APPENDIX.
VOCABULARIES OF AMAZONIAN LANGUAGES.
Theaccompanying Vocabularies were collected with much care, and several of them tested by a second party. The words are spelt with the vowels sounded as in Portuguese, thus,a,e,i,o,u,ai, pronouncedah,a,e,o,oo,i, and the consonants as in English. A til, thus ~, over a letter denotes that it has a nasal sound; the accent shows where the stress is to be laid; and a letter placed above the line shows that it is to be very faintly sounded, often in a peculiar way, as thelin walnut. The languages are arranged in geographical order, commencing with those spoken on the banks of the Amazon, near the frontiers of Ecuador and terminating on the tributaries of the Orinooko. The Lingoa Geral is placed first, because it is the most widely spread language of South America, but it does not contain a single word in common with any of the other ten languages here given; and those that agree with it in not placing the pronoun “my” as a prefix to the words signifying parts of the body, differ most remarkably from it in the general combinations of the letters and the sounds of the words.
The Lingoa Geral, the Uainambeu, and the languages spoken at Maroa and Javita are soft and euphonious, while the Curetu and Tucano are particularly harsh and guttural, theformer having thell, and the latter thech, sounded as in Welsh. The Tucano and Tariana are spoken by adjoining tribes on the Uaupés, who often intermarry, yet they have not a word in common, and differ remarkably in the character of the pronunciation. The last two languages in the list are spoken in villages not twenty miles apart.
In order to elucidate in some degree the grammatical forms of these languages, I subjoin a few idioms in the Lingoa Geral, which probably much resembles the rest in this respect.
Change of the initial consonant.
Different forms used by male and female.
Form of the genitive case.
Form of the superlative.
Composition of words.
Names of natural objects, showing the repetition of vowels and syllables.
Names of Palms.
Jará.
Caraná.
Baccába.
Patawá.
Bussú.
Marajá.
Murumurú.
Names of Forest-trees.
Names of Animals and other natural objects.
As connected with the languages of these people, we may mention the curious figures on the rocks commonly known as picture-writings, which are found all over the Amazon district.
The first I saw was on the serras of Montealegre, as described in my Journal (p.152). These differed from all I have since seen, in being painted or rubbed in with a red colour, and not cut or scratched as in most of the others I met with. They were high up on the mountain, at a considerable distance from any river.
The next I fell in with were on the banks of the Amazon, on rocks covered at high water just below the little village of Serpa. These figures were principally of the human face, and are roughly cut into the hard rock, blackened by the deposit which takes place in the waters of the Amazon, as in those of the Orinooko.
Again, at the mouth of the Rio Branco, on a little rocky island in the river, are numerous figures of men and animals of a large size scraped into the hard granitic rock. NearSt.Isabel,S.Jozé, and Castanheiro, there are more of these figures, and I found others on the Upper Rio Negro in Venezuela. I took careful drawings of all of them,—which are unfortunately lost.
In the river Uaupés also these figures are very numerous, and of these I preserved my sketches. They contain rude representations of domestic utensils, canoes, animals, and human figures, as well as circles, squares, and other regular forms. They are all scraped on the excessively hard granitic rock. Some are entirely above and others below high-water mark, and many are quite covered with a growth of lichens, through which however they are still plainly visible. (PlatesVII.andVIII.) Whether they had any signification to those who executed them, or were merely the first attempts of a rude art guided only by fancy, it is impossible now to say. It is however beyond a doubt that they are of some antiquity,and are never executed by the present race of Indians. Even among the most uncivilized tribes, where these figures are found, they have no idea whatever of their origin; and if asked, will say they do not know, or that they suppose the spirits did them. Many of the Portuguese and Brazilian traders will insist upon it that they are natural productions, or, to use their own expression, that “God made them;” and on any objection being made they triumphantly ask, “And could not God make them?” which of course settles the point. Most of them in fact are quite unable to see any difference between these figures and the natural marks and veins that frequently occur in the rocks.
PlateVII.Figures on The Granite Rocks of the River Uaupes.A. R. Wallace del. et. lith.F. Reeve, imp.
PlateVII.
Figures on The Granite Rocks of the River Uaupes.A. R. Wallace del. et. lith.F. Reeve, imp.
Figures on The Granite Rocks of the River Uaupes.
A. R. Wallace del. et. lith.
F. Reeve, imp.
PlateVIII.Figures on the Granite Rocks of the River Uaupes.A. R. Wallace del. et. lith.F. Reeve, imp.
PlateVIII.
Figures on the Granite Rocks of the River Uaupes.A. R. Wallace del. et. lith.F. Reeve, imp.
Figures on the Granite Rocks of the River Uaupes.
A. R. Wallace del. et. lith.
F. Reeve, imp.