Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- CHAPTER I
- CHAPTER II
- CHAPTER III
- CHAPTER IV
- CHAPTER V
- CHAPTER VI
- CHAPTER VII
- CHAPTER VIII
- CHAPTER IX
- CHAPTER X
- CHAPTER XI
- CHAPTER XII
- CHAPTER XIII
- CHAPTER XIV
- CHAPTER XV
- CHAPTER XVI
- CHAPTER XVII
- CHAPTER XVIII
- CHAPTER XIX
- CHAPTER XX
- APPENDICES
- I Physical Characteristics
- II Mongoloid Origin
- III Depilation
- IV Colour Analysis and Measurements
- V Articles noted by Wallace as in use among the Uaupes Indians that are found with the Issa-Japura Tribes
- VI Names of Deities
- VII Vocabularies and Lists of Names
- VIII Poetry
- LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED TO
- INDEX
- Plate section
I - Physical Characteristics
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2011
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- CHAPTER I
- CHAPTER II
- CHAPTER III
- CHAPTER IV
- CHAPTER V
- CHAPTER VI
- CHAPTER VII
- CHAPTER VIII
- CHAPTER IX
- CHAPTER X
- CHAPTER XI
- CHAPTER XII
- CHAPTER XIII
- CHAPTER XIV
- CHAPTER XV
- CHAPTER XVI
- CHAPTER XVII
- CHAPTER XVIII
- CHAPTER XIX
- CHAPTER XX
- APPENDICES
- I Physical Characteristics
- II Mongoloid Origin
- III Depilation
- IV Colour Analysis and Measurements
- V Articles noted by Wallace as in use among the Uaupes Indians that are found with the Issa-Japura Tribes
- VI Names of Deities
- VII Vocabularies and Lists of Names
- VIII Poetry
- LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED TO
- INDEX
- Plate section
Summary
Physically, as may be judged from the accompanying tables, there is a wide margin for dissimilarity among these tribes. Their appearance is nearly as varied as their speech, more so in fact, in that there is much diversity of type even among individuals of the same speaking-group. I have seen a Boro as dark as a Witoto, while his fellow - tribesmen may be yellow as a Chinaman. It is, of course, possible that the darker Boro are sons of Witoto women. The custom prevalent in all the tribes of adopting the young children captured from their enemies, makes of necessity for great changes in type even in one household, so that despite the preference for group endogamy that undoubtedly exists there are few households where cross-breeding is not in evidence.
In stature the Indian is small, which I take to be a result of depression due to his forest environment; but the body is wellbalanced and upright. Among the tribes I visited the Andoke as a speaking-group were, so far as I could observe, the largest in build and the tallest. The Okaina may possibly come into the same scale. The Karahone represent the mean, while the Maku are invariably small, a low class and badly-fed people. The average measurements of the tribes are best gathered from the types tabulated. I made the average height to be for men 5 feet 6 inches; and for women 4 feet 10 inches.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The North-West AmazonsNotes of Some Months Spent Among Cannibal Tribes, pp. 269 - 279Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009First published in: 1915