The earth and its inhabitants .. . er race than the Arhuacos, taller, more robust and active, and especiallydistinguished by a much lighter complexion. This feature has been attributedto a more carnivorous diet, their arid territory yielding no fruits or vegetables,and compelling them to depend mainly on their herds, and on the turtles which INHABITANTS OF COLOMBIA. 177 they capture in large numbers. Usually the Goajiros go naked, donning acotton mantle only when they visit the frontier market towns. Their physicalappearance, speech, and haughty beariug show that they are an isolated branchof
The earth and its inhabitants .. . er race than the Arhuacos, taller, more robust and active, and especiallydistinguished by a much lighter complexion. This feature has been attributedto a more carnivorous diet, their arid territory yielding no fruits or vegetables,and compelling them to depend mainly on their herds, and on the turtles which INHABITANTS OF COLOMBIA. 177 they capture in large numbers. Usually the Goajiros go naked, donning acotton mantle only when they visit the frontier market towns. Their physicalappearance, speech, and haughty beariug show that they are an isolated branchof the Carib race. Although they now keep aloof from the Colombian whites and half-breeds,the Goajiros appear to have formerly shown themselves well disposed towardsthe Spaniards. Their various tribes, occupying the Goajira Peninsula and theshores of Lake Maracaibo as far as the Merida and Trujillo mountains, hadaccepted the ministration of the missionaries, and even called themselves Fig. 67-—Goajira 1 ; , Depths. OtnSFathoms. Fathoms. into 50Fathoms. 50 Fathomsand upwards. , 6-2 Miles. Christians. More intelligent and industrious than most other Indians, theybecame the most useful allies of the Spaniards, but were driven to revolt by thegreed and lust of the whites. The abduction of some Goajiro women was followedby a general rising of the Indians, who wasted the plantations and destroyed thehouses of the settlers, and even killed many of the residents of Trujillo. Sincethe end of the sixteenth century, when these events took place, the Goajiros,solemnly abjuring the religion of their oppressors, have maintained theirfreedom in the Goajira Peninsula. After expelling all strangers, they con-stituted the Rio Eancheria an impassable frontier towards Colombia, and these13 178 SOUTH .VMEEICA—THE ANDES REGIONS. limits are never violated except on market-days, when the Goajiros visit the fairson the Colombian side. If eivilisution is to be measured by the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectgeography, bookyear18
