TaRUMAS and Woi'AWAl."?. 
309 
occupied the Tuarutu Kauges, where their base is watcued hy the river 
Wapiina. .Miaha still reinem bered quUv well the white peoj)le who had 
come from the coast aeveral years before : l owing to the representations 
of the notorious Mahauai-va the Governor had, in 1811, despatched a 
Commission from Georgetown into the interior). At that time the tribe 
numbered as many fighting men as there were fingers and toes upon two 
men. Like the Amaripas, the Atorais or Atoryas* and Daurais have 
also reached the evening of their life as a people. It was barely six 
years ago that my brother visited both these ti'ibes on Iiis journey to the 
sources of the Essequibo, and their settlements had already disappeared. 
Of the former only seven individuals who lived together in one house re- 
mained : of the latter now only two giown-up people and some chiblren. 
In 1837 the two tribes still reckoned 200 tribesmen. The Atorais are 
the only tribe in British Guiana wlio burn their dead and bui'y their 
ashes. 
744. The Tavumasf have met with the same fate. They occupied 
tlie upper Esse(]uibo with its triliutarics the ("uyuwini and the Yuawanri. 
According to some mysterious legends, they appear to have formerly 
occupied the Rio Kegro. A portion of them were there converted by 
the Portuguese missions, Avhile another felt compelled on that account to 
shift their old quarters to follow the banks of the rivers which arise in 
the Sierra Acarai and settle at the sources of the Essequibo. Among 
those that were converted, who stayed behind on the Rio Negro, death 
raged so violently that they soon died out, on which account von Martins, 
to whom the other portion of the tribe remained unknown, regarded the 
Tarumas as already extinct. The firstr intimation that a foreign Indian 
tribe had settled at the sources of the Essequibo on the banks of the 
Cnyuwini. \y&B brought to the Colony by Mahanarva, the notorious 
cacique of the Caribs. His accounts of these hitherto unknown Indians 
were so fabulous and extraordinary as to arouse the most universal 
interest. According to him the Taruma must be more amphibian than 
human, because they lived in caves under the water and avoided the 
neighbourhood of any man. My brother in the year 1837 was tlie first 
European to visit this tribe, and to discover their settlements, in which 
the women especially distinguished themselves by their, ugliness and 
their indescribable filth. With the exception of a smaller head, they 
entirely corresponded in physical conformation with remaining tribes 
of Indians, but they varied all the more from them not only in laiigiiage 
but especially in the pronunciation of words. The Tarumas are liehl in 
high repute g.mong the tribes of the interior for the excellent training 
of their hunting dogs. Their apron belts and graters are also celebrated. 
745. A third neighbouring tribe of the Wapisianas are the Woya- 
wais: they extend as far as the tributaries of the Amazon stream. This 
tribe particularly traps the Tfarpifia (frstructor for its ostrich-like 
feathers, and. its members being known as skilful hunters, must con- 
tribute in Very" large measure to the decrease of this beautiful bird 
which previously occupied the basin of the Essequibo in large numbers. 
* The Atorais are nrncticnlly mei'tred with thf Wapisiatias now. fEd.) 
t TheJTanimas still exist as a separate trilie 1 mi are f nlloTcin.L' the |ea/l nf the A torn jg ( P',,| ^ 
