ABOEIGINAL teibes. 
77 
^alicotas) of the Missouri, who are strongly monfjojised ; 
®*i(l who, it is helieved, according to their own traditions, 
came from the coast of Asia ? In the plains of South Ame- 
we find only a very few hillocks of that kind called 
aerros hechos a mano ■* and nowdiere any works of tortifica- 
lon analogous to those of the Ohio. Ilowever, on a vast 
pace of ground, at the Lower Orinoco, as well as on the 
anks of the Cassiquiare and between the sources of the 
fj^ssequibo and the Eio Branco, there are rocks of granite 
th'f^ 'with symbolic figures. These sculptures denote 
the extinct generations belonged to nations different 
com those which now inhabit the same_ regions. There 
to be no connection between the history of Mexico, 
that of Cundinamarca and of Peru ; but hr the plains ot 
m east a warlike and long-dominant nation betrays in its 
eatures, and its physical constitution, traces ot a foreign 
rigm. The Caribs preserve traditions that seem to indi- 
® ancient communications between North and South 
Such a phenomenon deserves particular attention. 
It be true that savages are for the most part degenerate 
ces, remnants escaped from a common wreck, as their lan- 
eUages, their cosmogonic fables, and numerous other uidica- 
lons seem to prove, it becomes doubly important to examine 
® course by which these remnants have been driven from 
one hemisphere to the other. 
Rm 11 ^ fine race of people, the Caribs, now occupy only a 
of ti c>f the country which they inhabited at the time 
I the discovery of America. The cruelties exercised^ by 
nropeans have entirely exterminated them from the AV est 
^naia Islands, and the coasts of Darien ; while under the 
hovernment of the missions, they have formed populous 
Yi'^ges in the provinces of New' Barcelona and Spanish 
^niana. The Caribs who inhabit the Llanos of Piritu, and 
j tif the Carony and the Cuyuni, may be esti- 
‘ niore than tliii’ty-five thousand. If we add to this 
nmber the independent Caribs, who live westward of the 
Cayenne and Pacaraymo, between the sources 
the Essequibo and the Eio Branco, we shall no doubt ob- 
)n a total of forty thousand individuals of pure race, un- 
«iied with any other tribes of natives. Prior to my travels, 
* Hills made by the hand, or artificial hills. 
