Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/374

GUARANA. lant by South American Indians. It is sometimes of the greatest service as a remedy for sick headache. The essential crystallizable principle of guarana, called guaranine, is identical with caffeine (q.v.) or theine; of this, guarana usually contains between 4 and 5 per cent.

GTJARANf, gwa'nVne'. One of the most im- portant of all the groups of Indian tribes in America. The term has two meanings, applying (1) to the GuaranI proiier (warriors), living between the Parana River and the Atlantic, and (2) to the immense linguistic family called Tupi - Guaranf, spread formerly over Uruguay, Paraguay, and Brazil, with ramifications in Bo- livia and Peru. Their numbers have been greatly exaggerated, running up into the millions. The population of Paraguay and Uruguay is largely Guaranf, or has the blood of that peqple in its Teins. They are not tall (average height, G3i^ inches). They are dolichocephalic, and are also said to be light in color and to lack the coarse features of the average American tribes. The Guaranf were not, at the time of the discovery, altogether dependent upon hunting, but had de- veloped peaceful arts and sedentary life. In one sense this made them an easy prey to both Span- iards and Portuguese, but it saved their lives and taught them new industries. The more "vigorous, after enduring their oppressors for a •centurj', moved up the branches of the Parana into Bolivia, where they mingled with the Span- iards, learned their language, and developed a fme-looking breed. The GuaranI of Brazil, under the Portuguese Government, were settled on res- ervations, and have married with the whites, the mixed progeny being called ilamelucos. These are industrious and progressive in agriculture and arts. The manioc is their staple vegetable food, along with many wild roots and fruits. They hunt also a great variety of wild animals and catch fish. Poultry is reared, and besides dogs they have tamed parrots, swine, and os- triches. The villages are surrounded with a double line of palisades, and consist of a number of large communal clan houses, in which each family has its fire; in many of these houses there are no partitions. Some of the tribes wear skin or network cloaks, and others a waist garment of feathers like a Scotch kilt. Their weapons are the bow and arrow and clubs. The bow when straightened is also used as a lance. The tribes on the wide streams make dugout canoes 20 or .'^0 feet long, capable of carrying .30 persons. They have a simple upright loom, and make netted hammocks. For bodily decoration they apply colored juice or clay, on which rude patterns are drawn; feathers of tropical birds are also used as orna- ments. Drums, trumpets, and flageolets are their Tnusical instruments. The Tupf-Guaranf, scattered over the immense drainage area of the Kio de la Plata and the southern affluents of the Lower Amazon, had no political solidarity. They are most of them now either distinct tribes or groups, or settled down under different conditions with the white popula- tions. If the stock originated in Central Brazil, it is easy to see how the Tupfan portion followed the Amazon affluents to the northward, and the <iuaranJ portion moved southward along the Paran.'i. The langTiages of the Guaranf, as well as their laces, are said to have Mongolian characteristics. Instead of the long, compact groups of sounds in which a whole thought is wrapped u[), monosyl- lables abound, which have various meanings ac- cording to the intonation. But the most interest- ing fact about the Guaranf language is the importance which it early acquired through its adoption by the missionaries as the lini/oa gcnil (general language), a kind of Chinook jargon, by means of which they put themselves into communication with tribes over an immense area. In their religion the Guaranf do not differ from their kimlred in both continents. Vicarious taboo is alleged to jiave been practiced; that is, if a child became sick, the relatives abstained from food which the}' thought would be injurious to the child. Eclipses were thought to be caused by a dog and jaguar trying to eat the planet. Consult: Martins. Ethiiogi-apliic luid ^prachcn- kunde Anierikas (Leipzig, 1867); Brinton, The American Race (Xew York. 1S91). GUARANTY, or GUARANTEE (OF., Fr. garantie, from garantir, to warrant, from garant, guaranty icarant, warrant, from OHG. giiceren, Ger. geiciihren, to grant). In its broadest sense, a contract by which one becomes legally liable for the debt, default, or miscarriage of another. In this sense, it is used interchangeably with suretyship (q.v.). Frequently it bears a nar- rower signification, denoting a contract to pay money or do an act upon the failure of another to pay or to do. In the former case the principal debtor and the guarantor or surety are bound, ordinarily by a single contract to the third per- son. In the latter case the guarantor's contract with the third person is separate and distinct from his principal's contract. A promissory note signed by A and B for A's debt is an example of the first class. A promissory' note by A for his debt to which B adds a separate contract, by which he guarantees the payment of the note, illustrates the second class. There is some au- thority for the use of guaranty in a third and still narrower sense — as an undertaking, by the guarantor, to pay if the principal cannot; that is, to pay only upon proof of the principal's insolvency. If the guarantor's agreement is made at the same time with that of the principal, the same consideration will answer for both; but a guaranty of an existing debt or liability requires a new and distinct consideration. At common law, a guaranty was equally en- forceable whether written or oral. By sec. 4, cli. .3, 29 Charles II. (see Frax'ds, Statute of) it must be in writing and signed by the party to be charged or his authorized agent, if it is "a special promise to answer for the debt, default, or miscarriage of another person." Ordinarily, a guaranty is such a promise, and thus within the statute; but it often happens that a trans- action which partakes of the nature of a guaran- ty does not fall within the statute. The rules governing the construction of guaranties, the discharge of guarantors, and their rights against their principals will be considered under Sl'RETY- snip. Consult- Brandt. Snreti/ship and Gtiaran- ill (Chicago. 1801) : He Colyar, Ijau- of Guaran- Ires and of Principal and finrett/ (3d ed.. London, 1807) ; and the authorities referred to under Contract. GUARAUNO, gw.-i-rou'no. A tribe of South American Indians, known to the English as War- raus, living in the delta of the Orinoco River,