Atures, pursued by the Caribbees, escaped to the rocks that rise in the middle of
the Great Cataracts; and there that nation, heretofore so numerous, became
gradually extinct, as well as its language. The last families of the Atures still
existed, in 1767, in the time of the missionary Gili. At the period of our voyage
an old parrot was shown at Maypures, of which the inhabitants related, and the
fact is worthy of observation, that, “ they did not understand what it said, because
it spoke the language of the Atures.”*
PLATE XII.
ATURIAN OF THE ORINOCO.
This cranium presents the large face and ponderous jaw so common in the
American race, together with the retreating forehead, prominent cheek bones and
large orbits of that people. The head is more elongated than usual, and less
flattened in the occipital region. This skull never came under my personal
inspection, for which reason I am unable to add any measurements, or other
precise observations. The original is preserved in the Museum of the Jardin du
Roi, in Paris: Professor Flourens kindly permitted a drawing to be made from
it, which was taken by M. Werner, an excellent artist, under the supervision of
my friend Dr. Edmund C. Evans, of this city.
Baron Humboldt procured several of these skulls, but the vessel in which
several of them were shipped, was lost at sea, and I believe but two reached
Europe. One of these is figured by Professor Blumenbachf, and presents a much
higher head and flatter occiput than the one represented above.
T H E P U E L C H E S .
The Puelches, whose name implies Eastern People, wander over the extensive
plains between the 36° and 39° of south latitude. They are divided into many
tribes, which extend from the Straits of Magellan to the Rio de la Plata, and
Personal Narr. 5, p. 617. t Decad. Cran. Tab. XLVI.