MUSICAL TASTE OE THE INDIANS. 
221 
^ a ana, man is called cocco ; woman, gnacu ; water, cagua ; 
, . e > eyussa ; the earth, selce ; the slrv, mumeseke (earth on 
^gh); the jaguar, impii ; the crocodile, cuipoo ; maize, 
9 l omu ; the plaintain, paratmm ; cassava ,peibe. I may here 
'Mention one of those descriptive compounds that seem to 
'characterise the infancy of language, though they are re- 
a med in some very perfect idioms.* Thus, as in the Bis- 
y>Van, thunder is called ‘ the noise of the cloud (odotsa) ■' 
le sun bears the name, in the Salive dialect, of mume-seke- 
C °% 0 ’ ‘ man (cocco) of the earth (selce) above (mume).' 
i "he most ancient abode of the Salive nation appears to 
tv!' 6 been on the western banks of the Orinoco, between 
Bio Vichadaf and the Guaviare, and also between the 
, e ^ a and the Bio Paute. Salives are now found not only 
at p arac hana, but in the Missions of the province of Casanre, 
a kabapuna, Guanapalo, Cahiuna, and Macuco. They are 
t . ®°cial, mild, almost timid people ; and more easy, 1 will 
°t say to civilize, hut to subdue, than the other tribes on 
tv' 6 Orinoco. To escape from the dominion of the Caribs, 
^ e Salives willingly joined the first Missions of the Jesuits. 
ccordingly these fathers everywhere in their writings 
^ a 'se the docility and intelligence of that people. The 
tim CS ^ aTe a g rea f taste for music : in the most remote 
j r| es they had trumpets of baked earth, four or five feet 
w - h ’ with several large globular cavities communicating 
fo vi ° ne another by narrow" pipes. These trumpets send 
rt h most dismal sounds. The Jesuits have cultivated with 
, n 6c '. ess the natural taste of the Salives for instrumental 
jj. Sl , c ; and even since the destruction of the society, the 
-jSsionarieg of Bio Meta have continued at San Miguel de 
j r .l' 1100 a fine church choir, and musical instruction for the 
tfi e an youth. Yery lately a traveller was surprised to see 
stives playing on the violin, the violoncello, the tri- 
the guitar, and the flute. 
Hit 6 ^' oun< t among these Salive Indians, at Carichana, a 
d{jv e '''"Oman, the sister of a Jesuit of New Grenada. It is 
Hid j t to define the satisfaction that is felt when, in the 
( ! f nations of whose language we are ignorant, we 
With a being with whom we can converse without an 
t The Sr- * See VoL *• P ' 326, 
*auve mission, on the Rio Yichada, was destrojed by the Caribs.. 
