Page:Tale of Paraguay - Southey.djvu/192

186 Here, says Gumilla, tears put an end to her speech: and the worst is, that all which she said, and all she would have said, if grief had allowed her to proceed, is true.—Orinoco Ilustrado, t. ii. p. 65. ed. 1791.

This is the Guarani name for the species described by Azara, t. iv. p. 130. No. cccxx.

What power had placed them here.—Canto II. st. 27.

Some of the Orinoco tribes believe that their first forefathers grew upon trees.—Gumilla, t. i. c. 6.

The Othomacas, one of the rudest of the Orinoco tribes, suppose themselves descended from a pile of stones upon the top of a rock called Barraguan, and that they all return to stone as they came from it; so that this mass of rock is composed of their forefathers. Therefore, though they bury their dead, within the year they take off their heads and carry them to the holes in the rock.—Gumilla, t. i. c. 6.

These are the odd people who always for a first marriage give a girl to an old man, and a youth to an old woman. Polygamy is not in use among them; and they say, that if the young people came together there could be no good household management.—Gumilla, t. i. c. 12.