762 



to the soil ; and the three most modern missions 

 in which they have been collected, those of 

 Cura, Curucuy, and Arechica, are already des- 

 troyed. The Guayanoes, who early in the six- 

 teenth century gave their name to the whole 

 of that vast province, are less intelligent, but 

 milder, and more easy, if not to civilize, at least 

 to subjugate, than the Caribbees. Their lan- 

 guage appears to belong to the great branch of 

 the Caribbee and Tamanac tongues. It displays 

 the same analogies of roots and grammatical 

 forms, which is observed between the Sanskrit, 

 the Persian, the Greek, and the German. It is 

 not easy to fix the forms of what is indefinite by 

 it's nature ; and to agree on the differences, 

 which should be admitted between dialects, deri- 

 vative languages, and mother tongues. The 

 Jesuits of Paraguay have made known to us 

 another tribe of Guayanoes* in the southern 

 hemisphere, living in the thick forests of Parana. 

 Though it cannot be denied in general, that, in 

 consequence of distant migrations-^, the nations 

 that are settled north and south of the Amazon 

 have had communications with each other, I 

 will not decide, whether the Guayanoes of Pa- 

 rana and of Uraguay exhibit any other relation 



* They are also called Guananas, or Gualachas. (See 

 Azara, Voyage to Paraguay, vol. ii, p. 221.) 



+ Like the 'celebrated migrations of the Om-aguas, or 



€megucs. 



