Page:The American Indian.djvu/288

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236
THE AMERICAN INDIAN

based upon the family group and had the dual peace and war chiefs observed in the area of higher culture; great value was placed upon oratory. They practised some agriculture and weaving. Shamanism was not well organized, but each local group had at least one such official. Eyebrows and face hair were plucked out, but the lip plug of the Brazilian tribes was not worn. The Abipones, at least, were composed of social castes and had four gentile groups placed in the four directions, reminding us of North American cultures.

The Araucans were clearly intermediate to the Inca center, as indicated by the large use of chicha, tendency toward agriculture, the domestication of sheep and the wearing of wool in later times, great developments of animal and human sacrifices with features closely paralleling those of the North.

The Fuegians and other stocks skirting the western and southern coast were not horse Indians, but developed the use of canoes; built fires in them upon clay hearths; went almost nude even in winter; lean-to shelters; bola not used, but the bow and spear; water-tight baskets; iron pyrites used for fire-making; dogs trained for hunting and even to drive fish by swimming. Some early accounts credit the Chonoans with weaving blankets from dog hair, reminding us of the Salish stock of the northern continent.

When we turn to the north and east, we again meet the complex condition of the Bolivian highlands, for the Chaco is continuous with it. Here is the home of many stocks and representatives of others widely distributed. In the main, the culture of these people is intermediate to that of the great Brazilian area, since we find the lip plug now and then, urn burial, the short wooden club, dug-out canoe, etc. The Charrua cut off fingers when in mourning, as is done in some parts of North America.

14. Amazon Area. Our discussion so far has disposed of all the continent except the Amazon-Orinoco drainage. We see from a map that this drainage comprises fully half the continent. Turning to the linguistic map (Fig. 87), we find it dominated by four stocks: Arawak and Carib in the north-west, Tupi and Tapuya in the southeast. Of these, the former