They 
  occupied 
  most 
  of 
  

  

  