Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/744

Rh 702 AMERICA [CHILIAN TRIBES. canians in civilisation ; but some, as the Puelches and the Tehuels, surpass them in strength and stature. Part of them live on horse flesh, part by keeping sheep and cattle, and part by hunting. Some of these tribes paint .tago- their faces. With regard to the height of the Patago- ms. nians, M. Lesson, an eminent French naturalist, has col lected the authorities on the subject in a note published by Balbi in his Ethnographical Atlas ; and they appear to us to remove every rational doubt as to the fact of a race of men existing there whose average stature is about six feet, and among whom men seven feet high are perhaps more frequently to be met with than among an equal num ber of men in any other country. They have large heads, but their hands and feet are small, and they are not strong in proportion to their tall stature. They ride on horse back, and hunt the huanaco or the ostrich with a sling, which they cast so as to entangle the animal s legs. They dwell in tents, and lead a wandering life. lians of Of the numerous nations that inhabited Brazil there azil : is only one to which we can afford any special notice in aranis. ^-^ ar ti c l e. The Guaranis have at one time formed a numerous people, which seems to have been spread over a larger surface than any other now existing in America. Tribes, or remnants of tribes, whose relationship to the Guaranis is attested by the strong evidence of their lan guage, are found diffused over the wide space between the Orinoco and the embouchure of the Plata, or more than the half of South America. They are met with among the Andes of Peru, in the province of Chiquitos, in Matto Grosso, in Paraguay, in Minas Geraes ; and the Omaguas, in the republic of Ecuador, who, from their nautical habits, and the influence they obtained on the upper part of the Amazon, have been called the Phoenicians of the new world, are believed to be of the same race. They constituted the bulk of the native population of Brazil when the Portu guese gained possession of it, but were divided into many distinct tribes, quite independent of one another, and living, not in contiguity, but mixed with other nations. They are of low stature, two inches shorter than the Spaniards, according to Azara; of a square form, fleshy, and ugly. Their colour has a strong shade of the copper red, while that of the other Brazilian tribes inclines generally to the tawny or black. Their character, like their physical form, resembles that of the Peruvians. They are patient, tor pid, silent, downcast in their mien, mild, and passionless. Nearly all the Indians whom the Portuguese have civi lised or converted belong to this race. It is difficult to account for their dissemination through the southern con tinent, amidst nations much more brave and powerful than themselves. May we suppose that, like the subjects of the Incas, they had been at one time the dominant tribe of an extensive empire, which derived its force from union and civilisation 1 But if such a state did exist, its date cannot be very ancient ; for the identity or close resemblance of the dialects spoken by the scattered portions of the Guaranis shows that their dispersion from a com mon point did not happen at a very remote period. 1 Yet no memorial of its existence survives, either in traditions or monuments. The supposition, therefore, that the Guarani tribes are the remnants of a once powerful and united people, is scarcely admissible ; and Azara thinks it more probable that they have crept gradually from north to south. Their dispersion is the more remarkable, as they are not a wandering but an agricultural people. They live in the woods, or in small open spaces in the forests ; cultivate maize, beans, gourds, yams, mandioc; and eat also wild honey, and the flesh of monkeys and various small quadrupeds. 1 Dr Prichard s Researches, vol. ii. p. 487. The Indians whom the Jesuits civilised and collected Paragua into communities in the celebrated settlements of Para- mission guay belonged chiefly to the nation of the Guaranis. settle These missionaries are said to have borrowed the plan m of the theocracy which they established here from that which the Incas had introduced into Peru. There is no doubt that the spirit of their system was the same ; and, considering that they were precluded from any other means of extending and supporting their authority than persuasion, their success was remarkable. The settle ments were commenced about 1610, and were gradually extended over the country watered by the Parana and Uruguay, between the 27th and 30th degrees of south latitude, till the order of the Jesuits was suppressed in 1767. The plan of the government may be called paro chial, for it was administered entirely by the parochial clergy. The Indians were collected into villages. Each village had its church and its curate, who was assisted by one, two, or more priests, according to the number of In dians under his charge. The curate and assistant priests were nominated, not by the Spanish authorities, but by the father superior, also a Jesuit, who exercised a vigilant superintendence over the whole. Indians were appointed in each village with the titles of regidors and alcaldes ; bxit they were merely instruments in the hands of the curate and his assistants, in whom all power was lodged. The curate gave his whole attention to religious offices, saying mass in the church, and visiting the sick ; while the assistant priests managed all secular matters, direct ing the labour of the Indians who cultivated the ground, and training others to the crafts of the weaver, mason, carpenter, goldsmith, painter, and sculptor ; for the fine arts were by no means neglected. Private property did not exist. The produce of the labour of the community was stored in magazines, from which each family was sup plied according to its wants, special provision being made for aged persons, widows, and orphans. The surplus was sold by agents at Buenos Ayres, and the proceeds cm- ployed in paying the taxes to the king, in procuring or naments for the churches, and various articles which the colonists could not manufacture for themselves. The religious instruction was of the most simple kind ; but the service of the church was conducted with a well-trained choir, a pompons ceremonial, and every accessory calculated to strike the senses. The punishments were mild; and they were always accompanied with such admonitions as a parent would address to a child whom he was chastising. Crimes, in truth, were rare. The Indians, who regarded their spiritual chiefs with the veneration due to beneficent beings of a superior order, scarcely felt humbled in confess ing their misdeeds ; and offenders may have solicited correc tion, as Raynal says, for the quieting of their consciences. The incursions of the Portuguese compelled the Jesuits to take means for repelling force by force. All the male Indians of the proper age were accordingly armed with muskets, and disciplined as a militia. In 1732, according to Dobrizhofler, the thirty villages or parishes under the care of the missionaries contained a population of 141,000 souls. The Jesuits had another establishment of the same kind among the Chiriguas, a branch of the Guara nis, in the province of Chiquitos, containing 30,000 or 40,000 Indians ; a third, of smaller size, in the province of Moxos ; a fourth ju California ; and probably others. After the suppression of the order, all these were com mitted to the care of friars of other descriptions ; and we believe they have universally fallen into a state of decay. The social system established in Paraguay was the most effectual ever contrived for reclaiming the Indians from their savage mode of life ; but even its success shows how hopeless the attempt is to raise the American tribes to