302
THE
MAYPURE
TONGUE.
which appear t o m o at least very problematical. T h e god o f the M o a b i t e s , C h e m o s h , o r C a m o s c h , who has so wearied t h e patience o f t h e l e a r n e d ; A p o l l o C h o m e n s , c i t e d by Strabo and b y A m m i a n u s M a r c e l l i n u s ; B e l p h e g o r ; A m u n o r H a m o n ; and A d o n i s : all, w i t h o u t d o u b t , represent t h e sun in the winter s o l s t i c e ; b u t what can w e c o n c l u d e from a solitary and fortuitous resemblance; o f sounds in languages that have n o t h i n g besides in c o m m o n ? T h e M a y p u r e t o n g u e is still spoken at A t u r e s , although the mission is inhabited only b y G u a h i b o s and M a c o s . At M a y p u r e s the Guareken and Pareni t o n g u e s only are n o w spoken. F r o m t h e R i o A n a v e n i , which falls i n t o the O r i n o c o north o f A t u r e s , as far as b e y o n d J a o , and t o t h e m o u t h o f the Guaviaro ( b e t w e e n the fourth and sixth d e g r e e s o f l a t i t u d e ) , we e v e r y w h e r e find rivers, the t e r m i nation o f which, veni,* recalls t o m i n d the e x t e n t t o which t h e M a y p u r e t o n g u e heretofore prevailed. Veni, o r weni, signifies wafer, o r a river. T h e words camosi and keri, which w e have j u s t cited, are o f the idiom o f t h e Pareni Indians,† w h o , I think I have heard from the natives, lived originally o n the banks o f the Mataveni.‡ T h e A b b e Gili considers the Pareni as a s i m p l e dialect o f t h e M a y pure. T h i s question c a n n o t b e solved b y a c o m p a r i s o n o f the r o o t s m e r e l y . B e i n g totally i g n o r a n t o f t h e g r a m matical s t r u c t u r e o f the Pareni, I can raise but feeble d o u b t s against the o p i n i o n o f t h e Italian missionary. The P a r e n i is perhaps a mixture o f t w o t o n g u e s that belong t o different f a m i l i e s ; like the Maquiritari, which is c o m p o s e d o f the M a y p u r e and the C a r i b b e e ; or, to cite an e x a m p l e b e t t e r k n o w n , the m o d e r n Persian, which is allied at the same time t o the Sanscrit and t o t h e Semitic t o n g u e s . The * Anaveni, Mataveni, Maraveni, &c. † Or Parenas, who must not be confounded either with the Paravenes of the Rio Caura (Caulin p. 69), or with the Parecas, whose language belongs to the great family of the Tamanac tongues. A young Indian of Maypures, who called himself a Paragini, answered my questions almost in the same words that M . Bonpland heard from a Pareni. I have indicated the differences in the table, see pp. 303-4. ‡ South of the Rio Zama. W e slept in the open air near the mouth of the Mataveni on the 28th day of May, in our return from the Rio Negro.