Page:The gilded man (El Dorado) and other pictures of the Spanish occupancy of America.djvu/86

72 country they occupied: a northern group, or the Omaguas of the plains; and a southern group, or the Omaguas of the wooded river-banks. The population cannot be supposed to have been dense; certain eligible points, usually in convenient proximity to the water, were the seats of villages, between which often lay uninhabited wildernesses several days' journey in breadth. No connection between the individual settlements and no kingdom of the Omaguas can be assumed.

The southern Omaguas are the best known to us. We have already referred to Orellana's chronicler, Padre Carvajal, as indicating the boundary where, according to his view, the territory of the tribe began. At all events, the Omaguas lived in the same region of the Amazon shore from 1639 to 1852, and we can therefore accept the Dominican's account as relating to that tribe. It appears further from his description that they lived in villages built of wood, usually on elevations on the shore. In one of these villages the Spaniards found two large idols made of palm-tree bark, which were set up in the great communal house (galpon ó casa principal). Much earthenware, very well worked, with dark colors and "glazed," was likewise found there, besides a copper axe, "such as the Indians in Peru use." These facts indicate some degree of skill in art, and therefore a settled abode and agriculture; and this is confirmed by the acquaintance of the people with natural products. The Portuguese first obtained caoutchouc from the Omaguas, and manioc meal, cassava, and maize were abundant in their houses. But fishing appeal's to have been their chief