They are very clear, and the inhabitants of Cuenca, who
drink them in preference to any other, attribute their colour to the
sarsaparilla, which it is said grows abundantly on the banks of the
Rio Yanuncai.
We left the mouth of the Zama at five in the morning of the 23rd of
April. The river continued to be skirted on both sides by a thick
forest. The mountains on the east seemed gradually to retire farther
back. We passed first the mouth of the Rio Mataveni, and afterward an
islet of a very singular form; a square granitic rock that rises in
the middle of the water. It is called by the missionaries El
Castillito, or the Little Castle. Black bands seem to indicate, that
the highest swellings of the Orinoco do not rise at this place above
eight feet; and that the great swellings observed lower down are owing
to the tributary streams which flow into it north of the raudales of
Atures and Maypures. We passed the night on the right bank opposite
the mouth of the Rio Siucurivapu, near a rock called Aricagua. During
the night an innumerable quantity of bats issued from the clefts of
the rock, and hovered around our hammocks.
On the 24th a violent rain obliged us early to return to our boat. We
departed at two o'clock, after having lost some books, which we could
not find in the darkness of the night, on the rock of Aricagua. The
river runs straight from south to north; its banks are low, and shaded
on both sides by thick forests. We passed the mouths of the Ucata, the
Arapa, and the Caranaveni. About four in the afternoon we landed at
the Conucos de Siquita, the Indian plantations of the mission of San
Fernando. The good people wished to detain us among them, but we
continued to go up against the current, which ran at the rate of five
feet a second, according to a measurement I made by observing the time
that a floating body took to go down a given distance. We entered the
mouth of the Guaviare on a dark night, passed the point where the Rio
Atabapo joins the Guaviare, and arrived at the mission after midnight.
We were lodged as usual at the Convent, that is, in the house of the
missionary, who, though much surprised at our unexpected visit,
nevertheless received us with the kindest hospitality.
NOTE.
If, in the philosophical study of the structure of languages, the
analogy of a few roots acquires value only when they can be
geographically connected together, neither is the want of resemblance
in roots any very strong proof against the common origin of nations.
In the different dialects of the Totonac language (that of one of the
most ancient tribes of Mexico) the sun and the moon have names which
custom has rendered entirely different. This difference is found among
the Caribs between the language of men and women; a phenomenon that
probably arises from the circumstance that, among prisoners, men were
oftener put to death than women. Females introduced by degrees words
of a foreign language into the Caribbee; and, as the girls followed
the occupations of the women much more than the boys, a language was
formed peculiar to the women. I shall record in this note the names of
the sun and moon in a great number of American and Asiatic idioms,
again reminding the reader of the uncertainty of all judgments founded
merely on the comparison of solitary words.
TABLE OF NAMES OF THE SUN AND THE MOON.
COLUMN 1 : LANGUAGE.
COLUMN 2 : NAME OF THE SUN.
COLUMN 3 : NAME OF THE MOON.
IN THE NEW WORLD:
Eastern Esquimaux (Greenland) : Ajut, kaumat, sakanach : Anningat,
kaumei, tatcok.
Western Esquimaux (Kadjak) : Tschingugak, madschak : Igaluk, tangeik.
Ojibbeway : Kissis : Debicot.
Delaware : Natatane : Keyshocof.
Nootka : Opulszthl : Omulszthl.
Otomi : Hindi : Zana.
Aztec or Mexican : Tonatiuh : Meztli.
Cora : Taica : Maitsaca.
Huasteca : Aquicha : Aytz.
Muysca : Zuhe (sua) : Chia.
Yaruro : ditto : Goppe.
Caribbee and Tamanac : Veiou (hueiou) : Nouno (nonum).
Maypure : Kie : Kejapi.
Lule : Inni : Allit.
Vilela : Olo : Copi.
Moxo : Sachi : Cohe.
Chiquito : Suus : Copi.
Guarani : Quarasi : Jasi.
Tupi (Brasil) : Coaracy : Iacy.
Peruvian (Quichua) : Inti : Quilla.
Araucan (Chili) : Antu : Cuyen.
IN THE OLD WORLD:
Mongol : Nara (naran) : Sara (saran).
Mantchou : Choun : Bia.
Tschaghatai : Koun : Ay.
Ossete (of Caucasus) : Khourr : Mai.
Tibetan : Niyma : Rdjawa.
Chinese : Jy : Yue.
Japanese : Fi : Tsouki.
Sanscrit : Surya, aryama, mitra, aditya, arka, hamsa : Tschandra,
tschandrama, soma, masi.
Persian : Chor, chorschid, afitab : Mah.
Zend : Houere.
Pehlvi : Schemschia, zabzoba, kokma : Kokma.
Phoenician : Schemesih.
Hebrew : Schemesch : Yarea.
Aramean or Chaldean : Schimscha : Yarha.
Syrian : Schemscho : Yarho.
Arabic : Schams : Kamar.
Ethiopian : Tzabay : Warha.
The American words are written according to the Spanish orthography. I
would not change the orthography of the Nootka word onulszth, taken
from Cook's Voyages, to show how much Volney's idea of introducing an
uniform notation of sounds is worthy of attention, if not applied to
the languages of the East written without vowels. In onulszth there
are four signs for one single consonant. We have already seen that
American nations, speaking languages of a very different structure,
call the sun by the same name; that the moon is sometimes called
sleeping sun, sun of night, light of night; and that sometimes the two
orbs have the same denomination. These examples are taken from the
Guarany, the Omagua, Shawanese, Miami, Maco, and Ojibbeway idioms.
Thus in the Old World, the sun and moon are denoted in Arabic by
niryn, the luminaries; thus, in Persian, the most common words, afitab
and chorschid, are compounds. By the migration of tribes from Asia to
America, and from America to Asia, a certain number of roots have
passed from one language into others; and these roots have been
transported, like the fragments of a shipwreck, far from the coast,
into the islands.
