100 



THE CHAYMAS. 



inhabit the Spanish villages, and who border on the 

 Cumanagatoes towards the west, the Guaraounoes 

 towards the east, and the Caribs towards the south, 

 occupy part of the elevated mountains of the Co- 

 collar and Guacharo, as also the banks of the Gua- 

 rapichc, Rio Colorado, Areo, and the Cano of Caripe. 

 The first attempt to reduce them to subjection was 

 made in the middle of the seventeenth century, by 

 Father Francisco of Pamplona, a person of great 

 zeal and intrepidity. The mission subsequently 

 formed among these people suffered greatly in 1681, 

 1697, and 1720, from the invasions of the Caribs ; 

 while during six years subsequently to 1730, the 

 population was diminished by the ravages of the 

 small-pox. 



The Chaymas are generally of low stature, their 

 ordinary height being about five feet two inches ; 

 but their figures are broad and muscular. The colour 

 of the skin , is a dull brown, inclining to red. The 

 expression of the countenance is sedate and some- 

 what gloomy ; the forehead is small and retiring ; 

 the eyes sunk, very long and black, but not so small 

 or oblique as in the Mongolian race ; the eyebrows 

 slender, nearly straight, and black or dark-brown, 

 and the eyelids furnished with very long lashes ; 

 the cheek-bones are usually high, the hair straight, 

 the beard almost entirely wanting, as in the same 

 people, from whom, however, they differ essentially 

 in having the nose pretty long. The mouth is 

 wide, the lips broad but not prominent, the chin ex- 

 tremely short and round, and the jaws remarkable 

 for their strength. The teeth are white and sound, 

 the toothache being a disease with which they are 

 seldom afflicted. The hands are small and slender, 

 while the feet are large, and the toes possessed of 

 an extraordinary mobility. They have so strong a 

 family look, that on entering a hut it is often difficult, 

 among grown-up persons, to distinguish the father 

 from the son. This is attributable to the circum- 



