YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY A Macusi Indian in full dancing dress. AMONG THE INDIANS OP GUIANA Bzrso SKETCHES CHIEFLY ANTHROPOLOGIC FRO-M THE ESTERTOE OF BRITISH GUIANA By EVEEAED F. im THITEN", M.A. Oxon. WITH S3 ILLUSTRATIONS JKD A MAP LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, & CO., 1 PATERNOSTER SQUARE 1883 (The rights of translation and if introduction aro reserved') TO - TOM- COTTINGHAM EDWAEDS-MOSS FAMOUS AS AS OARSMAN BUT DESERVING- OF FAB GREATER FAME AS THE POSSESSOR, IN MOST UNUSUAL DEGREE, OF THOSE RARE AND EXCELLENT QUALITIES WHICH MAKE A MAS AX ENTIRELY HELPFUL AND PLEASANT TRAVELLING COMPANION THESE EEStJLTS OF TRAVEL ARE DEDICATED BY HIS FRIEND EVERARD F. im THORN Pomeisoos Rtvek BniTISH C-CTLAXA PREFACE. In July 1877 I first landed in British Guiana, and on Christmas Day, 1879, the intermediate two and a half years having been spent, in about equal proportion, in wandering among the Indians and in the chief town of the colony, I left the country, as I then thought, for ever. During the following two years, spent in England, when ever there came a perfectly fine day, whether in spring, summer, autumn, or in winter, and whenever I was able to spend those too rare opportunities of perfect life in wander ing over down-country, or through English lanes and woods, or by that ever pleasant river which runs past Oxford town, then I felt that the unspeakable pleasure of such a day surpassed by far all that the days, and all that the years, however pleasant, which a man may spend in the tropics can afford. But when, very much more often, gloomy days had to be endured, then my thoughts invariably turned westward, and I longed to be once more among the deep shadows and broken lights of the gigantic tropical forests, on the sunlit waters of the broad rivers, or on the rolling, limitless savannahs, among which I had learned to know the vi PREFACE. larger, and more free ways of Nature. And so it happened ' that, two days before the Christmas of 1881, I once more came to Guiana. During, and immediately after, my first visit to the colony, I had at various times and in various newspapers published disconnected sketches of my travels and, especi ally, of experiences among the Eed men. These sketches very soon passing out of print, and there being among my papers much similar but unpublished matter, I, when . finally settled, as I thought, in England, set to work to • weave this material into a general description of the colony in all its Espects. Those who have tried a like task will understand how often I found myself in want of further information on almost every successive point. And so it happened that the work was not quite well enough patched together, was certainly not satisfactorily done, when I quite unexpectedly found myself about to return to the colony of which I was writing. Then I put away my papers and determined to wait for further experience. But certain papers on anthropological subjects among those which had already been published had attracted some attention, more perhaps than they deserved ; and it was exactly these which were in a most finished condition. I therefore re-wrote and added to them, and now publish them in this volume, together with a few chapters descrip tive of the country where dwell the Eed men of whom my story more especially tells. I ought to add that the substance of the chapter on PRKFACH. vii Indian religion, and of that part of another chapter which deals with stone-implements, has already appeared in the 'Journal of the Anthropological Institute'; that the two first chapters in the present volume are re-written from a paper read by me before the Eoyal Geographical Society ; and that the chapter on plant life appeared almost in its present form in the ' Gardener's Chronicle.' Most men like to record in their prefaces the names of those who have helped them in their work ; but were I to allow myself this pleasure with any freedom I should far exceed all reasonable limits. I must, however, make men tion, among the friends who have helped me in England, of Mr. E. B. Tylor and Mr. A. W. Franks, and also of the authorities at Kew Gardens; nor can I pass without mention, among those, dwellers in Guiana, to whom. I am indebted for services directed toward the same end, Mr. "VV. H. Campbell, who, but that the accuracy of his. scientific knowledge and the deficiency of his years deny, might, in all other respects, be regarded as the proverbial ' oldest inhabi tant ' of the colony ; or Mr. N. Darnell Davis, a true West Indian bibliophile ; or Mr. James Thomson, whose kindness, both as editor successively of the two newspapers in which most of my sketches appeared, and as my informant on many points ; or Mr. G. S. Jenman, the official botanist, whose botanical knowledge of Guiana is in exceeding pro portion to the comparative shortness of his experience there. Lastly, but by no means least, I here record my gratitude to the lady friend who drew for this book two of the coloured plates as well as two ofthe smaller uncoloured illustrations. - viii PREFACE. As regards the other illustrations, the coloured figure of a new bird (Agelceus imthurni, Sclater) was prepared for me under the kind superintendence- of Mr. P. L. Sclater ; the Eoyal Geographical Society has been good enough to supply the map; the Anthropological Institute, with equal kind ness, has lent a plate of stone-implements and one small cut which were engraved in illustration of my papers published in its Journal ; the engravings of scenery and figures were prepared from photographs taken for me ; and the figures of Indian implements, etc., and of rock engravings, are from my own sketches. EVEEAED F. im THUBN. Pomeroon River, British Guiana. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. A journey in the interior. PAGE Outline Sketch of the Interior — Methods of Travelling — Bartica. Grove — Moraballi — A Creek — Hauling the Canoes up the Rapids — Moe — Night in the Forest — Scenery — Half-bred Brazilians — Pai- warikaira — A Peatman's Vengeance — Healthiness of the Interior — Aretaka — A Burning Mora-tree — Magic Sticks — Apooterie — Up the Roopoonooni — Scenery — Kaboori-flies — Stopped by Sandbanks — A New Crew — Quartama — A Pretty Pond — Pirara Landing . . 1 CHAPTER II. A JOURNEY IN THE INTERIOR (continued}. The Savannah — Indian Settlement at Quatata — Indian Visitors — A Buck-gun — The City of El Dorado — Rain after Drought — Start for the Brazils — Down the Takootoo— Fort St. Joaquim— Cattle Farms — Homeward— Fording Lake Amoocoo — The Rivers in the Rainy Season — A Notorious Murderer — Shooting the Falls . . .32 CHAPTER III. THE KAIETEUR FALL AND P.OEAIM.4.. The Fall— First Visit— The Potaro River— Amootoo Cataract— The Kaieteur Ravine— To the Foot of the Fall— The Kaieteur in Dry Weather.from above — The Kaieteur Savannah— A New Plant (Broc- chinia cordylinmdes, Baker)— A New Bird (Agslceus imthuvni, Sclater)— A Second Visit to the Kaieteur— Beautiful Flowers- Portaging the Boat— The Kaieteur from above, in the Rainy Season —The best way to visit the Fall— Roraima ..... 56 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. ASPECTS OF PLANT-LIFE. PAGE Common Misconception of Tropical Scenery— The Special Case of Guiana— General Type of Foliage like that of Temperate Cli mates—Colouring of the Foliage— Colour of Flowers in Mass- Beauty of individual Flowers— Scent— Chief Types of Guiana Vegetation— A Scene in the Forest— Palm Forests— River-side Vegetation — The Cokerite Palm — Savannah Scenery— Water Plants S7 CHAPTER V. ANIMAL LIFE. General Considerations — Mammals — Warracaba Tigers — The Colours of Birds — Bird-notes — Chief Forms of Birds — Scenes of Bird-life— Reptiles — Alligators — Iguanas — Snakes — Turtles — Fish — The Dan gers of Bathing — Insect Plagues — Butterflies — Beetles— Ants — Wasps — Mosquitoes — Sandflies — The Mosquito Worm — Jiggers — Bush-Ticks — Spiders — Centipedes — Scorpions . .106 CHAPTER VI. THE INDIAN TRIBES. Indian Groups in Guiana— The Value of the Groups— Race, Branch, Tribe, and Family— Classification of the Principal Tribes— Some unimportant or little known Tribes — The Term 'True CariV — Tribal Differences in Language, Physical Characters, and Habits- Geographical Distribution of thev Tribes— Forest Indians and Savannah Indians— Probable History of the Tribes— Earlier Tribes : Warraus, Arawaks, and Wapianas— The Later Immigration of Carib Tribes . . 156 CHAPTER VII. FAMILY-SYSTEMS AND MARRIAGE-SYSTEMS. Arawak System as Type— Description of the System— List of Family Names— Origin of the Names— Method of keeping Families dis tinct— Co-esisting but Contradictory System of Bride-liftino-— Evidence of the Existence of this latter System— Two possible Ex planations. ... " ,, 17o CONTENTS. x£ CHAPTER VIII. APPEARANCE AND DRESS. PACE Physical Characters and Appearance — Artificial Modifications of the Body — Ordinary Dress— Body-painting — Ornaments — Regard for Personal Appearance— Partial Adoption of European Dress 18s CHAPTER IX. HOUSES AND SETTLEMENTS. Distribution of the Settlements— The Three Chief Types of Houses— Warrau Pile-dwellings — Open Houses in the Forest— Walled Houses on the Savannah — Communal nouses in rare Instances — Pile-houses occasionally built on the dry Savannah — Benabs, or Temporary Huts — Probable History of Development of House building among Indians — Various Thatch-materials . . 202 CHAPTER X. SOCIAL LIFE. Ruling Authorities — Observance of Mutual Rights — Treatment of Women— The Story of a Day— The Story of a , Life— Birth— Covjeade — Childhood — Personal Names — Marriage — Death — Burial 211 CHAPTER XT. HUNTING AND FISHING. Hunting Parties — * Beenas ' — Dogs — Fish Poisoning — Bailing out Pools for Fish — Fish Arrows: Three Fish Arrows ; a Three-pronged Fish Arrow— Hook and Line — Fish Traps— Turtle Arrows — Iguana Shooting — Guns — Game Arrows : Iron-headed Game Arrows ; Bamboo-headed Arrows; Poisoned Arrows — Bird Arrows: Special Arrows for Large and Small Birds ; Blunt-headed Arrows for Birds — Blow-pipes — 'Calling' Birds — Preserving Booty — Return of the Hunting Party 227' CHAPTER XII. AGKCCTXTUKE. An Indian Field— Method of Cultivation— Cassava— Abandonment of Field— Maize in the Mountains— Drought and Famine . . . 250 xji CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIII. THE PREPARATION OF FOOD. Cooking done by AVomen-Fire-making-Staple Food: Meat chiefly in the form of Pepper-pot ; Cassava as Bread, Farme, and P™1- Effect of Cassava on Indian Physique-Salt-Occasional Food . Eggs, of Birds, seldom eaten ; of Reptiles, often ; Insects ; Fruits- Various Drinks PAGE 2o5 CHAPTER XIV. MANUFACTURES. General Considerations— Pottery— Basket-work— Spinning : Three kinds of Fibre ; Two Methods of Spinning ; Explanation of Co existence of Two Methods— Weaving : Hammock-weaving; Rude Cloth- weaving— Boat-building — Bench-making— Weapon-making —Ornament-making— Musical Instruments— Poison-making— Pre paration of Oils, Pitches, Dyes— Tobacco-production . . . 2G!> CHAPTER XV. TAIWARI FEASTS. Feasting, Drinking, and Games— The Invitation to the Feast— Quippoo-writing— Preparations— Arrival of the Guests— Feasting — Dancing— Brawls— Racing and Ball-play— Arawak Whip-game— Warrau Shield-game 319 CHAPTER XVI. KENAIMAS AND PEAIMEN. Relation of Kenaimas and Peaimen— The Kenaima — The Vendetta System — Real and Imaginary Powers o£ Kenaimas — TheKenaima's Method of Work — The Peaiman — His Education and Powers — His Method of Cure — Wide' Extension of the Peai System . . . 328 CHAPTER XVII. v RELIGION. The Religion of the Indians an almost Unmixed Animism — Animism and Morality entirely Unconnected — Methods of Study Indian Belief in the Two Parts of Man, Body and Spirit — Evidence of the CONTENTS. xiii FAGE Existence and Separability of the Spirit in Death, Sleep, and Visions — Power of Transmission of the Spirit into other Bodies — Spirits of Animals — Spirits of Fabulous Animals — Spirits of Inani mate Objects — Nature of Disease-Spirits— Indian Conception of the Spirit World— General Statement of the Lines along which Animism might be expected to develop into Higher Religion — Indian Conception of Continuance of Spirit after Death of the Body — Where Disembodied Spirits Dwell — No Supreme Spirits — Nature of the so-called Indian's 'Great Spirit' — Worship, Rites, and Ceremonies 311 CHAPTER XVIII. FOLK-LORE. General Statement oE the Nature of the Folk-lore — Elements of Error in reading the Folk-lore of Savages — Examples of such Error regarding God, Prayer, a Deluge, and a World-fire — Mythological Legends — The Arrival of Indians upon Earth — The Origin of Cul tivation — Animals and their Doings — Fanciful Explanations of the Facts of Nature — Fabled Animals-— An Indian Jonah — Historical Legends 371 CHAPTER XIX. INDIAN ANTIQUITIES. The Various Antiquities — Rock-Pictures— Painted Rocks — Two kinds of Engraved Rocks — Shallow Engravings— Deep Engravings — The most recent Rock-Engraving — Comparative Study of the Rock- Engravings of the World— Shell-Mounds or Kitchen-Middens — Probable History oE the Shell-Mounds — Stone Implements — > Manner of Occurrence in Guiana — Some Typical Examples— Some Peculiar Examples— Standing Stones — Sites of Ancient Villages . 3S& INDEX 429 LIST OF ILLUSTRAIIOKS. PLATES. PLATE 1. A Macusi in Full Dancing Dress 2. A Night's Camp .... 3. Portaging the Boat .... 4. The Kaieteur Fall (in dry weather) 5. Agelams imthiirni .... 6. The Kaieteur Fall (in wet weather) 7. Ackawoi Man and Woman 8. Two Feather Head-dresses 9. Engraved Rocks at Warrapoota Fall 10. Stone Implements from British Guiana Frontispiece To face page 5761 66 71 76 189198391 421 WOODCUTS. ™* PAGE 1. Cobungru Woman, showing Leg-bands 192 2. Macusi, with Nose and Lip Ornament . . . 193 3. Method of making Queyn 194 4. Nose Ornaments . 195 5. Lip Ornament 199 6. Cotton Mantle . . . 200 7. Nose Beena 229 8. Ant Beena . 230 . 9. Fish Arrows 235 10. Turtle Arrow 239 11. Game Arrows 241 .12. Poisoned Arrows 213' 13. Poisoned Arrow-points and Quiver for same .... 243 14. Bird Arrows 243 15. Quiver for Darts of Blow-pipe .... . 246 16. Plow-pipe 247 PAGK 258 261 275 279 2792S0 xv-i LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. FIG. 17. Fire-sticks IS. Cassava Squeezer . 19. Types of Pottery . 20. Cassava Sifter 21. Macusi Bread-basket 22. Arawak Bread-basket . 23. Carib Method of maldng Hammock ... . . 2S9 24. War Clubs • 2" 25. Blow-pipe Darts, unrolled from Guard . 302 26. Darts, rolled as carried in Quiver . . . 302 27. Shoulder-ruff of Macaw-feathers . 306 28. Drum ...... ¦ • 303 29. Bone Flute .309 30. Pair of Wooden Flutes . . ... .310 31. iEolian Harp .... .... .310 32. Dancing-sticks • 322 33. Macqnarie Whip 32« 34. Wrestling Shield : . . .327 35. Shallow Rock-engravings 392 36. Deep Rock-engravings 393 37. Temehri Rock, with engraving • 395 38. Rock- engraving on Camoodi Rock 400 39. Rock-engraved Ship . '400 40. Spanish Galley (from tomb of Columbus) . . . . 401 41. Mexican Picture-writing 406 42. Ear-rings 415 43. War-club with Stone Blade 425 MAP OF BRITISH GUIANA .... . At end AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. CHAPTER I. A JOURNEY IN THE INTERIOR. Outline Sketch of the Interior— Methods of Travelling — Bartica Grove — Moraballi — A Creek — Hauling the Canoes up the Rapids — Moe — Night in the Forest — Scenery — Half-bred Brazilians — Paiwarikaira — A Peai- man's Vengeance — Healthiness of the Interior — Aretaka — A Burning Mora-tree — Magic Sticks — Apooterie — Up the Roopoonooni — Scenery — Kaboori-flies — Stopped by Sand-banks — A New Crew — Qnartama — A Pretty Pond— Pirara Landing. He who would see the beauty and the great, though unde veloped capabilities of the only English part of the continent of South America, must leave behind him the flat and swampy coastland of Gmiana, and, passing up wide rivers and through vast forests, reach the magnificent and wide savannahs, inter sected by the rugged mountain ridges which lie on the furthest limits of the colony, and stretch away into the interior of the continent. In so doing, the traveller will have to encounter many difficulties and some hardships ; but, on the other hand, his travels will be through a land the marvellous beauty of which will more than recompense his pains, and where new ob jects will occur at every turn to draw his thoughts away from all "discomforts. Nor have many travellers yet been before him ; so that, though he will have the labour of making his own. path, this will be counterbalanced by the pleasure of visiting untrodden ground. The country may be said to consist of four tracts, lying one beyond the other, parallel to the coast-line. Of these only the outermost or sugar tract, which lies nearest to the *V B 2 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. sea-coast, is at present cultivated and inhabited to any con siderable extent. Next to this is the timber tract, from which alone timber has as yet been remuneratively brought to market. This extends toward the interior as far as the lowest cataracts on the various rivers. It is at present im possible to cut timber profitably beyond these cataracts, owing to the difficulty which there would be in carrying any cut beyond that to market ; so that an imaginaiy line, roughly parallel to the sea-coast, and cutting each of the great livers at their lowest cataracts, marks the further limit from the coast of this tract. This part of the country is only very sparingly inhabited by a few wood-cutters, white men and black, and by a few Indians. The two remaining tracts are entirely uninhabited ex cept by widely scattered Indians of four or five different tribes. The forest tract immediately succeeds the timber tract ; and lastly, furthest from the coast, lies the savannah tract. The former of these is everywhere covered by dense forests, as yet untouched by the woodcutter, and consisting largely of the two most valuable trees of the colony — green- heart {Nectcmdra rodicei) and mora (Mora excelsa). The land in all these three tracts is generally low, flat and swampy, though in the forest tract the level is occasionally broken by sloping hills, by solitary mountains, and even by low and unimportant ranges. The last of the tracts is formed by the savannah of the in terior. This must be distinguished from the meadows, also called savannahs, of the coast and forest tracts. Nearly all the small tributary streams of those regions rise in treeless marshes, which are under water during a large part of the year ; and these are called savannahs. Again, along the banks of the Berbice and Corentyn rivers, often not far from the sea, there are considerable patches of open grass-land ; and these' too, are called savannahs. But the chief savannah, that which forms the savannah tract, is of all the land of British Guiana farthest from the sea ; it borders on the Brazils, from which it is only separated by the Cotinga and Takootoo rivers ; and TOPOGRAPHY. 3 it is continued without any significant interruption into the great grass-plain which occupies so much of the interior of South America. Our share of this large meadow is about 14,000 square miles in extent. On it stand the only con siderable mountains of British Guiana. There are no roads in the colony except that which runs along the coast. But four great rivers, the Essequibo, the Demerara, the Berbice, and the Corentyn, run, nearly paralle to each other, from the interior to the sea ; and into these pass many tributary streams, often of considerable size. The four main rivers are the high roads, and their tributaries, to gether with a few Indian tracks through the forest, perhaps hardly discernible to an unpractised eye, are the cross roads, along which all travelling within the forest region must be done by canoe or on foot. "When once the savannahs are reached, it becomes possible to travel either, as before, along the rivers or by walking. It was up the largest of the rivers — the Essequibo — that I made my way in 1878 on to the savannah, over which I passed to the remote edge of the colony and on into Brazilian territory. To give some account of the interior of Guiana is a necessary preliminary of my task. On each of my jour neys I wrote down day by day the story of my travels. These diaries might, therefore, be transcribed with hardly any alteration. But such a diary, however interesting to the traveller himself and to his friends, and however many in teresting facts it may contain, must always be tedious to the general reader. On the other hand, it is very difficult to give a description of a comparatively unknown land .without using some such thread, on which to string the facts, as is afforded by a journal. And this is in a special degree true of the interior of British Guiana ; for all that is known about it amounts but to a very considerable number of discon nected facts. I shall, therefore, use the diary of one of my journeys as a thread on which will be strung all pertinent facts derived either from my own experiences or from those of previous travellers in the same region. B 2 4 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. A line of steamers, largely subsidised by the Government, runs from Georgetown to the Berbice on the one hand, and to the Essequibo on the other ; and smaller steamers run twice in each week up the Essequibo, the Demerara, and-the Berbice. These steamers are almost the only means yet at tempted of opening up the colony. The small steamer runs up the Essequibo for a distance of about thirty-five miles from the mouth, partly for the convenience of the few who travel in that direction, but chiefly for Government purposes, the penal settlement of the colony being situated on the Mazeruni, a large tributary of the Essequibo. — Hwas -i>y this latter steamer that I reached theroutskirts ofjcivilisation, at Bartica Grove, Avhich stands at the junction of the Mazeruni with the Essequibo. Leaving Georgetown early in the morning, we passed for two hours along the coast, and then ran into the Essequibo. On board was a most heterogeneous and picturesque crowd of East Indians, Chinese, Indians, Negroes, together with Portuguese and a few other white men. Nearly every indivi dual of this crowd travelled with a strange assortment of lug gage, varying from a bedstead or waggon to a pair of live fowls or a parrot. On either side of the river the banks were low and swampy, densely covered with courida bushes (Avicennia, nitida), mangroves ' (Rhizophora manc/al), and palm-trees. In the evening, about four o'clock, we reached Bartica Grove. Bartica Grove, once a flourishing mission station, is now reduced to a few wooden huts, used as stores, a church re cently half-restored from a most ruinous condition, a few small living houses, and some timber-sheds. These latter are picturesque buildings, consisting of a few upright posts sup porting roofs of withered palm-leaves. Under their eaves colonies of gigantic green spiders, as large as thrush's eggs, watch their webs, undisturbed from year's end to year's end. The whole sleepy, beautiful village lies under the shade of an avenue of large mango-trees. From this avenue the view riverward is of an enormous stretch of water ; the view land ward is of a tangled shrubbery of flowering bushes, from BARTICA GROVE. 5 which rise groups of graceful palms, and is bounded in the distance by the edge of the forest. The ditches and paths in the village are choked by great masses of maidenhair ferns and silver-backed gymnograms. The. decaying village is now chiefly inhabited by so-called ' river-men.' These are idle negroes and half-castes who make a living on the timber-grants, or as best they can. There are also a few inhabitants of a better kind, chiefly store-keepers. As many of the river-men have had considerable practice in passing the falls which so greatly obstruct the rivers of the country, these men have generally been employed as boat- hands by travellers into the interior. They are, however, as I had found on a previous occasion, an unmanageable and disagreeable set, and it is, therefore, far pleasanter to employ only Indians, who are not only much more easily managed, but also — and this is a most important consideration to a traveller who must make companions of his crew — are far more pleasant in manner. Having already made the neces sary arrangements, I was met at the Grove by a crew of Macusi Indians who were to accompany me into the interior. The party consisted of nay-compamons Messrs. Flint and Eddington, myself, and our-Jndiaas^ For some distance from Bartica Grove we passed through scenery which, if somewhat monotonous, is yet extremely beautiful, and is characteristic of this timber tract. The river in this part varies from about one and a half to two miles in width. A few islands of various sizes are scattered through the reaches. The banks on both sides of the river, as well as the islands, are everywhere clothed, down to the edge of the water, with rounded masses of foliage, generally laurel like in character, and really, though not apparently, rising to a great height. The whole scene is on so gigantic a scale that these forests seem hardly more than low bush. There was but little flower to add to the colour ; but here and there, highest among the banked foliage, a mora-tree, breaking into new leaf of most varied shades, white, pale liver-coloured, a deeper red, and occasionally even a deep bright crimson, stood 6 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. ..out in vivid contrast with the varied greens of the surrounding trees. Lower on the bank of foliage, the large white and crimson flowers and huge dark pods of the white chocolate- tree (Paohira aquatica, Aubl.) attracted the eye to where small flights of day-bats, startled by our passing boat, flitted about among the roots which rose from the water in the shadow of the overhanging trees. Some fifteen miles above the Grove, the river suddenly contracts to a width of less than a quarter of a mile, forming a narrow reach called the ' Monkey Jump,' through which the current forces its way with great violence. Passing through this we came out in a very few minutes into a new reach of the river, wider than before. With a careful pilot a small steamer might penetrate a little beyond the ' Monkey Jump,' to a point a few miles be fore the first falls on the river at Aretaka. A few years ago a path was cut through the forest from this highest point navigable for a steamer to the Kaieteur fall on the Potaro river, which in height, volume, and in the beauty of the surrounding scenery, must rank among the very finest falls in the world. Probably, however, it will be long before this path, which was cut under Government direction in the hope of attracting strangers, is made easy enough for the ordinary traveller. At present it has not been once used, and much of it is already obliterated by the rapid growth of tropical vegetation. Opposite to the point from which this path starts stands Moraballi, a cluster of .three houses, inhabited by a wood cutter and his family, and interesting to us_as__tJifi_last>-ciYi- lised houses which we were to see for sixjmrmfchs. The scenery was characteristic. The sheet of water, some four miles in length and from two to three in width, was closed at either end by a curve in the course of the river. The smooth and lake-like water was broken in some half-dozen places by projecting rocks on which there was perhaps a bush or two, or at least some long waving grass. In one place a school of white river porpoises was splashing MORABALLI. ' 7 up the water. The banks framing the scene were every where clothed with a dense mass of trees, the foliage of which passed in varied and rounded curves down to the edge of the water. These trees, really of enormous height, seemed but a low, even-topped, far-extending ' bush.' In one place only were the banks cleared of trees ; and there, under the shade of two enormous clumps of gracefully arching bamboos stood the wooden-galleried cottages of Moraballi. Among these houses were a few crimson-flowered hibiscus bushes, and behind was a tree, at that time white with flower, like an English cherry-tree in May. A wonderfully clear, yellowish light was over the whole picture. . Just beyond the houses, Moraballi creek runs into the Essequibo. These creeks, or tributary streams, some of which are of such considerable size that they might well be called rivers, are very numerous throughout the courses of most of the rivers of Guiana. It was in passing up this very creek, on a previous occa sion, that I first understood the beauty of a tropical forest. On the main rivers the scenery is too large to be well understood; but these smaller streams give more definite impressions. Moraballi creek is about the width of the Cher well at Oxford. The bright, dark red, wine-coloured water runs, arched over by gigantic trees and palms and ferns, through dense shade. The swampy banks are thickly set with ferns and large lily-leaved arc-ids. At the water's edge a carpet of half-transparent filmy ferns and mosses is kept continually moist. From the trees which meet over head, roots and leafless stems of wiry creeping plants hang down to the water ; and on some of these humming-birds fix their tiny nests. There is no colour ; the light is very dim ; the air is very cool and almost chilly. But in one place, where a tree had fallen and left a space in the forest roof, the glorious and intensely blue sky appeared, its colour thrown into extraordinary vividness by a wreath of scarlet-blossomed passion-flower which had thrown itself across the open space from tree to tree. On. the fallen tree, now lying leafless and 8 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. branchless across the stream, almost touching the water, perched a great grey-blue kingfisher, which, frightened by the approach of our boat, flew screaming down the dark, arched streamway which lay beyond us. But I should never end were I to try to describe all the beauties of this creek; so I must satisfy myself by adding that the peculiarly impressive effect of a tropical forest is never more apparent than in such creeks. Leaving Moraballi, we soon reached the farthest point to which the tide runs. This is some sixty miles from the sea, at the first rapids, called Aretaka, which separate the timber from the forest tract. These rapids, which interrupt the course of the river for upwards of fifteen miles, are very similar, differing probably only in their greater or less length, to most of those which obstruct the rivers of Guiana and render navigation difficult; so that a description of these will serve to give a general idea of all. In Aretaka rapids it is impossible to form an idea of the real width of the river. As far as the eye can see is a vast extent of water, from which rise many rocks and islands- of all sizes. The rocks sometimes stand singly, sometimes in groups, sometimes piled in large numbers one over the other ; some of. these support a few water-guava bushes or even a few stunted and gnarled trees. The larger islands are generally covered with trees, and often, from their extent, are hardly distinguishable from the banks of the river. The water rushes, gurgling and foaming, in all directions among the boulders. A few banks of yellow sand crop out among the rocks. It was normally the dry season, and an abnormal droxight had prevailed for a year and a half, so that the bed of the river was even more exposed than usual. On the larger islands and on the banks of these rapids live a good many Indians, chiefly Caribs, and a few half-breeds between negroes and Indians, called ' Cobungrus.' These latter retain the many good qualities of the Indian, and to these they add the few good qualities, such as physique and strength, of the West Indian negro. We took up our IN ARETAKA RAPIDS. 9 quarters for a few days at the house of one bf these Cobun- grus, a finely built man named Cephas, more than half Carib, who held by commission from the governor of the colony the oddly combined offices of rural constable and chief of the Indians of the Essequibo river. His curly hair gave indications of his black blood, but in all other respects he looked and lived a true Indian. As he limped down to meet us under the trees at the waterside, his naked red skin, relieved only by the usual dark blue lap or loin cloth, and by a splendid necklace of highly pdishecLteeth of bush-hogs or peccaries, he was cei-tainly-a/picturesque figure. The cause of his limp was evident -in^a^horribleJooking wound con spicuous on one shin. This had been produced twenty- seven months previously by the bite of a large snake. The wound kept him in his hammock for fifteen months, but since that he had been able to get about as freely as ever except for the odd hopping action in his walk. Some little distance from the river, on top of a hill, the three or four huts which form the settlement stand, sur rounded by charred trunks of trees, by cassava and other plants cultivated by the Indians, and by razor grass (Seleria sdndens) and other weeds, in a clearing walled by tall forest trees. The houses consisted only of four posts supporting a roof of palm leaves. The women were at the moment engaged in making cassava bread. The rich red colour of their skin, made yet more red by paint, the red waistcloths which . formed their only dress, the red-dyed cotton bands which were fastened round their legs, below the knee and above the ankle, the vast quantities of red beads round their necks and waists, and the many red-stained eot^on-hamrnocksvslxmg in the houses made up a striking picture— a_haxmpnyjn^red and brown. As on every other occasion in which I have taken up my quarter in the houses of Indians of various tribes, the people were civil, hospitable, and pleasant. On this occasion hospi tality was largely exercised in bringing us calabashes of casiri > — a slightly alcoholic drink made of cassava, maize, and sweet- 10 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. potatoes, which tastes, not unpleasantly, like something be tween sour porter and_thin_claret. AsTour obJeetTlnltaying at Aretaka was to fill up some Vacancies in our crews, and as after a stay of two days we found it impossible to get men to man more than two canoes, we had to leave the third behind, and on the morning of the 22nd of February our expedition, as finally organised, made its real start up the river. One day passes very like another to the traveller as he ascends the river in his canoe. During the first two days we were slowly making our way up the Aretaka rapids. The rocks, on account of the unusual dryness of the season; were very much exposed, and the water-channels between them, though numerous, were both narrow and- shallow. The canoes often had to be dragged by main force over the rocky floor. Where the channels were deeper the water rushed down more violently, and it was difficult to haul the canoes against the current. But the Indians worked Tfonder^ f uilj^Sbme swam, and had hard work to keep their eoivrgem the rushing water. Others, up to their waists or even up to their necks in water, stood on half-submergedjcacks_hauling by means of ropes attached to the canoes. All laughed and 'shouted ; and the roar of the river half-drowneaTherr noise. The only woman of the party worked at least as energeti cally as the men. Once she suddenly lost her footing, slipped, and was swept down the river, the ciirrentjajrying; her right under the canoe. The half-terrified, half-amused N expression on her wholly, hideous face, when it reappeared from under the water, was most ludicrous. She swam like a fish, and was soon running on the rocks and pulling again as strongly as ever. All Indians, men and women alike, swim splendidly, but with a peculiar action. The legs are hardly spread, but are bent somewhat downward at an angle to the trunk, and are then suddenly again straightened,- thus driving' forward the body of the swimmer. Here the confusion may be noted which is caused by the fact that travellers in those parts make no distinction in their MOE. 1 1 use of the words ' rapid,' c cataract,' and < fall ' respectively. The first word should, it seems to me, be confined to places where the water passes down a very slight, however long, in cline, usually among many scattered rocks. A c cataract ' is a place where a great body of water falls suddenly down a ledge of rock, abrupt but not perpendicular. Lastly, the word ' fall ' should only be used of such places where the water falls abruptly down an unbroken cliff-like face of perpendicular rock, usually from a more considerable height than in the former cases. If these terms were used only in this wav a very considerable increase in clearness would be given to our maps, and travellers would know better what lies before them. Among our crew was a Macusi boy called Moe, the son of the woman just mentioned. He was returning to his home on the savannah, after having spent two years in the service of a coloured man in Georgetown, where he had learned to speak English and to wear clothes. It was strange how quickly he now fell back into his old Indian habits. Even on the first day he threw off his clothes and resumed the ordinary Indian lap, a narrow strip of cloth passed between the legs, and suspended in front and at the back on a string tied round the waist. As he moved about among the other Indians, it was very evident that the clothes which he had worn for two years had made his skin become much fairer in tint. Strangely enough, he alone of all the Indians looked naked, and it was some months before the lighter tint of his skin, with the consequent effect of naked ness, disappeared. In other respects also he differed from the other Indians. He was even from the first lively and talkative, while they were for some time reserved and shy. He had learned some ugly tricks in town, such as swearing, though he did not know the meaning of the bad? language he used. Once when I was teasing him, he calmly and with a pretty smile recommended me 'to go to hell,\ Baas.' The banks of the Essequibo above Aretaka are almost 12 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. uninhabited, even by Indians ; throughout the several hun dred miles of country through which we passed between Aretaka and the mouth of the Eoopoonooni, we came across but three or four settlements. Our camps, therefore, were generally made in the forest. As, however, Indians are continually passing up and down the river, there are cer tain recognised camping- places, from which the bush has been cleared. Sometimes, however, when as night approached we were not near one of those places, we had to clear ground for ourselves in the bush. The nights spent in the open air in the tropics are a pleasant memory. By the time the camp was ready the daylight had faded, and our fires alone threw round a circle of nickering light, contrasting strangely with, the darkness of the surrounding forest. Where the firelight was strongest the Indians lay, smoking and talking in their hammocks, close to each of which was a fire, which occasionally flared up and seemed to lick the naked skins of the Indians through the meshes of the hammock. Not content with this, the Indians sometimes made the boys take lighted palm-leaves and singe them as they lay in their hammocks, this strange proceeding being intended to de stroy savage insects. One by one the Indians fell asleep. Various kinds of frogs kept up an almost deafening concert of marvellously varied croaks, some musical, some most unmusical. One imitated the beat of paddles striking in regular time against the sides of a canoe after the Indian custom ; and the like ness was the more deceitful because the sound alternately rose and fell gradually as though a canoe came up the river, passed the camp, and was then paddled up the stream out of ear-reach. Often and often I have lain long in doubt whether the sound heard was caused by paddles or by frogs. And while the frogs croaked, every now and then a night jar flitted swiftly and most silently by, and then suddenly shrieked out its loud cry of ' Work-vjorlMuorh-to-hell.' Or another and larger species began to moan out the four notes of its most hideous and depressing cry of ' Who-ivho-who- NIGHT IN THE FOREST. 13 who,' each note sounded in rapid Succession, the first shrill arid high-pitched, each of the succeeding ones lower, and the last an almost inaudible moan. It is only comparable to the cry of a despairing and dying human being. At times was heard the noise — something between a snort and a bellow — of a cayman ; and at other times mysterious sounds, resem bling the crack of pistol-shots, which I afterwards found were caused by caymans raising their tails into the air and bring ing them down sharply on the surface of the water. Toward morning the loudest and most, appalling noise of all broke out. Beginning suddenly in a deep roar, it became louder and louder, till the whole forest rang with 'the din. It is hardly possible on first hearing this to believe that the terrific roar is produced only by the somewhat small red howling monkey (Mycetes seniculus), called baboon in the colony. Before daylight the Indians were out of their hammocks, making preparation for the coming day's journey. A plunge into the river was the first thing. In the early morning the temperature near the river is comparatively low ; though the thermometer stands perhaps at 70°, the air feels as chilly as on an autumn day in England, and the water, having retained much of the warmth imparted by the sun of the previous day, seems by contrast like that of a warm bath. And now the sound and sights of the day began. Some toucans, perched on the very highest boughs of a tall tree, were revelling in the morning sun, and greeting it with their usual yelping cries. Emphasis is given to each puppy like yelp by an odd and comical antic ; the head is jerked down, the tail lifted almost at right angles to the body. In the distance an Indian canoe appeared from behind a bend in the river. The naked skins of the Indians in it literally flashed red iri the intense light. A scarlet ibis (Ibis rubra) — the only one, by the way, that I ever saw so high up on this river— flew by and settled upon a tree between us and the approaching canoe; but :& hardly looked more red 1-1 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. than did the Indians. Flights of parrots, crying shrilly, began to pass over the river to their feeding grounds,- flying so high that their colours were not to be discerned. From the forest the '.pi-pi-yo,' or greenheart bird (Lipangua cine- raceus), began incessantly to cry its own Indian name ; this is, if not the commonest, yet certainly the most noticed bird in the forests of Guiana, for its shrill cry, heard nearly all day long, is the most characteristic sound of these forests. Having no animal food, we stopped early in the day to hunt. Half the booty, a young tapir, was given to the Indians, who, as usual, immediately boiled and began' to eat it ; for an Indian, when he gets flesh, is never satisfied until it is all eaten, after which he contentedly does without- animal food until he has sufficient energy to go and procure a fresh supply. The other half of the tapir was put on a babracot to dry. A babracot is a small stage of green sticks, built- some two feet above the fire, on which the flesh is placed and smoked. Flesh treated in this way, though it loses its- dis tinctive flavour, keeps good for many days even in that climate. Just opposite to us was Gluck Island, which I visited on another occasion to examine a pond long known as one of the native haunts of the Victoria r-egia lily. The pond was so closely surrounded by high and rankly luxuriant vegetation that it was impossible to see, the water from the damp, swampy banks. But by climbing a tree which grew out over the water, and so getting above the thick growth of tall reeds and prickly palms, we got a view over the whole pond. Except one small plant at the further end,, the lily had entirely disappeared; this was probably owing to the late times of dry weather, which had caused the pond to dry and so allowed the heat of the sun to kill the plants. The same fate had happened during the past season to the lily in several ponds in and near Georgetown, into which it had been introduced. While climbing down from my post of observation on the tree, I heard the Indians shouting out that they had INDIAN MEALS. 15 found a cayman's nest. Among the deep mass of rotting leaves on the bank of the pond, in a gloomily dark and clamp place under trees and reeds, was a fitting spot for such a nest. On a large heap of decaying vegetable matter, evidently collected by the parent cayman, lay thirty-seven large, long-shaped eggs with thick, porcelain-like shells. The True Caribs greedily seized them as a delicacy. After- <- wards, at dinner, I eat part of one of the eggs, boiled hard, | and found it very like a duck's egg in texture and taste, but with a faintly perceptible flavour of musk. Just as we were going to sleep that night, the Indians insisted on loading the guns and placing them near our hammocks, saying that there were Ackawoi kenaimas, or murderers, about. We had seen men of that tribe passing and repassing during the afternoon ; but I need hardly say that the assertion that these had murderous intentions to wards us was unfounded. It is, however, very common for one tribe to make this accusation against the members of another tribe. There is, as will presently be explained, some occasional foundation for it. The Ackawois bear a particularly bad character in this respect. Far into the night the Indians, sitting in a circle round the camp fires, continued to gorge their food ; and at last, ' when weary of sitting up to eat, they threw themselves into their hammocks, over which they had suspended certain dainty morsels of meat so. as to hang close by their mouths, that no time might be lost whenever they happened to wake. Their power of gorging is really wonderful ; I once was able to calculate the amount consumed in thirty-six hours by ten men, and found it to be 252 lbs. of smoked fish, 62 lbs. of fresh fish, a whole wild hog, and an indefinite quantity of cassava bread. Before full dawn the next morning I was roused by the sound of a monotonous chant, varied occasionally by a couple of most distressing grunts — La, la, caviana, ana, ani, La, la, caviana, ana, ani, La, la, caviana, ana, ani, Ugh, ugh. 16 | AMONG THE INDIANS OE GUIANA. The singer was Moe, and he explained, pointing to a heron, flying high over the river, that the honure, i.e. the heron, is a peaiman (a medicine man), who was singing- this song as he flew. The heron at any rate gains one advantage by being a peaiman ; for no Macusi will eat its flesh.. The Indians, having finished all their meat, now announced their intention of waiting while the best hunts man amongst them went to try to get the mother tapir. To my great satisfaction this hunter came back empty- handed ; for if he had been successful we should have pro bably have had to wait till this new supply of meat had been consumed. That day was spent in travelling along -smooth reaches of the river, which are more monotonous, though even there the scenery is beautiful. The banks of the river are every where covered by dense forests, which sometimes grow on low flat land, sometimes on rocky and undulating slopes, and sometimes clothe a solitary mountain . or small range of mountains up ,to the very highest rock. But most wonderful of all are the views which may be obtained by climbing to the top of some of the hills, and looking down on the great and wide sea of tree-tops ending only at the circle of the horizon, and unbroken except where here and there a long narrow thread of white mist, lying along the tree-tops, marks the winding course of some small stream. As among the falls, innumerable islands, some of consider able extent, stud the river and hide its real width from the eye. The beauty of the scenery is in great measure due to the effect ofthe distant views as seen between the approaching headlands of each two of these islands. The traveller from his canoe in the centre of a lake-like expanse of still water, in the midst of a group of these islands, sees the water flowing toward and from him, through many channels, each of which is framed by" the trees overhanging from two neighbouring islands. In the more open reaches of the river, in the dry season, when the water is low, banks of bright yellow sand swell up from the water, and either form islands, often of very con- RIVER SCENERY. 17 siderable extent, or fill the bays in the curves of the river- banks. Twice in each year, when at the end of each wet season these sandbanks show above water, the river turtles, which are very numerous, lay their eggs in the sand ; and gull-like razor-bills (Rhynchops nigra) make their uncovered nests on the sand, and wheel about them incessantly uttering their harsh cry. One evening we reached a hut on the Paripie creek be longing to some half-bred Brazilian Indians. These people, called Nikari-karus, are hybrids between Brazilians and Indians of various tribes. Their proper home is on the frontier of British and Brazilian territory; and the few settled on the Essequibo are deserters from the frontier forts and cattle farms, where, at any rate till recently, the labour done was forced. Except in two respects the habits of these people scarcely differ from those of the native Indians of the English territory. They make their cassava into farine, in stead of into bread ; and in making their hammocks they use coloured cotton, generally blue or yellow, instead of white, and the web is more close, and somewhat different from that of the ordinary Indian. At Yuearisi, a mile or two beyond Paripie, is another of these Brazilian settlements ; higher up the river, at Arinda, is a third ; and there is another on the Eoopoonooni river near Anahee. . These, T believe, are all While sleeping in a house at Paripie several of our party were sucked by bats. I never could succeed in inducing a bat to taste my blood, though men sleeping round and close to me have frequently been attacked. These animals are a serious trouble to some travellers ; for they seem to have a special liking for some people, an abhorrence of others. An Indian boy who served me for a short time was nearly bled to death by their nightly attacks. No amount of care seemed to prevail against them. To keep a light burning, which is often said to prevent their attacks, proved useless in his case. His parents used to sit up night after night to watch, and while they watched the bats never made an attack; but as soon as they fell asleep the bats bit and blood began to flow. 18 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. The bite seems to cause not the slightest pain ; and the danger lies, not so much in the quantity of blood sucked by the animals, as in that which afterwards flows from the un noticed wound. One morning about this time the Indians noticed my sponge, and expressed much wonder about it. Moe, as usual, put himself foiward as spokesman. First he guessed that it was a hat; then a bird's-nest; then a shoe. When its use was practically illustrated, the whole company were overcome with laughter. After passing the mouth of the Potaro river, on which is the Kaieteur fall, the men began to hunt for turtles' eggs in the sand-banks ; and just before reaching Warrapoota they found a considerable number. The Brazilians at Yucarisi had given us some of these eggs smoked and dried. But in this state, though they keep good a considerable time, they cannot be recommended for delicacy of flavour. Now, how ever, that we got them fresh from the nest it was a very different matter. Those which we first found were about the shape and size of pigeons' eggs, with roughish and very elastic shells, or, rather, skins. Another species of turtle, equally common in these rivers, lays a much larger and rounder egg. Both kinds are boiled ; the albumen is expressed, and the yelk, which is then of a buttery consistency, is eaten. These eggs are certainly very delicious food. The Indians fully appreciate them, and, though they will not touch the egg of a fowl, consume these turtle eggs greedily. I have occa sionally seen large canoes literally filled with the eggs which Indians have collected. The egg of the iguana lizard (Iguana tuberculata) is very similar, and is equally sought after. At Warrapoota cataracts I for the first time saw the rock- pictures which form so strange an addition, to some of the landscapes of this part of South America. A large number of somewhat conspicuous figures are engraved on the surfaces of a group of granite boulders in the very midst of the cataract. PAIWARIKAIRA. 19 Camping that evening just above Warrapoota, I was once more disturbed by a freak of the Indians in the middle of the night. Eoused by a moving light, I saw a procession of our Indians moving round the camp ; foremost was one apparently taking aim with his gun ; behind were others of whom each held a blazing palm-branch high over his head. To my sleepy remonstrances they replied that they had heard an omar (an evil being) and that they were looking for it ; but, as the tracks showed in the morning, the noise had been made by a poor little labba (Codogenys paca). The next day was memorable. We passed Paiwarikaira, a large granite boulder which rests on a slender columnar base. It is commonly reported that a certain Dutchman,- when his countrymen possessed the land, brought a hundred slaves to overturn the rock ; but he failed, and the rock re mains to this day in position, to interest the traveller and to awe the passing Indian. No Indian, unless he be a peai man, willingly looks at Paiwarikaira ; for the sight of it is followed by misfortune. Heedless of this, and regardless of the entreaties of the Indians, I approached, and even touched the rock. When, shortly afterwards, it began to rain the Indians attributed this solely to my disrespectful treatment of Paiwarikaira ; nor, as will presently be shown, was this the only evil that befel us, as my men said, in consequence. Only abotit two hundred yards higher up the river is another rock in which, according to the half-civilised Indians, God has shut up a negro, who is not to be let out until for one whole year he ceases to swear. His chance of freedom, if he is like most of his race, must be small indeed. The Indians' hatred of black men is noticeable in this and many other circumstances. That evening we were stopped for the first time by a fall, up which it was impossible to take the loaded canoes ; but in the morning they were unloaded, hauled up empty, and then reloaded. Among our men was a peaiman, or medicine man, who about this time gave me some trouble. He used to tie his c2 20 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. hammock to the same tree to which mine was tied; and being, like all Indians, very restless at night, he frequently shook and disturbed me. On telling him to move his ham mock he did so with a very bad grace, and when I laughed at him, he angrily and somewhat inconsequently told Moe that ' he was not afraid of us.' Some fresh offence being again given to this man, he, once more using Moe as an interpreter, remarked that he would kill us all, and even mentioned the order in which he would do this. We shortly had good reason to remember this remark. Misfortunes now began to fall thickly upon us. First, our bread was exhausted, and it was with great difficulty that we obtained a small fresh supply from one of the .few Indian settlements on the river. Then sickness appeared among us. Moe, owing, not improbably, to his sudden rejection of clothes, had been ill for some days. He and another boy, named Woijeau, were our cooks. The peaiman, who was usually unwilling to do work of any sort, of his own accord now undertook to prepare our meals. Soon after, one by one, we all became ill, in exactly the order in which the peaiman had threatened to kill us. I cannot prove the case against the man, but I have little doubt that he intentionally- caused our illness; the Indians, on the other hand, were convinced that the misfortune was due to our disrespectful treatment of Paiwarikaira. This illness greatly impeded our progress. Fever was especially prevalent. As a similar misfortune is very likely to attack all travellers in that land, where the days are always burningly hot, the nights, by comparison, bitterly cold, and the atmosphere is always saturated with moisture, it may not be out of place to say that these attacks, though frequent and very troublesome, are but^rarely dangerous. The traveller of ordinarily good constitutiom7)who leads a temperate life, need not fear anything more than great dis comfort. If, on the other hand, his system has been satu rated with alcohol, or broken by other excesses, there is considerable danger. To this cause must be attributed the HEALTH IN THE INTERIOR. 21 fatal consequences which have overtaken more than one of those who have travelled in the interior of Guiana, and which have given a reputation for unhealthiness to that country. Having carefully examined the history of various unfortunate expeditions into the interior, I could, were it not an ungrate ful thing to many still living, show that most of the mis fortunes have been due to some form of intemperance. Once or twice also, men have gone into the bush when no longer young and, unaccustomed to the hardship often unavoidable- in such a life, these men have been knocked up for life. In addition to fever, two other forms of illness — dysentery and ophthalmia — both of which at a later time attacked members of our party, must be carefully guarded against. Ophthalmia is very common indeed among the Indians, nearly every individual of whom has weak eyes in conse quence. The disease seems very readily to affect travellers, its germs being probably conveyed from the eyes of some Indians to those of the new comer by the countless tiny flies which settle constantly on the eyeball and thus form one of the most serious plagues of that country. The form in which ophthalmia occurs is extremely severe, and, as I saw in two distinct and entirely unconnected cases, affects the brain, in. the case of white men at least, and produces delirium. But on the whole these interior lands are not unhealthy. Owing to the illness of so many of our party, and to the now complete failure in our supply of provisions, it was with great pleasure that, on the fourteenth day after our start from Aretaka, we reached the site of an old Dutch settlement at Arinda, where a family of half-bred Brazilians have now established themselves. Some groups of fine coffee-trees, long left untended, alone mark the site of the old Dutch settlement entered in the map published by Hartzinc in 1770 as 'Post Arinda.' It was the highest on this river, with the exception of a small plantation, probably a branch establishment, of which there are still some traces at Ouropocari, some few miles further .up the river, -;22 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. The Dutch had pushed so far up most of the rivers, that it seems probable that if the. country had been left in their hands it would now have been fully utilised. But when their rule was confined to the comparatively small district. of Surinam, their interest in the whole of Guiana cooled, and the development of the colony received a check from which it has not yet begun to recover. Arinda now lies a twelve days' journey beyond civilisation, and a group of four Indian huts, occupied by Nikari-karus and by some Portuguese now alone occupy the place. After a three days' stay at Arinda, having got rest and provisions, we once more started on our way. After a few hours we passed the mouth of a creek, called Haimara-kuroo by the Indians, from which a path leads across to the Demerara river. Neither the path nor the creek are marked in any of the maps of Guiana. The courses of the two rivers are almost parallel, and not far apart, and there are several of these connecting paths between the two. , They are made and used by the Indians of the savannah, who go by that way to work for short periods on the wood-cutting grants of the Demerara river. At noon on the second day after leaving, Arinda we reached the falls at Ouropocari. On the rocks at the side of one of the channels of this are some more rock-drawingsy very similar in character to those at Warrapoota, The channels at Ouropocari being often impracticable for loaded canoes, there is a portage, or path, along which, the Indians carry their canoes and their goods separately from , the bottom to the top of the fall, where they reload their canoes. These portages exist at the side of nearly all the larger falls on this river, and are frequently used; but on the less- frequented rivers of Guiana it is, often necessary for each traveller to make such a portage for himself. This is no easy work. The trees have to be felled and the. ground cleared ; and skids have to be laid at very short distances from each other along the whole path. When this has been done, the travellers harness themselves by a rope attached to •A TIGER.' 23 the bows of the boat, like a team of horses, and the boat is very quickly drawn over. At the highest point of this portage-path there is a huge boulder, one side of which is most curiously marked by regular and deep natural flirtings. One morning, soon after passing Ouropocari, I was lying in high fever under the tent of the canoe, which was passing steadily through a wide reach of shallow water in the middle of which was a small wooded island. Suddenly the Indians began to shout loudly. One who was nearest to me seized me by the feet and pulled me out of the tent. We were close by the island. From its banks a large jaguar was quietly examining us. Almost irrimediately it left the island, and, fording the shallow river, passed across our bows to the mainland. Unfortunately the other two canoes were out of sight, and I was too miserable and weak to' care to use my gun. Most unexpectedly one of the Indians found courage to face the beast, and, running close up, shot an arrow into it. A shake made the arrow fall out, and with a roar the animal sprang into the forest on the mainland and disap peared. That night fever raged yet more strongly in some of our party, and it was necessary to rest next day from wearisome cano e-tra veiling. In the morning, to amuse themselves, the Indians set fire to -the trunk of a dead tree which had fallen and leaned from the top of the bank, there somewhat high, down to the edge of the water. The flames crept along the log and irr time seized upon the bush on the top of the bank. In this way it continued to advance until it was close to our camp. Two or three times during the day the Indians were sent to beat it down ; which they did with a very bad grace, seeming to expect us to stop the mischief which they themselves had caused. In the afternoon the fire caught the brushwood round the stem of a huge, half-dead mora-tree, and by dusk it had cleared a considerable space round this and left the mora standing in the- centre of a circle of other trees, the 24 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. tops of which all met overhead. Just after dusk a loud roar told that the central tree had at last also burst into flame, and before long its trunk formed a pillar of fire. This was not pleasant, for the tree was some hundred feet high, and was not sixty feet from our camp. But we were very loth to move ; and so, knowing that a tree generally falls towards the nearest space — in this case the river — we took our chance. The darkness round the circle of the- fire, intense as it usually is under those gigantic trees, seemed by contrast unusually great. The fire bumed within a huge green dome, formed by the leafage above and around the flaming trunk. Each leaf stood out distinctly iri the fierce glow of the fire. Sparks soon began to fall from the blazing centre, and then presently fell in a continuous shower. Birds .and butterflies, startled from their rest, together with moths and bats, darted here and there among the burning masses, and sometimes fell into the fire. As the flame crept higher and higher up the tree, the roar became louder and louder, till suddenly the fire leaped up with a deafening noise into the masses of dried leaves overhead. Presently a creaking sound was heard, warning that the trunk would not stand much longer. But at last the end came with ter rible suddenness, and the creaking sound was lost in a loud crash. The noise made by a great tree, as^it falls in the silence of those forests, is at all times wonderful.) It is like the crash of thunder followed by the ^prolonged, hurrying din of a land slip ; but in it there is anotheTrawful and indescribable ele ment. And when the sound at last suddenly ceases, it is followed by a strangely contrasting silence. But in this case the fire added yet more to the grandeur of the effect. No silence came after the tree had fallen ; for the fire blazed with renewed fierceness, and almost bellowed, as in triumph, among the tops of the surrounding trees. The suddenness of the fall startled me, ill and weak as I was, out of my hammock more quickly than I ever got out of it on any other occasion. But the tree had fallen toward A BURNING TREE. 25 the river, and all danger was over. Yet throughout the night blazing fragments continued to fall at intervals. On the next day we reached the cataracts of Akramukra, and, on the day following, those at Eappoo. These latter take their name from a kind of bamboo which grcnvs on the islands- among them, and which is much used by the savan nah Indians for making arrow-heads, which are, we were told, as poisonous as those tipped with ourali. I afterwards tried one of these rappoo arrows ; but the fowl which was shot showed no symptoms of poison; and an Indian who was standing by ingenuously remarked that a rappoo arrow is only poisonous when it enters far enough into the body. This recalls another Indian story. A plant is said to grow some where, a stick from which proves fatal to any living thing at which it is pointed. The virtues of this are supposed to have been discovered by an Indian woman, who, when suddenly attacked by a jaguar, seized the nearest stick to defend her self, and pointed it at the animal, which immediately fell dead. These rapids of Eappoo are the last up which we had to pass during this particular canoe-journey. The course of the Essequibo is smooth from here to some distance beyond the junction of the Eoopoonooni river, up which we were going. The falls above this junction,near the source of the Essequibo, are of very great height and difficulty, and present a barrier as yet insuperable to travellers who have attempted to pass up the higher Essequibo. The Eoopoonooni also is free from falls from its mouth to beyond the point at which we were to leave the river and begin our life on the savannah, at Pirara landing. From Eappoo, driven as usual by want of bread, we pressed on, and reached Apooterie, a Carib settlement at the junction of the Eoopoonooni with the Essequibo, the same. evening. The head man of the place received us hospitably into his house. But within an hour of our arrival his wife gave birth to. twins ; so that, much to. the surprise of the Indians, we preferred to remove our hammocks to an unfinished house which; stood in the same clearing. It was used as a 26 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. storehouse for a large quantity of badly dried fish ; arid the evil smell from this mingled strangely with the sweet scent which came in from some blossoming coffee-trees outside. During our two days' stay here the chief amusement was afforded by the tame animals which, as usual in an Indian settlement, thronged the place. Among these were more than a dozen parrots of different kinds, two macaws, two trumpet-birds, two troupials, three monkeys, some powis! or curassow birds, and a sunbird. After two days' stay at Apooterie, we started again, and, leaving the Essequibo, passed up the Eoopoonooni fiver. The water of the latter, unlike the clear, dark-red water of the Essequibo, is opaque, and of yellowish-white colour. The river is about five hundred yards wide. Its banks are wooded, though far less luxuriantly than those of the main river. The water, being at that time excessively low, in places left much exposed the high, cliff-like banks of white clay, crowned by weather-beaten trees, shrubs, and palms ; in other places, long even stretches of water-guava bushes (Psidium aromaticum and P. aquaticum), looking like English osier-beds, edged the river. The palms, here much more numerous than on the Essequibo, gave character to the scenery. /" The withered, scrub-like appearance of the vegetation was no doubt partly due to the neighbourhood of the savan nah, to which we were now coming near ; but it was also doubtless partly due to the abnormal dryness of the previous seasons, for when I afterwards passed down this river in the high rainy season, the plant growth, at least near the mouth, was far more luxuriant, though even then greatly inferior to that on the Essequibo. During the rainy season the Eoopoonooni presents a very different scene. The banks, instead of appearing as clay cliffs, are then almost everywhere under water ; so that it is often hard to find sufficient dry ground on which to camp. Instead of an almost dry river-bed obstructed by many sand ridges, with high tree-capped banks, the sand ridges then lie thirty UP THE ROOPOONOONI. . 27 feet under water, and the trees, rising directly from the flood water, alone mark where the river-banks once were. On the first day of our journey up this river, we travelled long, and at a fairly rapid rate. But on the second day the sandbanks began to cause delay ; and from that point these increased so greatly in size and number, often covered only by an inch or two of water, and sometimes extending right across the river, as to offer a most serious obstacle to our progress. It was impossible to float the large and heavily loaded canoes over them. Sometimes it was just possible to drag them over by main force, as over dry land ; but more often it was necessary to dig a channel with the paddles. Once we had to wait for six hours to dig a channel through a sandbank of not more than three hundred yards in width ; and so on some occasions we did not advance a thousand yards in the day. These times of waiting were rendered almost unendurable by the great abundance of the small black kahoori fly, called in the Brazils pium, (Simidvum). From the Atlantic to the mouth of the Eoopoonooni the country is quite free from these terrible little blood-suckers ; but on this river they abound, as they do generally westward, especially on the rivers of the Amazon system. Wherever they settle on the flesh a small round patch of raised skin, distended by blood, is formed, and is very sore and trouble some. The naked bodies of the Indians, whose hands were occupied with the paddles," and who, therefore, could not pro tect themselves, were so wounded by these insects that it was sometimes difficult to detect any sound skin. Where these insects occur they are far more annoying than mosquitoes, which, abundant and almost universally distributed as they are on the coast-land, are only very locally distributed in the interior. We. slowly crept on for some time, but gradually made less and less progress each day. The labour of digging through the sandbanks and of dragging the canoes over by main force began to tell on the Indians, who grew weary and disheartened.. Cassava bread, which is almost essential to ,'28 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. their health and comfort, had again failed us ; and some of them who, like most Indians, had been sleek and fat, suddenly and in the course of but a day or two, became so thiri that they looked hardly more than skin and bone. One after another— ill, weary, or lazy— our men gave up working. One afternoon, when with infinite pains the canoes had been got halfway across a sandbank in a wide reach of river, the Indians declared they could not and would not move fiuther that day ; so we had to wade up the. river for about a mile until we found camping ground. Then the men spoke of a small settlement called Morai, not far from where we were. We sent there to get bread, but the mes sengers returned empty-handed. They had found the huts, but the people were almost famishing, and gave most ominous accounts of the famine which the long-continued drought had caused in the savannah. The next day the crisis came. We had been creeping on, even more slowly than usual, for about two hours, when we again stuck on a sandbank, from which it was declared utterly impossible without assistance to move the canoes forward or backward. There was nothing to be done but to form a camp in the bush and consult as to the next move. We were then about a day's walk — the distance by land being considerably less than by water — from; a considerable Macusi settlement called Quartama. Eddington, who was at the time the strongest of the party, undertook to. go on to this settlement, and there, if possible, to procure fresh crews, as well as a supply of provisions. Four tedious days we waited. One night, just as dusk fell, a tremendous thunderstorm broke over us, and lasted some hours. The waterproof sheet which I was using as a protection against the weather was not long enough to cover . the scale-lines of my cotton hammock ; and these lines getting soaked, acted as conductors for the water, till the whole hammock was saturated. Taught by experience, I afterwards found it better to remove the scale-lines from the hammock, so as to reduce its length as much as possible and FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE SAVANNAH. 29 make the work of sheltering it more easy. There can be no doubt that the hammock is the greatest possible luxury to a traveller camping out ; so that any expedient that may add to its importance is worthy of notice. Another night a labba came and lapped the soup out of a pan which stood actually under my hammock and within a foot of roy body. These animals are often very bold at night, when they occasionally even venture into inhabited Indian houses, in quest of any scraps of food that may be within their reach. These were literally the only events that broke the monotony of that dreary time. In the middle of the fifth night Eddington returned with a set of merry, shouting Macusis, very different from the disheartened set who had brought us so far. He also brought back an abundant supply of cassava, and the welcome news that a further supply would be waiting for us at Quartarma: ~~^C~y i^3Ye_jtarted very "hopefully the next day. The new men worked splendidly. The character of the country also began to chano-e. For some time past a comparatively narrow belt of forest on each side of the river had alone separated us from the savannah ; but now even this belt failed in places, and the open savannah came down to the river. After having been shut up for nearly two months in a dense, damp forest, to reach open country, to see a really wide plain, and to feel a real breeze, seemed to give new life. So we soon reached the ' waterside ' of Quartama. The settlement itself, as usual in the savannah region, is several miles from the river. But crowds of Macusis soon began to come down to us. Luckily the clearing in which was our camp was large, for all our visitors brought their hammocks and evidently meant to make a night of it. The spot was rather pretty. A piece of high ground, in the angle formed by the junction of a small creek with the Eoopoonooni, had been partially cleared, a few scattered trees only being left, to which hammocks might be tied. Up these singletrees multitudes of climbing palms (Desmoncus) had crept, and, reaching the top, had there woven their 30 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. tendrils into a dense tangle, so that the place was com pletely roofed over by fretted green palm-leaves and grape like clusters of scarlet palm-fruit. The place soon became densely crowded by men, women, children, dogs, and poultry ; for many of the Indians had brought their whole live stock with them. Under each hammock was a fire. The men— a few of them good-looking — were loaded with necklaces of the teeth of various animals and with beads, tassels of birds' skins, and wore brilliant feather crowns. They were generally finely built, and were, in short, a fine-looking set. Of the women, two or three of the younger were really pretty ; others had spoiled their ap pearance by painting broad streaks of black, moustache-like, over their mouths and from ear to ear. But the old women, as always among Indians, were really hideous. Almost every woman had brought a baby, as well as one or more older children. Some mothers carried their babies by placing one arm round the child's neck, so that the poor little wretch hung suspended agamst the mother's body; others, more careful, carried their babies in tiny hammocks suspended from their shoulders. Babies and children were all perfectly naked but for a necklace, which each wore, and a piece of twine tied round the body above the hips. Taking a fancy to one or two of these necklaces, I began to bargain with the mothers for them. One, made of deers' teeth, was really very pretty, and another consisted of three magnificent jaguar teeth. The mothers, stripping their children of these, their only garments, gave them in exchange for red beads ; the poor children screamed and bawled till, ashamed of my barbarity, I made peace by giving them some beads for themselves. In the meantime more Indians continued to arrive, until the whole available space was occupied. Each newcomer insisted upon shaking hands, a practice which they were told by our own men was customary among white men. After this the rest of our canoe journey passed quickly and pleasantly. The only drawback was the growing report of famine which met us at the settlements, which now PIRARA LANDING. 31 became more numerous. At Quartama we had certainly found abundance, but everywhere else there seemed to be great scarcity. Whole settlements were deserted, and in others, where a few old or infirm people remained, nothing but the seeds of palms and other plants were eaten. The change in the scenery continued and increased. The places where the savannah came down to the river- became more numerous ; and in no place were the two separated by more than a very narrow line of trees. In one spot a mountain, bare of trees up to its very top and with rocks cropping up here and there from the scanty herbage on its sides, afforded an entirely new feature in the scenery. A mountain, or even a hill, is most interesting in Guiana. One evening, landing at a creek called Mopai, we camped near a pond full of the splendid flowers and gigantic leaves of the royal water-lily (Victoria regia). Such a scene, in the soft and yet intense evening light of the tropics, is exquisite beyond description. Bound the pond was a wall of dark forest. Water-fowl abounded, dainty spur-Wings (Parra jacana) ran about on the lily leaves, and one of these birds had a nest on a leaf; high over head a flight of large white cranes (Mycteria americanaS) passed in Indian file to their night's rest. Flocks of vicissi-ducks (A. au- tiomnalis) rose, flew by, whistling out their name, 'vieissi — vicissi — vieissi ' ; and, a more practical matter, several fine musk-ducks (A. moschatus) rose, and fell to the guns. At last, on the 22nd of March, about midday, we reached our destination at Pirara landing, and so came to the limit of our canoe journey, having taken forty-nine days to traverse a distance that, under ordinarily favourable circumstances, ought to be passed in about twenty. 32 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. CHAPTEE II. A JOURNEY IN THE INTERIOR (continued). The Savannah— Indian Settlement at Qnatata— Indian Visitors— A Buck- gun— The city of El Dorado— Rain after Drought — Start for the Brazils Down the Takootoo — Fort St. Joaquim — Cattle Farms — Homeward — Fording Lake Amoocoo — The Rivers in the Rainy Season— A Notorious Murderer — Shooting the Falls. That night the Indians kept up a great firing of guns to attract the people from Quatata and Karanakru, two settle ments respectively nine and fifteen miles distant, across the savannah. They were wanted to carry our goods; for our own men, when they reached the landing-place, considered their duties at an end. At earliest dawn, the shrill sounds of Indian music were heard from a distance, and grew louder and louder. Then Macusis began to arrive in family parties, walking in single file, many of them playing on flutes made of the bones of jaguar or deer. In each party the men and boys came first, carrying only their bows and arrows ; after these came the women, burdened with the hammocks and other chattels of the whole party. As they came up to our hut, which was some distance from the water side, the men came in and talked to us, while the women stood outside in a shy, laughing group. Presently the. whole party moved on down to the river, where our baggage was ; and when it passed back again, the women were always more heavily loaded than the men. This went on at intervals throughout the day, and again early the next morning; so that eventually there were probably about sixty Macusis in all. When the last of the goods had been carried off, we ourselves started to walk to Quatata, which was to be our ACROSS THE SAVANNAH. 33 head-quarters for some months. The undulating savannah is chiefly arranged in parallel ridges, hills, and valleys, some times large and sometimes small, rapidly succeeding each other. The soil changes often and abruptly ; sometimes it is peaty (pegass), sometimes hard and impregnated with iron, sometimes gravelly, sometimes sandy. But whatever its nature, the soil, on the hills, is somewhat scantily covered by harsh grass, from which rise a few wind-blown, sunburnt shrubs. But in the moist valleys, of which some ai~e mere strips, lying between the ridges of higher ground, while others are vast, perfectly level plains, many miles in extent, the grass is high and luxuriant ; and these level plains are made beautiful by groups and forests of seta palms (Mauritia flexuosa), each with its exquisite crown of green fan leaves standing erect above the hanging fringe of older, withered leaves. The rising ground is everywhere dotted over with the huge nests of ants or termites, from two to ten feet high, built of yellow clay, and looking like very pointed haycocks. Sometimes, again, but at long intervals, stand palm-thatched, domed Indian houses, looking like haystacks. As a back ground to all this, in the far distance, on the right, is the Parcarairna range, and on the left are the Canakoo moun tains. At the end of our walk to Quatata, it was not pleasant to find that not only food, but water also, was fearfully scarce. In ordinary times there is a sufficient supply of the latter in a small river which runs past the foot of the hill on which Quatata stands. But in this extraordinary season, in one pool only was there a little water, thick and milk-white with clay, and unpleasantly tainted with iron. Quatata stands on high ground, within half a mile ofthe now extinct settlement of Pirara, which forty years ago was the scene of a dispute between the English and Brazilian Governments. A year or two before that event, a Mr. Youd, a clergyman of the Episcopalian Church j had established him self as missionary at Pirara. But the. Brazilians, who had at times made vague claims to that district, were stirred up by D 34 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. a Brazilian priest, Frater Jose dos Santos Innocentes, to enforce thek claim and at the same time to destroy the Protestant mission. A Brazilian force was sent from the frontier fort of St. Joaquim, and the priest accompanied the soldiers. The English missionary retired for a time to another station, but a company of English troops being sent from Georgetown to reinstate him, he returned to Pirara. The English on their arrival threw up an earthwork which yet remains to mark the site of Pirara, and, entrenching themselves in this, waited for some days. The Brazilians, in the meantime, looked on. At last, without coming to blows, both parties agreed to retire, leaving the question of the ownership of the savannah to be settled by diplomacy. The quarrel yet remains at that point. Meanwhile, Mr. Youd returned to Pirara, but was once more forced to retire, by ill health, caused^jjayjtiejhidians, by poison ; and before long he clieeL"- Thelndiansof Pirara, diiliking the disturbance to which they had been subjected by both Brazilians and English, moved away, and no "trace now remains of the place, except, the parts of the mission -church and the earthwork already mentioned. In its place, after a time, Quatata rose. This, which is one of the largest settlements on the savannah, consists of ten houses, all oval or round. These, as always on the savannah, are not mere open sheds, as in the forest, but have very thick walls of wattle and mud, surmounted by high conical roofs of palm thatch. The very cold winds which at night blow across the savannah, have piobably induced the building of these walls. Another distinctive feature of the Indian houses on the savannah, is that there are no sigus of cultivation round them. At first, constant attacks of fever, and the difficulty of moving about in a famine-stricken country, prevented our undertaking any distant expeditions; but there was very much to interest even in the immediate neighbourhood. The houses of the Indians were always interesting, and the Indians themselves, after a time, and when their reserve INDIAN VISITORS. 35 had somewhat decreased, were sufficiently communicative, and sometimes even too hospitable. When we entered a house, one of the women generally filled a calabash with pai- wari, a liquor, the horrid preparation of which will presently be described, from a jar standing somewhere in the dark background, and offered it to us. Etiquette demands the offer, and etiquette demands that the visitor should finish the horrid draught to the last dregs. Intent on establishing friendly relations with the people, I often found myself obliged to undergo this disagreeable ordeal; for, after it, I was allowed to walk about the house, handle all things, and ask any number of questions; At other times the Indians used to return our visits, coming for the purpose not only from Quatata, but also from very distant places. Some came merely from curiosity, others came to baiter. These levees were often very curious. Our goods were spread out on the floor; the Indians, on their part, brought provisions, hammocks, tame birds and animals, or specimens of their manufactures, dress, and ornaments. Often, however, they merely sat for hours, speechless, but observing our slightest movements. One of the most remarkable visitors came from a part of the Canakoo mountains about fifteen miles distant. Our house was built on piles, and a rough ladder gave access to it. One morning this man, springing suddenly up the ladder, stood bolt upright, with his gun in his hand, much in the position of a soldier standing at ease. He was short, sturdy, and well-built ; his hair, which, unlike that of his fellow- tribesmen, was shaggy, was bound round with a cotton fillet. He was also the only Macusi I ever saw with a defined moustache. For nearly an hour he stood without altering his position, without moving a muscle, or speaking a word. He merely stood and gazed. Then he turned, bolted down the steps, and immediately went home. Such of our visitors as came often grew accustomed to us, and not unfrequently ventured upon jokes. Once especially, a party of them being much struck by the hairiness d 2 36 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. ofthe calves of my legs —their own being entirely hairless- one went away and returned with a baby a few weeks old, and this child's head was then held down close to my leg, and there were many jeers about the resemblance between its scalp and my skin. Often the Indians brought their guns to be mended. These are mostly cheap weapons, of a most trumpery kind, manufactured in England for the trade with savages. But that the Indian, careful of such scarce commodities, uses but three or four shots and a very small modicum of powder to the charge, explosions and consequent injuries to the Indians would be the frequent result from the use of these guns. How tenderly an Indian uses his gun is well illus trated by the fact that I have known one such weapon used for some time after its nipple had been lost and replaced by a piece of bent tin cut from a sardine box. Just after sunrise sometimes, before the sun was hot, I strolled to the brow of the hill on which Quatata starids, and there sat down. Below, at my feet, lay a vast and level plain covered by just such luxuriant grass and other plants of low growth as clothe the small moist patches of higher ground. In the far distance the plain was bounded by the ridges of the Pacaraima mountains, which were at that moment much hidden by dense white clouds. Gradually the masses of these clouds rose, and only a long, rugged, ahd broken line of opaque white mist remained, marking where the mountains rose from the plain. Presently the sun began to shine with power, and lighted up each jutting fantastic point of this low-lying mist, until the whole seemed a city of temples and towers, crowned with gilded spires and minarets. The level plain at my feet was the so-called Lake Amoocoo or Parima, and the glittering cloud city was on the supposed site of the fabled golden city of El Dorado or Manba. ' Manoa,' as Ealeigh wrote of it, ' the imperial citie of Guiana, which the Spanyardes call El Dorado, that for the greatness of its riches, and for the excellent seate, it farre exceedeth \ any of the world ; at least of so much of the world as is EL DORADO. 37 knowen to the Spanish nation ; it is founded upon a lake of salt water of 200 leagues long, like unto Mare Caspium.' The so-called lake is almost throughout the year a dry plain, on which lines 'of a?ta palms mark the courses of streams, the overflowing of which in very wet seasons makes the ' lake.' Even as I looked at it that morning, the last of the mist melted, and the city once more went out from my sight, as it has from the belief of the world. Many other things seen during that time occur to me ; and especially the glorious beauty of the mountains on either side of us, as they appeared nightly emphasised and coloured in the intensely clear evening^ight. But space sufficient to tell more of these matters fails. ) It was also at this time that I put myself in the hands of an Indian peaiman, or medicine man, and had experience of the method of cure employed by these people ; but of this I shall have to give an account at another time. -For some time after our arrival the famine increased. Wherever we went, either the houses were deserted, or the people were living on palm-seeds, caterpillars, and ants, and we ourselves were often without even a morsel of bread or any vegetable food. But just when matters were at the worst, and it was almost impossible to get food to support life, rain came at last. The effect on the savannah was wonderful ; for the very next day it began to look bright and green and gay. The grass grew as if by magic, and flowers grew among it ; especially a beautiful and large pea-flower (Clitoria guianensis. Benth) — lilac-coloured, with a strong scent like clove-carnations; a tiny yellow crocus-like lily (Hyposcis breviscapa ?) flowering close to the ground ; and where the grass grew higher, tall white twin lilies (Hippe- astrum solandrcejlorum) lifted their heads. Even tb e stony and more bare places were brightened by large numbers of yellow mullein-like flowers (Byrsonima verbascifolia). The greater abundance and qpleasanter conditions brought back our strength and made it possible to extend our excursions. .. Early in May Eddington and I started to visit the 38 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. frontier fort of St. Joaquim, in Brazilian territory. In that neighbourhood there are large cattle-farms, belonging to the Brazilian Government, and I was very anxious to see these. We had some little difficulty in getting men to go with us as guides and porters ; for the Indians of the English savannah, remembering that not so many years- ago the Brazilians were in the habit of capturing and enslaving them, do not much care to venture across the frontier. The difficulty was, however, at last overcome and we started. Three days' walking across an almost uninhabited savan nah—sometimes undulating, sometimes a huge, perfectly level plain brought us, after crossing various small rivers, and amono- others the Nappi near its source, to Euwari-mana- kuroo, a settlement of Nikari-karu Indians, not far from the Takootoo river, which for some distance separates the British and Brazilian territories. Here we hoped to get the head man of the place, a Nikari-karu nicknamed ' Chirura,' or ' old breeches ' — on account of his wearing clothes — to go with us as guide and interpreter. We also wanted to borrow a canoe from him in which to descend the Takootoo. In both these matters we succeeded ; but we had, as usual, to wait some days before we could get Chirura to move. Our stay was, however, not unpleasant. The settlement of three very large houses, each of which shelters several families, stands on the open savannah, on high ground, within a mile of the western end of the Canakoo mountains, the rugged sides of which are densely clothed with wood. Down from the mountains there is a waterfall of considerable size, the sound of which reached us in the houses. The people of the place are a mixed lot; for among the Nikari-karus there were several Macusis, as well as one Piriana, a woman indescribably fat, and consequently, especially in her un clothed state, inexpressibly ugly. Very little is known about the Nikari-karus,-who are an ill-defined group of hybrids between Brazilian Portuguese on the one hand, and Indians, possibly Wapianas, on the other. Their language is a much corrupted form of Portu.- NIKARI-KARU INDIANS. 39 guese, which, as we found, when we took Chirura with us as interpreter into the Brazils, was almost unintelligible to speakers of pure Portuguese. Perhaps the most striking thing about them is the habit, which some of them have adopted from various Brazilian tribes of Indians, of filino- each tooth to a sharp point, thus giving to their faces a most savage and hideous expression. Various other peculiarities of these people I have alread ymentioned ; but I may here add that they also differ from most other Indians of Guiana in their habit of living in large houses, several families together. The children at Euwari-manakuroo, perhaps because of the European blood in their veins, played and sang in child like ways very unusual among pure-blooded Indians ; and the. women even joined in the games, which is a still more unusual custom. In the evening the women and children sometimes caught hold of each other, and holding on one behind, the other, marched round the house singing and dancing. I was especially attracted by one merry little fellow of about five years old, whom I first saw squatting, as on the top of a hill, on top of a turtle-shell twice as big as himself, with his knees drawn up to his chin, and solemnly smoking a long bark cigarette. One point of interest in this neighbourhood was the com paratively frequent occurrence of stone hatchets and other similar instruments. Stone implements, though no longer used in Guiana, are to be found in greater or less abundance throughout the district. At last, after four days' stay, we got off. The two or three people from Euwari-manakuroo who came with us gave their wives knotted strings or quippus, each knot representing one of the days they expected to be away, and the whole string thus forming a calendar to be used by the wives until the return of their husbands. On going down to Yarewah on the Takootoo, we found the two canoes which we had engaged, and from there we once more started on a river journey. But now, instead of being on a river of the Essequibo system, we were descending the 40 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. -Vater-shed of the Amazon. The Takootoo runs into the Eio Branco, that into the Eio Negro, and that into the Ama zon at Manaos. From Yarewah the boundary between the Brazilian and British territories passes along the Takootoo, until that river is joined by the Cotinga, which flows in from the north, and up which the boundary line passes. This is the line laid down by the boundary commission- under Sir Eichard Schomburgk about 1840, and is really accepted by both nations, in spite of the vague claims which; as I have said, have been advanced by the Brazilians to the land be tween the Takootoo and the Eoopoonooni. The command ant of St. Joaquim, an educated Brazilian gentleman, and the chief resident official on that frontier, in his conversation fully recognised the boundary line thus described. I have been led to.say so much on this subject because this part of the boundary is generally wrongly laid down in even the stan dard English atlases ; and it is much to be desired that this, as well as the boundary line between British Guiana and Venezuela, should be more correctly represented; We paddled gently down the Takootoo, which is a river of considerable size, getting an occasional shot at one of the many turtles which lay, basking in the sun, on the logs at the river-side, or at an ibis as it fed on one of the innumerable ridges of sand. The journey led us, for two days, past the mouth of the Ireng and Cotinga rivers ; past many flocks of beautiful rosy spoonbills ; past porpoises, which our men said wereomars, or water-women, and 'had frocks;' past manatees, which venture up the Amazon rivers even as far as this ; past lloly green iguanas climbing on the trees on shore ; past high cliff-like banks capped with. long lines of white lilies (Hippe- astrum), well defined against the sky ; and past long reaches of bush-covered banks densely matted with wreaths of pas sion-flowers, at that time heavily loaded with large purple blooms. By the third day the river had become consider ably wider, and the Eio Branco appeared before- us, the Takootoo running into it almost at right angles. On the left, in the angle formed by the junction of the two rivers, the FORT ST. JOAQUIM. 41 high bank was crowned by a little stone fort. It was St. Joaquim, and our destination. This fort was built more than a century ago by the Portuguese. It consists merely of a two-roomed house, under which is a lock-up, while a rampart surrounds the whole. When Schomburgk visited the place about 1840, he found a Jesuit mission with a chapel and a few houses. But these have now disappeared, and the fort and the range of low huts serving as soldiers' quarters alone remain. For many years past it has barely been kept in repair, and, as it is now per fectly useless as a military station, the Brazilian authorities are said to intend abandoning it. It is certainly quite time ; the gates are never shut — indeed only one of them is left ; no sentinel paces the ramparts, no bugle ever sounds. The commandant received us most hospitably. He had volunteered to serve in this lonely place in the hope of seeing something of the Indians, in whom he feels great interest; but his nearest white neighbour — for the men forming the garrison are all negroes — is many days' journey away, and his only communication with the outside world is-by a steamer which comes up the Eio Negro at very rare intervals, or by Indian canoes. He had only been at the fort some six months, but was, not unnaturally, already somewhat tired of the place. After spending a very pleasant day and night with the commandant, who gave a most interesting account of the farms, supporting many thousand head of cattle, which lie round the fort, we turned homeward, intending to visit some of these farms on our way. The cattle on these farms are left almost entirely to nature. The farms were established about the end of the last century, but were again destroyed, the cattle being dis persed over the savannah during the revolutionary times. When order was restored, the cattle, which had in the meantime greatly multiplied, were not all again gathered together; the greater number were allowed to roam and breed where they pleased. Once a year a certain number 42 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. of the younger of these wild cattle are driven into the, strongly stockaded pen which forms the central point of each of the gigantic farms into which these savannahs are divided. These impounded cattle, after being branded, are let out every day* but are driven back into the pen at nio-bt. Every now and then a large number of them are taken down the Eio Branco to Manaos, the nearest Brazilian town, and are from there distributed along the Amazon. Much of the cattle is also slaughtered on the farms ; the meat, after being cut into thin slices, is slightly salted and dried in the sun, and is then carried down to the Amazon and there sold. At the central farm of the district resides a Government official, who is responsible for all the cattle in his district. His only assistants are a very few cowherds, a few of whom are Brazilians of a low class, a few are half-bred between Brazilians and Indians, but by far the greater number are the Indians of the district. Most of the work of these herdsmen is done from the back of small but strong horses, which, when not in use, roam all but free on the savannah. All the food required is produced on the spot. For meat, the men are allowed to kill a certain number of cattle for their own use, and the milk, which, however, as always in the case of any but thoroughly domesticated cattle, is very small in quantity, is at their disposal. Game, especially deer, is abundant. Cassava is grown at the principal farms, where it is made into farine, a coarse but most excellent and nutritive flour, which is distributed twice a month to the men of all the farms. Vegetables, such as yams, potatoes, and plantains, and fruits are but little grown, except in the fields of the Indians, where, however, they flourish so well that they might evidently be cultivated with advantage elsewhere. Some statistics published by the Brazilian Government in an account ofthe country, printed in connection with the Philadelphia Exhibition of 1876, afford some idea of the profit derived from this industry. BRAZILIAN CATTLE-FARMS. 43 ' Of all the branches of industry, the most profitable, and that which has acquired most importance, is the breeding of horned cattle Cattle-raising is confided entirely to nature ; the breeder does nothing, but receives the profits ; the whole labour consists in collecting the cattle now and then in proper places, called rodeios, in order to mark the calves ; in this work half-bred Indians are generally em ployed at the low wages of ten dollars a month. ' An idea may be formed of the importance of this in dustry from official statistics which show that in the year 1873-74, the province of S.Pedro do Eio Grande do Sul alone exported 23,860,636 kilograms of jerked beef, of the approximate value of 6,000 dollars. ' The natural breeding of horned cattle in Brazil yields considerable profits, not only because the outlay is limited, but because the current expenses are small, as will be seen by the following demonstration. ' A meadow of 9,000,000 square metres can easily graze 1,000 head of cattle, for which two men are sufficient; these are generally known by the name of camp&iros (field men), or vaqueiros (cowherds). This number of cattle produces generally fifty oxen and as many cows yearly. ' The .... average value of an ox is 20 dollars, and that of a cow is 10 dollars ; the result therefore of the work of two herdsmen will be 1,500 dollars a year, which is equal to, if not more than, the same number of labourers can. gain in the best plantations. If, however, it be considered that prairies most suited to this industry, situated in the interior of the provinces, are generally of much less value than the lands in the coffee districts, or those fit for the sugar-carie; that the price of cattle in the breeding districts is very low ; that stock-raising does riot require many labourers; and that the expense of carrying the produce to market is but small, as they are driven there and not carried, — it will be seen that in Brazil no industry can be compared to this.' ' .' The Empire of Brazil at the Universal Exhibition of 1876 in Phila delphia, pp. 264 et sea. 44 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. Now, as has been said, some 14,000. square miles of these savannahs on this side of the upper Takootoo and the Cotinga -rivers lie within our territory.. Probably the only difference between the English and the Brazilian plains is that on the former high ground and single detached hills are more common than on the latter. The life of a cattle-farmer on these savannahs would surely be not unpleasant to many who can find no work nearer home. Food for the cattle is there in abundance ; and food for man might at small pains be made equally abundant. Cassava, yams, plantains, and fruits flourish. Game, such as deer, wild hog, birds, and fish, is plentiful. A .certain number of the cattle kept would also , supply more food. Sufficient labour might also be had. There are plenty of Indians living in the district, at present idly, but who, as they are of the same, or at any rate of kindred, tribes to those Indians who do the work on the Brazilian farms, might with care and kindness be turned into useful cowherds ; and horses, which would be required to drive the half-wild cattle, might readily be procured from the Brazilian side of the boundary. The one real difficulty in the way of the establishment of such cattle-farms is that of getting produce to town. , The distance between Georgetown and the English savannahs is probably about equal to that between Manoas and the most remote Brazilian farm on the Eio Branco and Takootoo ; but the rivers on our side of the water-shed, which here practi cally divides the English and Brazilian territories, are more rocky and difficult of navigation than those on the other side appear to be. This would of course offer but little obstacle to the conveyance of jerked or otherwise dried or salted meat ; but there would be considerable difficulty in getting living cattle to town, except during the height of the wet season, until either a river-road for large flat-bottomed boats, such as those used for cattle-carrying on the Brazilian rivers, has been cleared by blasting ,the rocks in the worst of the falls, or until a road has been cut through the bush. CATTLE-DRIVING. 45 To make such a road would probably be beyond private en terprise, unless on a large scale ; but if evert he work of ' opening up the country ' is seriously undertaken by the Government, one of its first acts must be to make one or other of these highways. Our first halt after leaving St. Joaquim was at the farm attached to the fort. It was under the joint charge of a rough-looking Venezuelan, and the most highly civilised Macusi I ever saw ; and these two were assisted by the son of the latter, who, in that' he spoke both Macusi and Portu guese fluently, seemed to share the intelligence of his father, but, in that his teeth were filed and painted after the Indian manner, seemed not entirely to have rejected barbarism. We were in great want both of meat and farine, both of which we had hoped to procure at this place, so that it was not pleasant to hear that neither were at the moment to be had. However, our offer of gunpowder, shot, and caps in duced the Macusi to bring a small quantity of farine, and shortly afterwards the Venezuelan offered to sell us one or more head of cattle. This offer was at once accepted, and the price for a young bull was fixed at three-quarters of a pound of gunpowder. Both the farm-keepers at once made preparations to drive the cattle into one of the two huge wooden pens or corrals which were before us. Each slung his whip, the whole of which, handle and lash, was formed of one long piece of plaited raw hide, round his right hand, and mount ing on his horse, which stood by, ready equipped with a high wooden Spanish saddle,rode off; and we were left to smoke and look at the scene. But for the hut against which we leaned, and the two corrals, on the rails of which were perched many expectant vultures, the scene might have been on any un inhabited part of the savannah. There was the same scanty grass growing- from a pebbly soil, among which many small boulders were scattered here and there ; there were the same scattered, wiry-looking bushes ; and in the distance there was the not unusual background of mountains. It 46 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. was, by the way, from a place called by the Indians Toucana, somewhere among these mountains, that I got many speci mens of stone axe-heads, and I was assured by the Indians that they abound there. When we were tired of this scene we went into the hut, which we found occupied by two Macusi women. One of these was a girl of the usual type, but the other was the oldest-looking Indian I ever saw. Her very scanty hair was of the dirty grey colour to which, instead of to white, the hair of an Indian turns in old age. Her only clothing was the usual queyu, a small bead-apron. When the girl offered me some farine boiled in milk, the old lady got angry, and, managing to get out of her hammock, tottered towards us with the help of a large stick. But the milk and farine were very good to one who had fared but poorly for some time, and I ate it in spite of the protest. The sound of the stamping of many feet now told that the cattle were near, and this grew louder and louder until, at last, herds of cattle, varying only in colour from dun to black, came awkwardly galloping from several points, tum bling and bellowing out from among the bushes. The animals were cleverly kept together by the mounted drivers, and in a very few minutes four hundred head of cattle were penned in one corral, only just large enough to hold the num ber. The ungainly movements of a crowd of our own domestic cattle, even when these are driven or are otherwise frightened, can give no idea of the frantic convulsions moving this mass of half-wild animals. The noise, too, was deafening. The drivers now dismounted, and the Venezuelan, appa rently without the slightest trouble, threw his plaited lasso of raw hide over the horns of a fine young black bull, which had been selected, and which was then drawn out- of the surging mass of its companions. The poor beast was very quickly pole-axed and then stabbed to the heart. This quick manner of inflicting death is, I am afraid, not always prac tised on these farms, where they say the meat cannot be tender unless the animal has been bled to death. •WILD CATTLE.* 47 By the time this was over it was too late to go farther that day, so we slung our hammocks in an empty house by the side of the river. All through that night fires, above which were babracots loaded with beef, burned, but, as never happened on any other occasion when there was meat in prospect, I had hard work to make the Indians keep up the fires ; for these people will not eat beef. The next day we started at a late hour, and the current running very strongly against us, it was not till noon on the following day that we reached Anaikim or, as the Portuguese call it, St. Anton, the highest farm on the Takootoo, occupy ing the angle formed by the junction of that river and the Cotinga. The farm is very similar to the one already de scribed but that the house, of wattle-work and with a gallery, is of a much better kind and is situated a long distance from the river. There is, however, an abundant supply of water at hand in a curious series of long ponds, which look like traces of a former course of the Cotinga river. The farm is kept by three young Brazilians, of a very superior class to the men ofthe Fort Farm; even one of these, however, had his teeth filed to points. I am inclined to tliink that it was on this farm that an earlier traveller1 saw, as he thought, herds of wild cattle. It1 was certainly in this neighbourhood that these cattle were seen; and as that writer does not mention the farm of Anaikim it is probable that he did not know of its existence. The cattle roam far and, as has been said, almost free, and even, when the water is low, they wade across the Cotinga and have to be reclaimed by their Brazilian owners from English territory. That a traveller, who chanced to see such cattle in a neighbourhood where he knew of no farm, should think that the beasts were wild was not an unnatural mis take. For many days it had rained incessantly, and as we were generally without shelter by day or night, we were most anxious to get back to Quatata as quickly as possible. 1 C. B. Brown, Canoe and Camp Life in British Guiana. London, 1870. 48 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. Travelling once more up the Takootoo we reached the mouth of the Ireng or Mahoo river, and turned up this, purposing to force our way home up the Pirara, a small river, then much swollen by rains, which rises not far from Quatata, and runs into the Ireng about one day's journey above the point at which that river joins the Takootoo. The Pirara, therefore, if its waters were high enough to allow the passage of our canoe, would afford a much nearer road to Quatata than that by which we had come. The rain gave occasion to some amusing conduct on the part of the Indians. Some of them had become the proud possessors of some old clothes, such as shirts and trousers. Whenever rain began to fall they carefully took them off to put them under shelter. But in the crowded state of our canoe it was somewhat difficult to find a dry place for them. The matter was finally arranged by one of the Indians keep ing on his shirt and allowing the tail to hang loose from the bench on which he sat paddling, while the other clothes were put under the shelter of this tail. The Ireng as we turned into it was in high flood, and the current which met us was so strong that we made but slow progress. Every now and then the branch of a tree or a log swept by us, hurried along by the swift, steady flow of the water. Once the whole trunk of a dead tree, torn away from the bank, met us ; two or three of the main branches re mained standing straight up from the water ; a. turtle lay on the trunk. As it sailed quickly past us it looked like a wrecked ship ; the branches seemed masts madly zigzagging in all directions, and the turtle represented the last survivor of the crew. That night we camped, in mosquito-haunted ground, just below the mouth of the Pirara ; and early the next morning we entered that river. The water in the Pirara had risen above the low banks, and the narrow belt of trees which generally separates the river from the savannah now rose from the flood. As there was, therefore, little current, we advanced rapidly. At noon on the day on which we entered LAKE AMOOCOO. 49 the river we reached a point which, according to the Indians, was the highest to which a canoe could at the time pass. It afterwards appeared that we might have kept to the river much longer ; but, believing the Indians, we disembarked, and walked the rest of the journey. Our way led across the bed of Lake Amoocoo. This, as I have said, is usually dry ; but now we found that the water was out, and that for once the lake was a lake. For long distances we had to wade through water up to our waists, and often up to our necks. Had anyone been there to see we must have presented an odd appearance ; as regards myself, all that was visible above water was my face and two arms, holding up some Indian featherwork which I had bought, tobacco and a pipe, and some papers which it was important to keep dry. I was riiuch struck by the way in which the Indians managed to follow the path, which, even when there is no water, is hardly discernible to an unpractised eye, and which now was com pletely hidden under a sheet of water ; yet we emerged from. the flood exactly where the track led out. But before thisj when we came to the deepest part of the flood, the Indians became frightened, as they generally are in water, though they can swim like fishes, and it was hard work to persuade them to advance. At last we came to higher and therefore dry ground, and after a twelve miles' walk came to Quatata. Only those who have had a like experience can imagine the comfort of that first night spent under a dry roof, with a comparative sufficiency of food, after a fortnight of almost constant exposure to heavy rain, with an empty stomach. Eain fell all night, and there was much thunder ; the sounds of these added, greatly, if on somewhat imagina tive grounds, to our comfort. June came, and it was quite time to be thinking of returning to Georgetown ; but at first it seemed almost im possible to get Indians or to get possession of our canoes. The Indians were very unwilling to go with us, partly because food was still so scarce that we could expect only scanty rations on the journey, and partly, as they said, because a 50 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. party of English soldiers were on their way up from George town to capture and press Indians as soldiers. The same rumour has been heard by nearly every traveller in the interior ; it is probably due to a half-remembered tradition of the slave-hunting expeditions which the Brazilians, as lately as forty years ago, used frequently to make among these people, mingled with other traditions of the visit of Eng- llish soldiers to Pirara in 1840. Whatever the origin of the (rumour, it is a constant excuse used by the Indians when they are unwilling to undertake the fatigue of a journey. The other difficulty which delayed our immediate return to the coast, was that some strange Indians had carried off my canoe from the waterside. Indians have a large, but occa sionally inconvenient, code of hospitality. An Indian thinks nothing of walking into the house of any other Indian of the same tribe and appropriating the food which may be in it ; nor do the owners in any way resent this. In the same way, when an Indian, in his frequent wanderings, finds a canoe in a convenient spot he takes it and leaves it wherever his own journey happens to end; rumour, passed from Indian to Indian, at last tells the owner of the craft as to the where abouts of his property, and if he wants it he must fetch it back himself, or must wait till some other chance Indian, travelling, brings it back into the neighbourhood from which it was taken. In this way my canoe was out of reach just when I most wanted it, and the Indians who had removed it were surprised by my objecting to this conduct. However, at last we were ready to start ; and very severe Ophthalmia having broken out among the Indians and even attacked my two companions, everything urged speedy departure. The Indians of Quatata carried all our goods down to the river-side, and though this work occupied two days, they wanted no payment. At Pirara landing all but those of our own crew said good-bye to us. It was in the very middle of the long rainy season, so (hat the currents in the river swept us down very rapidly. At night it was often very difficult to find dry ground on A TROPICAL STORM. 51 which to camp, and even when in the evening we slung our hammocks over dry land we sometimes found ourselves over water when we awoke in the morning, so rapidly was the water still rising. The creepers which festooned the trees on the banks were in most brilliant and full flower. It was one of the rare occasions on which I saw anything of that splendour of flower which dwellers in colder climates some times suppose to be characteristic of and universal in the tropics. At Apooterie, at the junction of the Eoopoonooni with the Essequibo we were delayed some days while bread was being made. Joseph, our old Carib friend and host, had removed his settlement to a point some hundred yards lower down the river. The two houses stood, as usual, in a small circular clearing in the forest. One evening during our stay here there was a most magnificent storm. Just before dusk the sky over the clearing was bright and cloudless ; suddenly the sound of a storm sweeping over the forest from far away was heard, travelling quickly toward us. The parrots began. to scream and the Indians busied themselves in fetching iu their bread, which had been out all day in the sun. A long thread of white cloud began to appear over the tops of the trees to the north, and then swept on with terrific speed over the whole round tract of sky, drawing up behind it an in tensely ink-black cloud-curtain; in hardly more than a moment this blackness had spread over the whole sky, and night was upon us. These sudden storms were always ac companied by one unbroken, mighty blast of wind, followed by much thunder and lightning. The effect was marvellous. Hearing that there was a chance of getting some cassava from an Indian living in the forest some two miles from Apooterie, I, with One Indian, started in a woodskin or bark canoe to find this man. He was a notorious Wapiana, who, having killed his father 'and mother and some other people, had found it advisable to settle in a remote place and diffi cult of access. Certainly he had found such a place. Going for a short distance down the Essequibo we passed into a 52' AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA.' creek which, instead of running into the main river, receives a tremendous rush of water from that river. Our poor little piece of bark was whirled by the water into this place with terrific force, and in a moment we were some distance down the creek, which is very narrow and winding, and is choked by many trees. It was very difficult to keep our canoe from being dashed to pieces. Then, pushing aside some bushes at the side of the creek, we passed on to a swamp covered with shallow water and thickly set with trees ; and, after winding in and out amongthese in the most sur prising way, we suddenly emerged on to a large and still lake in the centre of a palm forest. Following this for about a mile we reached a landing place, where we disembarked. The lake is very long and, as I believe, receives at its upper end the creek through which we had passed from the Essequibo, and discharges water at its lower end through another creek into the main river. Such side-streams, or itaboos, as they are called by the Indians, are -not un common in Guiana. After walking frorh the lake for some distance through the forest we at last reached a field where we found the assassin living in a tiny hut alone with a young and pretty wife and a baby. The assassin was gentle enough in appearance, and the only thing remarkable about him was the enormous size of the plate of silver which he wore, as other Indians do similar but smaller plates, sus pended from his nose. This ornament was so large as en tirely to overhang his mouth, so that when he drank he had to lift 'it with one hand while he tilted the drinking vessel with the other. He supplied me with so much cassava that, returning to Apooterie that day, we were able to continue our journey on the next. On the high flood we passed for a time between banks thickly festooned with creepers, which were then in most brilliant and full flower ; for at the beginning of the rainy season these plants all bloom. We soon reached Eappoo, and below that had to main tain an almost constant struggle with falls; Every morning SHOOTING THE FALLS. 53 the Indians rubbed red peppers or lime-juice into their eyes r7 after which they were ready to shoot the falls. — ( During the high rains the falls are very difficult to pass, and long reaches of the river are transformed into vast rapids, through which the Indians steer their canoes with perfectly marvellous skill. Shooting a big fall, or running down a rapid of any size, is certainly exciting work. The canoe floats in smooth water at the top, and from there the bow man and steersman examine the fall and agree as to the particular course to be taken ; this once decided, the rush begins. Suddenly the canoe, guided into the eddying, rush ing water, bounds forward ; it perhaps rushes straight towards some threatening sunken rock, but one strong, swift turn of the bowman's paddle saves it from that danger ; it rushes on again, turned here and there by waves and contrary currents, the bowman and steersman contriving to guide it, until in its headlong rush it in some way reaches smooth water at the bottom. It is difficult to find words to convey a picture of such a rapid or flood to one who has never seen any of the great rivers of South America. It is no ordinary river falling down a step of rocks, but a great and wide sea of contending waves and currents, surging and breaking in most chaotic confusion in, over, and round countless rocks and obstructions. Sometimes, however, as happened to us on this occasion at Etannime, the main fall is too high and too rough to make it safe to shoot it. There are generally side channels (itaboos) to all these falls, and Etannime was no exception, so we made up our minds to lower the canoes down one of these. A rope was fastened to the bow of the canoe, and some of the men, standing on the bank, firmly held the other end of this. Then the canoe was allowed to glide stem foremost down into the narrow, rushing channel. This is a rapid of some two miles in length but hardly ten yards in width, down which the water rushes fast and foaming, in and out among thick, overhanging trees, and round corners, and down low, but abrupt falls. As soon as, by slow paying out of the bow 54 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. line, the canoe had been safely lowered down the first of the . short reaches, those who were on board kept her in -position by holding fast to the overhanging tree-trunks and branches, while those on shore dropped- the rope, and then hurried through the bush to a point commanding the next reach, down which, as soon as they had again grasped the rope, the canoe was allowed to drift. In this way most of the reaches were passed ; but sometimes the course of the channel was so crooked and rocky that it was impossible to pay out the rope from the shore. In these latter cases all got into the canoe, which was then allowed to hurry down the turning rapid, and was fended from the rocky banks as well as might be, with poles and much grasping of overhanging trees. So we got to the bottom of Etannime falls. It' was very tedious work, but far safer than shooting the main fall. Shooting the falls was a frequent and most exciting event during our downward journey, but once we had a different excitement. Early one morning, having started before dawn we reached the place where the Potaro river joins the Esse quibo in a large lake-like expanse, which looked even more than usually beautiful in the wonderfully clear morning light. Suddenly my bowman got excited, and standing up, shading his eyes with his hand, gazed steadily at a line of white foam in the far distance. Presently he uttered the word ' whinga,' and the next moment, he and the other Indians, bending to their paddles as I never saw them do before, the canoe shot rapidly over the perfectly smooth water towards the line of foam. Whinga is the Macusi name for. that sort of bush-hog, or peccary, which lives in large herds (Dicotyles labiatus) ; and one of these herds was now swim ming the river. While the men worked with a will at the paddles, I looked to all the guns, and then stood up and watched the herd as it neared the shore. The race was for more than two miles, aud the hogs won. No sooner, however, had the bow of our canoe touched the shore at the point where the beasts had disappeared, than everyone was out and after them, with gun or bow and arrows. The forest A HOG-HUNT. 55 was alive with the sound of men crushing through the brush wood, and with the grunts and squeals of the pigs. Pre sently, finding the bush too dense for a man with clothes, I turned back to the canoe, and after a time the men dropped in one by one bringing. their prey. I can safely affirm that sucking ' whinga,' roasted, is as good meat as can be had anywhere. Such herds as these not unfrequently cross the rivers in their journeys. If they come to the river-side at night they wait grunting on the bank till dawn. As soon as it is light the whole herd plunges into the water and makes for the opposite shore. They are very easily killed when in the water, and their crossing offers a splendid opportunity to one whose larder wants replenishing. In one case, I heard of one single man killing fifty hogs out of a herd wdiich was crossing the Mazeruni just below the Penal Settlement. On another occasion some negroes were taking a timber punt up towards the Monkey Jump on the Essequibo, when, just be fore they reached that point, a herd of bush-hogs crossed in front of them. There was no gun in the punt, nor was there a small boat from which to attack the animals ; but one of the men, a splendid swimmer named Sassington, plunged into the water, carrying with him one end of a rope of which the other end was attached to the- punt. He managed to tie the rope to the legs of six of the hogs, and then, scrambling back into the punt, hauled in his prey. At last all the adventures of the expedition were over, and we reached Georgetown after an absence of six months from the civilised world. 56 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. CHAPTER III. THE KAIETEUR FALL AND RORAIMA. The Kaieteur Fall— First Visit — The Potaro River— Amootoo Cataract— Tbe Kaieteur Ravine— To the Foot of the Fall— The Kaieteur, in Dry "Weather, from ahove— The Kaieteur Savannah — A New Plant (BroeeM- nia cordyMnoides, Baker?) — A new bird (Ageltevsimthurni, Sclater) — A Second Visit to the Kaieteur — Beautiful Flowers — Portaging the Boat — The Kaieteur Fall, from ahove, in the Rainy Season — The Best Way to Visit the Fall— Roraima. The two most interesting natural features in the interior of Guiana, those which have attracted most attention from the outside world, are the Kaieteur fall and the mountain called Boraiina. Some account of these is therefore necessary. Unfortunately I can write only of the former from personal experience, and, as regards Boraima,, must trust to the -ac counts of the three or four travellers who, unlike myself, have had the good fortune to visit it. The existence of the Kaieteur fall was unknown till 1871, when it was discovered and described by Mr. C. Barrington Brown, who was at the time engaged in making a geological survey of the colony. It is formed by the fall of the river Potaro, a tributary of the Essequibo, over an abrupt cliff of 741 feet. The width of the fall at times of high water, is 370 feet ; while at low water it decreases to rather less than half that width. Compared with some other falls the Kaieteur is small ; for while it ranks far below the Yosemite both in height and width, it falls far short of Niagara in width though it exceeds it in height. But as regards the sur rounding scenery it is impossible to believe that even the scenery of the Yosemite can exceed that of the Kaieteur ; TOOMATOOMARI. 57 and that round Niagara is, now at least, notoriously com monplace. It is, in fact, the marvellous surroundings coin- bined with the magnitude, which should make the magnifi cence of the Kaieteur. In the ten years since its existence was first made known, the Kaieteur has but seldom been visited. The dis coverer, accompanied by some other travellers, paid a second visit to it within a few months. But between that time and 1878 it was seen by white men only on four occasions. In the last-mentioned year, and again in the following year, I was able to visit it twice, seeing it on the first of these oc casions during a very dry season, and on the second during a very wet season. Leaving Georgetown on the 13th of October 1S7 8, we passed up the Essequibo — a journey up which I have already described, as far as the mouth of the Potaro river. On the sixth day we reached Toomatoomari cataract, some eight miles -up the Potaro. This place is indescribably lovely. A large land-locked bay is filled with gioups of trees, with bright yellow sand in smooth stretches and in sloping banks, with rocks, with pools of still water; and at the upper end is a low but brbad foaming cataract. It was Saturday evening, and we determined to spend the whole of the next day there, for the large canoe could go no further, and we had to select from our stores wnat seemed absolutely necessary for our further journey, which would have to be in the boat and a woodskin purchased from some passing Ackawoi. The next inorning when I awoke I found that the tree, of a genus (Eugenia) new to me, to which one end of my hammock was tied, had burst into a marvellous sheet of pure white blossom. The branches touched the ground. Dense masses of its tiny feathery flowers, nestling along each branch and branchlet, made the whole look as if weighed down with snow. Its scent filled the air, and had attracted a host of humming-birds, butterflies, and bee3, filling the air with their murmur. Sight, scent, and sound were equally grateful. 58 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. Early next morning, having hauled our boat up the cataract on the previous evening, and leaving four men in charge of the canoe and the surplus stores, we walked along the portage path past the cataract; and thirteen of us em barked for our further journey. Toomatoomari cataract is one of the gates of Fairyland. Beyond it the scenery of the Potaro, at least when the river is low, is one constantly changing beautiful picture, and far surpasses that of any other river I have seen in Guiana. It is in times of low water, when the rocks are uncovered, that the rivers of this country are seen to best advantage. This river of wonderfully clear wine-red water is about three hun dred yards wide, and flows among single rocks and islands of rocks, confusedly piled, some large, some small, some water- worn into flutings so regular that it is difficult to remember that they are not fragments of huge masonry ; some so regu larly square that they look as if cut by a Norman builder ; some rounded like the boulders of our English downs ; some of every conceivable shape and fracture ; all heaped on each other in most chaotic confusion. The gaps between the jut ting points of the rock-islands are filled by banks of clean bright sand sloping gently into the water. . Wherever the sand met the water on the edges of these banks, great troops of yellow, white, or blue butterflies were clustering to suck the moisture. The river-banks, thickly wooded as on every other river of Guiana, are here rounded into many hills and slopes, between each two of which one of innumerable small streams runs down into the main stream. The first day from Toomatoomari, spent in an untented boat, on level water, and under a hot sun, was somewhat trying, and was the one hardship which we had to endure during the whole expedition. In the afternoon we passed the mouth of the Cooriebrong river, then very low. Oppo site to the mouth of this river, on the left bank of the Potaro, was a newly built Ackawoi settlement, then temporarily de serted. This was the first of many new settlements which we passed; for it seemed that the Ackawoi were beginning to A DIFFICULT PORTAGE. 59 •populate the banks of the Potaro thickly. We were surprised to find that all the settlements we passed were deserted. Towards night we reached the first rapids at Chowrah ; and from that point up to the Kaieteur, the reaches of smooth water between the rapids, cataracts, or falls were but short. • By the side of Chowrah rapid we settled clown for the night, that our men might have a chance of shooting some of the blood-red pacu (Pacu myletes) which flitted about in the clear shallow water. Next day, after passing a few other small rapids, we eame to Mowraseema cataract. Here we had to unload the boat, and carry it and the goods along a rocky island which divides the river. This portage was short. A short reach of smooth water, broken here and there by rapids, now small, but past one of which it is necessary to portage in times of high water, led to the bottom of a series of three cataracts and one fall at Pacoutout. This is the only really difficult portage on the river. It is generally necessary to drag the boats and goods up, over, and down a very steep hill covered with thick forest, for a distance of over two-thirds of a mile. Our Arawaks wished to do the same now, though they admitted that, as rollers would have to be cut and laid along the whole path, the work would take a day and a half. Moreover the diffi culty of the portage had recently been much increased, owing to the fact that some Ackawoi Indians, having lately made a settlement in these parts, had chosen to make their cassava field over a considerable part of the path, which was, consequently, almost entirely blocked up by the trunks of felled trees. Dreading the difficulty and delay, and consider ing the somewhat low state of the water, we determined to haul the boat up the river, and carry only the goods across. The more adventurous Caribs agreeing in our plan, the Arawaks were at last persuaded to help; and both boat and woodskin were without very much difficulty dragged up the falls to the higher end of the portage-path that same evening, thus avoiding a delay of two days. Above the 60 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. portage the first beautiful view of the sandstone range of the Kaieteur appeared, framed iri trees, and with the river, thickly blocked with tangled masses of a peculiar sedge (Carex, nov. sp.), as a foreground. Early next morning we passed another newly formed Ackawoi settlement, about a quarter of a mile above Pacou- tout fall. It also was deserted. A few hours later we came to yet another new settlement, this time a very large one, at the mouth of the Aykooroo creek. As we drew near this, a most unusually large crowd of Indians came down to the water-side to meet us. Some were almost covered up in long loose folds of coloured calico ; some were dressed from head to foot in palm-leaves ; some, naked but for the usual lap, had painted their whole bodies with most elaborate patterns ; others had all sorts of quaint ornaments in most marvellous variety. All were somewhat the worse for paiwari. A great paiwari feast had been begun here on the previous day and was to continue for several days more. There were at least two hundred men, women, and children present, each one of whom, down to the youngest babies, instigated by their mothers, insisted on shaking our hands. The deserted state of the settlements lower down the river was now fully accounted for. On reaching the captain's house we found the centre of it occupied by three or four large troughs of paiwari, round which a long procession of Indians, men and women, each provided with some variety of drum or rattle, was moving. Each individual was stamping in monotonous time with his feet ; each was keeping up the usual fearfully monotonous chant, Hia-Hia-Hia-Hia. That same afternoon we came to Amootoo fall and cataract. It seemed as if the beauty of the scenery in creased as we advanced. As we paddled up a straight river- reach, a dome-shaped, wooded island lay before us in the centre of the foreground, dividing the river into two chan nels. On one side of this island a large cataract, some twelve feet in height, fell foaming down the violet-brown PLATE III. POKTAGIXG THE BOAT. WITHIN THE SANDSTONE REGION. 61 sandstone rocks to where, in the water below, the feathery leaves of a water-weed (Lads), dotted with its small, pink flowers, formed green and pink cushions ; on the other side, a magnificent perpendicular wall about fifteen feet in height of the same sandstone ledges, then dry, marked where in the time of high rains the water falls down into the black . pool of the second channel. The wooded undulating banks curved towards us from the cataract on the left and from the fall on the right, forming a complete amphitheatre, behind which, in the distance, towered precipitous sandstone moun tains, most quaint in outline, and tree-covered except on the m,ost. abrupt faces of the gray-brown rocks. Behind us lay the. granite formation ; in front was all sandstone. - We were obliged to carry our boat across the portage, which is about a quarter of a mile long, up and then down a very considerable hill. Our men laid rollers all along the. path, then harnessed themselves, by a rope attached to the bows of the boat, hke a team of horses, and drew the boat- merrily over in a very short time. Here, at Ainootoo, we passed between two high hills intothe ravine of the Kaieteur. From Toomatoomari to this point the valley of the Potaro passes through undulating, but com paratively level, forest-covered country. At Amootoo this plain is crossed at right angles to the bed of the river by an abrupt sandstone cliff, 700 or 800 feet in height, from the- top of which a plateau runs back. Through this high plateau the Potaro has cut for itself a ravine, which extends from the Kaieteur to Amootoo, where it bursts through the cliff into the general plain of the lower region. In journeying up this river,; therefore, one passes first through forest country but little above the level of the sea, then, at Amootoo, into the Kaieteur ravine, having the high, mountainous cliffs of the upper plateau on either hand ; this ravine ends in a complete" amphitheatre at the great fall itself. Into this amphitheatre the column of water drops down from the plateau, which still further from the sea is shut in by distant hills. . 62 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. It was at Amootoo — that is, on first entering the Kaieteur ravine — that we reached the most beautiful scenery of that beautiful river. If the whole valley oJpthe^gotaro is Fairy land, then the Kaieteur ravine is the^penetfalia) of Fairyland. Here, owing to the moistiire-collectihg- nature of the sand stone rock, the green of the plant-world seemed yet greener and more varied. Under the thick shade countless stream lets trickled over little ledges of rock among pigmy forests of filmy ferns and mosses. The small plume-like tufts of these ferns, each formed of many half-transparent fronds of a dark cool-looking green colour, were exquisite. Larger ferns, with a crowd of aroids, orchids and other plants, covered the rocks between these streams in new and marvel lous luxuriance. Several curious forms of leafless, white- stalked parasitic gentians ( Voyria), one yellow, others white, and one violet, were especially noticeable. On either side rose the tall, grand cliffs which form the sides of the ravine. The sandstone plateau of which they are the edge, extends from this to Eoraima. The appearance of the perpendicular tree-crowned cliffs, broken here and there by gaps, recalled the pictures of that mountain ; in deed, one of my Indian companions, who had been to Eoraima, ejaculated, as he pointed to one of these rocks, ' little Eo raima.' Far up on the faces of the cliff were ledges on which grew what appeared to be a few green plants ; some idea of the size of these cliffs may be drawn from the fact that the field-glasses showed these plants to be tall forest trees. Among this scenery animal life was nowhere abundant. Bright orange-coloured ' cocks of the rock ' (Rupicola crocea, Vieill) flitting like flashes of light from tree to tree, were perhaps the most abundant form ; a hawk occasionally rose screaming from some high ledge of rock ; now and then a maroodi (Penelope) cried shrilly from among the trees ; and a few kingfishers darted across and along the water. On one tree a pair of bright green toucans (Aulaccramphus sulcatus), the only examples of the genus I ever saw, were feeding. THE KAIETEUR RAVINE. 63 On the same day on which we left Amootoo we reached the last small cataract at Waratoo. The portage is short, but we were not even obliged to use it ; for by carrying the goods past the cataract, we were able to drag the boat up in the water. Half-an-hour after leaving this place, I experienced a most strange and memorable sensation. A partial view of the distant fall should be obtained from this point. Before us, in the distance, the ravine ended in a bare cliff face. Over that the Kaieteur should fall. But now there was no trace of water ; only dense clouds of white mist, undefined from the cloudy sky above, rose from towards the foot of the cliff and slowly passed upward along its face. Our two Indians who had visited the place before gasped out ' Kaieteur, he dry.' We looked at each other with solemn faces and then laughed nervously. We seemed the victims of a great practical joke, of which Mr. Brown and nature were the perpetrators ; the former by over-estimating the fall, which according to him had ' foamed for ages past,' the latter by drying up ' one of the grandest falls in the world ' in this not particularly dry season. All our long and difficult way had been passed, all our pains expended, all our hopes nourished, to see a fall where no fall was. It was the old story of ' the play of Hamlet with the part of the Prince of Denmark omitted.' Almost as soon as we had caught the first glimpse of the Kaieteur cliff a turn in the river hid it, and we had time to realise our feelings. The great white clouds which we had seen were my only hope as we paddled gloomily on to the landing place at Tookooie cataract. Beyond this point it is impossible to take boats; for from here up to the great fall is no smooth water, but only a long succession of rapids, falls, and cataracts. We had to camp at a spot some fifty yards beyond the real landing- place, which was entirely occupied by a large party of Ackawoi who were on their way down from their homes above the fall to the Essequibo, or ' Scapi ' as they call it, to eat fish and turtles' eggs. There are a few fish in the -vv64 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. Potaro below the Kaieteur, but none above; turtles are altogether wanting in the river. We hoped to induce-some of these Indians to guide us to the foot of the fall; but, like all the Indians of the district, they were far too fearful of its supposed supernatural character to approach either the bottom or the top. Even in carrying their woodskins down past the fall, they make an immense detour of five or six miles, rather than go near the place. We had reached this place only eleven days after leaving Bartica Grove. Two of these days had been spent without travelling. So that Tookooie was actually reached in nine days. The next morning we started to make our way to the foot of the fall, taking our hammocks and a small supply of provisions with us. There is no track of any sort. Each traveller must cut and climb his own way : and the journey is of a most arduous kind. Starting at about eleven o'clock in the morning we followed the track leading to the top of the fall for a few hundred yards, and then struck off, as it afterwards turned out, too soon, to the river on our left. Before long we climbed down the face of a considerable fall on a creek running into the Potaro. On the dry ledges. of this was a splendid growth of large filmy ferns (Trichomanes Prieurii, Ku.nze) with fronds a foot long. Following the course of this creek we reached the boulders on the edge of the main river, and climbed for some time along these. Presently, by an unlucky thought, we left the river-bank and again ascended high up into the hill forest. Then the way became absolutely terrific. The whole floor of the ravine, as well as the hill-side for some distance up, is covered,, ap parently to the depth of several hundred feet, by a litter of huge boulders varying in size from that of a large house to a few feet square, piled in the wildest confusion. Those by the water-side are smaller, and, being quite bare, are easily passed. But within the forest, trees, shrubs, creepers, aroids, begonias, all growing in the most eccentric places and directions, formed, from rock to rock, a covering treach- TO THE FOOT OF THE FALL. 65 erously hiding the crevasses and ravines. Among, over, and under these boulders we had to creep, climb, or slide as best we could ; we had to walk across fallen, often rotten, trees bridging over ugly-looking crevasses ; we had to pass over places where the ground, seeming firm, really-coftsisted of a network of small roots, over which was a deceitful™^ covering of dead leaves and growing ferns ahckmosses^ag^ih \ and again when trusting ourselves in such places we'foTmd--'' ourselves buried up to the waist; once I disappeared _en- tirely~- On the whole ii^was a very ugly climb ; and yet it ^-iSas just in the— worst-places that the wonderful beauty of the plants, especially the ferns and begonias, most repaid the toil. My only regret was that under the circumstances I was only able to snatch a plant here and there, leaving many and many a wished-for specimen ungathered. As a collecting place for a naturalist no better spot could be found. By about three in the afternoon we came out of the forest to the river-edge, at a point about a quarter of a mile from the fall and just at the mouth of the Kaieteur amphi theatre. Before, and close to us, was the fall, about two- thirds of its upper part visible. The Kaieteur was not dry ; but it was less than half the width proper to it in the rainy season. Still it was very splendid, and the beauty of the surrounding scenery made great amends for the deficiency of water. The reason that no descending water had been visible from Waratoo was now obvious. At the fall, the Kaieteur ravine ends in a complete amphitheatre with cliff-like walls 800 feet in height. It is into this amphitheatre that the" Potaro falls from the plateau above. Supposing the amphi theatre were divided into quarters by drawing one straight line from the entrance to the opposite cliff and another straight line cutting the former in the middle and ending on either side at the cliff, then the space over which the water falls is included within the left-hand quarter farthest from the entrance. Therefore, when looking into the amphi- F 66 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. thetitre from a point directly opposite its entrance we could only see the bare cliff at the side of the fall. When full the fall extends over the part of the cliff directly opposite the entrance of the amphitheatre, so that part of it is then visible from a long distance down the ravine. The floor of the amphitheatre is occupied by a waste; of fallen rocks, made black by constant moisture, but capped with short, intensely green grass, except round- the dark stormy pool into which the water falls, where the rocks are entirely bare, slippery, and black. Immediately behind the fall a huge, dark cave is visible in the cliff. The upper edge of the cliff serves as a horizon to the whole scene when viewed from below. After spending twenty-four hours at the foot of the fall, we started back to the landing-place. By keeping as much as possible to the rocks by the river-side and ascending into the bush only when absolutely necessary, we found. a far. easier route than that by which we went on the previous day, and the camp atTookooie was reached in about two hours and a half. * : ¦ The next day was spent at Tookooie,, and on the day after we started for the top of the fall. The way lay along a beaten Indian track, which is only difficult because, iri parts, very steep. After two hours' climb through the forest, we came out on to the savannah from which the Kaieteur falls.' No more strange place than this was ever imagined. The ground . is formed by an entirely bare layer of hard conglomerate rock. No soil exists except- in the cracks and fissures. In these small deposits of earth innumerable gigantic Brome- liads, looking more like agaves,1 have taken root, and form the 1 The somewhat imperfect specimens of the flower of this plant, which were all that I could procure at that season, led Mr. J. G. Baker of Kew to suppose that the plant was a new species of Cordyline, and very inte resting as being only the second species of the genus that had been dis covered on the American continent. Mr. Baker accordingly describedand figured the plant as Cordyline micrantha, riov. sp. in the Gardeners' Chronicle. More perfect specimens, since obtained by my; friend Mr. . Jenman, have proved.that the, plant is really a gigantic Bromeliad, and of even far higher interest than had been supposed, as being 'by far the most PLATE IK 5 -!$?> -'¦ j, 'i SKkir^lK -=' '- -®Ms- ;;. "»"-'¦'-.- '":-; ' .¦¦¦¦}¦'— .'<:.. 'J';'.' -'¦'-¦: " ¦.-¦ ....:'? - ^-tLT? c . ¦';-- - -..- ¦ ¦ >, vlit il.,.1 - v , -¦. .- - - tiitWr flBM ifflfi^ J-, ¦I'i.-Jil.Jl'^rflS il THE KAIETEXJK PALL (ire d/-y wtather). (FROM BELOW.) THE KAIETEUR FROM ABOVE. 67 most prominent feature in the scene. Thickets of splendid- flowered orchids (Sobralia), as tall as a man, and many other rare and quaint plants grow among the agave groups, each of which is laced together by a large fern (Pteris aquilina), almost, if not quite, identical with the delicately beautiful and graceful English bracken. This plant-growth lends a most strange character to the scenery of the place. It is quite unlike anything I have seen elsewhere in the colony, and for once realises the common idea of tropical scenery. The savannah is of itself well worthy of a visit.1 Crossing the savannah we soon reached the Kaieteur , cliff. Lying^atJiulUengih _pji_ta^ over the \ edge of the cliff, I gazed down. ~Then, and only then, the splendid and, in the most solemrrserise of the word, awful beauty of the Kaieteur burst upon me. Seven hundred and fifty feet below, encircled by black boulders, lay a great pool into which the column of white water, graceful as a ceaseless flight of innumerable rockets, thundered from by my side. Behind the fall, through the thinnest parts of the veil of foam and mist, tbe great black cavern made the white of the water look yet more white. My first sensations were of a terrible and undefined^ fear. Those who visit the fall will understand this. When ' some of the men hiuled down one of the big Bromeliads, the act seemed to cause me unbearable pain ; I had as soon have hurled myself over as have allowed a repetition of the act just then. Gradually, however, these painful feelings gave way to others of intense wondering delight ; and the whole scene-, colossal Bromeliad ever discovered. Mr. Baker has now provisionally named it Broeehinia cordylinoideg. 1 Mr. Jenman, who has since had a prolonged opportunity of collect ing plants on this savannah, procured and sent from there to Kew a herbarium collection, which is declared by the assistant-director of the Royal Gardens to be ' almost the most important collection ever received from South America.' j? 2 68 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. the gigantic weird fall, the dark and slippery places below, the grass-covered rocks at the gate of the amphitheatre, and beyond that the bright thickly wooded valley of the winding river, visible for many miles, were revealed, never to be forgotten. As soon as we could force ourselves away from the cliff, we formed our camp in a clump of small trees which stands at the very edge of the fall. Here we spent two days, which were fully occupied in searching the whole strange place. In the rock plateau, not far from -the edge of the cliff, are certain long, narrow, and immeasurable deep fissures, lying parallel to the cliff, and therefore at right angles to the bed of the river. They exactly resemble the very narrowest crevasses in a glacier. These seem to throw some light on the process by which the ravine and amphitheatre of the Kaieteur have been formed. It must be remembered that the plateau consists of a layer of hard conglomerate overlying a bed of softer sandstone. The cave behind the column of water has been formed, as Mr. Brown has said, by the back splash from the fall, which has washed away the sandstone from .under the conglomerate. The ordinary theory is that the constant passage of the water gradually } wears away this conglomerate roof, and so the cave and fall continuously, but very gradually, retreat backward. But it seems to me that the process is not gradual, but by occasional, sudden catastrophes. Though I was unable to find one of these narrow fissures crossing the actual bed of the stream, yet from their frequent occurrence on other parts of the plateau, and considering that the rock close by the top of the fall is extraordinarily uneven, looking as if much creased and folded ; and that the bed of the river just there is much choked by a dense mouth of sedges, it is probable that such fissures do occur across the bed of the river. If so, while the main body of the water would, by reason of its velocity, rush over them, yet some water would trickle down through these fissures, and would gradually SAVANNAH PLANTS. 69 widen them. The result of this would be that the con glomerate would form, not a roof, but a bridge, over the cave. This bridge would in time give way, its fragments falling to the bottom of the amphitheatre. Only in this way, it seems to me, can the enormous masses of boulders which fill the whole bottom of the ravine be accounted for. The water being very low at the time of our visit, we were able to obtain a better view of the cave and pool than has been obtained by others ; and it certainly seemed that there was a small flow of water outward from the cave and from behind the fall. If this is so, it of course corroborates the above theory. The more I saw of the Bromeliads of the savannah the more striking they appeared. Unlike most other succulent- plants they are of a bright light yellowish-green colour, and seem at first sight very unfitted to find nourishment on this parched plain of earth-bare rock. A second glance, however, shows a special adaptation to the place of growth. The base of each leaf of the rosette-shaped plant is so curved in at its edges against the leaf immediately within it that it forms a large reservoir for water; Each of these receptacles contains from a half-pint to a pint ; so that the whole plant is provided with a store of several quarts of water. These receptacles being fully exposed to the sun, the water within them must evaporate quickly ; but the heavy dew which falls here, and the thick clouds of mist which continually rise by night and during the early morning from the fall and drop back on this plain in the form of rain must continually renew the store. Another perhaps yet more curious, though inconspicuous plant was a small round-leafed sundew (Drosera rotun&v* folia), an insect-eating plant which grows plentifully among the loose stones overlying the rocks in the very driest parts of the savannah. Its small red leaves are covered with long hairs, each of which carries a drop of very sticky liquid. Small insects, hovering round the plant, are caught by this gummy substance, and are unable to get away from, the 70 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. plant, which slowly absorbs their life-juices. How this plant, usually such a lover of watery places,- manages to subsist, on these rocks is mysterious. Each evening, at dusk, the flocks of swifts (Acanthyllis collaris) spoken of by Mr. Brown arrived ; but they were by no means as numerous as they seem to have been at the time of his visits. They fly high in the air above the fall, then so suddenly descend straight down into the amphi theatre, that thek wings make a hissing noise which is not the least curious phenomenon of this wonderful place. After descending straight down, they settled for the night on the face of the cliff, by and behind the fall. Here, too, we were lucky enough to obtain specimens of a new species of bird, which Mr. P. L. Sclater has done me the honour to name after me, Agslceus vcrdhurni. The nights were bitterly cold. The moon was big at the time, and as it shone on the fall seemed to make it grow more weird. The thunderous roar of its water sounded much louder than by day. Towards morning it became evident that masses of thick white clouds filled the whole valley be low the fall ; nor did these clear away till nine o'clock in the morning. It was with regret that we turned, at last, to leave the Kaieteur, but after a six days' stay in the neighbourhood, it was time to start homeward. No new or striking incident occurred during our return, and I may therefore bring my story to a close. In the following February, at the end of a heavy rainy season, having a month's leave of absence, it seemed that the time could hardly be better employed than in again ascend ing the Potaro and seeing the fall of the river in flood. Mr. T. C. Edwards-Moss went with me ; and with twenty Indians we started from Bartica Grove, in three boats, on Monday, the 1 Oth of February, and, in spite of the large quantity of water both in the Essequibo and Potaro rivers, accomplished our journey comfortably, and so quickly that we were back J.Smii, 'Mh ¦ Ha.nliaxt imp A GZ L fV- T T ft T M T W T T TJ W T THE POTARO IN FLOOD. 71 again at the Grove on the 3rd of March, after an absence, that is, of only twenty-two days. The journey up the Essequibo to the mouth of the Potaro occupied five days. The river was high ; but the heavy rains having just come to an end, somewhat later in the year than usual, the water was beginning to sink. The falls in this part of the river were easily passed, and almost without adventure. On landing at the side of the rapids at Coomaka, which were almost completely smoothed over by the great quantity of water which was coming down the river, we found a great snake, a camoodi (Eunectes murina) asleep on rocks. My companion shot it ; and it proved to be twenty feet in length and three feet in girth at the thickest. On Friday night we camped just opposite the mouth of the Potaro river ; and early on the next morning we turned up that river, and in a couple of hours reached the first cata ract at . Toomatoomari. Here we spent the afternoon in the bush in a vain attempt to hunt — unfortunately we saw no thing to hunt. At Toomatoomari the scene was very different from what it had been in the dry season. Now, below the cataract, instead of a plain of sandbanks and rocks with a few water-channels, all was one sheet of water, covered with masses of white foam from the tumbling water above. And now the cataract, instead of being small and. narrow, rushed in through the whole upper end of the plain, and was at least three or four times as wide as it had been in October. As it was at Toomatoomari, so it was throughout the whole river. The water in the Essequibo had been high, but in the Potaro it was yet higher. Within the few weeks before and during our expedition much more rain must have fallen on the sandstone region in which the Potaro rises than in the parts about the upper waters of the Esseqmbo. When w& reached the latter river on our return we found it had sunk considerably, while the Potaro was then much higher than when we entered it. Hardly a day during our expedition was without rain, and while we were near the Kaieteur the 72 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. rainfall was often very heavy. Of the twenty-two days of our absence from Bartica only two were dry : during the same period very little rain fell on the coast region ; and,- judging from the state of the river, very little can have fallen towards the sources of the Essequibo. The Potaro was, as has been said, in flood, and rose yet higher during the time we were on it. Eapids, cataracts, and falls had widened, since I had seen them three months before, from a width of a few yards to many hundred -feet. And in the reaches between the falls the innumerable sand banks and rocks which I had seen were now quite covered by a strong, swift flow of dark water carrying long lines of masses of white foam, which looked like large flocks of white birds swimming with the current. It is hard to say whether the scenery on the river was more, oraless, beautiful than it had been when the river was low. The cataracts now were un doubtedly very far finer, and were in themselves quite worthy of a visit ; but, on the other hand, the smooth reaches of the river had lost much of the fairy-like beauty which had charmed me before, and had acquired something of the monotonous character common to most of the rivers of Guiana. But even in these smooth reaches there was one thing more beautiful than it had been before. It was, as has been said, the chief flowering season of the year ; and the flowers were more strikingly beautiful than I have, ever seen them in the tropics. For it is not in these warm regions, but in the temperate northern climates, that plants most profusely cover themselves with masses of flowers and produce their most gorgeous effects. But for once, as we went up the Potaro, great masses of bright flowers gleamed in places on the banks. Three plants were most especially striking. One, the loveliest of all, the cakeralli (Leeythis ollaria), was in full flower. In the forest it grows tall; but here, on the banks of the river, where it was very abundant, it was a small gnarled and knotted tree. Some of its many small leaves were green, some of various shades of bright bronzy red. THE TIME OF FLOWERS. 73 Each of its flowers was like a beautiful pink orchid ; but their clusters were in habit and colour like those on the branchlets of a standard peach at home. Indeed, no better idea of the general effect of these trees can be given than by saying that they vividly recalled these English peach-trees, or perhaps still more our pink, double-blossomed hawthorns. Often these cakeralli trees were half in, and overhanging the water ; and then the reflection of the mass of its warm pink blossoms in the still dark water was supremely beautiful. Once we passed the mouth of a creek far down which, seen at the end of a shady passage formed by overarching trees, a cakeralli, half-fallen, reached nearly across the stream; and yet it lived, and was flowering and reddening all the water under it. At another time the eye would be attracted by a deep blue patch on the surface of the water, and looking up the bank to see what caused this new reflection, would rest on a cluster of many foot- long wreaths of the intensely blue star- flowers of the Petrcea mosrtiana, one of the most strikingly beautiful flowers of Guiana, and one which is not as common in gardens as it should be. A third plant which was then in full bloom was a white waxy flower (Posoqueria longiflora) with clustered blos soms like long-tubed, hanging gardenias, with a strong sweet scent, and with pretty egg-shaped, orange-coloured fruits, ripe even on the flowering branches. And between these plants were many others equally beautiful though not so prominent. The height of the river did not cause much extra diffi culty. Our boat and one of the canoes were portaged past Toomatoomari cataract, instead of being hauled up as is pos - sible in a lower state of the water. At Mowraseema the rapids had increased much in number, though not individu ally in difficulty. But when we came to the portage at Pacoutout, which we had avoided before by hauling up the bateau, we found that we could not this time shirk the work of clearing the path, laying it with skids, and carrying over the bateau. We therefore left the canoe at the lower end of 74 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. the portage, and took only the ' Adaba,' our built boat, to gether with three woodskins which the Indians living at Pacoutout offered to lend us. A whole day was, however, occupied in getting our one boat across. The path, along which it had to be dragged, passes through a cassava field, so that much extra labour was occasioned by the number of felled trees which had to be cleared away. Some Indians have, however, settled here since our last visit, so that the path was in better order than it then was. A very severe and unlucky illness of my companion, a memorable event to both of us ever after, caused a day's delay here, and nearly caused our return. Portaging again at Amootoo, and haul ing the boat up past Waratoo, on the fifth day from Tooma toomari, we came in sight of the Kaieteur. It seemed about four miles off. This was the point from which on the occasion of my former visit the Kaieteur was not, as it ought to have been, visible, so that when we came here, we thought for an hour or two that the fall was quite dry. But now, far off at the end of the valley, the white water was very visible as it fell over the wall-like cliff which closes the end of the ravine. The Kaieteur was now evidently very full. One hour later we were at the landing-place at Tookooie, which is within three hours' walk of the fall, and beyond which it is impossible to take boats. We had taken twelve days to reach this point from Bartica Grove ; but of these nearly two whole clays had been spent without travelling. I have already described the steep, but not difficult, walk through the forest, up the higher level of the fall. On coming out on to the savannah we found that it had been burned. The Bromeliads -with which it is chiefly clad were hardly more than charred stumps and leaves ; but the low- growing vegetation round the roots of these had re covered and was more vigorous than in October. The bracken (Pteris aquilina), pushing up its young woolly heads, reminded one of spring at home ; a few ground orchids were in flower, but unfortunately not the Sobralia, which- 1 had most hoped to see. THE KAIETEUR IN FLOOD. 75 Crossing the savannah, and coming to the edge of the cliff over which the Potaro falls, we once more lay down, bodies along the top of the cliff, heads over its edge. It was a very different scene from the last time. Then it was. beautiful and terrible ; but now it was something wrhich it is <- useless to try to describe. Then a narrow river, not a third of its present width, fell over the cliff in a column of white water, which was brought into startling prominence by the darkness of the great cave behind ; and this column of water, before it reached the small, black pool below, had nan-owed to a point. Now an indescribably, almost inconceivably,^ vast curtain of water — I can find no other phrase — some four hundred feet in width, rolled over the top of the cliff, retaining its full width until it crashed into the boiling water of the pool which filled the whole space below ; and of the surface of this pool itself only the outer edge was visible, for the greater part was ceaselessly tossed and hurled up in a great and high mass of surf and foam and spray. The fall, when the river was almost dry, had seemed as grand and beautiful a thing as it was possible to imagine ; but now it was so infinitely more grand, so infinitely more beautiful, that it is painfully hopeless to try to express in "words anything of its beauty and grandeur. Indeed the very words beauty and grandeur, and indeed all other words, seem absurdly weak when applied to such a scene as that. It is indeed possible to write down a few separate impres sions that came to me as I looked at the fall, but it is im possible even to hint at the overpowering effect which the whole scene produced. We made our camp at the old spot, at the actual edge of the fall. The river there had been choked by sedges (Cyperus) l among which the water used to creep hidden to its fall ; but this plant-growth was now quite covered by the rushing river. About an hour before sunset on the first evening of our stay rain began to fall in light showers. Low down at our 1 The species is new to science. "76 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. feet, across the river below the fall, the sun and rain built a coloured arch right across the ravine ; and through this the river, narrowed by a seemingly endless series of projecting cliff buttresses, was seen winding through the forest-covered country till it passed the far-away sugar-loaf mountain at Amootoo, and then lost itself in the great wooded plain beyond. An hour later heavy low-lying clouds had gathered, and almost shut us in in our camp on the edge of the cliff. Then the mist and cloud and rain and wind made another wonderful scene. The great rocky ravine at our feet was filled by huge masses of rolling, driving cloud which hid everything, except when, now and then, a cold blast of wind, separating two clouds for a few seconds, showed in the gap some pro jecting cliff-ledge, or some tree-covered rock, apparently hanging suspended in a cloud world. And all the while the great river rushed swiftly at our side to the edge of the cliff, rolled over, and as it fell plunged through strange weird pillars of white mist, which continually rose from it and passed up into the low leaden-coloured sky overhead, down into the denser, unbroken mass of clouds below, and there hid itself. Night came on, and as it grew darker and darker, the few swifts (Acanthyllis collaris) which were about fell headlong down from the sky above ; and they too were gone into the cloud. And the noise of the fall — the rustling sound of falling water and the deep boom rising from the unseen pool below — added to the effect. ^The whole world seemed unreal and gran^lyjaatastic: — rrrsueha scene as that one forgets (vn^tTjvJ^ forggrr-jpal h'fajjwirl seern!~carrieiririto a new^Jiardly formed universe. It was a picture" which only Turner could, and would have delighted to paint; nor could even he have shown more than a small part of its strangeness. Presently the rain, coming on more and more heavily, drove us to our hammocks, in which we lay awake, cold and wet, nearly all that night. Our hammock covers were almost useless against such rain, and with such wind to PLATE 71. TEE EAIETEUK FALL (in vet umOtcr). THE KAIETEUR IN FLOOD. 77 drive the rain. In the morning it was nearly nine o'clock before we got a fire lighted. Then the rain ceased for a while, and we managed to turn out to get a bathe in the river. The water had risen much in the night and was evidently still rising ; it was already within a few feet of the point at which the rock-covering of dead and withered water- weed (Lacis) showed high-water mark. As the clouds again threatened rain, and as we meant to stay where we were for at least another day, our men built a capital and substantial house of posts and palm-leaves, which ought to be useful to future visitors. That day was passed in much walking about, and in seeing the fall from many points. We had a stop-watch with us ; and by repeatedly fixing our attention on particular rocket-like points of water, we timed the falling water from the instant at which it passed over the upper edge of the cliff to that at which it reached the pool below. The time was almost exactly 6*5 seconds. Another thing noticed during that day was that the swifts did not as usual leave the place during the day to return at night, but hovered about the face of the cliff all day. It was probably their breeding season. At night the shelter of our house was inost welcome; for the rain, which had only fallen at intervals during the day, began to fall again heavily. But the next morning was splendidly fine. On the whole, we were very lucky in the weather. It had been tolerably dry while we were walking up to the savannah, then came thirty-six hours of almost incessant rain, which increased and entirely filled the fall ; and then our last day there was gloriously fine, so that we could fully enjoy the marvellous scene. The river was now quite full, the water being up to the bushes on either bank, and the fall was at its grandest. In bathing that morning, we found that the current had become so strong that we had- to keep close in to the bushes, anrl even then it was very difficult to stand ; a step too far might have sent us down the Kaieteur. 7S AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. All the time we had to spare we lay at the edge of the cliff wondering at the exceeding beauty of the fall, and all our talk was of its grandeur. Its edge and surface was no even line, but was thrown into many and varied curves by projections and inequalities in the cliff. And the water at each curve seemed different (in the mode in which it fell, and in colour) from each other part. In places the fall was of purest white ; this was where a rise in the level of the cliff edge caused the water to break over it, and, shooting out into the air, to fall in a vast dense body of white drops. But the greater part of the curtain of the fall was formed of the beautiful overlapping rocket-like points, which constantly fell and were constantly succeeded by others ; here the colour at each point varied according to the depth of the water, and was bf many shades of a peculiar amber, lighten ing below into the colour best described as 'ecru.' It is impossible to tell more accurately the endless variety in the contour and colour of the fall. The great curtain of water, entirely covering the whole front of the cave, seemed as a curtain in front of an entrance to an Inferno. Even were it possible, one would almost be afraid to penetrate behind it. But perhaps the most beautiful effects that morning were produced by the rainbows down in the ravine below, caused by the sun shining on the ever-rising masses of mist and spray. One end of the bow passed over the lower part of the fall itself, and blending with the water and losing all regular ity of outline, it seemed to become a part of each beautiful rocket of water and of each of the myriads of white water- drops, till the whole fell like a vast shower of jewels. Nor was the other end of the arch, lying along the flat black boulders, capped with grass of pale but most brilliant green, round the pool, less beautiful. Some small white butterflies seemed in some way irre sistibly attracted into the fall ; they occasionally passed us and flew lower and lower, the sunlight glittering on their THE JOURNEY FROM THE FALL. 79 white wings, till they flitted about in the rainbow-tinted spray ; anjLihen-they~wejej5ucked in by the_water. Time passed, and we had to turn homeward ; and so on the afternoon of the third day of our visit, after a last long look at the fall, we went down to our boats and camp at Tookooie. We had determined not to attempt to make our way into the ravine at the foot of the fall ; for on my previous visit I had found that the view obtained from there was not worth the great labom- of the journey. But now, even if we had wished to go in, it would hardly have been possible ; for the river was now so high over the rocks on which we had walked that we should at least have had to make an entirely new path. So, after another wet night at Tookooie, we started down the Potaro the next morning. The short spell of fine weather was over, and rain fell almost incessantly. As we passed down, the ravine was grand in its clothing of clouds and mist ; and the rains had made numberless fine cataracts down the cliffs, filling the valley with their roar. Our homeward journey was unadventurous. At the settlement of Aykooroo they had collected a very large quantity of cassava bread, with a few yams and plantains for us. At the next settlement, called the Island, at the upper end of Pacoutout portage, they had more bread, some mai- purie meat (Tapirus americanus), and some delicious wild honey. The head man of this settlement said that he owned the deserted settlement at the mouth of the Cooriebrong river, that he meant to build a church there, and that he wished me to send him a 'domini' (parson). This is a com mon whim among Indians ; they build a large house, which they are pleased to call a church, use it for holding paiwari feasts, and whenever a white man approaches are loud in their calls for a parson. In shooting one of the rapids at Mowraseema, our boat came suddenly against a sharp rock, and a hole was knocked in her bottom. However, a little baling till we got to shore, SO AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. and then a little caulking, made all right. The rest of the falls were easily passed. In three days we reached Toomatoomari, where, on account of the rise in the river, there was considerable difficulty in getting the boats over. Coming to the Essequibo we found that it, unlike the Potaro, had sunk considerably during our absence. Four days later, on the 3rd of March, we reached Bartica Grove, and the pleasantest of all my journeys into the interior had come to an end. A few words as to future expeditions may be useful. Firstly, as to the means which might be taken by the Government to facilitate the whole journey ; I confess that money spent on cutting paths from any point on the Esse quibo to the Kaieteur seems to me thrown away. A small amount of money and labour might much more advan tageously be used in permanently improving the portage paths, and in making a moderately good path from Tookooie landing to the foot of the fall. An annual present might also be made to the Indians settled along the route, on con dition that they keep open the portages, keep boats for travellers, and give all assistance in their power. Secondly, as regards the travellers' own part in organising the expedition ; the first requisite is that none but Indians be taken in the crew. A large and comfortable boat may be taken from Bartica Grove as far as Toomatoomari ; but above that one or more small boats are necessary. It adds much to the travellers' comfort without entailing much trouble, if a few iron stanchions and a movable awning to cover these small boats are taken. As to the time of year at which it is best to visit the Kaieteur, I think the dry season is to be preferred. The volume of the water is then undoubtedly much reduced, but en the other hand the ease and comfort of the journey is much increased, while the really exquisite scenery of the whole of the Potaro river is only then seen in its perfection. The following directions as to the path from Tookooie landing-place may be given. I must first state that even if HOW TO VISIT THE KAIETEUR. 81 the easiest way to the foot of the fall is found, the difficulty of the walk is by no means slight, and should not be attempted by any but a young and fairly active man. And when the foot of the fall is reached, the view obtained does not -repay the toil expended. I should strongly advise all but the most adventurous to be content with the far finer view to be obtained from above. Those,- however, who are determined to see the fall from below must follow the beaten track which leads to the top for rather more than a quarter of a mile to a point where ' it is crossed by a very considerable creek, the bed of which, twenty to thirty yards wide, is formed of perfectly flat sand stone ledges. This is the creek on the ledges of which, on crossing at a point lower down, I noticed the splendid luxuri ance of the filmy ferns ( Trickomanes prieurii ). The way then lias down the bed of this creek if the water is shallow, or along its southern side if the stream is deep, till the main -riveris reached. After that it is necessary to keep to the bare boulders as close to the river's edge as possible. It is only necessary to go into the forest when passing the head of the last cataract, called Serikabaroo, before the Kaieteur. Here the boulders are so huge and have such cliff-like sides that it is absolutely necessary to go some distance up the side of the ravine ; and this is the most fatiguing part of the journey. It is very difficult to get within the actual amphi theatre of the fall, and the traveller must form his camp at it s mouth. But it may be entered by swimming from rock to rock, and in this way the actual edge of the pool into which the river falls may be gained. The top of the fall is easily reached from Tookooie by fol lowing the beaten path, though this is occasionally very steep. The only good place to camp is reached by walking straight across the savannah, on coming out from the forest, to the opposite side, close to the edge of the fall. But the best view is to be obtained by turning to the left immediately on entering the savannah, instead of crossing to the camping G 82 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. place, ancTby going in the most direct way to the edge of the cliff of the amphitheatre. The mountain called Eoraima, about which a few words must be said, lies on the extreme western edge of the colony on, or perhaps on the other side of, the Brazilian boundary. It has attracted much attention because of its peculiar form and circumstances. The first travellers who noticed it were the brothers Schomburgk, who were in that neighbourhood about the year 1840. Since then it has been thrice visited : by Mr. C. Barrington Brown in 1869, while surveying the geology of the colony; by my friends, Messrs. Eddingtonand Flint, in 1877 ; and lastly, by my friends, Messrs. MeTurk and Boddam-Wetham, in 1878. Moreover, in 1881, Mr. David Burke, an orchid collector, and Mr. Whitely, a zoo logical collector, separately approached within sight of the mountain. It is a table-land formed of sandstone, which rises in a perpendicular cliff from the general plain ; or rather, the savannah slopes somewhat abruptly upward to a height of some 5,000 feet above the sea-level, and this swelling is crowned by a fiat-topped mass of sandstone some 2,000 feet in height, the walls of which are perpendicular. The cir cumference of this mass is entirely unknown, for no traveller has yet been round it. Bound the whole circumference the wall is said to be equally perpendicular ; but this is a mere matter of conjecture and must remain so until some traveller makes his way round it. The flat top appears to be forest covered ; and down its sides, at any rate at times, consider able masses of water fall at various points. On the suppo sition that the summit is really inaccessible, not only to men, but to all unwinged animals, there are those who hold that on this table land, cut off as this must thus be from all communication with the rest of the world, very possibly animal forms of a primitive type exist which have undergone no modification under the influence of new-coming forms since the plain was first isolated in mid-air. Whether the place be quite inaccessible to such modifying influences or not, it is RORAIMA. 83 at least certain that not only the fauna, but also the flora must present features of great interest. At present there Is as I have already hinted, nothing to indicate that the mountain is really inaccessible on all sides. The first thino- to be done is for a traveller to make his way all round it. The difficulty of doing this would be great. The task would take a very considerable and indefinite time, and as the dis tance of the mountain from any main and easily navigable river is great, it would be impossible for the traveller to carry with him sufficient provisions from the coast to support him self and the assistants necessary to him during this time. It would therefore be necessary to live almost entirely on such food as may be procured from the Indians of the district, or by hunting; but the Indians there are few and have but little land under cultivation, and game is said to be scarce. The explorer would, therefore, have to undergo considerable hardship. To a botanist the time spent in such a preliminary walk round Eoraima would be full of interest. For whether the plants on the top of the mountain are ever reached or not, the vegetation round the base is extraordinarily rich and interesting. The following description of the plant life in the Eoraima district, by Eichard Schomburgk,1 who, though the only botanist who had been there, was only in the neigh bourhood for a few days, ought to be sufficient in itself to attract an explorer r — ' From the crevices in the sandstone strata sprang various orchids ; and besides these, the rosy-flowered Marcetia taxi- folia (Dec) had established itself in the fissures — a plant which I had not before seen, and which from a distance I mistook for an Erica. On reaching the summit a wide and splendid plateau, broken by small hills and clumps of rich green trees and bushes, stretched towards the north-west, north, and north-east, and was bounded in the far distance by high ranges of mountains. Our way was across a soft 1 Richard Schomburgk. Beisen in Britiich Guiana (Leipzig, 18-1S) vol.ii. p. 216. G 2 84 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. velvety sward, still wet with dew, directly northward, till I was attracted by a dense clump of tree-like plants. These were indeed remarkable. Their naked stems, several feet in circumference, at last branched in two, while at the ends of these branches were long grass-like broad leaves. In the absence of flowers and fruits it was impossible to determine whether these remarkable plants belonged to the Pandanaeece or Velloziem. These strange plants rose straight up into the air from the sandstone rubble, which was covered by an Eriocaulon and a curious grey-black grass. My brother had seen a group of these plants in 1838 when he first ascended this sandstone range ; but on that occasion also they were not in flower or fruit. On reaching the declivity, a breeze from the north came loaded with a delicious scent, and our astonished eyes were attracted by innumerable stems of white, violet, and purple flowers which waved about the sur rounding bush. These were groups of superb Sobralias ; and amongst them S. Elizabethai rose tallest of all. I found flowering stems of from five to six feet high. But not only these orchids, but the shrubs and the low trees, still dripping with heavy dew, were unknown to me. Every shrub, herb, and tree was new to me, if not as to its family, yet as to species. I stood on the border of an unknown plant zone full of wondrous forms, which lay, as if by magic, before me. I once again felt the same delighted surprise which had overpowered me when I first landed on the South American continent; but I now seemed to be transported to a new quarter of the globe, amongst the Proteaceas of Africa and New Holland and the Hdaleuceas of the East Indies and Australia. The leathery, stiff leaves, the curiously coiled branches, the strange large flowers of various forms, the dazzling colour- of these — all were essentially different in character from all vegetation that I had before seen. I did not know whether to look first at the wax-like gay flowers of certain species of Thibaudia, Befaria, and Archytaea, or at the large, camellia-like flowers of a Bonnetia, or whether to fasten my eyes on the flower-loaded plants of various kinds of HOW TO REACH RORAIMA. 85 Melastoma,'Abolboda, Vochysia, Ternstromia, Andromeda, Clusia, Kiehneyera, or on the various new forms of Sobralia, Oncidium, Cattleya, Odontoglossum, and Epidendron, which covered the blocks of soft sandstone — and there were very many plants not at the time in flower Every step revealed something new.' To the ethnologist also the district will prove interesting; for it is so remote and unexplored that the Arecuna Indians, who chiefly inhabit it, are in a very unusually primitive con dition—for instance, they alone still sometimes use stone, instead of iron, girdles for baking purposes ; and, moreover, the strangeness of Eoraima seems to have made deep impres sions on the minds of these Indians, and to have filled their thoughts with folk-lore to an unusual extent. In short, there is a great rewajxLin store for the traveller, v whether he be botanist or ethnologist, who, having sufficient pecuniary means, will first gain experience of the ways of travelling in that part of the world, so that his knowledge of ordering an expedition may be as precise as possible, and will then go to Eoraima prepared, at all costs, to spend as long a time in the district as may enable him to make his way slowly round the mountain ; and his labours will possibly re sult, as no other means can, in the discovery of a way even to the top of Eoraima. A few words will not be out of place as to the best way of approaching the mountain. Schomburgk, Brown, and Ed- dington visited it by going up the Essequibo and Eoopoonooni to the neighbourhood of Pirara, a route which I have already described, and then making their way northward to the mountain ; McTurk and Boddam-Wetham went up the Mazeruni and then walked southward to the mountain. But there is a way, as yet untried, which I am convinced will prove far more practicable. This is up to Potaro aud from there westward across the savannah. I have already described the journey up the Potaro as far as the Kaieteur fall; and it is evident that there need be no great diffi culty in taking boats of considerable size up to that point. 86 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. There a depot should be formed. Small boats might either be carried past the fall and launched on the Potaro above the Kaieteur, or these might be procured from the Ackawoi Indians who live above, but at some distance from, the fall • and thus the expedition might proceed by water yet further in the direction of Eoraima. The walk across the savannah from the point where it may be necessary to leave the river would be shorter and almost certainly less laborious than the corresponding walk by either of the other routes. But, as my last word on this subject, I must strongly warn any against approaching Eoraima without first fully weighing the difficulty and the cost. V CHAPTEE IV. ASPECTS OF PLANT-LIFE. Common Misconception of Tropical Scenery — The Special Case of Guiana- — General Type of Foliage like that of Temperate Climates— Colouring of the Foliage — Colour of Flowers in Mass^-Beauty of Individual Flowers — Scent — Chief Types of Guiana Vegetation — A Scene in the Forest — Palm Forests — River-side Vegetation — The Cokerite Paim — Savannah Scenery-— Water Plants. The appearance of a country which has heen little modified by the hand of man, depends, in very great measure, upon its vegetation. . Much has lately been written on the real, as opposed to the commonly conceived, appearance of tropical vegetation. But men in temperate regions are still apt to think that tropical plant-life blazes with gorgeous colour, and. iscomposed almost exclusively of quaint forms. Two fallacies, as to colour and as to form, are involved in this conception. The spread of the colour-fallacy is due to the fact that it is the more gorgeous plants which, being selected from an infinitely greater number of less* brilliant hue, are grouped together in our glass-houses. The form-fallacy has arisen partly from a similar cause, but chiefly from the fancy sketches of tropical scenery made by .artists. This latter source of error may be well studied, for example, in certain pictures of Guiana scenery by a German, named Carl Appun, a botanist and a draughtsman of some merit, who lived for some years in the interior, and who has furnished almost the only attainable pictures, drawn on the spot, of that scenery. In these pic tures palms and other plants of forms strange to temperate regions, occupy the whole scene. Appun knew how to draw plants, so that even in his most crowded compositions it is 88 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. possible to recognise the species of each individual plant ; but his pictures are no true records of the scenery, because in them, much as the gardener does in his hothouse, he grouped only the most striking plants, and entirely omitted all such as are but little distinguished in character or size of foliage from the plants of temperate regions. In correction of the false views thus spread Mr. Wallace's careful analysis of tropical scenery in general, in his admirable essay on Tropical Nature, is of great value. The purpose of the present chapter is to supplement, as far as may be, that general ac count by representing the most characteristic aspects of the special plant-life of Guiana. The forests and woods of Guiana, which, it must always be remembered, are situated at a very low level above the sea, are mainly composed of trees and shrubs of much the same general type, as regards both form of growth and of foliage, as our own Spanish chestnuts, oaks, acacias, and laurels. Three things must, however, be remembered in thus transferring in imagination our own forms of vegetation to the tropics ; and these are, in the first place, that in the tropics, the trees and plants of all sorts are generally on a much more gigantic scale, and that this rank growth and, especially at this low level, the absence of small neat-grow ing plants, such as elsewhere carpet the ground and fill up the spaces, gives an impression of weediness ; secondly, that the light being much more intense, the spaces within the gigantic outlines of the scenery are seen in even exagge rated bareness and nakedness ; and thirdly, that scattered among these familiar forms a large number of novel forms occur. ' Starting with this general idea of the vegetation, it will be convenient, first, to consider the three special points, as to the occurrence of colour, of novel and striking forms, and of scents, and then to draw, as far as may be done in words, a few typical scenes of vegetable life in the forest and on the savannah. The general colour of the forest is due rather to the THE * TROPICAL FALLACY.' 89 various shades of the leaves than to any wide scatterino- of flowers. Yet at no time is the Guiana leafage as splendid as in an ordinary English wood either in the early spring or in the glorious golden autumn time. But, on the other hand, the tropical forest throughout the year is more variously coloured in this respect than is the English wood at any other time than spring or autumn. This peculiarity of the tropical forest is due partly to the fact that, without special season either for the bursting or the fall of leaves, throughout the year it has trees both putting out new leaves, white, or brilliantly tinted with green, pink, or red, and others from which drop leaves with red, yellow, and bronze colours burned deeply into them by the blazing sun ; and partly to the fact that in it trees of innumerable kinds, each with foliage at least slightly distinct in colour, grow intermingled, and not, as is usual in lands of beech or oak forests and fir coppices, in more or less distinct groups. The whole amount of colour afforded by flowers is probably not very different in tropical and temperate trees, but is differently distributed. With flowers, just and for the same reasons as with remarkable leaves, those in temperate climates are all gathered into the springtime and into particular spots, whereas in Guiana they are scattered throughout the year and on single trees through the forest ; so that in the latter place, though no sheet of flower such as decorates an apple or cherry orchard or a hawthorn thicket in spring is ever seen, yet throughout the year, though more frequently in the wet than in the dry season, trees as fully covered with flowers as any individual apple, cherry, or hawthorn, may be remarked, like huge nosegays, in the leafy, otherwise unflowery forest. It must be added that this description ofthe flowers of Guiana refers only to those of the trees or shrubs, and that there is never there a growing carpet of flowers, such as is made in England by primroses and anemones, by wild hyacinths and dog violets in the woods, or by marsh marigolds and red fritillary bells in the water meadows, or by heather and gorse on the moors. The splendour of colour of many single tropical trees, 90 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. heightened by contrast with the green of the surrounding forest, is most vividly present in my mind. No effect of colour could be more brilliant than a hackia tree (Tecoma, sp.?),the leafless branches of which, standing high above the surrounding forest, were covered and weighed down by dense masses of golden-yellow flowers, gleaming with a wonderful and almost dazzling brilliance against a pale, clear blue sky ; or than a male Long- John (Triplaris surinamensis) loaded with flowers, arranged in great plumes, like, but much larger than, bunches of lilac, at first creamy-white in colour, but afterward, as the florets grow old, taking a beautiful red tinge ; or than the same tree when each floret, shaped like a tiny parachute, falling with many twirls to the ground, fills even the air with flowers ; or than the hipponai (Parkia pendula), perhaps the most beautiful plant I can remember, its branches arranged in tiers after the manner of the Cedar of Lebanon, its finely cut acacia-shaped foliage very dark in colour, while from the end of each branchlet hangs, at the end of a long- pliant whip, three or four feet long, a globe of crimson flowers — these flowers, because of the regular strata-like arrangement of the branches, hanging in deep even fringes from the outer edge of each shady branch ; or than another tree, of a kind unknown to me, covered with a dense mass of pale mauve flowers, which I once saw in strangely harmonious contrast against a grey, rainy-looking sky ; or than a curiously coloured purple pea-flower (Calopogium ccerideum) which climbs and flowers so abundantly over certain small trees that it appears from a distance like an odd smoke-coloured light ; or than another creeper (Norantea guianensis) which runs, like fire, over the highest trees, throwing out many flame like spikes of dense scarlet flowers, two or three feet long. Yet it must not be forgotten that these are only widely separated spots of colour in a huge forest generally green. It will perhaps be noticed that this account of the dis tribution of flowers in Guiana hardly agrees with such state ments of Mr. Wallace,1 applied apparently to tropical forests C* Tropical Nature (by A. R. Wallace, 1S7S), p. 61. FLOWER-PICTURES. 91 in general, as that in which he says that ' conspicuous masses of showy flowers are so rare that weeks and months may be passed without observing a single flowering plant worthy of special admiration.' That a man, if he confined himself quite strictly to the shadiest parts of the forest, might pass weeks or months without seeing a single plant of striking beauty might be just possible ; yet, in Guiana at least, he must never during this period enter the many open spaces formed by rivers and streams, or by the fall of large trees, or he will be in danger of seeing on an average at least one beautiful mass of flowers in each twenty-four hours. In short, the old tropical fallacy was great ; but the reaction against it, exerriplified in Mr. Wallace's essay, has been slightly exaggerated. The beauty of individual flowers, as distinct from masses, is more frequently noticeable in Guiana ; for not only are all those flowers which have been described above, and many others which might be added to the list, beautiful individu ally as well as in the mass, but there are others, and far more, which, though distributed too sparingly on their plants, or growing in too unfavourable a light, to make any great show, are individually as delicately beautifid or as splendid as any that are arranged in a florist's bouquet. The flowers are lost in the forest. For example, a man may, as I know, pass by a posoqueria shrub without noticing that it is in flower, because the white flowers and orange fruits are not very distinguishable among the many small flecks of intense light which make their way into the deep shade under the forest ; but if he does stop to examine this plant, he will find amongst its laurel-shaped leaves the most beautiful white flowers, of wax-like texture, like but larger than those of jasmine, each at the end of a very long white tube. This is only one out of innumerable instances that might be found even under the shade of the forest ; while at the sides of the river openings, in the forest glades, and especially on the savannahs, the number of individually beautiful flowers is very far greater. We now pass from colour to form. In describing the 92 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. ordinary types of trees as akin to those of temperate lands, it was stated that among these are scattered many striking forms quite or almost peculiar to the tropics. In now de scribing these, the first to claim notice are the creepers, which mat together the whole forest, and pass in inextric able confusion from trunk to trunk and over the tops of the trees. Not only are these immensely more numerous, but very many of them are very distinct in character, espe cially in the form of their stems, from the creepers of temperate climates ; some have stems like broad ribands, either tightly stretched, or with their edges fluted' in a most extraordinary way; others are very regularly spiral, and yet others are twisted round each other as evenly as if by human art. Many kinds of palms occur in places, some species singly, others in thickets, and others massed in numbers even large enough to deserve the name of forest ; so that while in some places none of these plants are visible, in others many individuals of one species fill the scene. Of the erect palms, the leaves of which spring from a common centre, generally from the top of a more or less lofty and stout stem, those with fan leaves are, with the ex ception of one very common species (Mauritia flexuosa) extremely rare ; those with feather leaves form the bulk, and one of these (Maximiliana regia) has its leaflets so arranged almost spirally round the midrib that the whole leaf is rather plume-like than feather-like ; another (Manicaria saccifera) has an enormous oblong entire leaf, not split into leaflets. But, beside these erect palms, there are others which climb (Desmoncus), their feathered leaves branching off along the whole stem. Another plant (Carludovica plumieri) — not a palm, but very similar in appearance — creeps like ivy up the trunks of trees. After the palms, the genera that figure most largely in the ordinary fancy picture of tropical scenery are those plants with large, very bold, simply oblong leaves, the best known of which are the bananas and plan tains, and of which certain very small forms, the cannas, are now commonly seen in English gardens. These banana- TYPICAL VEGETATION. 93 leaved plants do figure, in places, largely in Guiana scenery. The most striking among them is the so-called wild plan tain (Ravenala guianensis), a second species of the far- famed ' Traveller's Tree of Madagascar,' the enormous leaves of which rise from near the ground to a height of ten to fifteen feet. The bases of their leaf-stalks sheath, the one over the other, and in the pockets formed by each of these sheathing parts much rain-water is retained even through the dry season, which water, having often served to qUench the thirst of travellers, has gained for the Madagascar- plant one of its English names. Another noticeable enough feature in these plants is that the seeds within the tough thin shell. qf the fruit are packed in a large quantity of short fibrous substance like clippings of wool, in the Guiana species of brightest scarlet colour, but in the Madagascar plant of blue. Much smaller, but similar plants are the Heliconim ; and yet smaller are various species of Maranta, or rather Ischnosiphon, the tough, dark-green oval leaves of which are raised on a cane-like stem. The leaves of the latter plants serve the Indians in place of wrapping paper, for many purposes, and the stems are woven by the same people into baskets. Wild pine-apples (Ananassa, Bromelia, &c), and other similar but much larger plants, each being but a great rosette of long, ' pointed, saw- edged leaves, grow singly or in small groups on the more sandy parts of the forest floor. Aloe-like plants are very rare ; a few occur scattered widely over the savannah, and one form, the largest Bromeliad in the world, grows in such dense masses on one particular plateau that it constitutes the whole prospect. Among ferns there is no need for much men tion of the low-growing herb-like forms, such as are familiar in temperate lands. They are enormously abundant through out Guiana, the chief forms being various species of Adian- tum, Limdsaya, Polypodium, Acrostichum, and, above all, the lovely little filmy ferns, Trichomanes and Hymenophyl- lum. But three forms, occurring in Guiana, which belong more especially to the tropics, are the tree-ferns, the climbing l94 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. and the creeping ferns. Tree-ferns occur abundantly in certain higher sandstone tracts in the far interior, but far more sparingly in the forest near the coast, where, however, they are sometimes seen in thickets (Alsophila aspera), sometimes singly (Hemitelia macrocarpa and others). The true climbing ferns, with delicately cut leaves, support themselves after the manner of hops on the low shrubs (Lygodium). But there are others which, growing in shrubless places and finding no support, allow their branches to grow into a dense self-supporting bush, perhaps six feet high (Gleichenia), which grows on rocky banks, exposed to the full blaze of the sun, covering these places with a dense mass of beautifully fretted foliage ; and another, but much rarer, fern of similar habit is Oleandra hirtella, which has a long,, upright, and firm stem, so stiff as not to need support, crowned with lance-shaped leaves. Yet other ferns (Poly- podium and others) creep like ivy up the tree-trunks ; and even some filmy ferns have this habit. Club mosses (Selagi- nella and Lycopodium) often carpet the ground under the forest. True mosses are scarce. The striking heart-shaped leaves of aroids, too, are frequently seen. One of the com monest plants of Guiana, which is indeed hardly ever absent from any shallow water, is the moco-moco, an aroid (Cala- dium arborescens) with leaves like that of the well-known Calla, borne at the top of a long stick-like stem often from ten to twelve feet high. Here and there on the ground in the more open parts of the forest the green, bright-red or white-spotted leaves of Caladiums, so well known in English hothouses, are seen; and, growing epiphytically both on standing and fallen trees, are large numbers of other aroids, the leaves of some of them pierced with regular window like openings (Monstera obliqua). Passing from these to the masses of other epiphytes which load the trees, the most striking of these are the Tillandsias, mostly like wild pine-apples, but one curiously distinct form (T. usne- oides), which hangs in large masses like long streamers of grey wool, swaying in the wind from the outer branches of TROPICAL SCESTS. 95 the trees, produces a most weird effect ; the clusias, with larger or smaller leathery leaves, like those of the well-known India-rubber plant (Ficus elastica), which first grow in some fork of the branches high up in the trees, and then send lono-, unbranched, rope-like' roots straight down to the ground; and the orchids. _ The number of the latter plants in Guiana is enormous ; some few grow on the ground, but the greater number are, epiphytic. One, the vanilla plant, creeps like ivy. The quaint but unlovely general character of the plants is too well known to need description ; their flowers, though many of them are individually of exceeding beauty, are in nature seldom sufficiently numerous to attract atten tion. One "class of plants which is generally conspicuous in tropical scenery is somewhat rarely noticeable in Guiana. These are the bamboos. The large, splendidly graceful clumps of bamboos — more graceful, as it appears to me, than any other form of vegetation — chiefly appear in Guiana near places now or once inhabited, and were therefore probably introduced. Other species — their feathery stems scattered/ instead of springing in definite clumps — are more widely scattered, but are seldom sufficiently numerous or remark able to affect the character of the scenery. ^___ The subject ofthe perfumes of plants in Guiana requires but few words. Strong sweet scent is a much more marked feature throughout the interior than is brilliant colour. Many of the trees, though carrying inconspicuous flowers, yet load the whole air with a perfume almost too powerful. The long white-flowered Posoqueria, already mentioned, is one of many plants as strongly scented as Stephanotis ; and. when the large yellow flowers are on the vanilla vines their scerit may be distinguished from far off. Even the highest trees of the forest, which lift their flowers so far from the ground that their beauty is invisible, and their scent for a time imperceptible, yet afterwards, when they drop their flowers, make the odour in the forest at first really sweet, and then, as decay sets in, sickly sweet. Another source of OG AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. perfume lies in the numberless resins which exude from the trees. Where the hyawa tree (Idea keptaphylla) grows, the whole air for some distance round is pleasant and wholesome with the incense-like odour of the white resin that drops from its stem, and falls in masses to the ground ; and a still more powerfully scented resin, which coats the trunk of another tree, the tauranero of the Indians (Humi- vium ftoribundum, Mart.), seems to imitate and surpass the odour of vanilla. Having in these general considerations provided the jhecessary materials, as a painter provides colour, brushes, and canvas, I shall now attempt to describe a few special pictures of plant-life, some from the forest region, others from the savannah ; and thus try to give as true a notion as may be of the appearance of the land. In so doing it will hardly be necessary to notice the coast region, for the obvious reason that the greater part of this has been much modified by the hand of man, whereas we are now regarding only natural conditions ; and for the same reason the forest pic tures will be taken, not from that part which has been de scribed as the timber tract, most of which has at some time been deprived of its finest trees by the hand of man, but from the more remote virgin forest. It may, however, be noted that the most remarkable difference between the timber tract and the virgin forest is that the space under the forest roof is in the former place much filled with shrubs and lower trees, while in the latter place it is much more open. Let us first suppose ourselves to stand far from any opening, somewhere in the deep shade under the unbroken forest roof. The eye is first attracted by the enormous girth and various character of the tree-trunks. Many of these for some distance from the ground are not columuar, but formed by many board-like natural buttresses, radiating from a common centre, between any two of which several men may often stand ; these buttresses run so far up the trunk that if the tree is to be felled, this being impossible near the ground, a platform, sometimes twenty or thirty feet PLANT-LIFE PICTURES. 97 high, has first to be built round the tree, above the point where the buttresses unite to form a trunk of the ordinary pillar-like form ; and from this platform the woodcutters ply their axes against the trunk, at that height circular and of moderate dimensions. The largest of these buttressed trees are the moras, the commonest tree of the colony. But among the two or three moras which are in sight, there are other trunks of every degree of circumference — some of the familiar pillar-like form, others like the clustered shafts of a stone pillar, apparently made up of a number of small coalescent trunks ; most are smooth, but on some there are curious prickles, each supported on a separate, tumour on the bark, and on others clusters of star-like or pea-shaped flowers and pods (Swartzia), spring directly fr-om the bark of fhe trunk or branches. Up the trunks there are a few isolated tendrils of various creeping plants, some with curi ously spotted and marked leaves. There are no large palms in sight, but on the right there is a tangled thicket of small erect palms (Geonoma bacculifera) eight or nine feet high, with a smooth, many-jointed, light-coloured stem, familiar - in the form of a walking-stick, and with a few simple or slightly feathered leaves. Here and there there are also a few other palms (Bactris tricospatha), hardly taller, growing singly, each with a very slender and straight prickly stem supporting a crown of a few delicately feathered leaves. There are but very few shrubs visible, or anything but the tree- trunks to impede the view at the level of the eye. Looking up the tree-trunks the eye travels far, past many clumps of epiphytal plants, past the forkings of the first branches, and yet higher up to the dark, impenetrable roof of leaves, before it perceives the enormous height of the trees. From the roof hang down tangled masses of innumerable creepers, here leafless, for their leafy parts lie above the tops of the trees. On these hanging creeper-ropes one or two enormous masses of epiphytes are perched. Then the eye, looking 'down on to the floor, is struck by the scarcity of moss and other small plants such as carpet temperate woods ; here the H 98 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. , ground in many places consists only of bare mud, or is covered only by a few dead leaves or fallen fruits and branches ; only in a very few and small patches is it car peted by dense masses of seedling trees a foot or two high, among which grow a few herbaceous ferns and club-mosses (Selaginella). On a heap of dead leaves grow one or two tiny parasitic gentians (Voyria), the flowers of which are to be described not so much as white, but rather as colourless, supported on short wiry stems, leafless, and of the same colourless aspect. Lastly, a huge prostrate tree-trunk is half-buried under epiphytal plants, orchids, wild pine-apples, and aroids. It is difficult to obtain a view of the outside of the roof of the forest, but it may sometimes, as has been said in a former chapter, be seen from the top of some steep-sided hill rising above the forest. Standing on such a place as that one looks on to a level sea of tree-tops, a mass of very various foliage most closely woven together by innumerable creepers. Both of the trees and the creepers, some indivi duals may sometimes be seen made gorgeous with flowers, but these are better seen from the level ground in some opening in the forest. It is on these tree-tops, exposed to the full blaze of the sun, that many of the finest orchids grow ; but /their small size, and the distance from which it is alone possible to view them in their natural positions, prevent them forming a feature in the landscape. \- Where many species of palms are gathered together in any one spot in the forest the scene has a very distinct character. The most common of these social palms is the ssta (Mauritia flexuosa), which, though it occasionally grows singly at the river-side, its seed having probably been placed by the current, grows more generally in large numbers either in some swanrpy part of the forest, or entirely filling some moist valley on the savannah. A large seta swamp in the forest is a curious and somewhat gloomy place. There are hardly any other trees or plants. The simple massive trunks, free for some distance from the ground from PALMS. 99 all litter, but crowned with giant fan-leaves, of which some hang down, withered and brown, round the upper part of the trunk, rise at some distance from each other, each from a hillock of fallen leaves ; and between the hillocks stretches the bare black mud, through which narrow streams of dark red water wind in places. The leaves of the palms interlock and make a roof and a thick shade hardly less dense than that elsewhere in the forest. Occasionally a fallen trunk lies like a bridge, from one hillock to another, and in other places there are a few young palms, stemless as yet, their leaves rising straight frdm the mud. As far as one can see, looking between the trunks, the scene is continued as it is in the foreground. A swamp filled by the troolie palm (Manicaria saccifera) is equally striking. In the north western part of the colony, between the mouths of the Orinoco and Essequibo, large stretches of land are occupied almost exclusively by this palm, the immense leaves of which, uncut into leaflets, and sometimes from twenty to thirty feet long by five broad, meet overhead, and thus maintain a constant gloom arid a damp and humid atmo sphere round their stems, which is very favourable to the growth of small ferns. It is while standing in a troolie forest up to one's knees in the level floor of palm debris, and looking up at the almost monstrously gigantic leaves, that one most realises the effect of tropical vegetation. The most graceful of all the palms of Guiana, the mani- cole (Euterpe edidis), grows in masses at the sides of most rivers ; but in places it also occupies whole swamps. These differ principally from the seta swamps, in that the mani- cole grows, not singly but in groups, consisting of infiny gracefully bent slender stems of very various heights, each raised on a common dense mass of exposed roots. These groups arise in this way. A single seed takes root and sends up a single stem ; after a time a new stem buds out from the base of the original stems, and this happens again and again until the whole group, or plant, perhaps, consists of a dozen stems of various ages. And as the number of the stems in- H 2 100 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. creases, more and more supporting roots are sent out, and these in time get welded into a great^asSj which gradually pushes up the crown, and lifts the stems far into the air. Because of their most feathery foliage and the grouping of the slender stems, each clump of these palms is a thing of exquisite beauty; and the swamp in which many of these clumps stand as islands has none of the solemnity of the ;eta or troolie swamp, but rather is full of light and cheer fulness. A much rarer palm, which also sometimes grows in con siderable quantity in swamps within the forest, though hardly ever entirely occupying such places, is the booba (Iriartea ejorrhiza). It grows so often scattered singly in manicole swamps that one or two may well be inserted in any picture of such a place. Each straight single stem of the booba, instead of rising directly from the ground, is supported high in air on many much and widely forked prickly roots, sometimes eight or nine feet high ; each leaflet of its feathered. leaves is triangular, like those of a maidenhair fern, and is set on to the midrib at a peculiar angle, which gives to the whole crown of leaves a most plume-like effect. One other palm, rare in Guiana, but which grows within the forest in at least one place in considerable numbers, is an Orbigignia, of a species new to science, which Professor Trail of Aberdeen has named 0. Sagotii. It grows among trees and shrubs of the ordinary type, but its huge feathered leaves, in that they are not raised as in other palms, on a trunk, but spring directly from the ground, have a peculiar effect. Passing out of the forest into some open space, either a river-course or a glade, the edge of the forest as seen from here presents a very different aspect. We will suppose our selves to look at it from some river. The character of the river-side vegetation within reach of the tide differs somewhat from that which prevails in the higher parts. Generally in the former parts the true forest does not extend to the open river, but between the two a belt of mangrove trees (Rhizophora mangal) stands, raised high VEGETATION OF THE RIVER-BANK. 101 above the mud flat on aerial roots, except where in one or two places a projecting spur of the higher real bank runs out above the mud, through the mangroves, into the river, these banks being clothed by a dwarf palm (Bactris palustris) so densely packed that the bold feathered leaves completely hide the stems, and the whole look like high, swelling banks of ferns. In the shallow water of the bays between these banks and the lines of mangroves numbers of eucharis-like lilies raise over the water their grassy leaves and clusters of large delicate, sweet-scented flowers, sometimes pui-e white (Crinum commelyna), sometimes with the white relieved by red-stained anthers (Hymenoocdlis guianensis). It is somewhat difficult to describe a piece of the bank along the" higher parts ofthe river, for each stretch differs, yet differs but slightly, not so much in the plant-materials which compose it as in the way in which these materials are combined. In a typical stretch of river-bank three some what different phases of vegetation are chiefly discernible : one where the bank has not within any recent period either been increased or decreased by the action of the passing river ; another where it has been washed away; and the third where it has had new soil added outside it. As the traveller faces the bank he may from one. place be able to notice all these three phases : part of the bank is undisturbed ; part has recently been carried away, so that the river here has made its way into the forest, and runs immediately next to the forest wall ; and a little lower down the earth thus swept away has been again deposited, built up as it were in a spit of low land, which runs from the original, somewhat higher bank, out into the river. Where the bank has been undisturbed the forest leafage slopes in beautifully rounded curves down to the water's edge, trees shrubs and creepers being all blended into one ; and the curve is continued and repeated without the slightest break in the almost perfectly faithful reflection in the water. No single plant is distinctly seen in the mass, and the general monotony is broken only by some isolated patch of colour. Yet, on the other hand, many individual 102 AMONG THE INDIANS OF. GUIANA. -flowers and seeds attract the observant eye. In one place, for example, a number of large pods hang each at the end of a whip-like stem some two feet in length, and again, a very curious green flower, shaped like the spokes of a wheel, are sure to attract notice ; but so confused is the mass that it is long before it is possible to determine that the former belong to a tree (Eperua falcata), the latter to a creeper (Marc- gravia umbellata). In short, the whole is one confused rounded mass of innumerable plant-forms. Where the bank has been broken away, in place of the rounded mass of the foliage, the trunks of the outermost trees of the forest rise like a wall, straight from the surface of the river. The creepers, which before the bank gave way ran among the tree-leaves up from the water and away over the roof of the forest, have now already sent down tendrils towards the water ; and these, weaving themselves together, hang exactly like a drawn curtain, straight down from the outer edge of the tree-branches which project over the water. At certain seasons of the year this curtain of creepers is dyed with the most brilliant colours by the various flowers which it puts out. In one place, the wall of trees and creepers is broken by a magnificent palm, a cokerite (Maximiliama regia). This plant is a study in itself. The word palm generally calls up before the mind a hardly varied picture of a more or less tall, more or less straight trunk from the top of which a few leaves branch off some what at right angles ; as a matter of fact, though such a description does roughly apply to the generality of palms, yet differences, slight in themselves, in the nature of the trunk, and in the set of the leaves and leaflets, give to each genus and often to each species a very distinct aspect. For instance, this cokerite could never be mistaken from any distance for any other palm occurring in Guiana. It grows singly, though occasionally there are a good many near to gether. Sometimes, in old plants, the stem is clear and columnar for some little distance from the ground, but upward from this, or much more often from the ground itself, the VEGETATION OF THE RIVER-BANK. t03 bases, of the stalks of former leaves remain, encircling the stem, and these adherent remnants of stalks are longer and longer higher up the tree till the present green leaves are reached, and these, set not at any acute angle to the stem below them, but at a very obtuse angle, rise high into the air' till at the very top, they curve very gradually and grace fully outward. The whole shape of the tree is. in fact, that of a cornucopia-shaped vase, which rises from a narrow base and curves outward. The leaves themselves are feathered, but the many long grassy leaflets are thickly set on the midrib at a peculiar angle; and these, straight for some distance, then hang their ends loosely down, so that the whole leaf has the aspect, not, as usual among feathered palms, of a flat feather, but rather of a curled plume.- The plant is made yet more beautiful by the fact that among the remnants of leaves on its stem some ferns have taken root (chiefly Nephrolepis acuta and Polypodium decumanum), and these mingle their green leaves with the great hanging bunches of yellow palm flowers and fruits. On the spit of new-forming land plants have already begun to grow, and the refuse from the first-coining plants is gradually building up soil for more enduring forms. Nearest the river, the spit is edged with a uniform belt of some par ticular bush growing in the water, either guavas (Psidium, aquaticum, and P. aromaticum), with white scented flowers and green-yellow, bitter-tasted fruits ; or mahoes (Hibiscus tiliaceus), with leaves like those of English lime-trees, and large pale primrose-coloured mallow-flowers with chocolate throats ; or inga (I. meissneriana, et var. sp.), along every branchlet of which white flowers, like downy feathers, nestle thickly. Over these bushes twine not a few creepers, their roots on land, some with bright-coloured flowers, such as purple-white Bignonias, Alkcmandas^ with huge yellow trumpet flowers, and a Combretum with scarlet bottle- brush flowers. Behind this outer hedge the spit is, for some distance back, covered by a tangled mass of dwarfer Vegetation, apparently of shrubs, but so completely clothed 104 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. by convolvulus (Ipomcea) and other creepers that it is ¦ impossible to discern their kind. From among these shrubs rise a few single trumpet-wood trees (Cecropia peltata), the straight or but slightly branched stems of which, each crowned with a rosette of large maple-shaped leaves, spring up to a great height in a few months, and then, by their equally rapid decay, help largely in the forma tion of soil for more permanent trees. Accordingly, yet further back, but still on the spit, a few Long-Johns (Triplaris surinamensis) rise singly ; for these, less endur ing than the true forest trees, but more so than the trumpet- woods, grow on the soil deposited by the latter, and in their turn prepare the soil for more noble products. Lastly, where the original bank begins, the dense forest wall serves as a background to all this ephemeral vegetation. One other very characteristic river-side picture must be given. In this, as far as the eye can see, the whole sandy bank is occupied by a dense thicket of souari palms (Astrocaryuvi [vulgare ?],) their long grey stems slightly curved in various directions clear of hanging leaves, but horridly armed with long spines arranged in broad bands round the tree, their feathered greyish-green leaves also spiny, and the ground round their roots made impassable to naked feet by an unbroken carpet of heaped spines and spiny leafage. Passing from the forest tract to the savannah the characteristic scenery may easily be shown in a few pictures. The first is taken from the great savannah of the interior. The scene is bounded towards the right by a distant chain of mountains, on the face of which bare cliffs and wooded slopes mingle ; toward the left the plain rolls away until it meets the horizon. The land is not unlike those wider parts of the English downs where the rolling surface is broken by a few stunted hawthorns or clumps of tall furze. But in the hollows between the ridges of the savannah, instead of the fir, beech, and hazel coppices of the English downs, there are long, regular-looking groves of seta palms or belts of other tropical trees. The seta forest is like that which has SAVANNAH SCENERY. 105 . already been described. The shrubs are windblown, but many of them bear bright flowers. Commonest of all among the shrubs are hard-leaved, yellow-flowered species of Cura- tetla. Here and there the highest ground is so thickly covered by these shrubs that it looks almost well wooded. In parts the soil is somewhat exposed and stony ; but even here there are numbers of a curious low-growing plant (Scirpus paradoxus), with a thick swollen trunk, like that of a tree fern, surmounted by a dense rosette of very fine grass-like leaves. In other places there is high and luxuriant grass, among' which mix many bright flowers, chiefly white, red, blue, and yellow pea-flowers, and even a few ground orchids. One great "stretch of ground is entirely covered with a cabbage-like plant, with great bunches of yellow flowers (Byrsonhna). A second savannah picture shows more sandy ground, a coppice not far off forming a back ground. On the loose sand there are many scattered tufts of coarse grassland amongst these stand a few tall straggling plants (Jatropha urens) with inconspicuous flowers and hemp-like leaves, which, when touched, sting more sharply than any nettle. Of the scenery of the somewhat different and peculiar sandstone part of the savannah, lying between the Kaieteur fall and Eoraima, I have told elsewhere. Before leaving the subject it must be mentioned that there are certain water plants which are so striking and in places so abundant that in themselves they make scenes. Two of these (Mourienra fluviatilis and Lads alata) grow on the half-submerged rocks in most of the falls. As the water decreases in the dry season, the tall spikes of bright pink flowers of the former plant rise from their large leaves, the edges of which are cut and curled into the likeness of moss, which lie flat on the rocks ; and at the same time and place innumerable tiny pink stars rise an inch or two over the equally moss-like leaves of the Lads. A rapid, apparently encircled by the forest, and with its rocks all reddened hj these flowers, is very beautiful and noticeable. 108 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. CHAPTEE V. ANIMAL LIFE. General Considerations— Mammals — Warracaba Tigers — The Colours of Birds — Bird-notes — Chief Forms of Birds — Scenes of Bird-Life— Rep tiles — Alligators — Iguanas — Snakes — Turtles — Fish — The Dangers of Bathing — Insect Plagues — Butterflies — Beetles — Ants — Wasps— Mos quitoes — Sandflies — The Mosquito Worm — Jiggers — Bush- Ticks — Spiders— Centipedes — Scorpions. Ix a tropical country so varied as regards physical features as British Guiana, and so sparingly inhabited by man, it will naturally be supposed that animal life, both in its beautiful and its baneful forms, is very abundant. This is indeed the case ; but yet animal life is not in any marked degree prominent, nor, with the exception perhaps of insect ravages, is it in any way troublesome. It is not surprising that the ordinary colonist, who generally lives in the more inhabited parts of the coast land, should not see much wild animal life around him ; but the traveller in the inte rior, even if he is in search of wild beasts, cannot, avoid a feeling of surprise that so few of these present themselves unsought to his notice, and that he has to search so dili gently before he finds others. The untravelled man, living in temperate climates, while he overcolours , in .his mind the picture of the brilliant birds, insects, and animals, thinks with horror, not only of the powerful savage animals— which are probably represented in his mind by beasts of prey and by gigantic or venomous serpents — but also of the thou sand annoying insects and other such small cattle, which, as he imagines, everywhere lie in wait for the traveller, or even the dweller, in the tropics. If these imaginations were THE 'TROPICAL FALLACY' OF ANIMALS. 107 anywhere near the truth, it would indeed be a surprisino- thing that any man could long survive in the tropics. And if the man whom we have thus supposed to send his thoughts from temperate to tropical regions is at last drawn by a fate which appears to him unkind to travel for a short time to these places detestable to him, he reaches home with a consciousness that he has seen too Uttle of the expected beauty, and felt little of the expected evils ; and then, by a not unnatural reaction of thought, he is apt to regard all that he afterwards hears of the abundance, the beauty, or the annoyance of animal life in the tropics as merely the proverbial traveller's tale. And, unconsciously, travellers of greater experience help to confirm this erroneous view ; for when they tell their ex periences to those at home, they tell only of moments made eventful to them by exciting or evil experiences, and leave unnoticed the long periods intermediate between such moments, in which nothing of any consequence occurred. For example, not long ago, I found at the end of an evening during which I had told adventures which had occurred to me, in the course of several years, with many sorts of harm- doing animals, from jaguars to mosquitoes, that the impres sion made on the mmds of my hearers was that life In Guiana, at any rate in the interior, is one long unending conflict with such foes ; and I had to correct this impression by pointing out that the story told that evening was, as one of my hearers expressed it, the concentrated misery of three years. In the same way it is dangerous to tell of the many beautiful and interesting animal forms, unless stress is laid on the fact that these are but picked out from a large number of less interesting forms. Thus the traveller's true tale of his experiences, unless carefully guarded as I found necessary on the occasion just mentioned, helps to spread wrong impressions, both by helping to confirm those who are no travellers in their behef of the everywhere present beauty, and the incessant danger from animal hfe, in the tropics, and by leading those who have travelled a little, generally in the more inhabited parts, to regard these new 10S AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. travellers tales, and in consequence all other traveller's tales, as false, or at least as greatly exaggerated. Therefore, in telling of animal, as I have already of vegetable, life in Guiana, I want not only to show its real abundance and beauty, but also and equally to show its slight prominence and general harmlessness. And as in this respect Guiana may fairly enough be said to be typical, not only of other parts of South America, but also (due allowance being made for the fact that the animal forms of the American continent are as a rule smaller and less power ful than those of the other continents) of other tropical regions, I should, if I could succeed in giving a correct impression of animal life as it affects man in Guiana, at the same time afford some idea of animal Hfe in the tropics generally. The number of mammals is somewhat large. It will be best to take them in the order of their abundance. The most prominent animals in Guiana are three rodents — the labba (Ccelogenys paca), the acouri (Dasyprocta aguti) and the water-haas (Hydrochosnis capybara). The labba, an animal like a large guinea-pig, with brown skih^spottgd'with white, is distributed throughout the country on the banks of rivers. Its flesh is more esteemed than that of any other animal, not only by Indians, but also by the colonists ; indeed the latter have a proverb that ' the man who has eaten labba and drunk creek water will never die out of the colony.' The labba lives during the clay chiefly in hollow, fallen trees, and goes out to forage at night. The acourie, elsewhere called the aguti, is in appear ance like a rabbit on long legs, and with coarse, chestnut- coloured hair. It is as abundant everywhere as the labba, but lives more in the forest, only venturing to the water to drink. It feeds by day on fallen fruits. There is a second species very similar, but smaller, called adourie (D. acuchy) only less common than the acourie. The water-haas, or capybara, is a much larger animal, which, like the labba, resembles a guinea-pig in shape, but is much larger MAMMALS. 109 even than the labba. It lives among the roots of trees in the mud at the river-side. It is a good swimmer, and it may riot seldom be seen in the water. The skin of this animal seems to be especially adapted only for frequent immersion in water, for if exposed only for a short time to the sun, the outer skin (epidermis ), with the coarse, scanty hair peels off in sheets, leaving the true skin (cor ium). exposed. All these animals, common as they are, are of retiring habits ; and the traveller, until he learns their ways and knows how to find them, may go for many days without seeing a single individual of any kind. Bush-hogs, or peccaries, of two kinds wander about in the swampy parts of the forests. The smaller of these (Dico- tyles torquatus), is called abouyah, the larger (D. labiatus) kairooni l by the Arawaks. The former kind lives in parties of five and six : the latter in large herds often of a hundred head. In a previous chapter 2 the habit of these animals of swimming across rivers has been mentioned. In the day time they take to the water without hesitation ; but if in their travels they reach the edge of a river at night, the herd settles down, after much commotion and grunting, to wait for daylight before crossing. It is sometirries dangerous to attack, single-handed, a herd of kairooni in the forest ; for they are apt to use their tusks with terrible effect — they are even said to kill large jaguars in this way — and, if the attacker takes refuge in a tree, the pigs squat patiently round until sometimes he is either starved out or relieved by other men. Nor is the tapir (Tdpirus americanus) a rare animal. His tracks may often be seen at the side of the river, and I once saw a pond in the forest, the mud round which had been trodden by tapirs much as the edge of a pond in an English farmyard is by cattle. The animal itself is seldom seen, though it frequently ventures strangely near inhabited places. There are about a dozen species of monkeys, and some of 1 This is the " whinga " of the Macusis. s See p. 54. 110 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA, these may frequently be seen. The pretty little bright- coloured sackawinki (Ch-ysothrix sdureus) lives in large herds which may often be seen on the trees by the river-side, the individuals generally following each other in single file, and, one after the other, hurling themselves for extraordinary distances from tree to tree. Very often they are quiet enough and would escape notice but for the rustling they make among the leaves. But if one is shot, the rest, instead of at once escaping, seem to the eyes of the astonished hunter suddenly to fill the tree with grinning faces, all chattering with more than the proverbial monkey garrulity. Next to these, the commonest monkey is that called in the colony the baboon, and elsewhere the red howling monkey (Mycetes seniculus), but which might much more aptly be called, the red roarer ; for, though not bigger than a setter, it roars like any jaguar, tiger, or lion. Many travellers have tried, but failed, to describe the sound produced by this extra ordinary animal ; and I do not pretend to find the required words, though it seems to me that the sound is more like that which is heard when the beasts of prey in the Zoological Gardens are fed than anything else I ever heard. Why this animal should make this most extraordinary noise, being specially provided for the purpose with a peculiar- bony apparatus in its throat, has, as far as I know, never been satisfactorily explained. The effect produced in the stillness of the night, or in the early morning, is utterly astounding ; and the noise is continued at intervals through the day. Three species of ant-bear, differing very much in general appearance, are all equally common. The largest of these (Myrmecophaga jubata) is a strange-looking animal, about the size of a large bloodhound, with an enormously bushy tail which, when reversed over the body, shelters the whole animal. This is sometimes found in the forest, but more commonly on the savannah. It is said to be capable of suc cessfully defending itself against a man, by hugging him with its fore-feet and pressing its powerful claws into his body. The second (M. tamandua),. the size of a spaniel, with JAGUARS. 11 1 a smooth tail, is hardly ever seen except climbing on trees in the forest. And the third (M. didactyla), a very -gentle and pretty little creature, with a body no bigger than that of a toy-terrier, covered all over with soft silky short hair, is also found on trees in the forest, and occasionally near human habitations on the coast. All the cats, of which there are many species not fully determined in Guiana, are locally called ' tigers ' or, in the case of. the smaller species, ' tiger-cats.' Under these names are included the puma, and several species of jaguar and ocelots. The Indians assert that each kind hunts a different prey. Thus, Felis jaguarundi is called a haeka-tiger, because it is supposed to prey chiefly, if not exclusively, on the hacka (Galictis barbara) ; the puma is called the deer- tiger ; F. nigra is called the maipuri (tapir) tiger ; and F. macrura is called the abouyah (or peccary) tiger. All these are more or less common in Guiana, though they are seldom. seen by man. It is hardly possible to find an Indian house in which there are not teeth or portions of the skin of one of these species ; and on the cattle-farms on the Brazilian border, I was assured that hardly a night passes in which the cattle are not attacked by jaguars. Indians have a great dread of jaguars, and tell how these animals will sometimes even enter Indian houses and carry off a dog, or even an old woman or a child. Again and again when sleeping in the forest I have been waked by the Indians, who declared that there were jaguars about ; and I have known these Indians, in places where they supposed jaguars to be, sling their hammocks high up in some tree, having first made a fire round its roots, and sleep aloft, leaving incredulous me to my fate below. On the other hand, though I have known a jaguar prowl round my hammock at night, I never knew them to attack a man. Some special mention must be made of certain real or mythical animals called warracaba tigers — as some say, from the resemblance of the noise made by these cats to the note of the warracaba bird or trumpeter (Psophia crepitans) ; or, 112 AMONG- THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. as others say, from the purplish shade on the skin of these tigers, which is like the breast feathers of the bird ; or, as yet others say, from the fact that the tigers prey on the birds. Never having had any personal experience of warracaba tigers, I cannot present the common belief in them more graphically than by giving the following extract from the writings of a previous traveller in Guiana.1 ' In the evening,' he writes, ' I was attracted by our two dogs, which were tied up, bark ing furiously, followed by a great stir in camp. Then some voices proclaimed loudly "The tigers are coming;" and one man called to me to come down as quickly as possible to the boats, and bring my gun. . . . Jumping down the low bank, to my surprise I found the beach deserted. Where some twenty Indians had been encamped, there was now not even a hammock left ; all had suddenly and completely vanished. My men had all taken to the boat, and had it afloat, with its bow barely grounded, in readiness to shove off. They greeted me with cries of " Quick, sir, quick ! the warracaba tigers are coming ! " There was quite a flutter of relief amongst them when the boat was pushed off into mid-stream, when they all began to talk excitedly over our escape. The dogs still gave tongue, and were even more excited than the men, the hair on their backs - standing erect as they sniffed the air in the direction of our camp. I eagerly inquired what were warracaba tigers, and was hastily informed that they were small and exceedingly ferocious tigers, that they hunted in packs, and were not frightened by camp fires, or anything except the barking of dogs. To water they have a special aversion, and will never cross a stream which is too wide for them to jump. ... I believe that some terrible animals had nearly pounced upon us, otherwise the Indians would never have acted as they had done. As we stopped, a shrill scream rent the night air, proceeding from the opposite side of the river, not two hundred yards above our camp, and, waking up echoes through the forest, died away as suddenly as it rose. This was answered by another cry coming from ! C. B. Brown, Canoe and Camp Life in British Guiana, p. 71. 'WARRACABA TIGERS." 113 the-'depths of the forest, the interval between them being filled by low growls and trumpeting sounds. Gradually the cries became fainter and fainter, as the band retired from our vicinity, till they utterly died away. Seeing nothing of them, and only hearing their diabolical screams, I pictured them in iny mind as a withering scourge sweeping through the forest. As many as a hundred are said to have been seen in one pack. They are said to frequent the mountains, but when pressed by hunger during the dry seasons they descend to the lowlands.' I was naturally anxious to learn something bf these cats hunting in packs ; but I never myself met with them, and -only found three men who professed to know anything about them. • One^of these three witnesses was my friend McTurk, a man thoroughly acquainted with the forest and its inhabit ants,' and incapable of telling what he did not believe. He told me that, while walking through the forest from the Essequibo to the Kaieteur fall, his Indian companions suddenly became terrified and declared that there were warra- cabas in the neighbourhood. Sounds were audible which McTurk thought were those of the warracaba bird. Shortly afterward, a single ' tiger,' a slim mouse-coloured beast, was seen ; but nothing else happened.- The same informant told me that he has on several occasions seen the tracks of the pack, which seemed to him to be composed of animals of all sizes, from that of a cat up to that of a full-grown jaguar. Another witness was an Indian on the Pomeroon river, who told me that the paek consists of two large and many small mdividuals^all grey-coloured except for a small mark over the eyes. The third witness was a Portuguese policeman, famous for many expeditions into the interior, who assured me that he had * met up ' with a ' flock ' of warracaba tigers, and had been obliged to take refuge in a tree from them; but his further account was evidently much exaggerated. I have put before the reader all the evidence I know as to the existence and nature of warracaba tigers; I cannot pretend to decide what these animals are, or even if they I 114 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. exist; but I may suggest that possibly all the stories may be founded on the fact that families of pumas (F. concolor), consisting of parents and cubs, occasionally move about together. Various kinds of small deer occur, one species chiefly in and near the cane-fields on the coast ; others are confined to the forest ; and another species (Cervus savannarum) tothe savannah. The distribution of this last species may be indicated in the fact that over great parts of the savannah it is hardly to be found at all, while in others it occurs so abundantly that one party of Indians sometimes kills as many as a dozen individuals in a day. The more important of the other animals may be men tioned in a few words. Two kinds, of racoons, called quashi by the negroes, kibihee by the Indians — the one living singly or in pairs (Nasua solitaris), the other in small droves (iV. sodalis) — are more often seen tame in Indian settle ments than wild. Armadilloes of many kinds burrow in the forest and under the ant-hills on the savannah. Sloths are occasionally, and in some parts frequently, found clinging so tenaciously to the leafy branches that they often remain motionless while the trees on which they are are felled. Several kinds of opossum (Didelphys), the only pouched animals of Guiana, live, the larger species on palm-trees, the smaller chiefly among bamboos. A grey squirrel (Sdurus cestuans) runs like its English cousin among the trees. Oc casionally a most offensive odour attracts attention to where a porcupine (Sphingurus insidiosus), despite the ground- keeping habits of most of its kindred, climbs among the branches. It is hardly possible to pass for many hours along any of the rivers without seeing small parties of otters swim ming, while from the bank the hideous shriek of others may occasionally be heard. Porpoises (Delphinus) plunge in the waters of rivers which are not separated from the sea by large and rapid falls ; and in the same places a huge lumbering manatee (Manatus australis) occasionally rises near the boat of the traveller or plunges in alarm into deep water from BATS. 115 shallows where it had been browsing on the leaves of water plants. After all, we have left to the last the set of mammals which is perhaps most prominent and most widely distributed. These are the bats. There is certainly a considerable number of species ; and, as these have never been accurately de termined, an interesting field for observation is thus offered to some future zoological specialist. It is here only possible to tell of bats as they appear to the ordinary spectator. Most prominent of all is" a huge fruit-eating bat, with wings which occasionally measure three feet from tip to tip, and this, from its supposed blood-sueking propensities, is erroneously 'called the vampire. It is — bats generally, deservedly or not, having acquired a reputation for repulsiveness — an ugly ani mal, but innocent enough. Its strength must be great ; for in certain houses in Georgetown about which these bats live, every night during the mango season these large and heavy fruits fall in considerable numbers, and with a loud noise, on to the slates ofthe roof, being dropped, as I found, by so-called vampires as they flew. The real blood-sucking bats, or vam pires, are small, light-coloured animals, of probably several species, of the genus Phyllostoma ; and they occur not in towns, but in large numbers almost everywhere else. Their habit of sucking the blood of men has already been mentioned in an earlier chapter ; l their attacks on other animals are so serious that it is, for example, impossible to keep poultry where these bats are, except by shutting up the birds by night in some carefully closed building. Another very noticeable bat is a small dark-coloured kind which lives during the day in ¦ large flocks on the trunks of trees overhanging the rivers. If a boat approaches, the whole flock rises and flits along under the shadow of the overhanging trees until another con venient stump or trunk is reached, and there it once more settles. These animals are so abundant on most rivers that they form one of the xhost characteristic features of water side life. 1 See p. 17. i 2 116 . AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. Probably no country of equal extent is richer than Guiana in birds. It is a common idea that great brilliance of colour is the almost universal characteristic of these. But this notion has arisen merely from the fact that the bright-coloured birds, of which there certainly are a good many, have been diligently collected and sent out of the country as curiosities, while those of less brilliant hue — the number of which is in nature very far greater — are, as the naturalist knows, but seldom exported. Moreover, ihe traveller in Guiana sees in nature very little even of that brilliancy of colour which undoubtedly exists. Nothing can be more resplendent than the male cock-of- the-rock (Rupicola crocea), a bird about the size of a small bantam, which is everywhere clothed, except at the end of the tail, and on the larger wing feathers, in ruddy orange, so brilliant, while the bird is alive and in health, that it has a glow like that of fire. Then there is the bird (Threncedus militaris), called in the colony ' baboon-bird,' from the re semblance of its deep note to that of the ' baboon ' or red howling monkey, which is of the size of a pigeon and is almost entirely of a very rich deep crimson. Among the chatterers, the fire-bird (Phoe.nicodrcus carnifex) has a rich deep brown back, with a tail, head-cap, and breast of most vivid crimson ; the wallababa(A«i2)eZis pompadora) is of a curious fine purple colour, very rare among birds, but like that of beautiful wine, with pure white wing-feathers ; two other chatterers are of bright forget-me-not blue, somewhat gaudily varied with a patch of purple on the breast (Amp>elis ccerulea and cayana). The curri-curri or scarlet ibis (Ibis rubra) is too well known to need description. Then there are parrots and parroquets of very many kinds, and of almost as many brilliant colours ; and there are macaws entirely dyed with red, orange, and green, blue, and soft yellow. Lastly, there are humming birds of very many species, whose colours are proverbial. All these, and a few others which there is no need to mention, could not possibly be surpassed in richness of colour. Yet, when in a state of nature, they show but little. It is true THE COLOURS OF BIRDS. 117 that in the remote parts of the colony the cock-of-the-rock is occasionally seen to pass like a flash of orange light, and that on the iriud -"flats on the coast the scarlet cum- curri may be seen from far off, the more markedly in that it feeds among pure white egrets. But the colours of the others are hot apparent, or very seldom indeed, to the traveller. The chatterers, probably as a family the gayest of all the birds, keep to the tops' of the tallest trees ; even the parrots are so high up that their colours are not distinguishable from the ground ; and when macaws fly over, or shriek from the top of some dead tree, it would generally be difficult, but for the difference in their harsh notes, to discern even whether they are of the red or of the blue species. One of the few mis leading passages I know in Waterton's writings is that in which he says that ' it is a grand sight in ornithology to see thousands of aras (macaws) flying over your head low enough to'let you have a full view of their flaming mantle.' It must be a very rare sight to see so many together; they are generally either in pairs, or at most five or six' fly together, and even where they are most abundant I have never seen above a score together ; nor has any man, either European or Indian, ever admitted to me that he has seen larger flocks. Moreover, their colours, as I have already said, are at best but barely discernible as they fly. In this matter of the exhibition of colour the case of humming-birds is somewhat peculiar. No birds in the whole world are more gloriously coloured ; but the texture of the feathers is so peculiar that these colours appear only in certain lights. Even with a humming-bird in one's hand, it is impossible to see at one glance more than a small portion of the beauty of its colour, and generally, though in some positions the whole bird looks dull, yet if it be "slightly moved some point on its body flashes out with colour more brilliant than fire. This matter is well illus trated by Mr. Gould's beautiful book of humming birds. For example, to take a Guiana species, the picture of the ' king humming-bird ' (Topaza pella) is exquisite, and is: 118 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. faithful in so far that, each detail of colouring is correctly given ; but the drawing serves as a signal example of the diffi culty of representing a humming-bird. Hardly more than one of the points of colour is in reality ever visible in any one humming-bird at one and the same time, for each point onlv shows its peculiar and glittering colour when the light falls upon it from a particular direction. A true represen tation of one of these birds would show it in somewhat sober colours except just at, the one point which, when the bird is in the position chosen for representation, rrieets the light at the requisite angle; and that point alone should be shown in full brilliance of colour. A flowering shrub is sometimes seen surrounded by a cloud of humming-birds, all of the same species, and each, of course, in a different position. If some one would draw such a scene as that, showing a different detail of colouring in each bird, accord ing to its position, then some idea of the actual appearance of humming-birds might be given to one who had never seen an example. And if so small a portion of the colouring, however intense such a portion may be, is visible in a bird held in the hand, it will easily be understood that in nature, these birds flying with such exceeding rapidity, only by a very rare chance is any colour flashed by a living humming-bird on to the human eye. It is natural to turn from the colour to the note of birds. The almost entire absence of sweet bird-notes at once strikes the traveller who comes from thrush and warbler-haunted temperate lands. There is hardly a bird in Guiana with sweet notes ; perhaps the chief songsters are the tiny ' loius dor' (Euphonia violacea and E. rmfunuta), birds with dark steel-blue backs and yellow breasts, which chirp out a few feeble notes sweetly enough, and the shik bird. But if sweet notes are few, striking notes are abundant. Most characteristic of all is the pi-piyo (Lipa,ngus dne- raceus), a bird, somewhat like a song-thrush, which, crying its own name all through the day, makes the sound echo "and re-echo through the forest. The toucans also, in the early BIRD-NOTES. H9 morning and in the evening, yelp, like excited puppies, from the high trees. The famous so-called bell-bird (Chasma- .jrhynchus caruncidatus) is often heard in the forest and a second species (C. variegatus) as often on some parts -of the savannah. I never could detect much resemblance in the note of these birds to the sound of a bell. The cry of the first speeies is more like the ring produced by two pieces of iron struck against each other ; but the notes of the male and female birds differ considerably. The cry of the second species is hke the sound made by the drill in blastino- operations. Then, also in the forest, is heard an extra ordinarily deep sound, like the lowing of an ox, and it is long before the traveller realises the fact that this is made by the * quow,' or « calf-bird' (Gymnocephalus calvus), a bird no big ger than a pigeon. Each of many kinds of parrots shrieks a different, but always discordant cry; and the cries of diffe rent species of hawks are almost equally discordant and yet more striking. In another chapter I have already spoken of the strange, weird notes in which various kind of goatsuckers moan at night. How striking and peculiar the cries. of all these and of countless other birds is, is seen in the fact that the Indian uses each cry as the name of the bird that makes rit, and thus has a perfectly good and distinct name for each of the innumerable birds of Guiana. After a time the traveller begins to recognise what are the commonest forms among the birds. Among birds of . prey he sees vultures, only of three species, but often in immense numbers; hawks in very great variety and number, and occasionally, though more seldom, owls. It is perhaps worth noting that the only English bird with which the traveller meets in Guiana is the barn-owl of our church towers. The perchers in Guiana, as elsewhere, form the common feathered flock. The climbers are well represented by many woodpeckers, by toucans, and by parrots, macaws, and parroquets. Among the game birds the most important are the powis or curassow bird (Crax alector), about the size of a turkey, black everywhere but on its bright yellow beak 120 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. and legs ; several species of partridge-like maams (Tina- mus), and the duraquara (Odontophorus guianensis), and a quail (Ortyx cristaius). There are various pigeons. Among the waders there are many species of heron, ibis, snipe, and rail. And lastly the swimmers are chiefly repre sented by ducks, razor-bills, terns, the ducklar or diver (Plotus anhinga), and by a gull or two. Probably the best way to give an idea of the distribution and habits of these birds will be by grouping them according to their haunts. We will take these in the order in which they occur from the sea inland. Sea-birds are not numerous, probably because of the flatness of the coast and absence of rocks. Only once have I noticed a scene in which sea- birds played an important part. This was just off the mouth of thePomeroon river. The land there very recently ex tended much further seaward, but it has been much washed away, and there is now a wide stretch of shallow water, from which in many places the dead trunks and branches of forest trees yet rise. It is a strangely desolate scene of sea passing imperceptibly into forest. When I saw it, some pelicans rested on the tree-trunks, or flew' languidly from one to the other ; flocks of gulls fished in the more open water ; some ibis and egrets stood up to their knees on the mud-banks, which reached nearly to the surface; a few sandpipers hovered uneasily about, unable to find convenient resting place either on the water or in the forest ; and a long line of a score of rosy spoonbills came flying along the edge of the forest. In other places, between the forest and the sea, there is a more or less wide reach of rank grass and mud and sand. Such a place is nearly always gay with innumerable scarlet ibis and white-plumed egrets. Directly inland from these mud-flats are the inhabited places. Here the most common bird of all is the keskedie (Lanius sulphuratus), a yellowish shrike, which there takes the place of the sparrow in England. It is exces sively bold, and may often be seen high up in the air BIRDS OF THE SHORE AND OF THE COAST LAND. 121 chasing the vultures, while at other times it occupies itself in darting after its insect prey, regardless of the presence of man. Another bird which is here to be soon noticed is the redbreasted Leistes americana — the ' robin ' of the colonists. Handsome yellow and black starling-like plantain birds (Icterus xanthornus) are also abundant. And on the way side bushes, or sitting on the backs of cattle, there are sure to be some ' old witches ' (Crotaphagus ani and major), like small black magpies, but with curiously enlarged, keeled beaks ; these birds are remarkable as socialists, for they not only-live in small flocks, but have one large nest common to many individuals. These are all roadside birds. High up in the sky a few black vultures or ' carrion crows * (Ga/rtharista aura and urubitinga) are visible, and if the observer goes from roads and houses to some refuse heap or foul mud-patch, he is sure to see some of these same birds solemnly fishing in the filth for their food. In the gardens there are now few birds to be seen — a humming-bird, gene rally of a somewhat dull green species (Trochilus bicolor), perhaps hovers over a flowering shrub or creeper, and a few blue sakis flit about in the trees. On the water-weeds in the trenches, where these are not quite close to houses, walk some spurwings (Farra jacana), like rails, but with enormously long toes, which seem to support them on the floating leaves, and armed with sharp, horny spurs on their wings. Of course other birds, more properly belonging to less peopled places, occasionally visit the towns, villages, and plantations, but those which we have named are the most prominent and constant in the latter places. Leaving the coast and going up any one of the rivers, birds at once become more numerous. Here the most uni versally distributed and abundant birds are kingfishers of five species, varying in size from that of a jackdaw (Alcedo torquata) to that of a sparrow (A. superdliosa). As the traveller advances in his canoe, one of these birds starts at every few yards from some tree, and, with a cry like a hideous laugh, flies further along the bank. It is worth notice 122 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. that not one of these kingfishers is nearly as brilliant in colour as their English cousin. Probably the next bird to attract attention is a ducklar (Plotus anhimga). This is the Creole name ; but the bird is more usually known in England as a darter, or snake-bird — the former because of its extra ordinarily direct method of diving after fish, the latter be cause of the great length of its snake-like neck as compared with the length of its body. Generally less abundant than kingfishers, at least one ducklar is yet almost sure to be flushed in each reach of the river ; and in some places — as I noticed, for instance, on one occasion on the Takootoo river — - hundreds of these birds may be seen at a time sitting on the trees. Before long the sharp cry of the ' mocking-bird ' (Cassicus persicus) calls attention to some tree, from the . branches of which dozens of the long purse-like nests of these birds hang swaying in the wind ; for these birds build in colonies, and, it is said, always on trees on which there are nests of certain venomous wasps, these insects being useful in that they deter monkeys from attacking the nests of the birds. On some rivers far in the interior, especially on the Takootoo, a much handsomer relation of this ' mocking-bird,' the moramoroota or troupial (Icterus jamacaii) is more abundant. This bird is somewhat smaller than the Cassicus, and its chief colouring is a bright ruddy orange relieved, by a few black feathers ; its nests are solitary, not in colonies, but are also purse-shaped. Indians attach a high value to the moramoroota (which, by the way, is the Carib name) and tame them frequently. Herons of various kinds are also seen ; especially one (Ardea cocoi) very like the Englishheron, and a smaller bird like a bittern (Tigrosoma brasiliense), called from its brown spotted colouring the ' tiger-bird.' Occa sionally a flock of warracabas or trumpet-birds (Psophia crepi tans) comes flying by, and the birds, alighting, at once begin to run about as if very busy, uttering the oddly deep and sonorous note which has gained for these birds their popular name. When seen at close quarters nothing could well be more beautiful than these latter birds, sober as they are in RIVER-SIDE BIRDS. 123 colour; their softly shaded grey plumes, long, and hanging more gracefully than those of an old male heron, contrast most exquisitely with the metallic-looking, deep purple- black feathers of the throat and neck. And of much the same habit as the trumpet-birds, but more rare, is the sun- bird (Eurypyga helius\ with small but graceful body, sup ported by splendidly large wings and tail, the feathers of which are minutely banded with brown and black and white and purple, so that, sober as the colours are in them selves, the whole effect is resplendent. In the morning and evening parrots and macaws fly high overhead, in parties of two or three. Lastly, on the top of some high tree, a hawk, one of many species, is often to be seen watching for prey. As a rule the traveller on any of the main rivers of Guiana will see these and but few other birds along the banks. But the very extensive sand-banks which lie in mid stream in some of the broader river-reaches have a peculiar avi-fauna of their own. Some of these banks are so low that they are entirely covered when the rivers are in flood ; but on others there are higher parts, generally with a few- scattered sand-loving shrubs, which are never covered, and which thus give a haven to all the birds of the banks during the rains. Chief among these birds of the sand-bank are the scissor-bills (Rhynchops nigra), gull-like black and white birds with very curiously twisted beaks, which through the day fly over the sand, screaming loudly. Among these fly also several species of sea-swallows, or terns (Sterna). And at the water's edge numbers of small sandpipers (Tringa sp. var.) race excitedly along the wet sand. One or two species of nightjar (Gaprimulgus) especially affect these banks. All these birds become unusually active at the beginning of the dry season, for then much of the banks is exposed, and the birds lay their eggs on the bare dry sand. In some of these places it is hardly possible to walk many yards without eoming across the nest, or rather the eggs, of one or other of these birds. 12-1 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. But if the traveller turns from the main river intoany of the small, little-visited creeks, he will see other birds ; indeed, it is often in such places that the prettiest scenes of bird life are to be found. I remember, especially, once, turning from the Cabalebo, a tributary of the Corentyn, into a small side stream, known from the hard sandstone rock which abounds there and which is carried away by the Indians to be used for sharpening knives, cutlasses, and axes, as ' Grindstone creek.' Just above the mouth of the creek the water tumbled over some rugged rocks into a pool of black water. Bound this the ground rose and was covered partly by ordinary forest trees, partly by groves of an especially beautiful but very prickly palm (Astrocaryum plicatum, Drude.) Three white egrets of a species peculiar, as regards Guiana, to the Corentyn, and a kingfisher or two which were fishing in the pool, lightened the picture. And it is in such places that humming-birds are chiefly seen. On the open river or on the savannah they are some times to be seen buzzing round a flowering tree, and in the depths of the forest they occasionally fly past the wanderer with startling rapidity. But it is in the openings formed by the creeks that they are chiefly at home, for there numbers of them hang their nests to the swaying ends of creepers, or fasten them to leaves, or in between some forking twigs. Most abundant of all the species in such places is the gorgeous king humming-bird (Topaza pella), with ruby and green flarnelets instead of feathers, and with enormously long forked tail. The boldness of these birds is very remarkable ; I have seen one hover angrily round and round the muzzle of a gun aimed at it. The nest of this species is, I think, always suspended to the stem of a creeper overhanging the water. The material, like a thick felt formed of a yellow, tinder-like substance, long puzzled me, till I recognised it as the fluff which clothes the young flower-spathes of an abun dant species of palm (Maxiviiliana regia). The eggs, two in number, are white, but pink-tinted by the contents. The young birds very soon grow ridiculously large for the nest, FOREST BIRDS. 125 on which they rather rest than lie inside. After a time the deserted nest often affords hold to the spores of moss which growing rapidly in the close damp air, soon transform the whole into a ball of green attached to the creeper. In the forest itself bird life seems even much rarer than elsewhere. The cries of bell-birds, parrots, toucans, trogons, chatterers, pigeons, and hundreds more, tell the wanderer that the birds are there ; but these live in the forest roof, unseen except by the man who, having found some tree with ripe fruit, will wait patiently till the birds come to this to feed. Occasionally a curiously loud yet small whirr startles the traveller, first by its apparent closeness to his ears, then by its remoteness, and by the way in which it seems to be on all sides at once and yet consecutively, till he looks helplessly round but fails to see a bird — for it is a humming-bird, which at such times seems a very sprite in the rapidity of its movements and in the power which it thus has of making its presence invisible to the eye. Before Jong the tapping of some woodpecker is sure to attract the eye to a more evident bird. And then the cry of some game- bird, powis, maam, or maroodi, sounds, and perhaps — though this does not often happen — the bird itself afterwards- comes into sight. That these latter birds are really abundant is evident from the number which an Indian, if a good hunter, will kill in such places in an hour or two. In short, birds, though abundant enough in the thick forest, are but seldom seen there. But occasionally there is a clear space, either natural and due to the fall of the trees, or made and then deserted -by Indians. It is-in such places that vultures, not only of the two species common ori the coast, but also of a third and really most beautiful kind, love to congregate. The two former kinds (Catharista aura and C. urubitinga) are in general colouring black, the bald head being in one case of an unwholesome red colour, and in the other black ; both these .birds are of very ignoble appearance. But the king vul ture (Sarcoramphu,s papa) is a larger and inor e powerfully 126 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. built bird; its body feathers are of beautifully blended shades of white, grey, and black ; round its neck is a splen did ruff of softest grey feathers, and the naked head, instead of being repulsive as in the other species, is beautiful and gay with blended yellow and red colours. The ugly birds are much more numerous than the beautiful. With the former I once had a curious interview. Very early one morning I had taken my gun and wandered into the forest, and having about dawn reached a clearing evidently made bv fire, which seemed likely to be visited by birds, I sat down on a fallen tree near the centre to wait. For some fifty yards on every side of me there was a dreary waste of fallen and half-burned trees, some blackened, others whitened bv exposure tothe weather ; the soil was covered with ash, and onlv a rank herb grew here and there. At the outskirts cf the clearing some trees, burned and dead, yet stood erect; a little further off the trees were only scorched, and beyond that again was the dense, living forest. Not a sound was yet heard. As the sun rose the little weird field of white in which I sat literally glowed with light and heat. Presently, almost at my feet, something moved, and then a black vul ture rose slowly from the ground, leaving two eggs exposed, and flew to one of the dead standing trees. While I watched this bird there was a slight sound behind me, and, turning, I saw another vulture standing on another burned tree on the other side of me. Once more, and again and again, this happened. Surprised at the presence of these living things where all had seemed to me strangely lifeless, I began to count the birds ; and I had to count quicker and quicker, for every moment a new vulture woke and attracted my attention by stretching its wings to dry them in the morning sun, in which position it remained awhile motionless. The only sound was the slight rustle caused by this wing-stretching. At last I found myself the centre of a circle of thirty-seven vul tures, each with outstretched wings, standing motionless on a gaunt, fire-blackened, sun-whitened tree, and all gazing curiously at me. At last, to break the spell, I fired into the VULTURES. 127 air, and the birds rose and began their day's task of soaring high up in the air. I found that this was a favourite roost- ingtplace. Every evening the birds collected near the place, and for some time, instead of fljing high and steadily as they do -through the day, rushed frantically about overhead, frequently turning, and at each turn making an extraor dinary noise by clapping their wings, like the sound of a heavy sheet flapping in the wind. A negro who stood by me as I watched this performance once remarked that they came down like a whirlwind. Just before dark they settled down in the clearing which I have described. Not only at early morning, to dry the dew, but also after a shower, vultures stand with outstretched wings, sometimes motionless, sometimes alternately closing each wing. The negroes say that when these ' crows ' collect on a tree during rain, it is to consult about building a house for shelter ; but when the rain leaves off, then they stretch out one wing and then the other, and they cry in chorus, as one wing goes out, ' We want no house,' and as the other goes in turn, ' We want no hall,' — and so on until all their feathers are dry. Through the day the vultures are generally distributed singly or in pairs high up in the air; but wherever dead meat is there many vultures collect. First come the small black kinds, but before long the king vultures swoop down, and driving off the first comers, who retire to wait on the surrounding trees, gorge themselves and then sit languidly, too heavy to fly, while the others take their turn. One other bird of the forest region demands notice. This is the brilliant-coloured ' cock-of-the-rock ' (Rupicola crocea), which has already been mentioned. It never occurs in the lowland forests, but is abundant in all places where trees and rocks are mingled. Thus its home is both in the moun tainous parts of the forest region, as on the Potaro and Mazeruni rivers— and in the wooded mountains, such as the Pacaraimas and Canakoos, of the savannah region. It is very remarkable, not only for its brilliant colour and for its extra ordinary crest, but also for its habit of dancing. It was 128 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. never my fortune to find the dancing-place of these birds ; but the brothers Schomburgk were more fortunate, and one ofthe latter— Eichard — thus describes the scene :' A number of these splendid birds were taking part in their dance on a smooth slab of rock, .... some twenty birds, male and female, being perched on the bushes round the place, and uttering very peculiar cries, a cock-bird danced in proud self- consciousness on the ground — its tail, which it jerked up and down, and its wings extended ; the dancer scratched the ground and sprang vertically up into the air till, wearied with its steps, it took its place,, with a peculiar cry, among the bystanders on the bushes ; then a new performer appeared.' l By the way, Schomburgk is mis taken in supposing that the cock-of-the-rock always avoids the neighbourhood of other birds ; for on the Potaro and Mazeruni it lives among many others. High up on the savannah mountains, where Schomburgk saw it, it is alone probably only because the elevation and other conditions are unsuitable for other birds. The same writer is also mistaken in his belief that these birds are not successfully reared and tamed by Indians ; I have seen them of all ages in Indian houses, and was once fortunate enough to see nearly two score of fully developed male birds in the hands of one party of travelling Indians. On the savannah, except in the coppices and in the narrow band of forest which generally edges the rivers, bird life is somewhat different. On the open grass lands a number of small insectivorous birds flit, much after the manner of larks, from tuft to tuft. Tiny ground-pigeons are numerous ; and occasionally a covey of quail (Ortyx cris- tatus, Gray) is flushed. A beautiful lapwing (Vanellus guianensis), not unlike the English bird, but mainly gray instead of green, and with curious horny spurs on its elbows, is not rare. Among the low solitary trees the ' savannah starling ' (Sturnella ludovidna) is the commonest bird ; and round these trees, when in flower, one. or two species of hum- 1 Richard Schomburgk. Beisen in Britisch Guiana, vol. i. p. 442. SAVANNAH BIRDS. 129 ming-birds may often be seen. Hawks and owls are unusually numerous, both in -number of species and of individuals. When a fire passes over any part of the savannah, the creeping flame is always preceded by many birds of prey in pursuit-of the lizards, snakes, and other small animals which are then forced to fly from their shelters. On the reedy ponds which occur in places on the savannah, ducks, especially the large musk-duck (Anas moschatus) and the whistling viccissi-duck (A. autumnalis) are often numerous ; and on the high trees near these ponds, and on the banks of the rivers, the great stork-Hke ' negrocop,' so called because of its bald black head (Mycteria americana), builds its nest. Probably the reader will find some difficulty in realising the certain fact that even the reptiles are, under ordinary circumstances, not dangerous, and are rarely ever annoying to man. For instance, it is a matter of common and sted- fast behef that snakes must be troublesome in the tropics ; but as a matter of fact, though snakes are without doubt numerous in Guiana, they are very seldom seen, and even when seen are exceedingly seldom harmful to human beings, except perhaps to Indians, whose nakedness and habits of life expose them to such harm. Probably there is hardly one of the. ordinary town-dwelling colonists of Guiana who could not count the number of snakes he has seen on the fingers of one hand. Those who live on the plantations and in country districts of course see more ; but even these would in most cases probably be able to count the number seen in one year on two hands. And as regards the interior, I need only say that I once carefully noted the number of snakes seen during two months of travel in forests and on savannahs ; and it was but eleven. It is not that snakes are few — though they are probably not so abundant in the western, as in the drier. eastern tropics— but that they are shy and retire silently before the approach of man. And of reptiles other than snakes none need .be regarded with much fear. , The reptiles which I shall have to fnention are alligators, lizards, snakes, and turtles. K 130 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. In the coast region alligators are very numerous wher ever there is mud and water. They are often to he seen in the trenches of estates ; and in one case, not long ago, one was found even in the streets of Georgetown. Be cause the larger they grow the more noticeable they are, only those of small size generally escape detection and sur vive in the inhabited districts ; but in remote mud swamps they grow much larger. The largest that came under my notice measured twenty feet from snout to tail. They are rarely harmful to man, though one occasionally hears stories of how an arm or a leg has been snapped off by one of these reptiles. In the interior alligators as well as caymans are nume rous on some of the rivers. Elsewhere I have described the nest of one of the latter kind, as well as their curious habit of floating on the surface of the water and occa sionally raising their tails to bring them down .smartly on to the water. It has been said that the object of this latter trick is to attract fish, but this probably wants further confirmation. Generally when lying, basking, on the surface of the water the cayman is a sluggish animal, and it is not dangerous to bathe, in shallow water, close by them, if the bather only keeps his eye upon them and is prepared to run as soon as the cayman seems about to move. It is a well-known fact as regards lizards that, not only when the tail is by some accident torn off does a new tail bud and grow, but also that even if this appendage is only injured without being lost, a new secondary tail occasionally grows from the injured spot and, with the original tail, forms a fork. Knowing this, I was yet surprised one day by the sight of an alligator of considerable size with a double tail. This animal was on a sandbank in the Corentyn river, but it made its escape into the water when we attempted to ap proach it. Of all lizards far the most prominent in Guiana is the iguana (Iguana tuberculata). This is a large tree-dwelling, herbivorous lizard, often four or four and a-half • feet in LIZARDS. 131 length, of a beautiful brilliant green when young, but after wards of a dull ugly grey-green, madeJiideous, especially in the case of the male, by a curiously^ jagged raised ridge along its back, and by an enormous dewlap. They live about the banks of rivers. The flesh of these lizards being like, but more delicate than chicken, is much appreciated, not only by Indians, but also by Europeans, and the animals are therefore much sought, after. In the more peopled districts iguanas are now scarce, but along the rivers of the interior, and especially on the Corentyn, long . stretches of which are entirely unin habited even by Indians, they are abundant. But it was on the Cabalebo, which is entirely unin habited, that I saw most of these animals. One or more was lying on the upper branches of many of the creeper- tangled bushes and low trees overhanging the water. Often the first notice of the presence of these was the loud splash which they made when, as we came up, they threw themselves headlong from the top of the trees into the water. Sometimes, however, we got near- enough to shoot them, when, if not killed outright, they sank into the water and were never seen again. Others 'were basking among the dead leaves on the river-bank ; and these, as we came up, raised their tails and scampered off with a clatter loud enough for an animal of four or five times the size. We began to find their eggs, too, buried in holes in the sand-bank ; and the men often dug out hundreds of eggs in. the course of a few hours. There are generally froin thirty to forty eggs, all laid by one lizard, in each nest ; * but from the larger number in some of the holes, I imagine that occasionally more than one lays in the same place. The holes are often very deep, so that the Indians have to dig four or five feet, or even more, before reaching the eggs. The iguanas wait to lay till the dry season, when the sand- 1 Schomburgk (Beisen in Britisch Guiana, vol. i. p. 303) states the number of eggs as seldom more than fourteen ; but I have always found the larger number which I have stated, and have on several occasions taken . about forty eggs from out of the female lizard when just about to lay. x 2 132 AMONG THE. INDIANS OF GUIANA. banks are uncovered. Then they either go to the banks at the side of the river or swim— they are capital swimmers— to those in mid-stream. They dig a tunnel, only just wide enough for their bodies, down into the sand. After laying their eggs, which are oval, about the size of a pigeon's egg, and are enclosed in a white elastic skin instead of shell, they must wriggle backward out of the holes — no easy task. The eggs are left to hatch untended. When the germ begins to develop the egg becomes irregular in shape. How long a time passes before the young emerge from the egg I have never been able to find out. That their instinct should lead them to find their way up through the great mass of overlying sand is wonderful. The Indians find the nests by following the tracks made by the parent on the sand, and by noting the very slight dis turbance of the sand which exists at the mouth of the hole. They then push a pointed stick into the sand in various directions, and where the sand is soft and yielding they know that the tunnel of the iguana must have been. With their hands they dig down, but cautiously, for they say a particular kind of poisonous snake which shares their liking for the eggs is occasionally met with in the holes, and that Indians have often been bitten in this way and have died in consequence. Moreover, the iguana itself is often found in the hole, having just deposited its eggs, and not yet having had time to come up, and it is apt to bite sharply. When the lizard is thus caught ' in the act ' the chase is exciting : as the Indian digs down, the iguana digs deeper and deeper to get away from him. In this race the man of course finally wins. The lizard is caught by the tail, but still holds fast and refuses to be drawn out. The Indian pulls, and often the tail snaps. This gives the lizard a fresh start, of which it takes advantage by digging on vigorously ; but it is finally caught and drawn out. The Indians assert that jaguars are in the habit of digging out the eggs for themselves. Certainly jaguar tracks very commonly occur intermingled on the sand with SNAKES., 133 . those of the iguana. But it is more probable that the jaguars, knowing that these lizards are frequenting the sand banks, prowl about during the breeding to catch the old lizards than, that they dig for the eggs. Other enemies that the iguana has to fear, especially at breeding time, are the perai, or houma as they are called on the Berbice and Corentyn, (Seralsalmo niger). These most sharp-toothed and voracious fish so frequently bite off the end of the tail of the iguana as it swims from sand -bank to sand-bank, that I could hardly find one with a perfect tail among the large number which we got. Other lizards of smaller kinds are very abundant, and are universally distributed throughout all the regions. Of the real abundance, but retiring habits of snakes, I have already spoken. The most dreaded of the common kinds are the two species of boa, called respectively the land-camoodi (B. constricta), and the water-camoodi or cul- nacanaro (Eunectes murina), the labarria (Trigonocephalus atrox), and the rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus). The last- mentioned kind is seen, if at all, on the dry savannahs ; the others occur equally commonly in suitable localities in all regions. The land-camoodi is seldom seen and does but little harm to man. The only one I ever saw in a state of nature glided away at my approach. The water-camoodi is more often noticed. The largest I have ever seen alive was the one killed, as I have mentioned in an earlier chapter, by my friend Edwards-Moss ; it was twenty feet long and three feet in circumference at the thickest. But they occasionally grow much larger — one, the skin of which I measured and found . to be thirty feet, was found in a curious place. A friend of mine, living in a somewhat remote place surrounded by forest, was somewhat particular about having his morning coffee brought to him just at dawn. His cook, when she went in the dark into the shed which served as a kitchen, was in the habit of striking the match to light the fire on a particidar corner post; but one morning she was sur- 134 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. prised to find that one match after another broke instead of catching- fire. At last she struck a light in a new place, and having done so, she found to her great horror that a thirty feet long camoodi was coiled round the corner post, and on this she had been rubbing her matches. Young ca- moodies of small size are not unfrequently found in houses near the forest, and when in that stage they are much more beautifully coloured than when adult. They frequent the neighbourhood of water and often swim, for which reason they are much dreaded by Indian bathers. The Chinese, I believe alone of the various inhabitants of the colony, eat and relish the flesh of these snakes. It was probably a water-camoodi that first taught me that snakes snore. Once, as I was wandering according to my habit from my ham mock- in the middle of the night to smoke a pipe in the 'surrounding forest, my companion, who had just retired to his own hammock, called to me. to beware of a particular tree, for he had heard a snake snore there. Curiosity, of course, drove me to the tree, where the sound of snoring was plainly audible, and where, after some time, I succeeded in detecting a moderate-sized snake curled round a branch. Alone and in the dark I did not care to attack it, and in the morning, when I wanted to find the animal once more, it had disappeared. The labarria is a much more terrible snake. It is small, being from three to five feet in length, but most venomous, and is of a dull colour, so like a dead stick that it is often not noticed until it strikes. Once when passing along a forest path, the hindmost of a single file of nine men, I drew back my foot just as I was about to put it down on a labarria coiled in the middle of the path, its head raised to, strike. Eight men, seven of them barefooted Indians, had passed safely and without notice over this animal. It is a curious fact that, this snake having been beaten to death with large sticks and removed to some distance from the spot where we discovered it, on repassing the place some hours after, we found another labarria in the same place. This TURTLES. I35 and. other cases which came under my notice tend to confirm the statement of the Indians that where one snake is there is sure to be another. Even the labarria, however, probably never attacks human beings unless it is trodden on or other wise .disturbed. The bite of this snake may often result in the death of the sufferer, and, perhaps as often, in the loss of the particular limb or part of the body on which the wound is inflicted. A curious instance of the latter result came under my notice in the case of an Arawak Indian who had but one foot, the other, with the leg as far as the knee, having gradually withered and dropped off in consequence of the bite of a labarria ; yet, with the aid of a stick, the man. still ran, worked, and even hunted, as actively as -any of the other Indians. The rattle-snake is too well known to need description. It is very rarely seen by Europeans. Only once did I nearly come into unpleasant contact with it,, and that was when one had taken up its quarters in a basket in which our store of bread was kept ; but it made its escape without doing any harm. Of other venomous species of snakes there are doubtless plenty, but these are seldom seen. Negroes, and sometimes even Indians, will say that any snake they see is poisonous, but the accusation is in many cases quite unfounded. On the other hand, there are same very beautiful snakes, such as the long whipsnake of brightest green, called in the colony the parrot-snake, and the very lovely coral snake with its bands of brilliant pink. From what has been said in earlier chapters it will be evident that turtles are abundant in most of the rivers, but there are few in the sea or anywhere on the coast region. The two commonest species are the cashapan of the Indian (Emys amazonica, Martius) — which sometimes attains a length of four and a half feet, and a smaller species, probably identical with the Emys tracaja of Martius. Both these species are so numerous that I have sometimes seen large canoes heavily loaded with their eggs, in about equal prqr 136 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. -portions. Another species is the very curious mata-mata of the Indians (Chelys mata-mata), which has an extra ordinarily rugged, instead of a smooth shell, as in most species, and is endowed with a peculiarly disgusting smell. The flesh of all these species is largely eaten by the Indians, who have learned the fact, that the smell of the mata-mata may be entirely removed by careful washing. There are other species which have not yet been identified. It is a curious fact that jaguars are very fond of the flesh of turtles, and still more curious that they manage to ex tract the animal from its shell. I am not aware that any European has actually seen the jaguar performing this opera tion; but many, I among others, have seen the freshly emptied shells scratched all over by the claws of jaguars, and lying on the sand among recent jaguar tracks. In the forest a species of tortoise (Testudo tabulaia) wanders about. That it is frequent is shown by the fact that an Indian hardly ever retums from hunting without bringing home one or two, for its flesh is most excellent food. It lays two large round eggs — which, unlike those of the other tortoises, have hard, porcelain-like shells — on the forest floor. The animal when irritated has a sur prising habit of grunting — a power which some indivi dual tortoises possess, at least use, more vigorously than others. Of the frogs and toads in Guiana it is impossible to speak in detail. They are enormously abundant, and their varied and strange croaks combine in a chorus, which hardly ever ceases, gains redoubled force at night, and forms the characteristic sound both on the coast, in the forest, and on the savannah. So deeply does it impress the traveller that, when it has once been heard, he never, walking by an English ditch in spring, hears the feeble croak of one of our own frogs without seeing gigantic tropical scenes rise instantaneously before him. The amphibian which most annoys the colonist is a toad (Bufo agua), which swarms everywhere in muddy places, and at night crawls from the trenches in Georgetown FISHES. 137 out on to the streets in such numbers that it is often im- . possible to- avoid treading on them. .Fish swarm in enormous numbers and immense variety both in the sea and in the rivers. Certain mud-lovino- kinds which abound- in canals and trenches are caught in large numbers by the negroes and others in a similar posi tion, and indeed form the chief animal food of these people ; but fishing for the better sorts of fish, either in the sea or in the rivers, is so little practised, that there is hardly any regular supply in the markets. .In the interior the number and the beauty of the species is very great, and many of these have been well described by Schomburgk in his^ ' Fishes of British Guiana.' But without special search the traveller will probably meet only with a few prominent forms— those which are especially caught for food -^such- as the pacu (Pacu myletes), which haunts the un quiet waters of the rapids, and feeds on the water-plants growing on the rocks in such localities ; the haimara (Ery- thrinus maerodon, Agas.), which is found principally in the mouths of creeks; the gigantic lowlow (Silurus, sp.?); and, in the more remote rivers, the arapaima (Sudis gigas), both of which attain a length of from eight to ten feet. But there are three fishes which every traveller is sure to notice, not because they are good for food — though by the way all these kinds are occasionally eaten — but as dangerous enemies. These are the perai (Serasalmo niger), the electric eel (Gymnotus eleetricus), and the sting-ray (Trigon hystrix). The perai swarms in nearly all rivers, though not within twenty miles from the sea,' and is probably as voracious an animal as exists. Where ducks are kept by the few people living on the banks- of perai-haunted waters, the poor birds almost invariably soon have more or less of the webs of their feet bitten off by these fish. It has already been said that the tails of iguanas are almost invariably docked in the same way, and it may be added that even alligators do not always escape, with; whole tails. A perai itself, if wounded by 138 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. any chance, is at once attacked and devoured by its fellows. If a monkey or bird, when shot, falls in the water, perai rush together from all quarters and carry off the prey before the sportsman can reach it ; and more than once, when fishing in clear water, the bait having been taken by some other fish, I have seen the captive as it was pulled through the water towards the boat, pursued and snatched by rushing perai. Again, the Indians having a habit of setting night lines for haimara and other big fish, it not unfrequently happens that when these are drawn up in the morning, only the head and shoulders of a. fish are found on the line, the rest of the body having been carried off by perai. On more than one occasion I have known instances in which, men being drowned in the rivers, their skeletons have been found not many days after, almost stripped of flesh by perai. It is, therefore, a source of danger to bathe in smooth reaches, in which places perai are principally found. One of my boatmen, a mulatto, once, when wading by the side of the canoe, suddenly began to scream out certain strong ex pressions, and being reproved, successfully justified himself by showing his foot, from one of the toes of which a perai had suddenly stripped all the flesh ; and on another occa sion, when I sprang from the canoe to bathe, a sharp pain almost at the instant I reached the water told me that I had been bitten by one of these fish. Yet these terrible fish are small enough, being rarely more than two pounds in weight, but their teeth are so sharp that a jaw is carried by Indians and used to sever the poisoned point from the darts to be blown from their blow-pipes. The electric eel is another fish to be avoided. Its power of inflicting an electric shock is well known, and this shock is really very severe. My first experience of this was in this way : Some Indians, having built a dam across the mouth of a small creek, were, after their manner, poisoning the water to get fish, and I was standing on the dam to prevent any of the larger fish from struggling over and thus escaping, when I saw a black form in violent agitation in HARMFUL FISH. 139 the water- close by my feet; having in my eagerness seized this, I found to my great pain that it was an electric eel. These fish are specially abundant in certain places ; and one of- these being in the Mazeruni river by the Penal Settlement, the convicts there, though, because it is the only time in the day during which they are allowed to talk, they generally look forward to the bathing hours, yet occasionally receiving an imexpected shock, are frightened and try to avoid the bath for some time after. The eels, if , they are long kept in confinement lose their electric powers ; one very large one which had been in possession of a gentle man on the west coast of Demerara for some, fifteen years, was, I found, entirely harmless. The third fish to be dreaded is the sting-ray. This large flat fish, with a long whip-like tail, armed with a much-barbed spine, three inches long, which it can erect at pleasure, lies on the sand in shallow waters, where because of its colour it generally escapes notice till, when trodden on .or otherwise disturbed, it strikes its spine into the adversary, and thus inflicts a terrible wound, which, for some not very obvious reason, occasionally causes even death. The spine seems to possess some poisonous and unwhole some quality. An Indian in my service being struck in his foot by one of these fish, the wound remained open and in a most horrible condition for some months, and having daily to dress this wound, I gradually acquired so unreasonable a dread of the power of this ray, that when shortly afterwards I was wading, in water too shallow to float the eanoe, which lay about a quarter of a mile from me in one direction as the land did in the other, and the Indians shouted a warning that sting-rays abounded in the place, an utter inability to move in either direction kept me motionless for some time. The spine is used by the Indians in place of a lancet ; and long . after, it has been removed for this purpose from the animal, it seems, when drawn across human flesh, to exhibit a curious irritating power not to be accounted for even by its minute barbs. 140 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. It will afford a good idea of the proportion which imagi nary danger from animals in Guiana bears to the real evils inflicted by these if we try to realise the possible thoughts of a nervous man when bathing in one of the rivers of that country. The nervous bather remembers that from the moment when he throws off his clothes, every part of his body not covered by water is exposed to the attack of mos quitoes, sandflies, and many other sharply stinging insects ; but, on the other hand, that every part of his body covered by water may at any moment be bitten by perai, may receive a violent shock from an electric eel, or may be horribly lacerated by the poisoned spine of a sting-ray, or a limb may be snapped off by a passing cayman or alligator, or his whole body may be crushed, and thus prepared for swallowing by a huge water serpent ; or, even if none of these pains come upon him, he may remember that the egg of a certain worm, of which I shall presently have to speak, may be deposited unnoticed on his flesh, there to develop and become exceedingly painful. Now all these dangers are real enough, and any one of them may make itself felt at any moment. But on the other hand, of all the men who trust i themselves in these waters day after day, and many times a ! day, for years together, not ten per cent, have ever felt even any of the smaller evils which have been described, except perhaps the bites of mosquitoes or sandflies ; and not Ipne in a thousand has suffered any serious or permanent iiarm. While therefore the nervous man feels all the pain if anticipation of evils, neither he nor the less timid mem as l rule feel the actual evil. From this digression we will turn to the consideration of insect life. Here many readers will probably make a final and determined stand against my plea for the acquittal of animals of all kinds from the charge usually brought against them of unceasing annoyance or harmfulness to man. Yet this plea may justly be extended to cover even insects. I should be more irritating than the mosquito itself were I to assert that that insect, and sandflies, and other such creatmes, INSECTS. 141 never annoy, that cockroaches are not repulsive, or that spiders are not ugly; but I do say that these and other insects are not sufficiently numerous or vicious to make life burdensome. It may be as well to begin by taking the case of an ordi nary householder, and see what the insect foes of such an one are. The test is somewhat formidable, for it must take count, though some of these are but rarely seen in well-kept - houses", of mosquitoes, wood-ants (termites), real ants, cock roaches, certain beetles called ' hardbacks,' spiders, centi pedes, and certain wasps called ' jack-spaniards.' These are arranged according to the degree of annoyance which they cause, the worst offenders being placed first. Mosquitoes are by no means equally distributed in all plaees. In many parts of the interior they are rarely seen, but on the coast, especially in some places, they are more numerous. They are most abundant of all on the. muddy banks of the Pomeroon river near the sea. There the few white settlers find it necessary to protect their hammocks with ' close-fitting curtains, not, as elsewhere, of muslin, but of stout calico; and the Indian, before venturing on the mud flats to catch crabs, covers his body with a complete armour of mud. Mosquitoes are also very abundant along the road from the Derrierara to the Berbice river, and in a few other special places, chiefly where there is little drainage. Elsewhere they are few at most seasons of the year, and throughout the greater part of the day they appear not in swarms, but singly. It is chiefly during the rainy season, and es pecially at night, that they cause any trouble. Opinions probably vary as to the amount of annoyance caused by these insects, for they attack some people much more vehemently than others. Of two adjacent bedrooms — the conditions of which were exactly similar, except that one was occupied by a man subject to, the other by one fre'e from, such attacks — I have, morning after morning, seen- the one black with swarms of mosquitoes that had col lected during the night, the other with hardly one of these .142 AMONG THE INDIANS OF' GUIANA. insects. But even those who are happy enough to be seldom stung by mosquitoes suffer no little annoyance from the buzzing of these insects, which is of all sounds probably the most irritating. On the whole it must be admitted that in an ordinary house, more or less, but frequently consider able, annoyance is caused by mosquitoes. A more harmful, because unsuspected, enemy of the householder, is the wood-ant. The houses are entirely built of wood, and too often the beams and boards, apparently sound, are mere shells, within which these insects, though hardly ever visible, swarm. Other substances besides wood are occasionally devoured by these insects, and in a large linendraper's store I was once assured that the only things safe from their ravages are woollen goods. Various species of real ants occasionally take possession of a house for a time ; and that others are nearly always present, though seldom seen, is sufficiently shown by the fact that if a piece of sugar-cane or other attractive food is put on the floor it is very soon surrounded by numbers of ants ; but all these do but little harm to human beings, and do much good, in that they devour large numbers of other insects, especially cock roaches. Even in well-kept houses probably few days pass in which two or three of the last-named insects, equally detestable iu appearance and odour, are not seen ; and in houses which are not well kept they- swarm. If therefore these insects are annoying, the remedy, by greater cleanli ness, is easily applied. Another kind of insect visits houses only occasionally, and then under circumstances which are rather amusing than annoying. These are the so-called 'hard backs' — small dark-coloured beetles of several species, but most often Tomarus bituberculatvA, which, perhaps two or three times a year— always during rainy seasons— enter houses in perfectly astounding numbers. Attracted by the lights, on a dining-table they literally cover the cloth, and being swept away again and again, they are as often replaced by others coming as thickly as ever. On such a night I have known it become quite impossible to play billiards, the table being HOUSE INSECTS. , 143 strewn with hardbacks much as sea-beaches often are with pebbles. These beetles develop from the grub within cer tain -plants, generally within the roots of such juicy plants as sugar-eanes, plaintains and bananas, but sometimes, most curiously, in the unopened flower-buds of the Victoria regia and other water-lilies. When they enter houses they are often still encrusted with dry mud, collected while escaping from their vegetable homes. Their muscular power is enormous. It is a trick commonly enough done for the benefit of strangers tn put an ordinary wineglass on the back of one hardback, when the insect crawls over the table at a fair pace, dragging the glass with it. After all, the annoyance caused by hardbacks is very slight ; their visits occur only at long intervals, and the morning after such a visit every one of the insects has disappeared. Spiders, large and small, are of course occasionally seen in houses, but they do no harm, and the objection to them is founded merely on the universal and firmly established belief in their disgusting appearance. There are, of course, spiders in Guiana the bite of which is more or less painful, but such- kinds rarely, if ever, enter houses. Centipedes, too, are rarely seen even in country houses and still more rarely in town houses ; of course, provided, in both cases, that the -houses are ordinarily clean. Large wasps of a very harmless kind fly in and out of the rooms, and fre quently build their clay nests, like pretty little clay vases, on the walls even of living rooms. In short, mosquitoes and wood-ants are the only serious plagues in houses, and even these, except at times and in places, only now and then annoy. Just outside the houses, in the short grass about in habited places, a small red insect, called bete rouge, like the English harvest-bug, swarms, and, burying itself in the feet and ankles of passers-by, produces an irritation which is to some people almost unbearable, to others of slight con sequence. But it is in the interior that insects chiefly abound. It 114 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. will probably be best to discuss these as nearly as may be in the order in which each class is likely to attract attention. Accordingly, the first place must be given to the butterflies. The splendid beauty and great variety of tropical butter flies has been so often told that it is only necessary here to add that Guiana is surpassed by no country in such riches. The generally received and erroneous views of the appear ance of tropical nature are perhaps more nearly true as regards butterflies than aught else. It is true that, just as most of the bright-coloured birds live in the forest roof and out of sight, so do many of the butterflies ; but of the latter, though not of the former, there are many species that keep close to the ground, and therefore more frequently come under the eye of the traveller. The most striking of all the butterflies are the huge Morphos, the large wings of which are entirely blue, and so gorgeous, brilliant, and shining, that the insect as it comes flaunting lazily down through the dark alleys between the tree-trunks, seems even from a considerable distance like a flash of blue light. They generally fly high, at the tops of the trees ; but for a short time every morning, apparently when the sun is at a particular point in the horizon, they come clown into the openings made in the forest by a fall of trees, and there flaunt — I use the word purposely — lazily in and out between the sunshine and the shade. They are so large that, as they passed high over such openings, I have traced their movements, as I sat below, by the shadows they cast on the ground. These forest openings, during that part of each day when the sunlight is in them, are haunted not only by these blue, but also by other kinds of high-flying- butterflies. Other kinds — especially the curiously shaped and scented Heliconias, with black wings, spotted, accord ing to the species, with blue, scarlet, or white — fly round the bushes and half-way up the tree-trunks, careless of whether they are in sun or in shade. Others again, with wings marked with red and brown, after the manner of English fritillaries, but differing in shape from these latter, BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. I45 fly also at a height about half-way up the tree-trunks, but always; as a rule, in shade. And actually on the ground, especially when this is carpeted with the sickly-scented fallen flowers of the kakaralli tree (Leeythis ollaria), other butterflies "shaped like fritillaries, and with wings veined like fritillaries, but quite transparent and devoid of colour, flit among other clear-winged butterflies. The thought is irresistible that these, in the scented deep shade and the solitude, with their colourless transparent wings, are but pale ghosts of butterflies. Passing once more into the sun light, tiny hawkmoths flash straight backward and forward from bush to bush so rapidly that only colour, without form, is seen. On the wet sand at the edges of rivers and streams armies of yellow butterflies, very like the English sulphur yellow, rest, as thickly as dead leaves in the forest, and enjoy the moisture. And sometimes a constant and most abundant stream of butterflies, of various kinds, passes for hours together, always in one direction, across a river, coming whence and going whither or with what purpose no man knows. At night the butterflies give place to moths ; and even in the daytime a considerable number of the latter may be seen in the forest shade. Yet, as will be easily understood, moths attract comparatively little attention. For the pur pose of the present sketch it is more important to make mention of the caterpillars. Some of the latter are of the strangest forms, and I greatly regretted that time and the opportunity only to be afforded by settled residence in one place both so failed me that I was unable to rear some of these caterpillars to determine their species. One form, evidently occurring in many species, is a marvellously perfect instance of mimicry. These caterpillars are covered with processes which differ from ordinary hairs in that they are much branched, and not only exactly resemble in form the leafy stems of certain mosses, but also exactly resemble these mosses in colour. Some are light green, of exactly the shade assumed by moss when growing in damp places, others are of L 146 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. the yellow and brown shades of moss long exposed to the sun. As the caterpillar rests on a tree-trunk or rock it so closely resembles a small rounded patch of moss, that I was at first often completely deceived. And these insects not only thus hide themselves from their enemies by pre tending to be plants, but they also enjoy further protection in their power of stinging like a nettle with the hairs which have been described. Another caterpillar of about two inches in length is entirely covered with shaggy silky hair, more than an inch long, and of the bright yellow colour of the natural silk from the -cocoon of the silkworm. This animal has a perfectly black head, and was not inaptly com pared by the" friend who brought it to me to a yellow Scotch terrier. It passed into the chrysalis stage after a time, but for some unknown reason the perfect insect never emerged. Beetles will probably be principally remarkable to the traveller for their apparent absence. They are really plenti ful, as becomes apparent when the bushes are swept with a net, but they generally live, concealed. Near palm-trees the large black palm weevil (Rhyncophorus, var. sp.) may often be observed. This is the perfect insect of which the disgusting gru-gru worm, largely eaten by white men and red, is the grub, and it is also one of the most harmful of the so-called ' cane-borers ;' for it has passed from the palms, which seem its proper home, into the sugar-canes, among which it works terrible havoc. Another smaller weevil (Sphenophorus sac- chari) is equally abundant and destructive where canes are cultivated. Another beetle often seen is a Buprestis with purple and green shot wings, which are much valued by the Indians as body ornaments. And occa sionally a monstrous elephant beetle (Dynaster hercules) may be caught, and if so, it will probably begin to hiss like a cat spitting. A curious long-shaped beetle (Elator), with wings that look as if powdered with fine flour, is common enough ; and this, more like a child's toy than a real insect, if caught and placed on its back, suddenly bends a hinge in its body, with a loud clicking noise, with such force that ANTS. 147 the insect is hurled to some distance through the air, and then flies away. The number, variety, and ubiquity of the ants is perhaps more striking than anything else in the forest. No foot of ground, no tree-trunk or creeper, hardly a stem or leaf, is without soriie of these insects. Some even pass the greater part of their lives in hollow, jointed plant-stems. They are of all sizes, of many colours, and of various degrees of vicious- ness. Some wander about singly or in pairs, others in bands so vast that only those who have seen will realise their mul titude. Ofthe solitary kinds, the one that, by its evil repute and conduct, most strongly presses itself on the notice of the traveller, is the large black manoorie ant (Ponera clavata), the sting of which is most painful and often produces fever. It sometimes goes up the stems of trees, but generally wanders about among the dead leaves on the floor of the forest. In such places, because of the fever-giving repute of this ant, I was at first always nervous about sitting down ; but after a time I found that they as a rule wander round, and even over, one without stinging, unless they are pressed or otherwise irri tated. It was nearly two years before I felt the pain of their sting. "Then, a tall palm-tree which I had cut in order to measure, having fallen, not to the ground, but with its crown resting on a neighbouring forest tree, and I having therefore climbed half-way up its sloping stem, measuring-tape in hand, a sudden pain made itself felt in the back of my neck, so in tense that it can only be compared to that which would be caused by the sudden application of a red-hot iron ; and this* pain lasted pome time, though it was not, as is often the case, followed by fever. Of the social ants, on the other hand, the most surprising ¦J •J is a species of Eciton, called by the Creoles Yackman, the name being a corruption of the Dutch word jagdmann, or hunter. This insect is indeed a mighty hunter. Its hunting parties consist of countless individuals. Of one party that passe'd me one morning I had had warning some httle time j. 2 148 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. before it came in sight, in the rustle and stir which the ants and their prey made in the dead leaves. The line of march was twenty yards broad, and within that space the whole ground was a moving mass of black ants which con tinued to pass for nearly half an hour. Before them fled cockroaches, beetles, lizards, and so on ; but they fled in vain, for each was caught after an exciting chase and -was almost immediately covered with ants and devoured. Some ants, as regularly as if told off for the purpose, climbed up each tree that was passed, and then, having driven down or de voured all hunted beasts that had fled up the tree for safety, instead of troubling themselves to climb down again, simply hurled themselves from the branches to the ground, and then once more joined the line of march. But the victims were not unavenged ; for, following in the train of the ants, a host of small ant-eating birds fluttered through the bushes, and there eat many of the hunters. On another occasion, spring ing out of my hammock before dawn, I was unfortunate enough to put down my bare feet into one of these' herds, of ants. These bands of ants sometimes pass through houses, and do good service by clearing out all other insects. Where they all come from and where they go to is a mystery, for I was never able to find their nests. Another common, indeed much more common, species of social ant is the cooshie (Ecodema cephalotis). In many parts of the forest there are places where the yellow, sandy earth is piled up in an irregular heap, often many yards in diameter, and bare of all vegetation. These are the nests of the cooshie ant. From these, parties of cooshies start each night, and sometimes by day, to forage, especially for leaves. The foraging party starts from home along a well-defined narrow path, which before long is worn by the ants as bare as any fieldpath is trodden in England. Cultivated plants, especially cassava and orange-trees, are specially affected by these ants, whose destination as often as not is the field of some Indian, or, near the coast, some settler. When once coo shies have found out any cultivated ground, it seems impossible 'COOSHIE ANTS.' 149 to keep them off until they have stripped the whole place. In ope night, a party of them will strip every leaf from many trees, cutting each into pieces about a quarter of an inch across, each of which is carried home to the nest by a single ant. It is a most comical and strange sight to see the long line marching home, each ant completely hidden by the huge portion of leaf which it carries. I once saw this scene under somewhat pecidiar circumstances. Being engaged in -digging in a shell-mound, and, while thus engaged, having caught a considerable number of a certain kind of red butterfly and put them into a zinc insect-box, I was surprised when I looked up to see a long row of small red objects moving slowly past me and down the mound; and it was only after some seconds thatl realised that the cooshies had got into my insect -box, had cut my butterflies into small pieces and were marching off with them. These ants seemed to delight in robbing me ; for, on another occasion, they made their way into a tin canister which I had filled overnight with a number of orchids which were to be put between the drying papers in the morning, and they so completely emptied this that there was hardly a shred of green left. Another kind of ant always makes its nest round the root of a certain showy mauve orchid (Imatophyllum roseum), which grows abundantly on some trees on the banks of most of the rivers. Or it is possible that the orchid only grows in such nests. At any rate, nests and orchids are so inse parable that the Indians when they saw us collecting the plants and, somewhat vainly, trying to free them from ants by long immersion in water, warned us that the plant could not grow without the insect. But it is quite impossible to tell of all the different kinds of ants. Two methods of stopping an advancing column of ants — the only two known to me — must, however, be men tioned. One of these is to sprinkle corrosive sublimate in front of them ; .the result of this being that the ants, on reaching, the sublimate, attack each other so furiously that the column is soon transformed into a ball of struggling 150 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. creatures, apparently fighting each against the others. The other method is simply to spit on the path over which the ants are about to move; and in this case they always turn aside and go by a new and roundabout path. The so-called white or wood-ants (Termites) are in general appearance, and still more in habits, so like real ants that the common belief in their identity is very intelligible. In the interior of Guiana they are at least as ubiquitous as true ants. In the forest they build covered ways under which they walk in all directions over the ground and up the trunks and stems of all plants. The rapidity with which they build these tunnels is surprising ; often the loose baggage and pro perties which the traveller, when camping in the forest, puts on the ground at night are in the morning found to have a wood-ants' tunnel over them. On the savannah another white ant, of course of a distinct species, builds huge clay nests, shaped like haycocks, often ten or twelve feet high, which form one of the most characteristic features in the landscape ; and there, at certain seasons of the year, when the winged individuals leave the nests, the whole air is darkened with their numbers. In the forest, among the ants' nests, which hang in appa rently shapeless masses on nearly every tree, there are often other irregularly shaped nests of various species of bees, as well as the more shapely nests — like those of the corresponding in sects in England — of many kinds of wasps. The bees are for the most part much smaller than our domesticated species. Some build their nests in hollow trees, but others hang from the tree-trunks black, leathery nests, which look very like much battered and brimless felt-hats, and in which the cells are very large and contain honey, very slightly viscid, but much more of the consistency of water than of English honey, with a most highly aromatic and acidulated taste. The wasps vary much more in general appearance and size, some of them being large and beautifully coloured insects. The forest-dwelling social species are indiscriminately called by the colonists marabuntas. Many of these have a habit of MOSQUITOES. 1 51 building their nests on the branches of low shrubs, or even on the under sides of large leaves ; so that a man forcino- his way through the bush is very apt to disturb one of these nests, and' thus effectually to impress the presence of mara buntas on his recollection. Wherever there is loose sand there are sure to be sand-wasps. These beautifully banded creatures live in pairs, and buzz all day long over the sand in which they make their nests. I have often amused my self by proving the wonderful instinct for locality possessed by these insects, by trampling down, digging into, heaping up, and otherwise disturbing the sand in the neighbourhood of their nests ; but, notwithstanding, the insects never failed to find their nests. If one failed to find the place when it first flew toward it, it retired to a little distance and flew once more ; if it still failed it made a third attempt, and I - never knew this third attempt fail. The group of insects to which we now turn are the most troublesome of all to the traveller, for it includes mosquitoes, sandflies, jiggers, and ticks. The various species of mosquito, for there are several, are distributed very unevenly in the interior, hut are very rarely as troublesome there as they are on the coast. It is only in a few widely scattered places in the interior that mosquitoes are constantly troublesome, but in some other places they make their appearance in large numbers during the wet seasons. Thus, in travelling during the dry months up a river for ten days, perhaps only one of the camping places at night is haunted by mosquitoes ; but, on the other hand, camps that are entirely free from these pests during the dry season are occasionally visited by them during the rains. It is somewhat curious that even in mosquito haunts the insects do not make their appearanee every night, but only, as it sometimes appeared, perhaps every alternate night. Some of the worst mosquito-haunts are in districts entirely uninhabited even by Indians, and very seldom visited; -and I often wondered how in such places riiosquitoes provide themselves with sufficient blood for 152 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. their meals. Animals of various kinds there are doubtless in such places, but not, as it appeared to me, in numbers large enough to solve this question. It seems, rather, as if the sucking of blood is not a normal habit of mosquitoes, but that they indulge themselves in this way when they have opportunity, not as being necessary to their existence, but rather as a treat. Sandflies (Simulium, sp. ?) of the kind to which the name is usually applied are confined to the coast, where they occur in very troublesome abundance in most waste, sandy ground. But on some of the rivers of the interior their place is supplied by another species which I have already described under the name of kaboora1 in a previous chapter, as covering the whole bodies of the Indians and the exposed parts of travellers with innumerable small but very irritat ing sores. Away from rivers these insects are, however, unknown. The so-called mosquito-worm, or, as it is elsewhere called, sestus-worm, is the larval form of a gadfly. It is found, though not very commonly in Guiana, in the flesh of men and of other animals. The first warning of its presence is a sensation as though caused by the pricking of a needle, which is felt not constantly, but at short intervals. As this increases in intensity, the part of the flesh affected rises as though in a tumour. The animal is a worm-like larva, about an inch, long, clothed with curious stiff hairs or bristles. It must develop from an egg deposited, unnoticed — and, it is said, when the subject is bathing — in the flesh,. and it grows rapidly. The pricking sensation is probably caused by the hairs as the animal turns in its position. It is often said that the extraction of the animal is a difficult matter ; but this really may be easily enough done by completely excluding the air for some hours from the affected spot, by carefully coating it with sticking-plaister or, if that is not at hand, with any of the many natural resins of the forest, the result being that when the plaister is removed, the 1 See p. 27. JIGGERS. 153 insect, either dead or at least no longer firmly fixed in its position, is drawn away at the same time. A far more troublesome animal, because very common is the far-famed jigger or chigoe (Pulex penetrans). This flea lives in dust on the ground wherever human beings con gregate. In the untidily kept huts of the negroes and others on the coast it is abundant ; but it is in the interior, in the settlements of the Indians, which are very frequently built on loose sand, that it swarms. The females of these horrible little insects penetrate the skin and take up their position be tween that'and the flesh of men and domestic animals. Their favourite position is under the soft skin between the nails and the fingers or toes, but any attainable part of the body is some times used ; twice they have buried themselves in the flesh under the ring on my finger, and there is little doubt that the Indian habit of sitting on stools in their houses is due to a desire to raise their bodies out ofthe reach of these insects. When once under the skin, these insects, becoming full of eggs, increase to about the size, and assume somewhat the shape, of peas. If left undisturbed, the whole animal after a time drops off on to the ground, where the young presently hatch and add greatly to the number of individuals. The round patch of skin under which they are, is white surrounded by a dark rim. The sensation which they cause in the subject is of a somewhat curious kind, and has been described with odd variety by travellers either as a painful itching or as a rather pleasant tickling ; to me it seems exactly like the pain caused by a severe chilblain. Where these animals abound boots are no real protection ; though I was always careful to keep riry feet covered by day and night in these haunts, I "have been entered by as many as twenty-three insects in one day. Troublesome as they thus are to the stranger they are yet more troublesome to the natives. The children suffer especially by them, their feet, and, when they roll in the sand, their whole bodies, being appropriated by the insects. It is not really difficult to extract jiggers, for it is only necessary to raise the skin under which they lie I j 4 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. and pull them out with a needle, and any chance of inflam mation, owing to part of the animal remaining in the sore, may be avoided by filling the cavity either with laudanum or with tobacco ashes. If, as is sometimes though rarely, the case with Indians, and is often the case with negroes and others on the coast, jiggers are left undisturbed in the foot the whole of the latter becomes seriously affected and eventually drops away. We now come to the last of the really troublesome animals. In the forest the bushes are often inhabited by bush-ticks (Ixodes), with flat, hard-looking bodies like tiny disc-shaped seeds. These insects seize with their vice-like jaws on men and animals as they brush by, and, being carried off, bury their heads in the flesh of their victims, and there feed till their bodies swell into sack-like bodies of four or five times their former size. Probably these animals are very locally distributed, for they seldom trouble the traveller, but occasionally do so in enormous numbers. They may always be made to drop off either from clothes or flesh by exposure, as close as possible, to a fire. The three insects which next claim notice are spiders, scorpions, and centipedes, all of which may be found , in abundance by search, but very rarely attack human beings. Spiders are certainly very abundant, of many forms, some most quaint, of all sizes, from such as are as small as our own ' money-spiders ' to the great, black, hairy bird-eating spider (My gale avicularia), which is as big as a baby's fist, and of many colours, some being in this respect most beauti ful. The bite of some species, especially of the bird-eating spider, is said to be dangerous and even sometimes fatal ; but though these spiders are common enough, I never knew them bite on any occasion. Another very large spider, (Phrynus reniformis) occurs on the ground in the mora forests about the upper part of the Mazeruni river ; it is said that not only the bite of this is very poisonous, but also that the insect unprovoked frequently attacks men. This insect, being somewhat like a scorpion in appearance, is called by SPIDERS AND SCORPIONS. I55 the Indians by a name signifying ' mother-in-law of scor pions.' Scorpions of two, and perhaps of three, species live under stones and fallen wood. It is chief] v the wood cutters in their work of moving timber that come into con tact with these animals. But one small and white species has an unpleasant habit of living about the beams of Indian houses, where, if it is accidentally touched, it stings : the wound is, however, as 1 have experienced, not serious and not even very painful. Centipedes, often attaining a length of fom or five inches, are about as numerous as scorpions, and live in the same places. Both alike are, as a rule, only acci dentally seen, but both can be easily found by search. Four other insects, of most harmless kinds, are sure to attract the notice of the traveller. In describing the hunt ing ants I have already mentioned the bush cockroaches. These, which live under every fallen leaf, are much smaller than the domestic kind, and seem to be without any offen sive odour. Many large grasshoppers live both in the open country and in the forest. These are often of most brilliant colours, chiefly red or green, and some kinds attain a length of four inches. The green mantis, or praying-insect, may often be seen hunting other insects, but is harmless to man. And, lastly, certain curious insects, locally called razor- grinders (Cicada, sp. vir.), from the extraordinary sounds that they make, or six-o'clocks, from the fact that these sounds are redoubled about that hour, are sure to be soon noticed. Occasionally in the forest, just before dusk, the whole place rings with the whirr of these insects, as though fifty pairs of scissors were being sharpened at once on half a hundred grindstones ; and from the scattered trees on the savannah another kind sounds a loud prolonged whistle, so like that of arailway engine, that, hearing it, it is sometimes difficult for a moment to remember that one is on the deso late South American savannah. 156 AMONG TEE INDIANS OF GUIANA. CHAPTEE VI. THE INDIAN TRIBES. Indian Groups in Guiana — The Value of the Groups— Race, Branch, Tribe, and Family — Classification of Principal Tribes — Some unimportant or liitle-known Tribes — The term ' True Carib' — Tribal Differences in Lan guage, Physical Characters, and Habits — Geographical Distribution of the Tribes — Forest Indians and Savannah Indians — Probable History of the Tribes — The Earlier Tribes : Warraus, Arawaks, and Wapianas— The later Immigration of Carib Tribes. The aboriginal population of the whole continent of America is made up of an extraordinarily large and disproportionate number of more or less well-defined small groups of so-called Eed Indians, which are chiefly distinguishable in that each uses either a peculiar vocabulary, or, in the case of the minor groups, a peculiar dialect of a vocabulary common to several of the larger groups. It has been estimated that within the (in round numbers) 15,000,000. square miles of the whole continent, there are nearly 500 of these distinct vocabularies, and 2,000 dialects. Yet there is one great and important feature common to all these diverse languages, so immensely numerous in proportion to the extent of land occu pied by them, and absent, with one possible and insignificant exception, from the language of the rest of the world : and this is, that though the vocabularies of the languages differ, their structure is the same and is peculiar. The structure of all, and only of these languages, is poiysynthetic. This com munity of speech is a strong, though not absolutely certain, indication of community of race. When, however, the bodily structure, and to some extent the customs, of these groups of Americans are examined, it appears that in these points also, with considerable differences there are yet features which are THE NUMBERS OF THE INDIANS. 157 on the one hand common to all these groups, and are on the other hand unrepresented elsewhere in the world. There fore, tested by language and also by structural characters, the aboriginal American population proves to be one great race distinct from the people of the whole of the rest of the world. The 70,000 square miles of American land which now bear the name of British Guiana contain a number of more or less distinct groups of Eed Indians, which are probably as numerous as in any other district of equal size of the same continent. The number of individuals forming these groups can hardly be determined, for they live widely, more or less thickly scattered, in a country uninhabited, and only partially explored, by Europeans. An attempt was indeed made about the year 1840, and again in 1881, to estimate their number by counting those living along the banks of four rivers l supposed to be those most thickly inhabited by Indians, and from these results estimating the number elsewhere. The numbers returned from the four rivers were, on the first occasion, with somewhat suspicious detail, 4,265 ; and from this the Indian population of the whole district has been variously estimated as from 12,000 to 20,000; were I to add another to the guesses which have been made about the matter, I should suggest that 20,000 is probably slightly, but not much, below the real number. These Indians are known by a very large number of different names. Even from the following alphabetical Ust, formidable as it appears, there are probably some omissions : — Ackawoi. Caribisi. Amaripas. Caiibs. Arawaks. Carinya. Arecuna. Cobungrus. Arecuma. Daurais. Atorais. Engaricos. 1 The four rivers were the Pomeroon, Moruca, Waini, and Barrama. 1158 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. Kapohn. Pshavaco. Lokono. Taruma. Macusi. Taurais. Maiongkongs. Waccawai. Maopityans. Wapiana. Nikari-karus. Warrau. Paramona. Woruma. Partamona. Woyowai. Pianoghotto. Zurumutas. Piriana. Many of these names are, however, synonymous ; others do not represent distinct groups ; and yet others are names of tribes settled beyond the limits of British Guiana, indi vidual members of which occasionally wander across the border. It will save trouble if we dispose of these un necessary names at once. The Ackawoi, by a mere variation in pronunciation, are also known as Waccawais ; and, using neither of these names, these people call themselves Kapohn, which in their language means simply ' the people.' We shall find that several tribes have both a name for themselves — that is, each calls itself in its own language ' the people ' — and a name used by other Indians. The Arawaks, for instance, call themselves Lokono. Arecuna, it would hardly be neces sary to say, but that the two forms are sometimes given in ethnological books as distinct, is the same as Arecuma. Atorais, Daurais, and Taurais are, I think, identical, though Schomburgk considered that the two latter words are sy nonyms of a tribe allied to but not the same as the Atorais. It is at least certain that people bearing these three names live intermingled in the same settlements. The Caribisi are the same as the so-called Caribs; and Carinya, or 'the people,' is their own name for themselves. We shall pre sently find it convenient to reject all these three names and to substitute the term True Carib. The last case of sy nonyms is that of Paramona and Partamona. Names which do not represent distinct groups are Cobrungru, i.e. hybrids between any Indian and negro; Nikari-karu, i.e. hybrids between Macusis and Indians of some Brazilian tribe, or TRIBAL NAMES. 159 perhaps between Macusis and Brazilians of Portuguese extraction; Engaricos, i.e. hybrids between Macusis and Arecunas. I believe that the Pshavacos and Worumas are also names for hybrids between some two of the better-known tribes. The Maiongkongs and the Piriana are tribes living beyond the British border, which they only occasionallv cross. Thus we have already greatly simplified the list of tribes with which we are concerned. It now stands thus : — Ackawoi. Paramona. Amaripas. Pianoghotto. Arawak. Taruma. Arecuna. Wapiana. Atorais. Warratt. True Caribs. Woyowai. Macusi. Zurunxutas. Maopityans. Each of these groups has a name for itself, and a name by which it is known by Indians of other groups. Some times the esoteric name and the exoteric are the same, sometimes they are different. But, however this may be, the existence of such a name indicates a certain amount of distinctness in the group. It is absolutely necessary, before proceeding to define certain terms, to express the value of the different groups with which we shall have to deal. The indiscriminate use of such terms as family, nation, branch, race, group, gens, phratry, can only lead to confusion. In the absence of any common standard usually accepted, I am obliged to explain the exact sense in which I shall use certain divisional terms. The four words which I shall require are race, branch, tribe, and family. By race I mean to express the whole group cf red- skinned' Americans, whose language varies greatly in vocabu lary, but is absolutely uniform in structure. By a braneh I mean such a portion of this race as is distinguished by the use of a vocabulary common and peculiar to that portion ; for ex ample, all members of the Carib branch use, with more or less dialectic variations, the Carib vocabulary. It must be 160 AMONG THE INDIANS OF' GUIANA. noted that this mark of distinction of a branch is not absolutely exact, for there are occasionally a few single words common to the vocabularies of two or more different branches; for example, the word 'peaiman,' which means ' medicine-man,' appears to be common to the Carib, the Ara- wak, and other vocabularies. But the general distinctness of the vocabularies is sufficient to distinguish the branches using them respectively. By a tribe I mean to express, such a portion of a branch as uses the vocabulary common to that branch, but with dialectic variations peculiar to itself; for instance, the Macusis and the True Caribs are different tribes of the Carib branch. This mark of distinction of the tribe is, again, not absolutely exact, for two tribes using two dialects of a vocabulary common to their branch occasionally use distinct, and not merely dialectically differing, words ; for example, though both are of the Carib branch, the True Caribs call fire ' wotah,' while the Macusis call it ' apo.' A possible explanation of this is, that one or other of these divergent pairs of words has been borrowed from the language of some other branch with which the tribe using it has in past history come in contact.1 But the difference, if any, between the mass of words used by two tribes of the same branch being merely dialectic, the distinctness of the tribes and the community of the branch may be assumed. With the last divisional term, family, we shall not be concerned in this chapter ; but for the sake of freeing our selves once for all from such definitions, it may be as well to explain it briefly here. There are signs of a separation within the tribe into families, such as the families, or perhaps rather the clans, of our own society; and these families within Indian tribes are kept distinct by means of certain regulations, which will afterwards be described, concerning marriage, and by the fact that each has an in alienable name of its own. The somewhat obscure fainily- ' Such divergent words are, therefore, of great importance, since, if they can be traced to other vocabularies, they certainly indicate intercourse between the two tribes, of different branches,, using them. CLASSIFICATION OF GUIANA INDIANS. 161 system of South American Indians is, in fact, identical with the better-known totem-system of North American Indians. It is hardly necessary to add that each family is of course marked by no very great difference in language ; yet, because of the great scope for divergence in pronuncia tion which is allowed by the fact that the language is un written, and that each of the families by which it is spoken lives to a certain extent secluded from the others, small dif ferences of pronunciation, not sufficiently fixed to be regarded as dialectic, are often acquired by the separate families. There is some importance about the last-mentioned fact, in that possibly the family, when it becomes numerous and changes its locality, becomes a tribe, which, in the course of long periods, may, by splitting, possibly develop into a branch; and if this is so, the small peculiarities of pro nunciation belonging to the family develop, as it becomes a tribe, into the dialect of that tribe, and afterward, as this tribe becomes a*branch, into the distinct vocabulary of that branch. It being very important to make these divisional terms clear, they may be tabulated thus : — Orfler - Differentia Example ("Language, whatever the vocabulary,") i of uniform (polysynthetic) struc- J. 1. Race American. ("Language in structure that of the"] < race, but with a distinct and pecu- s t liar vocabulary . . . J 2. Branch Carib. (-Structure and vocabulary of lan-'l 3. Tribe < guage like that of the branch, but ]» L with peculiar dialectic variations J True Carib. • f Each with a distinct family name, the 1 4. Family J distinctness of the family, marked 1 Onisidu (an Ara- 1 by certain regulations as regards ( wak Family). " (_ intermarriage . ' - . . J As has already been indicated, I am fully aware of the danger of trusting solely to differences of language as a means of classification. But it is far the most ready means ; and if a classification thus made is confirmed by such differences as M 162 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. can be found in the bodily structure and appearance of the Indians, in their customs and habits of thought, it may, I think, be safely adopted. It must, indeed, be adopted, and all effort must be made to elaborate it more and more — un less, as is not likely to happen, some new and more satis factory method is discovered. We shall find that, though there are no very great differences other than those of lan guage among the Indians of Guiana (which fact shows that they are all not very divergent members of the same race), yet that there are physical differences — as, for instance, in height, in build and strength, in features and in colour of skin ; that there are also differences in custom — as, for in stance, in the objects and methods of manufacture, and in care for cleanliness and modesty ; and, lastly, that all these differences correspond with those in language. To this it may be added that corresponding differences in the degree of mutual hostility between the various groups lends further evidence ; for though every group ignores all others as far as it can, and when perforce it must meet others, regards these as hostile, yet this feeling of aversion is greater be tween two tribes of different branches — for example, between True Caribs and Arawaks — than between two of the same branch — for example, Macusis and Arecunas. Using the tests of difference and of degree of difference with which we have thus provided ourselves, we find that, omitting for the present certain groups which are either fragmentary or little known, there are in Guiana four branches of the American race — the Warraus, Arawaks, Wa- pianas, and Caribs ; further, that two of these, the: Warraus and the Arawaks, cannot be distinguished into tribes ; that the third, the Wapianas, is probably represented by three tribes — the True Wapianas, Atorais, and Amaripas; and, lastly, that the fourth branch, the Carib, is represented by four tribes — the True Caribs, Ackawoi, Macusi and Arecuna. One or two of these tribes have attached to them various small groups, which may perhaps be regarded as sub-tribes. The following table will make the matter more clear — : CLASSIFICATION OF GUIANA INDIANS 163 Race American Branch Warrau , Arawak . Wapiana . Carib Tribe Warrau. Sub-tribe Arawak. True Wapiana. Atorais. Amaripas. True Carib. Ackawoi . . Paramona. Macusi . . . Arecuna. /Pianoghotto IZurununas. If this table is compared with the list of groups given on p. 159 it will be found that the only omissions from the classification here suggested are the Maopityans, Tarumas, and Woyowais. Without vocabularies, and indeed without almost any knowledge of these three tribes, I am unable to class them. The Tarumas appear to be a tribe— perhaps not belonging to any of the branches which I have dis tinguished in British Guiana — which, according to Sir Eobert Schomburgk and the Brazilian traveller Von Martius, reached their present position from the south, by way of the Eio Negro ; and the fact that the Maopityans live with the Tarumas, the two conversing with a common vocabulary, seems to indicate that the two are tribes of the same branch, whatever that may be. Of the Woyowais only the name is known. Some explanation is necessary of the terms True Carib and True Wapiana, which I am the first to use. The Indians of the True Carib tribe are in Guiana known simply as Caribs or as Caribisi, and they call themselves Carinya. But none of these three terms are satisfactory. Not only this •tribe, but several others in Guiana — namely, the Ackawoi, Arecuna, and Macusi tribes — belong to the Carib branch ; to use the simple term Carib indifferently of the tribe and of the branch is therefore apt to confuse. An attempt has been made to distinguish between branch and tribe by calling the former Carib, the latter Caribisi. But this latter term seems to have originated in a mistake. The word Cari bisi is Arawak, and means, the ' Carib's place,' or ' Carib's home ; ' j ust as Ituribisci, the name of a small river of Guiana, M 2 164 AMONG THE INDIANS OF- GUIANA. means ' the home of the ituri or howling monkey ; ' and as Aroabisci, the name of a well-known district in Guiana, means * the home of the aroa or jaguar.' The traveller in passing up some river often has his attention called to some settlement by his Arawak companions, who, with bated breath, point to it and ejaculate ' Caribisi,' which merely means to say that (True) Caribs live there; or, as I have again and again ex-, perienced, if the traveller himself asks who lives at some settlement which is in sight, the answer of the Arawaks invariably is ' Caribisi ; ' by a not unnatural mistake, travellers have therefore supposed that Caribisi is simply the name of the tribe. The term may therefore be ex punged from ethnological lists. But we have not yet found a name for the Carib tribe, as distinguished from the Carib branch, in Guiana. It might seem natural to use ' Caiinya,' their own name for themselves, for this purpose : but this term has the disadvantage of being unfamiliar to ethnolo gists. Every purpose is answered by calling the tribe True Caribs, and extending the term Carib to the whole branch. Just, in the same way, as it appears that there are several other tribes belonging to the branch of which the Wapianas are the largest and best known tribe, it is convenient to use the term True Wapiana of the tribe, Wapiana of the branch. It may be added that very possibly the Warrau and Arawak groups are each of them really only of tribal rank,1 but as, in each of these two cases, the other tribes which go to make up the branch are unknown or unrepresented in Guiana, it is more convenient for our present purpose to regard each of them as a complete branch represented only by a single tribe. We turn now to the marks of difference in language, in physical characters, and in habits, which distinguish these groups, as either branches or tribes. In the following- chapters, more or less of these differences will be recorded; 1 For example, I believe that if materials were available for a compari son of South American groups generally, it would be found that the Warraus are a tribe of the Guarani branch. TRIBES OF THE CARIB BRANCH. 165 but here may be collected, as a necessary preliminary just sufficient of these to show the distinctness and values of the groups. The languages of the four branches, Warrau, Arawak, Wapiana, and Carib, will be found to be quite distinct from each other ; or, if a few common words are found, these are so few that they may be explained as due to accidental borrowing by one branch from the other. But within the languages, are dialects differing more or less from each other. In the Warrau and Arawak languages respectively, this diversity amounts to no more than very slight differences of pronunciation adopted by separate families of each group. The: Wapiana language and the Carib are, again, distinct from each other and from either Warrau or Arawak. But differing dialects of the Wapiana language are spoken by the True Wapianas and the Atorais, and possibly a third by the Amaripas. So, too, of the Carib language there are four different dialects spoken by the True Caribs, Ackawoi, Macusi, and Arecuna respectively ; and these dialects have been commonly, but quite wrongly, spoken of 0as distinct languages. The Macusi dialect is very closely similar- to the Arecuna, from which it differs ehiefly in the mode of pro nunciation ; and a similar dialect, with a few exceptional differences, principally in the lower numerals, is used by the Ackawoi. -A Macusi, an Arecuna,. and an Ackawoi speak quite intelligibly the one to the other. The remaining dialect of this language— that of the True Caribs — is, though the relationship is very recognisable, somewhat more dis tinct ; for while most of the words are identical with those of the three former dialects, yet some are altogether distinct. A few examples must here suffice to explain the matter : — 166 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. S 5 _— r_5 _j K c § "a 5 a - 60 5 2 § ¦*" _ 5 •£ I c3 O -O M c 3 c= g 6p > r= S- •=- s ° -- ft a -5 g V o a< 3 5 .3 - — OS ^2. *-* 3. i = 5 S o JS ^ ft s S fl o ft -U <3 Ct w. Ci W ^ ^ ft Mel S-1 g 1 ¦ & 5 ft 5 & £ •S -i * 1 M O 3 ci fi ft .* ^ ¦3 o o 3' 3 ,= ft .3 3 o T o "3 c3 .5 60 33 3 c3 g c3 ¦a S S 4 3 o S b-8 ¦ " i? ,, « io ? * 8 2 '¦3 «a I ,3 a =3 •= .a s ftS ^ 3 P .-B S *3 t* rrl OT 3 .5 o h-t >-, -d a oc +j s>> n 3 £ § ¦=? 5 c 2 • ; o j * 5 SS f-t w cc r^ £ 1 fco s .. -o u Tl >. rj r3 3 5 g -^s A C ss3 O 31 8 S-, 3 o ?i -t-> F= « ¦3 £ a -u > -b a .-9 "s -ci Eh O ci -8 H -^ DIFFERENCES IN LANGUAGE. 167 It is not very easy to describe the distinguishing physical characteristics of these groups, for, after all, all being of the same race, the differences are but small. A stranger invariably finds it impossible to distinguish, merely from appearance, the members of the different tribes, or even branches ; yet after a time the eye becomes accustomed to the task, and recognises instinctively the tribe of any given Indian. Though all are, according to the ordinary English standard, short, the Warraus are the shortest. They have, too, even less developed muscles than the other tribes. They are thickly built, and the neck especially is short and thick. The trunk is unusually long in proportion to the legs ; and the feet, perhaps in consequence of the soft and muddy nature of the ground about the usual homes of these people, are unusually flat and broad. The expression of the face is strikingly dull, unintelligent, and gloomy. The colour of the skin is apparently very dark ; but this is in reality due to the filthy state in which they live, and the dirt which en crusts them. The Arawaks are slightly taller than the Warraus ; their bodies, though short and broad, are far better proportioned ; their skin, not only appears much lighter in colour, because of their more cleanly habits, but in reality is slightly so ; and the expression of their faces is far brighter and more intelligent. The .Wapianas are, for Indians, unusually tall ; their bodies are slight and well-built, and their faces, because of the regularity and better form of the features, are far finer. The tribes of the Carib branch are all in a greater or less degree marked by a darker skin. The True Caribs are somewhat taller than the Arawaks; their bodies are better built and, both in appearance and reality, have far greater strength; their features are coarser, but such as to give the appearance of greater power. The Ackawoi are like the True Caribs, but somewhat shorter and slighter in the body; and perhaps owing to their habits, they are somewhat miserable in appearance. The Macusis are even darker than the True Caribs and 168 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. Ackawoi in colour, but are taller, slighter, and better made; their features are more regular, and their expression is bright and intelligent, but somewhat timid. The Arecunas have the darkest skins of all ; their bodies are like those of the Macusis, but more powerful ; and similarly their features are like, as is their expression, but that the latter is far more bold and warlike. Evidently these physical differences would by them selves be insufficient to distinguish the groups. Nor are the differences in habit very great. The Warraus are timid people, despised by other Indians, and, apparently, with but a poor opinion of themselves. Except in the rare cases in which they have been partly civi lised, their personal habits are, as is rarely the case among these Indians, very filthy. They live, or did till lately live, in miserable houses, raised on piles over swampy ground, or even over water. They are the great canoe-builders for the surrounding tribes. It must be added that a considerable number of the tribe have lately been induced to settle round the mission stations. As the AVarraus are the filthiest, so the Arawaks are the cleanliest of all the Indians. This may be partly due to the fact that the latter, living just in the dis trict which was earliest, and has been continuously, occupied by Europeans, and having always held friendly relations with these Europeans, have, more than any other tribe, become to a certain extent civilised ; that is to say, though they still use houses of their original pattern, these are cleaner than those of other Indians, are sometimes made partly private by partitions, and are even furnished occasionally with a wooden table and benches. With very few exceptions they can all speak English, and, at least in the presence of white men, they wear European clothes. This degree of civil isation has greatly obscured their proper habits, as is well and significantly illustrated by the fact that they are the only tribe which has not, at the present time, any special manu facture of some kind of object useful for trade with the other Indians, such, for instance, as the canoe-building of the DIFFERENCES IN HABIT. 169 Warraus. One of their old habits is, however, still very discernible, and this is their aversion from other tribes and especially their hatred of the True Caribs. The Wapiana, with the allied, groups of Atorais and Amaripas, none of which is it any longer possible to distinguish in habit, are, as usual, averse to intercourse in most matters with other tribes, but yet they are the great traders of the district, serving as middlemen,. through whose hands the manufactures of each tribe pass to the other.. They are themselves, moreover, the great cahoe- makers of the interior, as the Warraus are of the coast. Another respect in which they differ from the other tribes of Guiana is, that they alone eat much of the cassava, which forms the chief vegetable food of all the tribes, in the form, not of bread or cakes, but of that rough meal which is common in the Brazils under the name of farine. All the Carib tribes are, thotigh in various degree, more warlike than any of the other tribes, and are consequently especial objects of dread. Most warlike in reputation, and most dreaded of all, are the True Caribs. There appears to be a special feeling of enmity between them and the Arawaks. They are pecu liar among the tribes in that they occupy no special district, .but are scattered more or less thickly through the country. They are the great makers of pottery, though this is also made, to some small extent, by their kindred the Ackawoi. The last-mentioned tribe are perhaps chiefly peculiar for the fact that they make almost all that they want for themselves, and have but little communication with other Indians. Just as the True Caribs are dreaded as the most warlike tribe, so the Ackawoi are as the most harmful, in a sly, underhand way. Perhaps, because of their seclusion, they are, though by no means so filthy in their habits as the Warraus, yet far less cleanly than any of the other tribes. The Macusis and the Arecunas are in habits, as in language, much alike. A strong hostile feeling,. however, separates them, and this is mani fested by the gentler Macusis chiefly in their dread of their fellow tribe, and by the bolder Arecunas chiefly in contempt for the Macusis. Both are cleanly in their habits, but the 170 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. JNIacusis excel in this respect not only the Arecunas but also all other tribes, with the possible exception of the semi- civilised Arawaks. The differences which we have now seen in the languages, physique, and habits of the tribes, if taken together, are sufficient, on the one hand, to show the distinctness of the groups, and, on the other, to class them as tribes, or branches, according to the table given on p. 1 63. Accepting this classification, the next point to be con sidered is the geographical position now occupied by these tribes. The distribution of the tribes is as follows. For our present purpose the whole country may be regarded as con sisting of three regions, parallel to each other and to the coast. In the earlier part of the book it was convenient to distinguish four of these regions ; but now we may regard two of these — the timber and the forest-region — as one whole, which we may call the forest-region. Nearest the sea, there fore, is the coast-region ; within that the forest-region ; and within that again the savannah-region, passing without break into the great savannahs of Brazil. The northernmost part of the coast-region, toward the sources of the Orinoco, and nearest to the West Indian islands, is inhabited by the Warrau Indians, and the rest of it by the Arawaks. Here and there, however, throughout the whole region, but far more commonly in the north than in the south, are single settlements of True Caribs, who occupy no distinct territory, but live more or less scattered among the other tribes. The forest-region is almost entirely inhabited by the Ackawoi, though in this district also a few scattered True Caribs may be found. The savannah-region is peopled by several tribes. Beginning from the north, toward the Orinoco, these are the Arecunas, Macusis, the Wapianas (with whom live the Atorais and the Amaripas), the Tarumas (with whom live the few remnants of the Maopityans), and lastly, occupying a very isolated position, the Pianoghottos. With the exceptions of the Atorais and the Amaripas, who live intermingled in the GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION OF TRIBES. 171 same settlements with the Wapianas, and the Maopityans, who live with the Tarumas, each tribe occupies a distinct territory. But these territories are in no way distinguished by marked geographical boundaries, 'and are probably not even exactly defined in the minds of the Indians. Here and there also travellers report the existence of other groups ; but these are in reality not tribes, but groups of hybrids between two tribes. For instance, where the Arecuna territory borders on the Macusi is a hybrid people called Engarieos. Here may be inserted an explanation of two terms which it will be convenient to use frequently in the ensuing chapters : these are ' forest Indians ' and ' savannah Indians.' The customs of these people are naturally considerably affected according as they live on the open savannah or in -the recesses of the forest ; e.g. we shall find that very different houses are built on the two places respectively. It is there fore evident that it will be convenient to speak ofthe savannah Indians and ofthe forest Indians, though it must always be borne in mind that these terms do not correspond with any difference of race — for instance, of the Ackawoi and Macu sis, both of Carib race, the former tribe includes none but forest Indians, the latter none but savannah Indians. The last point with which I have now to deal is the way in which these tribes reached the .positions which they at present occupy. In the first place, the branches may, I think, be distinguished into two sets. The Carib tribes seem to me to represent migrations into the country already oc cupied by the. other tribes. In the absence of better terms, the one set, including the Warraus, Arawaks, and Wapianas, may be distinguished as native tribes ; the other set, includ ing all. the Carib branch, as stranger tribes. That there is some ..difference between these two groups seems indicated both by the fact that the native tribes, though they belong to -three distinct branches, with languages mutually unin telligible, are yet all united by a common feeling of aversion from the stranger tribes greater than that which they feel for each other;, and also by the fact, which will be explained in 172 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. greater detail in a future chapter, that the native tribes all make their hammocks, which, it must be remembered, are, next to food, the chief necessary of life to the Indians, of the fibre of a palm (Maimtia flexuosa) which is excessively common in Guiana, while the stranger tribes make their hammocks of cotton ; and moreover, the two, as will also be explained later, spin the threads respectively of palm-fibre aud cotton, of which their hammocks are made, differently. As to the native tribes, it must of course not be taken for granted that they were, in any real sense of the term, abo riginal ; but in our present state of knowledge it is impossible even to guess either the quarter whence, or the time when, they reached Guiana. It has indeed been suggested that the Arawaks reached the mainland from the West India islands ; but the evidence for this is too slight to be worth considering. All that we can suppose is that the Warraus at the time of the Carib irnmigration, as chiefly now, occupied the swamps south of the mouth of the Orinoco ; that the Ara waks occupied a long line of coast stretching south-east from the Warrau country ; and that the Wapianas, with the Atorais and Amaripas, and, probably, with some other tribes which are now either unrepresented or are represented only by the fragmentary tribes to which I have alluded as existing on the outskirts of Guiana, occupied the whole of the savannahs of the interior, which are now partly occupied by the Macusis and Arecunas. Such I suppose to have been the distribu tion of the tribes before it was disturbed by the arrival of any of the warlike Carib branch. Then came the Caribs. There are two theories as to this Carib migration. One is, that all the Carib tribes reached Guiana by land, and that certain of the branch crossed from there to the islands, where they formed the ' Island Caribs ' who inhabited the Antilles at the time of their discovery by Europeans, and of whom a very few still remain in Dominica and St. Vincent. The second theory, which I much prefer, as apparently substantiated by many of the facts which I shall have to tell in the following chapters, is, that all MIGRATIONS INTO GUIANA. 173 the Carib tribes now in Guiana reached that part of the mainland from the islands. How, before that, they reached the islands is a matter that does not at present concern ,us. Our immediate concern is with the probability of the fact that the Macusis and Arecunas, the Ackawoi and the True Caribs, first reached the mainland of Guiana from the islands. These four tribes represent,! think, four distinct immi grations. Perhaps each of these tribes acquired tribal dis tinction by living in a different island ; or more probably their distinctness is merely due to the long intervals which elapsed between their migrations to the mainland and to the seclusion" in which each party lived after its migration. A glance at the map will show that Trinidad, the last of the long chain of the West Indian islands, between no two of which intervenes a longer distance than might easily have been traversed by Caribs in their canoes, lies close to the mainland, opposite to the country about the mouth of the Orinoco. That, therefore, is the point of the mainland which the Indians would first reach. But instead of land suitable and pleasant to Indians, there is there only a huge swamp, in which the miserable Warraus drag out a wretched existence. The Macusis therefore, on their arrival, passed up the Ori noco, on the banks of which they were living, as Eobert Schomburgk has shown, probably as lately as Sir Walter Baleigh's time.1 After the Macusis, the Arecunas came from the islands and passed, as the latter had done, up the Orinoco. In their advance they drove the Macusis, first, further up the river, then from the river, and lastly south ward on to the savannah ; and they occupied each successive district in which the latter had lived. Traces of this long chase still remain in the dread which the Macusis feel of the Arecunas, as in the contempt which the latter feel^ for the former. Whether the Ackawoi reached Guiana before or after the Macusis, or even before or after the Arecunas, is a question which will probably never admit of solution, if, as is 1 The LHtdoverie. of Guyana. By Sir Walter Raleigh. Edited by Sir Robert SchoittburgK for the Hakluyt Society, p. 78, note 1. 174 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. most likely, they proceeded, on reaching the mainland, in different directions. The Macusis and Arecunas, as has been said, proceeded up the Orinoco, but the Ackawoi, on the other hand, probably passed downward along the sea-coast, through the country then and now occupied by the Arawaks ; and, not being able to drive these latter out, they wandered into their present home, behind the Arawak country, at some distance from the sea. We shall find strong evidence for the supposition that a similar divergence down the coast, instead of up the Orinoco, was at a later period — almost indeed within historic times — made by the True Caribs. It seems almost certain , that these latter represent a later, and probably a much later, migration than do the three others. They reached Guiana about the end of the sixteenth century. That they did not try to settle on the mainland much earlier is sufficiently shown by the fact that they, with a warlike reputation and a real power which would most certainly have enabled them to gain for themselves a distinct territory such as that occupied by the other, less powerful tribes, had they not arrived simul taneously with the earliest European settlers, were, owing to the presence of the more powerful white man, unable to drive out the former inhabitants and to take possession of any distinct tract of country ; so that to this day they, the most powerful of all the tribes, live scattered amongst the other tribes, but far more numerously in the district between the Orinoco and the Pomeroon — the district, that is, in which they first arrived — than elsewhere. Such appears to me the most probable explanation of the present position of all the tribes, both those which took part in the great and comparatively recent migrations of the Caribs from the islands to the mainland, and those which were settled at an earlier time in the country. In conclusion, I can only excuse the dryness of the details given in this chapter on the ground that they are in tended to provide a knowledge which may make the facts, which will, I trust, be more generally interesting, of the succeeding chapters intelligible. 175 CHAPTER VII. FAMILY-SYSTEMS AND MARRIAGE-SYSTEMS. Arawak System as Type — Description of the System — List of Family Names — Origin of the Names — Method of keeping Families Distinct — Co-existing but Contradictory System of Bride-lifting— Evidence of- Existence of this latter System — Two possible Explanations. As in very many other parts of the world, within some of the tribes of Guiana there are more or less strong indica tions of further subdivision into families; and where this occurs there are traces of certain laws regulating the inter marriage of members of these families. It may safely be assumed that between members of different tribes there was formerly no intermarriage, except such as took place when a woman captured in war was taken to wife by her captor ; and even now tribal intermarriage is, except at missions, a rare event. The marriage is now therefore almost always, as formerly it was always, except in cases of capture, between members of different families. In most tribes it is now very difficult to trace these different families, and it is correspondingly difficult to understand the laws prohibitory and permissive of intermarriage, especially as these are now very laxly observed. The Arawaks alone of all the tribes have till very recently preserved their lines of family descent somewhat strictly ; but even they have now become so lax in the matter that the outlines of their system are already much blurred. Their systemj as far as it can be discerned, may, however, serve as a type of those which, probably with some differences, once prevailed in several, if not all, the other tribes. It has long been known that the Arawaks are divided 176 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. into a great number of families. A certain traveller in Guiana, named Hillhouse, having, about the year 1830, published alist of twenty-three names of such families, it has been stated by writer after writer, up to the present time, that twenty-three is the exact number of the families. This is far from the case. Mr. McClintock, a man well known in Guiana, who has lived longer among the Arawaks, and has mixed more freely with them than any other European, was good enough to supply me with a list of fifty of these names. It is true that on analysis it appears that among these are one or two instances of duplicates, one name having been corrupted into two; yet after allowance has been made for this the number of distinct family names as yet ascertained amounts to at least forty-seven ; and it is almost equally certain that there are others yet to be recorded. Before giving the list of names it may be as well to point out that each name occurs under three forms, which, how ever, differ only in the termination : a plural or collective form which expresses the whole family ; a singular, masculine form expressing one individual man of the family ; and a singular feminine form expressing one individual woman ofthe family. For example, in a family the collective name of which is Ka,ruafona any individual man of this family is spoken of as a Karuafodie, and any individual woman as Karuafodo. The final syllable in each of these three cases is evidently merely an additional qualifying suffix, and has nothing to do with the real name of the family. These suffixes, collective, male, and female, occur in each of the names. As in the above case, die is generally the masculine, do the female, and na the collective termination ; but occasionally the mas culine and feminine forms are, for some unexplained reason, tie and to respectively. Of course, in seeking the derivation of the names these terminations must be rejected. In the following list of known names where the mascu line and feminine terminations are regular — that is, are die and do respectively — they are omitted. 1. Karuafona. One informant gives the . meaning LIST OF ARAWAK FAMILIES. 177 of this as '¦from the grassy land,' from karau or karoiv — grass. He adds that a man who lived on the open savannah — which, by the way, is a very rare position for an Arawak house — is called karoa kondi. The derivation of the name is, as he says, obscure, and must remain so unless the legend which is doubtless connected with it can be discovered. Another suggestion is, that it is from karaoivkoan — 'not weight enough ' — but there is little evidence in favour of this. 2. Onishena. The meaning of this is given as 'from the rain or water.'' Another suggestion is ' rainhead,' from a word onishi. What the meaning of 'rainhead' may be does not appear. Yet another gives the meaning as ' he who sends roAn,' and adds that 'if rain fall inopportunely the Arawak Indian sometimes curses the " ceniddn" — thus, "balhitu om'cidu."' At any rate, the root involved seems to be the important un or oon which, with the meaning of rain and water, is common to many of the Indian languages of South America. 3. Koiamo. This is peculiar in that its collective ter mination seems to be no instead of na. The masculine and feminine terminations are tie and to respectively. In Hill- house's list, in Montgomery Martin's 'West Indies,' it is spelled ' Queyurunto.' The meaning seems to be, 'from the deer' (cuiaro). Another improbable, derivation given is ' the turners back,' from koiaroina — ' to turn back.' 4. UraJikana, i from the ourali or bloodivood tree/ 5. Hairbia (mas. tie, fem. to), 'from the wild plantain tree? The plant usually known under this name is the very 'striking Ravenala guianensis, but the same name is also applied to several species of Heliconia. 6. Tobotana, 'from the black monkey.''. I am not sure, but I think the species referred to is Ateles beelzebub. 7. Haiaivafona, 'from the hyawa tree' (Idea hepta- phylla) — a species of tree which, because of the abundant and highly perfumed resin which it produces, which is much used by the Indians for such purposes as the rapid kindling of fire, 'the making of torches, and to scent the oils with 1'78 AMONG THE INDIANS OF, GUIANA. ¦which they anoint their bodies, is well marked to Indian eyes from other trees of the forest. The syllable fo, which" intervenes between the root-word and the terminal syllable in this and other cases (cf. No. 1), is puzzling. 8. Demarena. Various interpretations are given of this name. One is that it means '¦from the water-mama,' or rather 'from certain spirits,' dwelling usually underground. There is much confusion as to these legendary beings, there being supposed to be many of various sorts living in various places. The water-mama, one of these kinds of spirits, which is supposed to live under the water of rivers, is often used for supernatural beings in general. Two other inter pretations of the name, both very unlikely, are that it means ' rivals,' and another that it means ' from the Demerara river.' This family are said to intermarry with the Karobahana family (see No. 25), in accordance with an old legend. This case of the especially lawful intermarriage of two particular tribes is curious and deserves attention. It is possible that it is the last trace of a marriage regulation which is known to have existed elsewhere in similar societies. For example, in Morgan's ' Ancient Society ' (p. 90) it is stated that among the Iroquois of North America, which tribe was divided into a number of families or clans,1 it was originally the custom that each man of one of these families might marry a wife, not from his own family, or even from any one of the other families, but only from certain of these other families. Thus, a man of the Wolf family might not marry a woman of the Wolf, Bear, Beaver, or Turtle families, but he might marry one of the Deer family. The legend among the Arawaks of the custom of intermarriage of the Demarena and the Karobahana may be referable to a former regulation similar to that among the Iroquois. 1 It will be observed that I'have here used the terms tribe, and. family or clan, as being the terms which I have used throughout as the equivalents of the terms used in the passage referred to by Mr. Morgan. - LIST OF ARAWAK FAMILIES. 179 9. Wakuyancc. The family sprung 'from the redbreast bird,' (Leistes americana), called wakuya in Arawak. This bird is one of the commonest and most striking in the coast region of Guiana, to which the Arawaks are confined. .10. Kamikaihinviklna, otherwise given as akamikina (mas. tie, fem. to). There is almost certainly some eitor in the transcription of this name. No one can afford a satis factory interpretation. It has been suggested that it has something to do with kannakaioi, ' it can take more ; ' and another correspondent says ' kannakimukina * means ' good eaters ; ' but I can -give no opinion on the word. 11. Dakamokcma, 'from the dakdma tree,' a tree bearing a nut like souari (Pekea tubercidosa), the kernel of which is grated and baked with cassava meal when cassava is scarce. 12. Madayalema, also given as moukina (mas. tie, fem. to) — the family coming 'from a treeless place,' perhaps ' from a savannah.' 13. Helcqrowana, 'from a tortoise.' Hekorie is the Arawak name of the tortoise. 14. Awarakana, 'from, the awa/ra palm, * ( Astrocarynm tucumoides)—a. very common palm near Indian settlements on the coast, the fruit of which is eaten with great relish and. is also used for the production of oil. The young leaves are also used, to make the fans for blowing the fire which are an indispensable property of all Indians. The tree is, therefore, one certain to have attracted their notice. 15. Kaiokana, 'from a rat.' The word kaio is the Arawak name for a species of rat. Another informant, on the other hand, says this family takes its name from a tree, but gives no information as to the kind of tree. 16. Ematana (mas. tie, fem. to). The meaning of this has not been traced. 17. Ebesowana. This seems to mean 'the changed or transformed/ ' The word ebesoa means ' to change.' The name might just possibly refer to an admixture of Carib blood. The members of the family, however, deny that N 2 180 AMONG THE INDIANS OF -GUIANA. there is any foreign blood in them. They derive their name from the tradition of a change or magical transformation undergone by an ancestress. Mr. Brett says that the legend, a wildly romantic one, is in his collection ; ' but I fail to find it. As to the actual word ebesoa, another informant says, ' A legend of the Demerara rapids called the " Lueadaia falls " is, that when the lueadaia, or plant from which the Arawaks sprang into existence, was cut down, it was ebesoa or transformed into the rapid. Caterpillars are "ebesoa" or transformed into butterflies.' As regards the suggestion that the name may refer to ' changed blood ' — i.e. blood mixed with that of Caribs — Mr. Brett tells me that arantucino is the word most fre quently used for people of such mixed race. 18. Babowna, from a tree producing a juice like milk, and used medicinally as a dressing for ulcers. 19. Eeyicono. This form is said to be common to male and female alike and to be plural ! The meaning seems to be ' the newly come family.' The root of the word is said to be found in eeyato = ' raw ' or 'fresh.' Mr. McClintock notes that the family is extinct, in the Pomeroon district at least, the last survivor having died in 1876. 20. Ebesoleno (mas. tie, fem. to). This is another ab normal termination in no instead of na. There is a con flict of evidence as to the meaning. One makes it the 'faithful, truthful, or heedful family; while others concur in interpreting it as 'the changed,' or" 'the family with changed, skin ' — i.e. a family of mixed blood and abnormal complexion. 21. Warerokana, 'from a ivilcl plantain.' This wild plaintain appears to be not the same as the Ravenala men tioned above (see No. 5), but a species of Heliconia. 22. Paricma, 'from a kind of bee.' It is perhaps worth noting that on the borders of Guiana, but within the Brazil, there is a tribe, members of which I have myself seen, of 1 Legends and Myths of Guiana, by William Henrv Brett, B.D. London, 187-9. LIST OF ARAWAK FAMILIES. 181 this name. It is curious that the same name should be claimed by a distant tribe and by a family of the Arawak ¦tribe. 23. Yabie.no, or perhaps Sabieno. The termination is noticeable as being in no instead of na. The meaning is 'the family sprung from the mocking-bird' (Cassicus jiersicus). Here again the bird chosen as name-father is one of the most prominent in the district. 24. Kabolifona. In this case also two veiy distinct meanings .are given— 'from the wild thorn tree,' by Mr. Brett, and 'from a kind of white winged ant' by Mr. McClintock. 25. Karobahana— the family related to the Coriaki parrot. It has already been noted that this tribe inter marries with the Demarena (No. 8). 26. Maratakaycma, sprung ' frmn a (small) bee.' 27. Miekaricma. I have heard no suggestion as to the meaning of this name. 28. Barakana (or Barakatana ?) (mas. tie, fem. to), ' from an armadillo ' (sp. ?). Barakatais the Arawak name for one species of armadillo, but which is unknown. 29. Tahatahabetano (or Tatabetano ?). The family sprung 'from a haiuk'(?). 30. Turubalena, 'from the turu palm' (jEnocarpus baccaba), 'the seed of which, being dark, represents persons of dark complexion.' This name is also given as Turu- balolu. 31. Aramokena. Another form of the name is given as Aramokiyu (pi.) ; Aramokite (mas. sing.) ; Aramakitu (fem. sing.). ' From the arara tree ' (sp. ?) An old man of this family told Mr. Brett that this is the meaning of his name; and that once upon a time several persons of different famihes met to settle various matters, and among others to give names -to their respective famihes. Each took the name of some object near; and the representative of this family took the arara tree, the leaves of which were then on the ground on which he sat. 182 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. 32. Kamonena. No suggestion has been made as to the meaning of this name. 33. Dahati-betana, sprung 'from the pepper plant.' The red-pepper, or capsicum, is grown and used in very great quantities by the Indians. 34. Kaboribetana, said to mean sprang 'from the JiXibori tree.' What tree this may be I do not know. On the other hand, another informant asserts that the name means 'from the wild yam,' the fruit of which is much used by the Indians as bait for fish. The weight of evidence is in favour of the latter interpretation. A third interpretation is that the name means 'from the kaboreeshe? a kind of fish unknown to me ; the weight of evidence is against this. 35. Mibibitana, 'from the bush rope called mibi ' (Car- ludovica), which is much used by Indians to make their quakes and other rough baskets, and also in binding together the various parts of which their houses are formed. 36. Bakuriekana, said to be 'from another, smaller kind of bush rope ; ' or, according to another informant, the word is connected with the word bakarie — a mother-in-law. The former is the more probable explanation. 37. Yobakaquana means 'the deformed family,' and seems to refer to some such deformity as a lame foot. 38. Atiyokana, (or, perhaps, Antiyokana) — a family sprung 'from the wild cherry tree.' This tree is not un common in the forest ; its fruit, which in shape and colour resembles a cherry, is much relished by Indians. Mr. McClintock thinks that the name refers to a peculiar red ness of skin in this family. 39. Arase (perhaps Haraschino from harasche: — without hair). No other interpretation has reached me. The form of the word is altogether abnormal. 40. Seana, said to mean sprung 'from a bee' — i.e. another of the numerous species (cf. No. 26). 41. Seima. This family is said to be of no antiquity, and its name to refer in some way to an admixture of Spanish blood. Many Arawaks were driven to Guiana from LIST OF ARAWAK FAMILIES. 183 the region of the Orinoco by the cruelty of the Spaniards. Possibly the name refers to these so-called Spanish Arawaks. 42. Setvenana. A family sprung 'from the razor- grinder,' an insect remarkable for the extraordinarily loud noise with which it makes the forest resound. 43. YaUyo. The form of the word is quite abnormal. Mr. McClintock says that it means ' the offspring of a, can nibal.' 44. Waruivakana, 'from the waruivaka, or wild liquo rice tree.' The tree is Cassia grandis. It grows to a large size, and is one of the most beautiful in the colony ; when in flower every branch is covered with a small, delicate pink flower. It is common on the Essequibo coast. 45. Korikurena. This name is said to be referable to the word korikuri, or, more probably, karvlsu/ri =¦ gold. 46. Tetebetana, a family sprung 'from a kind of night jar,' or goatsucker. There are several species of this bird in Guiana, all of which are more or less very remarkable for the extraordinary cries with which they make night hideous. 47. Arubunocmo, (or Harubunobna), 'from the velvet- leaf plant' common about Indian houses. On the other hand, another authority says that the name refers to some mixture of Ackawoi blood with the true Arawak. Even after this list of the names had been obtained it was extremely difficult to procure information as to their original meaning. In default of better means of attaining this desirable end, I caused the list to be printed, and sent copies to the several persons who were living, either as missionaries or magistrates, among the Arawaks. Four of those to whom the lists were thus sent most kindly exerted themselves greatly in getting all possible information on the subject from the Indians in their respective neighbourhoods. They all, however, declared that many of the names are from forms pf expression now obsolete, and that the meanings of the rest are now known only to a few very aged persons. For example, one of my correspondents wrote to me : ' I do not 184 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. hope to do very much, as their grandfathers, with whom I. discussed the matter over Hillhouse's list thirty-five years ago, and their fathers, whose aid I called in when Mr. McClintock had made his additions to that collection, pro nounced them " old-time talk " — that is, obsolete.' In further illustration of the difficulty of procuring the desired information, I may mention the fact that two of my corre spondents, having accidentally consulted Arawaks from the same settlement, these Indians differed as to the meanings of some of the names ; and this gave rise to strife so great, that the settlement was nearly broken up and abandoned. Yet, notwithstanding these difficulties, some fragmentary information was supplied to me ; and this has been incor porated, by way of putting it permanently on record, in the list' of families just given. The fact chiefly evident is that the names are generally those of animals or plants common in Guiana. Two traditionary explanations of the origin of the names are given by the Arawaks themselves, one simple and the other marvellous. Some say that when the Arawak families in Guiana were increasing in number, at a meeting of the heads of these families, each arbitrarily chose a distinctive family name. One chief, specially mentioned, chose the name of the tree called arara (see No. 31), the leaves of which happened to be on the ground on which he sat; another chose the name of another which grew behind him ; a third chose the name of a bird which happened to be heard at the moment ; and a fourth that of an insect which was at the moment in sight. Most Arawaks, however, emphatically deny this account, and assert that each family is descended — their fathers knew how, but they themselves have forgotten — from its eponymous animal, bird, or plant. It is a matter of much regret that I have been unable to find examples of these legends of descent. In the present state of know ledge, all that can be observed is, the names are evidently almost invariably derived from natural objects, animal or vegetable, and that almost as invariably these eponymous ORIGIN OF FAMILIES. 185 objects are such as are in some way very prominent in Indian life. But,- as we shall "elsewhere have occasion to point out, the common language of these Indians changes with so great rapidity, that, within Little more than one generation, words often change very greatly in form, or even fall com- - pletely out of use. On the other hand, a word once given as a name to a family is much more fixed. One and the same word, when used as the name of a common object by the whole tribe, the members of which live widely scattered and never see each other, soon varies greatly from its original form, though,- when used as a name by a family, the mem bers of, which live in comparatively close and constant com munion, it long retains its original form; thus it is not surprising that the meaning of some of these family names is unknown to the Indians to the present day, and that they are regarded merely as meaningless names. Each family is, or was, kept distinct by the fact that the descent is solely and rigidly in the female line, and that no intermarriage with relations on the mother's side is per mitted among these Indians. The first of these regulations, the descent in the female line, is doubtless founded on the fact. that, while there can be no doubt as to the mother of a ¦child, there- may be- considerable doubt as to the father. The*, fundamental idea of the second regulation, which for bids the .intermarriage of those related on the mother's side, is not so apparent. According to it, a child may marry a husband or wife, as the. case may be, of its fathers family, or . of any other family but that of its mother. If the said ¦child -is a man, the offspring of his marriage belong to his wife's family, and bear her name ; if it be a woman, the off spring of her marriage belong to her family, and conse quently to her mother's. It is evident that the two regula tions, taken together, ensure the pmity of descent in each family. Quite in accordance with this system of retaining the descent in the female line is the fact, which will be noted 186 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. in due course, that an Indian, when he marries, goes to live- in the house of his father-in-law, and works for him; he becomes, in fact, a part of his wife's family. Side by side with this Arawak system of marriage, there- are in Guiana a few traces of a totally opposed system, that according to which the bride was captured from a hostile tribe. The fact that the islaud Caribs had two more or less distinct vocabularies— one of which was used by the men, and by the women when speaking to the men, the other being used only by the women between themselves, or by the men when repeating oratio obliqua some saying ofthe women — -has long- been known, and has been plausibly explained by the fact that the women were captured from foreign tribes and re tained their own language for use amongst themselves. The same fact, liable to the same explanation, may still be noticed in some slight degree in Guiana. And the fact that at least the Caribs did lay waste the homes of other tribes in Guiana, and carried off the women as wives, is told in many a legend. But such a system of c bride-lifting ' is obviously opposed to that of marriage by families. The question therefore arises, how the two occur side by side in Guiana. Two explanations are, I think, possible. One, that it was not a normal habit of any of the tribes of Guiana to steal their wives, but that such bodies of Indian men as went marauding into an enemy's country and there settled, having brought none or few of their own women with them, natu rally used their female captives as wives. On excursions of warlike purpose, and only on these, Indians go without their women. When, therefore, for example, a body of Carib men crossed from the islands to the mainland, carrying destruction before them, and then found it convenient to settle in the country they had laid waste, they would natu rally take their captives as wives. The second possible thing is, that the tribes of one branch used the system of marriage by family, the tribes of another branch used the system of marriage by capture. If this were so, as we know that the Arawaks used generally, if not exclusively, the MARRIAGE SYSTEMS. 187 former system, the Caribs sometimes, if not always, the latter, it might be natural to suppose that the tribes earlier in Guiana married by family, and that the later-coming Carib immigrants captured their wives. This suggestion cannot, however, be accepted, as some of the Carib tribes, notably the Macusis, show traces of the system of marriage by family. On the whole, though proof cannot at present be afforded of either of these two theories, the former seems the more probable. 1.88 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. CHAPTER VIII. APPEARANCE AXD DRESS. Physical Characters and Appearance— Artificial Modifications of the Body —Ordinary Dress — Body-painting — Ornaments — Regard for Personal Appearance — Partial x\doption of European Dress. In trying to realise the appearance of Indians, the first essential is always to remember that they are decently naked, and that there is no chance, as with us, of the clothes making the man. The Indian, man or woman, whatever the tribe, is not a fine animal in appearance. All are of small stature, though there is considerable difference in this respect in the various tribes, the Arecunas being the tallest, the Arawaks the shortest.1 The trunk and limbs are generally well formed, though, except in rare cases of individuals during the prime of life, a protuberant stomach, due apparently to the habit of drinking paiwari in excessive quantities, makes the whole body ugly. But the most striking feature of the physique is the sleekness and fulness of the flesh, and the apparent absence of any considerable development of ¦ muscle. This appearance is partly due to a real deficiency in the development of muscle by constant and regular exer cise, but partly also to the fact that the form and play of such muscle as is there is hidden by the thickness of the skin, and by the large quantities of fat deposited by the cassava which forms so great a part of the diet of these people. The matter was well illustrated to me when for some time among ' It is rather curious, though I do not attach much importance to the fact, that the Arecunas lead the hardest lives and have been least affected by European influence, while the Arawaks have been longest and most exposed to the enervating effects of that influence. PLATE VI [. ACKAWOI MAX AND W03IAST. PHYSICAL APPEARANCE. 18[> my canoe-crew of pure-blooded Indians was a young cobungru half-Indian, half-negro, who, though certainly not unusually muscular, as he moved and worked among the Indians always looked like an athlete among sybarites. It is very difficult to describe the colour of the skin. It is usually said to be 'copper-coloured,' and the Indians themselves are sometimes called ' red-skins.' Both these expressions refer to a real appearance of the skin, for the colour is, as nearly as I can express it in words, very red cinnamon. The shade differs considerably in the different tribes. Perhaps it differs according to the localities inhabited by the different tribes ; for the forest Indians, except the Warraus and some few in dividuals of other tribes whose colour is obscured by dirt, are fairer than those on the open savannahs. Moreover, as I have said in a previous chapter, I have seen the skin of an Indian, who, after wearing clothes for about two years, then rejected them, pass gradually, but within six months, from a shade very remarkable among Indians for its fairness to a shade quite undistinguishable from that exhibited by his fellows. The hair on the scalp is thick, long, very straight, and very black, and is generally cut to an even edge, at right angles to the neck, round the head. The features ofthe face are strikingly like those familiarly known as Chinese (Mon golian). The expression is decidedly gentle; and a habit which almost all Indians have of keeping their eyes turned rather to the ground than upward, gives somewhat the appearance of timidity. The expression, probably because Indians have for many generations trained themselves to repress all show of emotion, is very changeless and mono tonous. As a rule the faces of neither men nor women appear to the European handsome or beautiful ; but in rare cases one sees both men and women with features so regular and well-formed that they would anywhere be considered pleasing and taking. Physically and constitutionally, the Indians, in spite of the severe labour which they occasionally undergo, are but weak, as might, indeed, be guessed from their appearance. 190 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. "They can work, provided the exertion is not very great, for very long periods. For instance, they can paddle — an exer cise which, as practised by them, when once the knack is acquired requires very far less exertion than rowing— for several consecutive days and nights, with wonderfully short intervals of rest. But any severe work very soon tires them ; though they think nothing of walking over the savannah day after day, from morning to night, yet tbey cannot walk any given distance even in twice the time required for the purpose by the ordinary European or negro. The well- known fact, about which I shall presently have to say more, that after a hunting excursion Indians lie idly in their ham mocks for days, arises from their real need of apparently excessive rest after any unusually violent exertion. More over, their vital powers seem but weak ; many a slight chill, or blow, or wound, that would be insignificant to a negro or ordinarily healthy European, is fatal to some Indians. They very rarely attain any considerable age, probably never old age. Of course, as they have no idea of estimating their own ages, it is impossible for a traveller to determine with absolute certainty the average duration of their lives ; but it is probably hardly ever more than from forty to fifty years. They never become bald. Light yellow hair, which is to an Indian as white hair is to a European, is of very extreme rarity. I have seen it in but two instances ; and the brothers Schomburgk, during a much longer experience than mine, saw it hardly oftener.1 But such beauty as the Indian ever has, is very early lost. It has been said that the protruding stomach is the ugliest feature. There is a very short period, probably about the twentieth year, when the vital powers are strongest, and the amount of exercise taken is greatest, during which this feature becomes, at least in many cases, almost unnotieeable ; but it soon reasserts itself, and between the thirtieth and the fortieth year in the case of men, and even earlier in the case of women, the rest ' Schomburgk, Belsen in Britiseh Guiana, vol. ii. p. 51. PHYSICAL APPEARANCE. 191 of the body shrinks, the fat disappears, and the skin hangs in hideous folds from the bones. A pleasing point about Indians is that, with some excep tions, they are extremely clean in their personal habits. Early in the morning, and many times during the day, men and women troop down together to the nearest water, be it river, stream, or pool, and there, in company, splash about in the water. They evidently feel real pleasure in being in the water. Men and women alike swim splendidly, but with a peculiar action. The legs are hardly spread ; but the thighs are bent downward at right angles to the trunk, the lower part of the legs being of course parallel to the trunk, and then the legs are again suddenly straightened, thus driving forward the body of the swimmer. It is, by the way, rather curious that Indians make a point of bathing imme diately after every meal, apparently without ill effects. Owing to these constant washings, their skins are very fine and smooth. The exceptional cases in which these habits of cleanliness are not observed are to be found in the whole tribe of the Warraus, and in some few families, appa rently especially on the Potaro river, of the Ackawoi, who go to the opposite extreme and never wash. The skin and the appearance of these is therefore anything but pleasant. So far, only the natural physical condition of the Indians has been described ; but, as among so many other people in a state of savagery or barbarism, many of them artificially distort their bodies. In one of the most remote parts of the colony, or perhaps beyond its limits, near the sources of the Essequibo, lives a little-known tribe, the members of which are in the habit of tying boards on to the heads of their young children in such a way that the skulls assume, and permanently retain, an extraordinarily flat shape. And even among the more important tribes of Guiana, with which we are more especially concerned, this habit is said, both by early travellers and by Indians themselves, to have prevailed among all the Caribs. However that may be, it is no longer practised. But a somewhat similar habit is yet in full use. 1.92 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. Among the True Caribs a two-inch-broad belt of cotton is- knitted round each ankle and just below each knee, of very young female children ; and this band is never throughout life removed, or if removed is immediately replaced. The consequence is that the muscles of the calf swell out to a very abnormal degree between these bands, while those parts Fro. 1. CiMicxoitL- Woman", showing Leo-Bands. ofthe leg which are actually constricted remain hardly thicker than the actual bone (Fig. 1 ). The whole leg below the knee looks like the pedestal of a chessman of the conventional form. The arms are occasionally, though much more rarely, treated in the same way. Of the other Carib tribes, the Macusi and Arecuna women have one such constriction above each ankle, but not the second below the knee. Apparently none of ARTIFICIAL MODIFICATIONS OF THE BODY. 193 FlG.S the other tribes, not even the Ackawoi, though these are also Caribs, distort their legs in this fashion; but all In dians, men and women alike, generally, if not always, wear a piece of string or a band of cotton or beads round their ankles and round their arms, just below the shoulder, and this may possibly be a recently adopted substitute for permanent distortion of the limbs. Another way in which all Indians interfere with their bodies is by pulling out by the roots the very few hairs which grow anywhere but on their scalps. Even the eyebrows are not unfrequently sacrificed in this way. Moreover, the True Carib and Ackawoi women, and more rarely those of other tribes, pierce one or more holes in their lower lips, through each of which they pass, point outward, a pin or sharpened piece of wood. What the object of this may be I do not know, as kissing is unknown among Indians; but the effect is, that the lips are protected by a dangerous- looking row of spikes. Similarly the men pierce one hole just under the middle of their lower lips, through which they pass the loop of string, fastening it inside the mouth, to which is attached a bell-shaped ornament, which hangs down over the chin ; and they pierce the cartilage of the septum of their noses, from which they suspend a half-moon shaped ornament (Fig. 2). The ears too of men, and sometimes of women, are pierced, and pieces of stick or straw are passed through the holes. In turning now to the body-coverings put on by Indians, we will consider first such very simple clothing as they ordi narily wear, and then that of many and various kinds which they put on occasionally for ornament. Indians, after babyhood, are never seen perfectly naked l 1 The Zurumutas, a sub-group in the interior, in some way allied to the Macusis, are said by Sir Robert Schomburgk to lire in a state of actual nakedness. Mjiccsr, WITH Nose and Lip Orsamext. 194 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. When they want to change their single garment, they either retire from the sight of others to ,do this, or, if this is inconvenient or impossible, they put on the fresh garment over the old, and then withdraw the lower one. Every man wears a long narrow strip of cloth, called a lap, which is passed between the legs, the ends being brought up at the back and front of the body respectively, and then suspended over a rope-like belt worn just above the hips. Every woman wears a tiny apron, called a queyu, suspended by tying its strings round her waist. (See Plate 7, opp. p. 189.) It is worth noting that very young children before they wear even so much clothing, as this, usually have a string round the waist. That is absolutely all the clothing worn on ordinary occasions. It is a most curious but certain fact that these people, even as they wander in the streets of Georgetown, do not appear naked. The lap ofthe man is, with very rare exceptions, now formed of blue salemporas cloth, procured directly or in directly from Europeans. The exceptions occur among the Warraus, who still sometimes wear laps .made of the inner bark of a tree (Leeythis ol laria ?), which has been beaten 'T1 :"" "i until it is comparatively soft ItETHor. o* sinso Que™. ^ rf ^ texture of thick rough cloth. Most probably this tribe, and perhaps some others, used this bark as a rule before the arrival of Euro peans ; and, as some of the other tribes, especially those of Carib origin, have peculiar methods, as will presently be told, of preparing for themselves a rude sort of cotton-cloth, it is also probable that some laps used to be made of cotton. The queyu (Fig. 3) of the woman is now almost invariably made of European beads fastened together into a cloth-like fabric. But the Warrau womerr- still generally make their queyus of bark ; and some few Arecuna women make them of loose strings of cotton arranged in a deep fringe ; and the rude Pianoghotto women make them as those of beads are made, DRESS. 1 95 but of small bright-coloured seeds. All these are probably survivals of old indigenous customs. It 'should perhaps be noted that, according to their different tribes, the women generally make their bead queyus of particular colours and patterns — for instance, those of the Ackawoi women are generally dark blue, with one row of red and another of white beads at the bottom; while among the Macusis they have generally a white ground, on which is a simple pattern in red or blue. Before passing to those parts of the dress which are both merely ornamental and occasional, one article claims mention in that, though it is only very occasionally worn, yet it "is for use and not ornament. This is the pair of sandals, cut from the leaf-stalk of the -seta palm (Mauri tia flexuosa), which is worn on very stony parts of the savannah to protect the feet. The string which keeps the sandal on the foot passes between the great toe and the next; and where these foot-coverings are much worn the flesh between these toes soon becomes callous and as hard as horn. A very few hours' use wears out the sandals, but this does not much matter, for a new pair can be cut from the nearest ceta palm, and can be ready for use in a few minutes. Eough as these sandals are, they are made to the measure of the foot; on several occasions when I was reduced to wearing them myself, the Indians measured me for each pair as carefully as though they had been European shoemakers. Turning now to mere ornaments, we shall find that among Indians, as throughout almost the whole animal world exclusive of civilised man, these are far more abundantly used by the males than by the females. As to the occasion of the wearing of ornaments, there are Indians who are, never without more or less of these of some kind, and there are others who never use them except on special occasions, such as feasts and visits of ceremony. Painting the body is the simplest mode of adornment. Tattooing or any other permanent interference with the sur face ofthe skin by way of ornament is practised only to a veiy i> 2 196 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. limited extent by the Indians ; is used, in fact, only to pro duce the small distinctive tribal mark which many of them bear at the corners of their mouths or on their arm3. It is true that an adult Indian is hardly to be found on whose thighs and arms, or on other parts of whose body, are not a greater or less number of indelibly incised straight lines ; but these are scars originally made for surgical, not orna mental purposes. Painting is, however, much practised. Several pigments are used for this purpose, but chiefly red faroah and blue-black lana among the savannah Indians, and carmine caraweera and lana among those of the forest; white clay and a yellow substance of uncertain nature are also used more rarely, but by all tribes. As a vehicle for these, various oils, scented with natural resins, are used. The paint is applied either in large masses or in patterns. For example, a man, when he wants to dress well, perhaps entirely coats both his feet up to the ankles with a crust of red ; his whole trunk he sometimes stains uniformly with blue-black, more rarely with red, or he covers it with an intricate pattern of lines of either colour ; he puts a streak of red along the bridge of his nose ; where his eyebrows were till he pulled them out he puts two red lines ; at the top of the arch of his forehead he puts a big lump of red paint, and probably he scatters other spots and lines somewhere on his face. The women, especially among the Ackawoi, who use more body-paint than other ornament, are more fond of blue-black than of red ; and one very favourite ornament with them is a broad band of this, which edges the mouth, and passes from the corners of that to the ears. Some women especially affect certain curious little figures, like Chinese characters, which look as if some meaning were attached to them, but which the Indians are either unable or unwilling to explain. There are two ornaments which are worn by men of all tribes more frequently than any others. These are a neck lace of bush-hogs' teeth and the pair of armlets of which mention was made a page or two back. Of the first of these one is possessed by every adult Indian, and is almost ORNAMENT. 197 constantly worn everywhere but in the house. The even row of teeth, whiter than ivory and filed to uniformity, as it hangs against the chest of the Indian, contrasting with his dark red skin, is really a beautiful ornament; but the special value which the Indian attributes to it is not because of its beauty, but because, as each man is supposed to wear only the teeth of such bush-hogs as he has himself killed, the more numerous, the finer, and the larger the teeth are, the more successful do they show their Indian owner to have been in hunting. It is, indeed, only in the last extremity that the Indian will part with this necklace. The armlets, worn just below the shoulder, on the other hand, are of small value and are frequently replaced ; the fact that they are very generally worn perhaps indicates, as I have already suggested, that they represent a permanent constriction of the flesh which used formerly to be made round the arm. Sometimes they are in the form of broad cotton bands, but more often each is simply a loop of string which encircles the arm, and is furnished at the knot, in front of the arm, with a flat disc of bone, shell, or metal, from which the long loose ends of the string hang down. The other ornaments seem to have no special signifi cance, and are used in more or less profusion according to the individual taste of eaeh Indian, but chiefly on the occasion of.fea'sts. The men wind long single strings of seeds, or now more often of beads, red, white or blue, evenly round and round their ankles and their wrists. They smooth their hair and make it shiny with palm oil, and, parting it in the middle of the forehead, in the arch made by the parting they daub a thick mass of red paint, and on this they stick some white down from under the feathers of the curassow bird (Crax alector). Among the toilet properties of an Indian is a " small bag made of skin, full of this" down, from which small pieces are pulled out and used as required. A long straw, or a stick of letter-wood, sometimes ornamented with hum ming birds' and other feathers, is passed through a hole in .198 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. the lobe of each ear in such a way that one end rests on the cheeks and reaches nearly to the mouth. A crescent-shaped or round piece of silver or copper, flat and highly polished on one side (Fig. 4), is suspended from a small stick passed through the cartilage of the nose, so as to hang down over the mouth. Apparently, the crescent-shaped nose-pieces are proper to the Carib tribes, the round to the Wapianas. Sometimes they are so large that the wearer has to hold up this ornament with one hand, while he lifts the calabash of liquor to his mouth with the other. A small, bell-like orna ment, made of white bone or shell, with a long streamer of white or red cotton in place of the clapper (Fig. 5), is hung by a string passed through the middle of the under lip. Beautiful crowns of feathers, of two shapes, the colours Fis. 4. Kose Orxamests. varying with the tribe to which each Indian belongs, is worn on the head. (See Frontispiece.) Several strings of cotton hang from the back of this down to the heels, where they are finished off with skins of toucans, fire-birds, cocks- of-the-rock and other such bright-coloured birds, or with tassels, made of iridescent beetles' wings, which tinkle like tiny bells at each movement of the wearer. Strings of jang ling seeds are fastened round the ankles and .the arms, and two Others are worn over the shoulders, crossed saltire-fashion in front and at the back of the body. Bound his neck the Indian puts not only his necklace of bush-hogs' teeth, but also necklaces of the teeth of other animals and of seeds. Bound the waist is sometimes put a skirt of young yellowish- green palm leaves, neatly plaited. Kuffs made of the long tail-feathers of macaws are faa- ORNAMENT. 199 Fra. 5. tened on to the shoulders so as to stand out almost at right angles to the body. (See Frontispiece.) Other very short mantles of woven cotton, from which hang long cotton cords, ornamented at frequent intervals with tufts of white down, are occa sionally worn (Fig. 6, *p. 200) ; but the art of making these is said to have been lost. Collars made of white heron feathers, or the black feathers* of the curassow bird, are sometimes worn, especially by those engaged in races. The toilet of the women is more simple. They wear no feathers, and very seldom any teeth, except those of the acourie, but they load themselves with astounding quantities of seeds and beads in great ropes round the neck, and as girdles round the waist, and in bands round the ankles, the wrists, and upper arms ; and they wear a simple cotton fillet at festivals. As to the children, the ornaments which are put on them are very much like those of their elders, except that special kinds of seeds are principally used for their necklaces, or, if these are made of teeth, they are generally of jaguar's teeth. The Indians differ individually in the de gree of care which each takes of his or her personal appearance as much as do members of eivilisedcommunities. One whole tribe, the Warraus, are, or were, distinguished by utter disregard of all eleanlines's and neatness, but in the other tribes more or less attention is always paid to such matters. It is rather curious that dandies, male and female, occur among them about as frequently, comparatively, as in more civilised communities, and in as pronounced degrees. A young Indian in the lip omahesi. ..200 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. prime of his life, conscious of a fine figure and good looks, often takes infinite pains with his person, and manages to put on his oils, paints, feathers, and teeth so delicately and becomingly that, despite his nakedness, he gives himself exactly that neat and well-dressed appearance which one is accustomed to associate with a young, well-bred civilised gentleman, very careful in the matter of clothing. And just as there are young Indian men of this temper and habit, so there are young women. Fig. 6. ??7tflfe^^ m .J Cotton Mantle. J As one of the earliest ways in which the Indian mimics the European is in the adoption of clothes, even though he generally only uses these while he is among white men, re jecting them with a sigh of relief as soon as he is alone with his fellows, it may not be out of place to say a word here as to how far this matter has yet gone. The new habit seems to be adopted in three stages : first, beads are used by men and women alike ; then the men obtain and put on by way of show some single European garment, generally an ADOPTION OF EUROPEAN DRESS. 201 ordinary flannel jersey or a hat, and the women wear a gar ment made like a flannel petticoat, worn round the neck, the band over one shoulder, under the other; and lastly, the men wear shirt and trousers, the women an ordinary dress, in each case without other clothing. Beads have already pene trated almost throughout the colony, enormous quantities finding their way, in baiter, year by year into the interior. As is evident from what has been said, they are used chiefly to replace the seeds or teeth, which were formerly all that the Indian had of this sort to make into body ornaments. The second stage, marked by the occasional possession and use of a single European garment, has not yet spread beyond the Ackawoi and True Caribs of that part of the forest region which is near the coast, and even there prevails only in rare cases. The third stage has fairly established itself among the Arawaks, and other Indians living round mission stations of the coast region. 202 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA, CHAPTER IX. HOUSES AND SETTLEMENTS. Distribution of the Settlements— The Three Chief Types of Houses— Warrau Pile-dwellings — Open Houses in the Forest — Walled Houses on the Savannah — Communal House in rare instances — Pile-houses occasionally built on the dry Savannah— Benabs, or temporary Huts — Probable History of Development of House-building among Indians — Various Thatch-materials. The homes of the Indians are widely scattered both in the forests and on the savannahs, but there is some difference in their mode of distribution in these two different regions. In the forest each family generally lives in a separate settle ment of one or more houses, often far from the nearest neighbours. How far apart these settlements are may be gathered from the fact that in the two hundred and fifty miles of the course of the Essequibo from the first falls — at Aretaka — upward, there are not half a dozen of them. On the savannahs also, separate widely scattered family settle ments occur, but more often several families have united and formed villages, which sometimes consist of as many as from twenty to thirty houses, each containing a separate family. The houses are everywhere almost equally simple in struc- ture,for the materials are everywhere much the same and admit of but little difference in combination ; and such differences as exist have evidently arisen in consequence of natural efforts to meet the special requirements of each kind of situation. Three chief types of houses are distinguishable. In the low and swampy eoastlands occupied by the Warraus, there were not long ago many houses built on piles over water ; and though many of the Warraus, taking advantage of the quiet times and security from enemies in which they now live, have PILE-DWELLINGS. 203 migrated to places rather more inland and on higher, dry ground, some of them still build pile-dwellings in the swamps. In the forest region the Arawaks, Ackawoi, and True Caribs, sheltered from cold winds by the surrounding trees, build wall-less houses. And/on the open savannah in the interior, the Macusis,(Arecunas) and Wapianas build houses with thick clay walls as a protection against the cold winds which, especially at night, blow from the mountains across these plains. \ But between these three types of houses— those on piles, those in the forest, and those on the savannah — there are, as we shall see, many gradations. My travels never having led me into the swamps occu pied by the Warraus, I cannot write of their pile-dwellings from experience. Eichard Sehomburgk's description of one such place is as follows: 'The whole settlement was sur rounded by water, and the miserable huts, seven or eight feet long, stood on a platform, formed of interlaced stems of the mamcole palm (Euterpe oleracea), and supported on piles or tree-trunks of five or six feet in height. In the centre of each hut a heap of earth did duty as a hearth, and prevented the fire, which was kept continually burning, from finding its way through the wooden floor. The low roof was thatched with palm-leaves, and a notched tree-trunk, leaning against the hut, served as a ladder, to which, when the water is high, the canoe is tied. Even in the dry season the ground is so swampy that a narrow raised path leads from the settlement to the nearest somewhat higher ground.' ' The forest Indian's house, or group of houses, stands in a clearing abruptly walled in by tall forest trees. Irregu larly planted cassava, sugar-cane, pine-apples, and other plants which the Indian cultivates, grow intermingled with wild seedlings and shoots from the stumps of the trees which once stood there; and the whole is matted together "by thickly growing yam-vines, and by razor-grass, passion flower, and other wild creeping plants. Charred trunks of felled trees lie in all directions amongst this dense mass of 1 . Sehomburgk's Beisen in Britisch Guiana (Leipzig, 18.17), vol. i. p. 195. 201 AMONG THE INDIANS. OF GUIANA. vegetation. A very narrow and much-trodden path leads from the house, through the clearing, into the forest, and then down to the nearest water. Very rarely the house is round ; it is far more usually square, or at least rectangular. The four posts and the cross beams support a sloping thatch of palm-leaves. The two gable-ends are usually entirely open ; but on the two sides the eaves of the thatch almost touch the ground. The floor is the natural earth, often a loose white sand. The most con spicuous objects inside each house are a huge canoe-shaped wooden trough, to hold paiwarie, some clay pots for cooking, a few bottles made of clay, some hollow gourds, baskets, implements for making cassava bread, and some low wooden benches — like footstools — roughly carved into the likeness of animals. Resting from cross-beam to cross-beam are bundles of arrows, a bow or two, perhaps a blow-pipe. From some of the uprights hang a few necklaces of teeth and other body ornaments. There are two or three fires on the ground, one under each hammock, and an extra one for cooking. From the beams hang many red-dyed cotton hammocks slung side by side, and one over the other. In one Ackawoi house of but twenty feet by thirty, I counted as many as eighteen hammocks ; and as a few of these were occupied by more than one person — by a husband and wife, and even by a child or two — the number of people belonging to the house could not have been less than twenty-two or twenty-three. Nor is this an unusually large number of inhabitants for an Indian house. Of all the forest houses, those of the Arawaks are far the cleanest and most cared for. A partition, made of palm leaves or bark, often makes part of the house private. Sometimes, indeed, these Arawak houses, standing in clearings floored with glittering white sand and bordered with coffee and cashew trees, among which beautiful crim son lilies (Hippeastrum equestre) grow thickly, are as pleasant places as any in which one need wish to stay. But in these, as in some other respects, the Arawaks have FOREST HOUSES AND SAVANNAH HOUSES. 205 adopted" a considerable amount of civilisation from their white neighbours. Sometimes, where the forest houses stand in very exten sive clearingsj where therefore there is some need of shelter, a wall of plaited palm-leaves or of bark is added to the house on the side most exposed to the wind, or even all round. The savannah houses are almost invariably round or oval. There are no signs of cultivation round them, with the exception, perhaps, of a few stunted and untended white- podded cotton plants or faroah shrubs loaded with their beautiful crimson fruit; for the fields belonging to these houses are far away, in the centre of one of the thickets which line the gullies or edge the streams of the savannah country. The house is provided with very substantial walls of wattle-work thickly plastered with mud, often two feet in thickness ; and above these rises the high conical thatch of palm-leaves. A few feet off the main house is a rude dome-* shaped building, entirely smothered in palm-leaves, and looking like a gigantic English haycock, which serves as a kitchen, and in which the women often sleep. Generally there is a third building, a mere shed, which is intended for the use of such strangers as visit the settlement. Near each house is a shallow pit, evidently artificial. This is where the clay for the walls of the house was prepared. The wattle-work of the walls being ready, this pit was dug; and in it was put clay and water. The women and children went into it, and all stamped and danced vigorously until the clay was kneaded to a proper consistency. The history of the adoption of these walls is clearly seen in the fact that sometimes, especially when a new house is first built, it is walled only with plaited palm-leaves, as has been said is sometimes done in large clearings in the forest, and on the further fact that these palm-leaves are sometimes roughly daubed with mud as a temporary expedient before they are pulled down and the substantial permanent walls are built. For a few minutes after, entering the main house,, it is "206 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. impossible to distinguish anything. There are no windows; and the very narrow doorway, which is the only apparent -opening in the walls, is blocked with loose posts, or some times with a rude door of leaves or skin. Sometimes there is another, smaller, concealed door at the other end of the house, by which it is said the women and children escape when the house is entered by anyone with hostile inten tions ; but such hostile visits being extremely rare, this door always remains closed. Gradually the eye accustoms itself to the gloom and darkness, and the interior becomes visible. The floor is of mud, trodden by much traffic to the hardness and likeness of stone. The smoke from many fires has dyed the roof a deep highly polished black. Like the forest houses, the place is crowded with hammocks. Under each of these are the ashes of a fire ; for all Indians, whether at home or travelling, sleep with a fire so directly under their hammocks, that the flames seem to lick the naked skins of the sleepers. Here and there, about six feet from the ground, a few sticks, their ends resting on the cross-beams, are placed so as to form rude shelves, on which are dried fish, bows and arrows, baskets, and a confusion of other similar objects. Some grave-looking parrots walk gingerly about among piles of cassava-roots, balls of cotton, surianas of bread, seeds of the a?ta and cokerite palms (Mauritia flexuosa. and Maximiliana regia) which litter the floor. Some fowls scrape among this litter in search of food. One or two men lie in their hammocks; some women are nursing babies, others are cooking at the fire which burns in one corner. Towards the Brazilian border, where the influence of the Rio Negro tribes has made itself felt, the houses are similar to those just described in most respects, but are much larger. One house, indeed, often shelters a whole settlement, each family having a special place in it. In that district, too, the platform of parallel sticks under fhe roof, which elsewhere serves only as a shelf for goods and stores, is occasionally made much larger, and serves as a sort of upper floor, to which the Indians retire at night. k EVOLUTION OF HOUSE-BUILDING. 207 'A most remarkable fact is that houses on piles are not unfrequently built, for no apparent reason, on the savannah ; and this is done not by any special tribe, but occasionally by Arecunas, Macusis, and by other Carib tribes. They stand not in swamps, but on dry ground, sometimes on top of a hill.\ Except that tbey are much larger, they are exactly hke the Warrau houses already described ; and it is a note worthy fact that the platform on which the house stands is, as in the case of the Warrau houses, made of the stems of manicole palms (Euterpe olei*acea), though this moisture- • loving palm is very locally distributed in the savannah region, and the Indians fetch it from long distances, although other, apparently equally suitable, material is at hand. It is probable that these savannah pile-builders - revert to a form of house which they saw — and perhaps used — on the coast land, when they first reached the main land from the islands. After all, each of these houses is but a variation of the same idea. Four or more poles or posts, fixed upright in the ground, connected by cross-sticks lashed with pieces of the stems of creeping plants from the top of one upright to that of another, and surmounted by other poles lashed on to the cross-pieces, so as to slope from these to a common ridge-pole, in the case ofthe rectangular houses, or to a com mon Gentre in the ease of the circular or oval houses, forms the entire framework. A thatch of leaves is then fastened on to the sloping roof-poles. Then the house is complete. Sometimes, however, it is raised from the ground on piles, by making the upright corner-posts of unusual height, and by hanging a platform half-way up these corner posts by way of a floor. In other cases, the house is on the ground, but it is enclosed with walls, made, like the roof, of leaves ; in yet other cases these leaf-walls are plastered with mud, or are replaced by sheets of bark ; and in yet other cases, the leaf-walls are replaced by wattle-work, and on this stronger framework much more substantial walls of mud are laid. That the houses on the savannah are round instead of rec- 2.08 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. tangular may be due to the wish to present as few points of resistance as possible to the wind ; or the shape may simply have been copied from Indians of other Brazilian tribes. And the occasional habit of building one large house for many families, instead of a small house for each family, is probably also copied from other tribes. As yet, only permanent dwelling-houses have been described. But whenever an Indian is on a hunting or fish ing expedition, or is for any reason away from home, during the rainy season, he builds for himself at night a temporary shelter, called in the colony a ' benaboo, or ' benab.' A benaboo is less or more substantially built according to its occasion. Sometimes it is only intended to afford shelter from rain for an hour or two ; and then it only consists of a very few leaves of some palm, laid flat one upon the other, and the stalks, which are bound together, stuck into the ground at such an angle that the natural curve of the leaf affords some shelter.1 Sometimes a benaboo is built to afford shelter to several men for a whole night when heavy rain threatens, and then it is made by sticking three poles upright in the ground in the angles of a triangle, by joining the tops of these by three cross-sticks, and by then laying over the whole a bunch of palm-leaves, like, but bigger than, that used in the earlier described benaboo. Sometimes, again, a benaboo is built for occasional brief use at some place of repeated resort — either a good fishing ground, or where turtle abound, or where some desirable plant grows, or for some similar reason; and in that case it is made as is that last described, except that the upright poles are four, arranged at the angles of a square, and that these support not only cross-pieces, but above that a ridge-pole, and that two bundles of leaves are arranged, one on each side of the ridge-pole, to which they both slope up. Thus it is easy to 1 When travellers describe the miserable houses of some of the forest tribes of Brazil (see E. B. Trior's Anthropology, p. 230), I am inclined to think that possibly not the real, but only temporary shelters, such as these ' benabs,' have sometimes been seen. EVOLUTION OF HOUSE-BUILDING. 209 trace the whole history of the development of house build ing among these Indians, from the first rough shelter made by sticking a few leaves into the ground, to the most com plete mud-walled house on the savannah. It may not be unsuggestive to add that this most complete Indian house is in all essential points similar to the simpler houses built in other parts of the world — such, for instance, as is the High land hut. Lastly, as regards the materials of which Indian houses- are built, the only point which needs further explanation is the thatch. Different kinds of leaves are used for thatch, not necessarily by different tribes, but each as it is most easily attainable in any district. Various kinds of palm are the chief thatch plants. Each gigantic undivided leaf of the troolie palm (Manicaria sacdfera) is really a shelter in itself; and a few of these laid, without further preparation, so as to overlap hke tiles, make a most perfect roof. In deed, before corrugated zinc was introduced for the purpose, a large trade was carried on between the Indians and the planters on the coast in these troolie-leaves, with which most of the buildings on the sugar estates were thatched. Where .troolie does not grow, there is often an abundance of a dwarf palm (Geonoma baculifera), with small, almost transparent leaves, called by the Indians decdibanni. The leaves of this afford a thatch which is, in one respect, still more con venient than troolie. They are gathered and fastened by their stalks, so as to hang close together, and with their sides overlapping, from a long lath cut from the stem of the .booba-palm (Ifiartia exorrhiza). Such rows of leaves, ten or twelve feet long, and two or three feet deep, are arranged one above and overlapping the other. The great advan tage of this plan consists in the fact that the entire rows of leaves can be taken down . in a few moments from the roof or walls of a house, can be removed, and can be tied on to a new framework almost as speedily. One Indian I knew, who had a small house thatched in this way in his field, which was far from any settlement, in which he used to live p 210 AMONG THE INIHANS OF. GUIANA. for a day or two at a time when cultivating the ground, used to carry the thatch with him each time he went to or came from his field, in order that the house might not afford shelter to any other Indians during the absence of the owner. Moreover, this kind of thatch is so convenient that it has been adopted by many of the negroes, and other Creole settlers on the coast, who buy the laths ready set with leaves from the Indians ; and the trade in these articles on some parts of the coast is so brisk, that the Indians have learned to cheat, by substituting, in the article made for trade, laths cut from the manicole palm (Euterpe oleracea) for those from the booba (Iriartia exorrhiza), the former being much more easily procurable though less durable. In other parts ofthe country, thatching is done with the young leaves of the cokerite or turu palms (Maximiliana regia and (Enocarpus baccaba), which are cut before the leaflets have spread from the midrib, so that when the leaf lets are separated artificially, they hang limp and loose from the midrib. Sometimes the leaves, without further prepara tion, are then tied on to the roof, the one above the other ; but sometimes the leaflets from the two sides of the midrib are first plaited together. The young fan-leaves of the seta. palm (Mauritia flexuosa) are also sometimes used, the leaf lets being cut from the leafstalk, and used just as straw or rushes are in England. But, beside palm-leaves, the huge oblong leaves of the ' wild plaintain ' (Ravenala guian ensis) are also sometimes used for thatch; and where no other materials are easily procurable, the comparatively small broad leaves of a common aroid (Anthurium acaule) are used, strung together many on a stick. In any case the thatch is made much more enduring by the smoke of the fires which are constantly kept up in inhabited houses, so that on such a house, the thatch lasts for some years, while in a deserted house or temporary benaboo, it falls to pieces in a few months. 211 CHAPTER X. SOCIAL LIFE. Ruling Authorities — Observance of Mutual Eights — Treatment of Women — The Story of a Day — The Sto^ of a Life — Birth— Coitvade— Child hood — Personal Names — Marriage — Death — Burial. The system of authority which prevails in Indian societies is very simple. Each family, whether hving apart or in a ! settlement, is ruled over by the father, whose authority is great. As long as he lives, or at least while he is strong and active, his wives, his daughters and their husbands, and his sons, until they many and thus pass from their own family under the rule of a new house-father, are almost .'completely under his sway. Thus, wherever one family lives by itself the sole authority rests with the father. But the father of each, while retaining his authority over his own family, is to some extent under the authority — that is, under the fear and influence — of the peaiman, and, where several families live in one place, he is also under the authority of the headman of the settlement. The authority of the peai man, which will presently be explained in greater detail, v depends on the power which the man is supposed to exercise over spirits of all kinds and, as all diseases are supposed to be the work of spirits, over diseases, and, yet further, con sequently over the bodies of bis fellows. The headman, on v the other hand, is generally the most successful hunter, who, without having any formal authority, yet because he organises the fishing and hunting parties, obtains a certain amount of deference from the other men of his village. He settles all disputes -within the settlement, and in the not dis tant days when Indians were in the habit of waging war, the one p 2 21" 2 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. on the other, he used, according to Richard Schomburgk, to determine on the commencement of hostihties. His orders to any of the men of his settlement to go anywhere or to do any thing are implicitly obeyed. And after a successful hunting or fishing excursion, he always receives a larger share than the others of the booty. This sy.stem of authority — that of the peaiman, of the head man of the settlement, and of the father of each family — is probably the remnant of the system which was in use before the intervention of the white men. There is nothing to show whether or not there was originally a higher authority, that of a chief over each tribe; but none such now exists. On this original Indian system, a new system has been imposed by the colonial government. In each of certain very vaguely defined districts, some one Indian of each tribe is officially recognised as " captain " of all Indians of -his own tribe living in that district. He who would be captain or chief of a district, if his influence was sufficient to persuade a number of his tribe to support his claim, travelled to Georgetown and appeared before the Governor. If it seemed the wish of the majority of the Indians concerned, he was nominally made captain of the Indians of his district ; really he was, comically enough, commissioned to be ' rural con stable.' From that day, wherever he went, he carried with him his certificate, a most potent and mysterious docu ment to the Indians, and a huge staff. of letter-wood, as signs of authority. His power is strangely real, considering that to enforce it he has to depend but on his own influence, on a sheet of paper, and a stick such as every Indian might cut for himself. The document is far the most dreaded of his insignia. His orders to any Indians of his . district are almost unhesitatingly obeyed. It is to be regretted that this system, inadequate as it was, is now being allowed to fall into disuse, without the substitution of any .better method. The system is at least useful to the traveller, who, if he is able to secure the good-will of these captains, can at once obtain any requisite number of Indians that he may INDIAN SOCIETIES. 213 require, and any amount of provisions ; and it was of use in creating some sort of order among these people. A far clearer idea of Indian social life will be gained by first obtaining some knowledge of the moral character of these people.- The ordinary Indian in his natural state, and before he feels the influence of white men, is of de cidedly admirable morality. There are, of course, excep tions ; but such individuals are very rare, and are soon killed or driven out from the tribe. To women and children, and to those weaker than himself, the Indian is gentle ; he is very observant of the rights of his equals, from whom, he in turn, receives a like observance. To his superiors, the head of- his family, and the head-man of his settlement, he is as obedient as a good child. The last fact was made manifest to me in a curious manner. When living, on generally very friendly terms, with a party of Indians, of whom the head-man and one or two of the others .spoke a few words of- English, I, on more than one- occasion, gave slight, very temporary offence to the chief, who used to in dicate his displeasure by forgetting his English for a time, and so forcing me to fall back on my small stock of Indian words ; and on such occasions the others, though still very friendly, used to refuse absolutely to speak English, however much I might tempt them, and however far we were from the ken of the headman. Within their own families Indians are affectionate, though not in a demonstrative manner. They are grateful for any kindness, and, though proud and very ready to take offence, are easily pacified. In the absence of anything corresponding to police regulations, their mutual relations in everyday life are very well-ordered by the- traditional respect which each individual feels for the rights of the others, and by their dread of adverse public opinion should they act contrary to such traditions. The kenaima system — the duty, that is, of revenging all shedding of blood, the explanation of which I must defer to a separate chapter-^-also helps greatly to keep order. Nor is it only that homicide must be paid for by death. In theory, if not 214 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. in practice, a complete system of tit-for-tat, of eye for eye, has saturated the mind of the Indian and "regulates his whole life. The smallest injury done by one Indian to another, even if unintentional, must be atoned by suffering a similar injury. Of course all this refers chiefly to the mutual relations of members of the same tribe ; for the Indiau has no dealings with tribes other than his cwn, except occasionally to barter, when his dealings are regu lated by the ordinary laws of honesty, and the strangers with merchandise are for the time being treated as members of the tribe. Yet even in dealing with white men, the Indian cannot shake himself free from the ideas generated by this tit-for-tat system. Two curious illustrations of this fact came under my notice. One was when the Macusi boy Moe, of whom mention has already been made, overheard me ' ^eg pardon ' of a companion whom I had accidentally struck. Moe immediately asked, ' what that you say, " beg you pardon " ? ' After I had explained to the best of my power, I asked the boy to translate the words into his own language. Then there was a great consultation between Moe and the other Macusis, and only after that was I told a Macusi version of ' I beg your pardon.' It turned out to be ' me hit you again.' The second instance was this. An Arawak named Robert, belonging to the Corentyn River, undertook to accompany a young fellow from New Amster dam on a shooting excursion. Some monkeys being seen at the top of a tree, the white man fired and apparently killed one, which, however, as is often the case, remained clinging to the bough. Robert climbed for it, and when near enough shook the branch to make the animal fall. The man beloAV hearing the rustle and thinking that the monkey had revived and was escaping fired his second barrel straight into the tree. Unfortunately that part of Robert's body which, as the man told of in ' Tom Cringle's Log ' said ' is nearest the chair,' ' being directly overhead^ received the charge. Down came the Indian, furious and vowing that if the white man did not stand to receive an exactly DIVISION OF LABOUR BETWEEN THE SEXES. 215 equivalent shot he would shoot and hit him in a more vital part. It was long before the culprit, who appears to have been really unnerved by the mischief he had done, could persuade the Indian to forego his just retaliation. The fact, of which we shall presently have abundant ~ evidence, that the men leave to the women a far larger share of the necessary work than appears to us proper, may seem somewhat to contradict the favourable verdict on the mutual relations of Indians. In reality the men's work, hunting, and cutting down trees where cassava is to be planted, is at least equal to, though accomplished more fit fully than, that of the women. And, moreover, no different distribution of labour has ever entered into the thoughts of Indians, and the women do their share of work willingly, with out question, and without compulsion. The women in a quiet way even have a considerable amount of influence with the , men ; and even if the men were — though this is in fact quite "contrary to their nature — inclined to treat them cruelly, public Opinion would prevent this. Moreover, the women, just be cause they have been accustomed to labour hard all their lives, and because this has been the rule for an unknown number of generations, are probably very little, if any, weaker than the men ; and if a contest arose between an average man and an average woman, it is very doubtful with which the victory would be. The hfe led by forest and savannah Indians alike, is very- simple and unvaried. The day begins before dawn. Men and women turn out of their hammocks and stretch them selves. The first thing done is to wash. The morning bath over, the men, if it does not happen to be a day for hunt ing, throw themselves back into their hammocks and there spend almost the whole day, smoking cigarettes made of home-grown tobacco wrapt in the inner bark of a tree, and leisurely fashioning arrow-heads or some such article of use or of ornament. The hard work falls on the women. They clean the house — so far as cleaning is considered necessary — fetch water and firewood, cook the food, make the bread. 216 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. nurse the children, plant the fields, dig the produce ; and when any of the men travel, the women carry whatever baggage is necessary. When not engaged in cultivating their fields, in feeding their fathers, husbands, brothers, or sons, the women fetch water for the house from the nearest stream in clay bottles or in goobies (gourds), or they take surianas — large baskets which fit on tbe back and are sup ported by a band placed across the forehead— and fetch heavy loads of firewood. When all these things are done, they yet, if there is but little cassava bread left, have to replenish the stock. This last labour — no easy one — seems almost incessant. It is rare to enter an Indian house with out seeing some, sometimes all, of the women engaged in making bread. But the list of the woman's labours is not yet complete. They make the hammocks, both for the use of their own people and for exchange with other Indians and with white traders ; and even if it does sometimes happen that there is yet a little time after these many household cares have been fulfilled, they at once sit down to make queyus, aprons of beads — their only dress ; — or to spin cotton, or weave the small hammocks which serve as cradles for their children. With all these occupations an Indian woman finds but little time during the day to be in her hammock. When the day has at last come to an end, and the women have gathered together enough wood for the fires during the night, they too throw themselves into their ham mocks ; and all talk together. Till far into the night, the men tell endless stories, sometimes droning them out in a sort of monotonous chant, sometimes delivering them with a startling amount of emphasis and gesticulation. The boys and younger men add to the noise by marching round the houses, blowing horns and playing on flutes. There is but little rest to be obtained in an Indian settlement by night. These people sleep, as dogs do, without difficulty, for brief periods, but frequently and indifferently by day or night as may' be convenient. The men, having slept at intervals during THE DAY'S LIFE. 217 the day, do net need night-rest ; the women are not considered in the matter. At last, in the very middle of their stories the party drops off to sleep ; and all is quiet for a short while. Presently some woman gets up to renew the fires or to see to- some other- domestic work. Roused by the noise which she makes, all the dogs of the settlement break, into a chorus of barks and yelps. This wakes the children, who begin to scream. The men turn in their hammocks, and immediately resume their stories, apparently from the point at which they left -off, and as if they had never ceased. This time it is but a short interruption to the silence of the night; and before long everything again becomes quiet, till some new outbreak is caused, much as was the last. In the very middle of the night there are perhaps some hours of quiet. But about an hour before dawn, some of the men, having to go out to hunt, effectually wake everybody about them by playing flutes or beating drums as they go to bathe before leaving the settlement, Tiu-ning from the story of the day to the story of the hfe, we may begin at the beginning, that is, at the birth of the children. And here at once we meet with perhaps the most curious point in the habits ofthe Indians ; the couvade or male child-bed. This custom, which is common to the uncivilized people of many parts of the world, is probably among the strangest ever invented by the human brain. Even before the child is born, the father abstains for a time from ¦certain kinds of animal food. The woman works as usual up ¦ to a few hours before the birth of the child. At last she retires alone, or accompanied only by some other women, to the forest, where .she ties up her hammock; and then the child is born.1 Then in a few hours — often less than a 1 Richard Schomburgk says (of Macusis) : 'Der Nabelstrang Tvird von der Mutter oder der Schvvester der Gebahrenden abgeschnitten ;. ist das neugeborne Kind ein Knabe, so geschieht dies mit einem scbarf geschnit- teneh Bambusrohr; ist es ein Mtidchen, mit einem Stiick Pfeilrohr (Gyneriwn sacnJiaroideg), worauf er mit einem baumwollenenen Faden unterbunden \rird " (Beisen in Britiseh Guiana, vol. ii. p. 31 8). According to the same authority tbe teeth of the mother are, among the Warraus, 'used instead of the bambbo. ' (Ibid. p. lfifi.) 218 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. day — the woman, who like all women living in a very unartificial condition, suffers but little, gets up and re sumes her ordinary work. According to Schomburgk, the mother, at any rate among the Macusis, remains in her ham mock for some time (' bis dem Kinde die Nabelschnur ab- fallt'), and the father hangs his hammock, and lies in it, by her side ; but in all cases where the matter came under my notice, the mother left her hammock almost at once. In any case, no sooner is the child born than the father takes to his hammock and, abstaining from every sort of work, from meat and all other food, except weak , gruel of cassava meal, from smoking, from washing himself, and, above all, from touching weapons of any sort, is nursed and cared for by all the women of the place. One other regu lation, mentioned by Schomburgk, is certainly quaint ; the interesting father may not scratch himself with his finger nails, but he .may use for this purpose a splinter, specially provided, from the mid-rib of a cokerite palm. This con tinues for many days, and sometimes even weeks. Couvade is such a wide-spread institution, that I had often read and wondered at it ; but it was not until I saw it practised around me, and found that I was often suddenly deprived of the services of my best hunters or boat-hands by the necessity which they felt, and which nothing could persuade them to disregard, of observing couvade, that I realized its full strangeness. No satisfactory explanation of its origin seems attainable. It appears based on a belief in the existence of a mysterious connection between the child and its father — far closer than that which exists be tween the child and its mother, — and of such a nature that if the father infringes any of the rules of couvade, for a time after the birth of the child, the latter suffers. For instance, if he eats the flesh of a water-haas (Capybara), a large rodent with very- protruding teeth, the teeth of the child will grow as those of the animal; or if he eats the flesh of the spotted skinned labba, the child's skin will become spotted. Apparently there . is also some idea that for the CHILDHOOD. 219- father to eat strong food, to wash, to smoke, or to handle weapons, would have the same result as if the new-born baby ate such food, washed, smoked, or played with edged tools. The child is not weaned till an extraordinarily late age, sometimes not till the third or fourth year ; and, according to Schomburgk — though I never saw such a case myself — when there are too many children claiming food from one mother, the grandmother occasionally relieves her of the elder. While the child is young a great deal of affection is- bestowed upon it by both father and mother. The latter almost always, even when working, carries it against her hip, slung in a small hammock from her neck or shoulder. The father, when he returns from hunting, brings it strange seeds to play with, fondles it, and makes it necklaces and other ornaments. The young children seem fully to recip rocate the affection of their parents ; but as they grow older, the affection on both sides seems to cool, though in reality it perhaps only becomes less demonstrative. Only once have I seen grown-up Indians mingling in the games of their children. Indians rarely, if ever, ill-treat their children, of whatever age they may be. As soon as the children can ' run about, they are left almost to themselves; or rather, they begin to mimic their parents. As with the adults, so with the children. Just as the grown-up woman works in cessantly,' while the men alternately idle and hunt, so the boys run wild, playing, not such concerted games as in other parts Of the world more usually form child's-play, but only with mimic bows and arrows ; but the girls, as soon as they can walk/ begin to help the older women. Even the youngest girl can peel a few cassava roots, watch a pot on the fire, or collect and carry home a few sticks of firewood. The" games of the boys are all such as train him to fish and hunt when he grows up ; the girl's occupations teach her woman's work. The system under which the Indians have their personal names is intricate, and difficult to explain. In the first S20 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. place, a name, which may be called the proper name, is always given to a young child soon after birth. It is said to be proper that the peaiman, or medicine-man, should choose and give this name ; but, at any rate now, the naming seems more often left to the parents. The word selected is gener ally the name of some plant, bird, or other natural object. Among Arawak proper names may be mentioned Yambe- nassi (night-monkey) and Yuri-tokoro (tobacco-flower), and among Macusi names Ti-ti (owl), Cheripung (star ?), and Sim iri (locust-tree). But these names seem of little use, in that owners have a very strong objection to telling or using them, apparently on the ground that the name is part of the man, and that he who knows the name has part of the owner of that name in his power. Tov avoid any danger of spreading knowledge of their names, one Indian, therefore, generally addresses another only according to the relationship of the caller and the called, as brother, sister, father, mother, and so on ; or, when there is no relationship, as boy, girl, companion, and so on. These terms, therefore, practically form the names actually used by Indians amongst themselves. But an Indian is just as unwilling to tell his proper name to a white man as to an Indian ; and, of course, between the Indian and the white man there is no relationship the term for which can serve as a proper name. An Indian, therefore, when he has to do with a European, asks the latter to give him a name, and if one is given to him, always afterwards uses this. The names given in this way are generally simple enough — John, Peter, Thomas, and so on. But sometimes they are not sufficiently simple to be comprehended and remembered by their Indian owners, who therefore, having induced the donor to write the name on a piece of paper, preserve this ever after most carefully, and whenever asked for their name by another European, exhibit the document as the only way of answering. Sometimes, however, an Indian, though he cannot pronounce his English names, makes it possible by corruption. For instance, a certain Macusi Indian was BETROTHAL AND MARRIAGE. 221 known to me for a long time as Shassapoon, which I thought vvas his proper name, until it accidentally appeared that it was his .'.English name,' he having been named by and after one Charles Appun, a German traveller. After a by no means unhappy childhood, comes the ao-e for marrying. The young men choose their wives. The choice is restricted by certain regulations to which allusion has already been made. Boys and girls, are often betrothed at a very early ao-e ; and the boy or young man brings the game that he shoots, and such other presents as he can obtain, to the girl. But when the proper age of marriage comes, the youth is free to choose his wife, and need not necessarily take the girl to whom he was betrothed. Strangely enough, if he deserts his old love, he, as a matter of course, reclaims from her all the durable presents, such as beads and other ornaments, which he has given her. But before he is allowed to choose at all, he must prove that he is a man, and can do man's work. Without flinching, he suffers the infliction of wounds v in his flesh ; or he allows himself to be sewn up in a ham mock full of fire-ants; or by some other similar tests he shows his courage. And he clears a space in the forest to be planted with cassava, and brings in as much game and fish as possible, to show that he is able to support himself and others. Unfortunately the nature of the bargain for a wife is another obscure point. It is certainly sometimes, if not always, by purchase from the parents. I was once offered a wife in this way ; and that it was at an exorbitantly high price was probably owing to the fact that I was rich in such wealth as an Indian covets. The price asked was two guns, two cutlasses, an axe, two razors, some knives, and a piece of the blue cloth called salemporas for the father, and twelve bunches of beads for his daughter. Sometimes, again, a girl is given by her parents to a man in recompense for some service done.. The marriage ¦ once arranged, the hus band immediately transports his possessions to the house of 222 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. his father-in-law, and there he lives and works. The head of his family, for whom he is bound to work, and whom he obeys, is not his own father, but his wife's. A complete and >' final separation between husband and wife may be made at the \ will of the former at any time before the birth of children ; - after that, if the husband goes away, as very rarely happens, it is considered not lawful separation, but desertion. When the family of the young couple become too large to be con veniently housed underneath the roof of the father-in-law, the young husband builds a house for himself by the side of that of his wife's father ; and to this habit is probably due the formation of settlements. And when the head dies, it being uncanny to live where a man has died, the various house-fathers of the settlement separate, and build houses for themselves, each of which, in its turn, forms the nucleus of a new settlement. Possibly each tribe once had certain ceremonies with which they were accustomed to celebrate such events ; but these are now rarely discernible./ Oil one occasion a marriage took place among the people of the Macusi village in which I was living. The old father, very conservative of the customs of his tribes, refused to allow his daughter to be married at all, unless her -husband would take her with the old orthodox Macusi ceremony. A few square yards of the savannah were cleared of grass and stones. Over this mats, made of parallel strips of the pith of the seta palm (Mau- ritia flexuosa), were spread. When all was ready, the bride and bridegroom were placed in the clearing, round which the whole population of the village gathered ; and the marriage was there and then carried out.\ / One other detail, in connection with the ceremony' of marriage, as practised by the Macusis, came under my notice : possibly it obtains among other tribes also. The man for some time before marriage abstains from meat. Probably this habit is founded on an idea similar to that which gave rise to ' couvade.' Once, during an expedition with Macusi Indians on the savannah, we were for some days entirely MARRIED LIFE. 223 without provisions exeept a little venison ; but one of my com panions, who intended to take a wife as soon as the expedition was over, refused to take his share of the meat, and went without food rather than break through the restrictions en tailed upon him by his coming marriageA^ Indian husbands -and wives are as a rule very faithful to each other ; even on the comparatively rare occasions on which there has-been some looseness before marriage there is none after. Husband and wife, without being demonstrative, are decidedly affectionate towards each other; and this, though the woman is held to be as completely the property of the man as is his dog. He may even sell her if he ehooses. Yet, as I have before said, the wife — in this, too, like a good and faithful dog— manages to obtain considerable influence with her husband. Polygamy prevails among some, but not all the tribes. Warraus are the most uxorious, some of them having as many as eight or ten wives ; and the Wapiana are also polygamists. Macusis and Ackawoi are not, except perhaps in the cases of indi- - viduals who choose to break through the customs of their tribe. I am by no means sure, but am inclined to think, on the whole evidence, that the Carib tribes are not usually poly gamists, and that some or all the others are, or were. Even when there is more than one wife, the first is almost always chiefly regarded and favoured ; those that are married after wards seem to be taken more as domestic helpers of the first and real wife. From what has already been said ofthe length of time during which the Indian wife suckles her children, it will be evident that her power of doing all the household work is thereby much diminished. As, however, it is very common for an Indian to marry a woman much older .than himself, as~hrsHarst wife, this wife often grows inactive and useless from sickness or old age. In such cases one or more young girls are generally taken into the house, nominally as , wives, but really rather to be taught their domestic duties by the old wife, so that, when the latter dies, or becomes perfectly useless, one of them may take her place. .. The peaimen, taking advantage of their power, seem, •224 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. at least at the present day, to indulge in a. very large number of wives. The immense influence which they exercise over the other Indians enables them to acquire any number they please ; for an Indian, when asked for his daughter, or even sometimes his wife, by his peaiman, clare not refuse. In this way it happens that the house of the peaiman is generally full of women. These are very useful, for the peaiman in the exercise of his calling has to travel often and far ; and on such occasions the women, as is usual among Indians, serve as beasts of burden to carry all the necessary baggage, while the peaiman himself, fantastically adorned with feathers and paint, marches ahead, burdened only with his magic rattle, and perhaps with his bow and arrows. The life of almost constant exposure which Indians lead, acting on very weak constitutions, kills them at an early age, generally by dysentery or consumption. And even when one does live longer, life can hardly be enjoyable to them; for powerless old age meets with no respect. When old and past work, they are indeed allowed to remain in their hammocks in the houses which once, perhaps, be longed to them, and are fed by their younger relations in a rough and grudging manner ; but no further care or kindness is shown to them. When death comes, either tothe old or to the young, the survivors, except in rare instances, show but very few outward signs of grief. More than once I have seen an Indian die — husband, or wife, or son — and sometimes under most painful and distressing circumstances ; but the surviving wife, husband, or parent, apparently almost unaffected, within a few hours fully resumed his or her usual habits and cheer fulness. Yet, Indians being always so exceedingly reticent in the expression of emotion, there is some reason to believe that even in such cases the survivors feel a grief which they do not exhibit. Occasionally, however, a terrible wailing is raised over a dead body and is kept up for mauy days^ some times even after the burial. On such occasions the survivors crop their hair ; and, according to Schomburgk, they paint OLD AGE AND DEATH. 225 themselves in excessive degree with faroah. The ceremonies of burial differ slightly in each case ; but they are, in the main, as follows : The body, wrapped in the hammock which belonged to it when living, is put into a hole dug in the house and lined with palm-leaves. If the hole is large enough, the body is buried iu a sitting position or, in the case of the Ackawoi, in a standing position ; but if, as some times happens, the survivors do not trouble themselves to dig a large hole, the body is bent and placed in any position that may be most convenient. It is said that the True Caribs were in the "habit of cleaning and preserving the bones of their dead relations in their houses; but they certainly no longer do this. Various properties of the deceased are put into the grave. Schomburgk mentions a curious case of a man who had been, or was supposed to have been, murdered, into whose grave a cord was put with which he might bind his murderer should he meet him on the further side of the grave. It is to be feared that the respect for the grave has now diminished ; for, if the hammock iu which the body is wrapped happens to be new and good, it is now not unfrequently withdrawn from the body. The grave is then filled in. Fire is then made over the grave ; a feast is celebrated, with dancing, drinking, and singing of songs in which the good qualities of the deceased are lamented ; and the house is then deserted for ever. To this practice is chiefly due the great number of deserted and ruined Indian houses which are to be seen in the forest tract. That the forest Indians always do this, while those of the savannah occasionally shirk the ceremony, is probably due to the fact that the houses of the former, unlike those en the savannah, are so slightly built that but little provocation is sufficient to induce their owners to desert them and build anew. But wherever the body is buried, the grave, when once covered with earth, is regarded as sacred, and no Indian — unless- it be some vile kenaima, whose reason for body-snatch ing will presently be explained— ventures to disturb it. • / The bodies of peaimen— at least among the Macusis — - A Q 226 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. are disposed of in a somewhat different manner. Their graves are dug not in the nearest convenient spot, but on a special hill, of somewhat peculiar shape, and well-wooded, which stands isolated on the savannah in front of the northern face of the Canakoo mountainsy The Macusis of the village of Karenacroo, on the Roopoonooni savannah, have a special place for burying their dead ; but this seems quite an excep tional instance.X 227 CHAPTER XI. HUNTING AND FISHING. Hunting Parties—' Beenas ' — Dogs— Fish Poisoning — Baling out Pools for ^ Fish— Fish Arrows: Three Fish Arrows ; a Three-pronged Fish Arrow- Hook and Line — Fish Traps — Turtle Arrows — Iguana Shooting — Guns Game Arrows: Iron-headed Game Arrows; Bamboo-headed Arrows : Poisoned Arrows — Bird Arrows : Special Arrows for Large and Small Birds; Blunt-headed Arrows for Birds — -Blow-pipes — 'Calling' Birds — , Preserving Booty — Return of the Hunting Party. The Indians of Guiana, with many other tribes, have been put into a class, and labelled as ' the hunting tribes of South. America.' The name is, however, misleading, at least as far as the Indians of Guiana are concerned ; for these tribes live as much by a rude, but not unproductive, kind of agri culture as by hunting. Probably their lives are supported in about equal degree by the produce of their fields and by their gains in the chase. An opportunity will be found in another chapter to describe their agriculture; at present their methods of capturing fish and game will be told. Hunting is the most important occupation in the hfe of an Indian man. In the very simple system of life followed by these people, food may be said to be the chief thing for which they have to exert themselves. Their wants in the way of clothing and shelter are very easily satisfied. Only food has incessantly to be provided. The women, with but very little help from the men, gain part of this by cultivat ing certain plants, especially cassava, and the men contribute their share by hunting. So important to them is this latterj that an Indian takes rank in his village or settlement ac cording to his skill in the chase ; and even the boys, as soon as they are no more than mere babies, have no other toys Q2 228 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. than small bows and arrows and such mimic weapons of the chase, which become bigger and bigger, more like the real things, as the boy grows older. Every boy, almost as soon as he can walk, can send his arrow into a frog ; a little later, lizards are his aim ; and again a little later, small birds. Hunting is not, however, a constant occupation. The Indian leaves his home and spends many days hunting in the forests or on the savannahs, or fishing on the rivers ; but when he returns he spends many days almost inces santly in his hammock, until, in fact, he and his family have consumed the produce of his chase. He never goes on these expeditions alone. He is too timid, and fearful of the attacks of enemies. If he fails to induce another man to accompany him, he takes his wife, his mother, or even a child, who, if unable to do anything else, at least supply a second pair of eyes to watch the approach of danger. Often, however, hunting parties, especially when the object sought is fish, consist of a large number of indi viduals. / Before an Indian sets out to hunt, he goes through one or more strange performances to ensure success. Round his house he has planted various sorts of ' beenas ' l or plants, generally caladiums, which he supposes to act as charms to make the capture of game certain. These are for his dogs, which are made to swallow pieces of the roots and leaves. Sometimes the poor brutes have to undergo more painful operations. For example, two holes are dug in the ground, and by pushing a stick from one to the other of these, and then withdrawing this, a tunnel or covered passage is made between the two holes. A fire, in which parings of the hoofs of tapirs and other animal substances are burned, is then kindled in one hole ; ants and wasps are also put into this hole, and it is then covered over with sticks and earth. The ammoniacal smoke from the burning hoofs, the ants and the marabuntas of course pass through the tunnel into the 1 ' Beenas ' is the Carib word. I do not know the equivalent in the other languages. HUNTING CHARMS. 229 second hole. The poor dog is then caught, and its head is held down in this second hole, until the FlG- 7- animal sometimes drops senseless from i pain. Or, probably when there is less time j to spare, ants and other insects are, with out other preparation, made to bite the nostrils ofthe dog\ Bub4he Indianf cruel t© his dog^ does not spare himself in his desire to ensure successful sport. At some previous time he has woven a number of strings of fibre, called emnaki, each a yard and a half long, or more, and tapering from a very small point at one end to a considerable thickness at the other end, where the fibres hang loosely in a bunch (Fig. 7). He now takes one of these strings, and passing the thin end up his nostril, manages to bring it out through his mouth, and thus pulls the whole length of the string in at the nostril and out at the mouth. To judge by appearance this must be a most painful operation. Or he takes a small mat, about six or eight inches square, made of narrow parallel strips of the skin of a re'ecl-like plant (Ischnosi- phon), tied together somewhat as are the laths of a Venetian blind (Fig. 8, p. 230). Between each two of these strips he inserts a row of living ants, their heads all one way. The strips are exactly at such a dis tance apart that the ants when once in serted cannot extricate themselves. The huntsman then presses the whole mat, on the side on which are the heads of the ants, against his own chest ; and the ants, / which are of a large and venomous kind, bite most painfully. Or, in other cases, wr Xose Beena. 230 AMONG THE INDIANS. OF GUIANA. the huntsman looks for certain large and very hairy cater pillars, the hairs of which break off very readily and have a great power of irritating flesh. These caterpillars he rubs on his chest or thighs, and thus produces a considerable and very painful-looking rash.\ I have seen all these means of torture employed by Macusis, Arecunas, and Ackawoi, either on them selves or on their dogs ; and, though I have had no experience, Frc. £. Ant Beena. I have little doubt that these or similar methods are em ployed by the other tribes also. /The use of beenas is very curious. The avowed purpose is, as has been said, to ensure success. But the line -of thought by which the hunter mentally connects success in the acquisition of game with pain previously inflicted on himself or his dogs is not obvious. For such cases as those m which leaves or other parts of certain plants are rubbed into wounds on the noses of the dogs, it seems at first sight INDIAN IDEA OF SELF-TORTURE. 231 probable that this is done on the supposition that- the power of scent in the dogs is thereby improved. But such cannot be the explanation of the other forms of beena' which have been described ; and, as the term beena is applied to all the forms indiscriminately, it is probable that there is only one explanation for all the forms. I can only suggest that the custom-was adopted with the idea of preparing to meet with out flinching any pain or danger that may arise during the chase\ Perhaps the matter may be made clear by one or two illustrations drawn from more familiar experiences. A living novelist, has made one of his male characters say that among men he has known are some who are very good fellows and friendly, but who are not the sort of men to stand by a friend in an exciting tussle with a tiger. The meaning of this is not that such men are in any way cowards, but that, never having experienced pain, such men flinch involuntarily in moments of danger. Just in the same way, one occasionally sees a man, physically strong and morally brave to an unusual degree, but who, just because of his strength, has never before suffered the pains of illness, flinch and moan when he for the first time becomes ill, far more than another man, really a coward but who is accustomed to such pain, does under similar circumstances. Again, if a man is acci dentally burned, he shrinks and shows sign of pain ; but if with full forethought and determination he puts his hand into the flame, he can hold it there for any length of time without flinching even in the least degree. Of course the Indian has not analysed this psychological fact, but yet he knows empirically that by accustoming himself to bear pain voluntarily inflicted, he prepares his nerves to withstand the ¦shock of any pain or danger that may come suddenly. The same reason explains the fearful tortures which, as Catlin has -most vividly depicted, North American Indians volun tarily undergo when they put away childish things and become men, and also the similar, but slighter tortures which South Americans inflict on themselves at the same epoch in their lives ; and lastly, the same reason perhaps explains the 232 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. use which the Indians of Guiana make of beenas on the fre quent occasions on which they prepare to hunt. A word must be said as to the dogs used by Indians in hunting. Indigenous species of dogs exist in America ; but our own domestic dog, which is used by the Indians, was, of course, first introduced into America by the Spaniards. The best hunting clogs are, however, said, and apparently with truth, to be cross-bred with one or other of two species of wild dogs (Canis cancrivorus and C. azarce). The breed of the Indian dogs is, however, so very mixed, that the parentage is never very evident. Almost every Indian house now swarms with an undue number of miserable- looking curs, most of which are never fed at all, but have to live on the very few scraps of food which they can manage to pick up for themselves. But such dogs as show an apti tude for hunting are treated very differently, and are care fully trained. They are fed with the best food that is to be had. Often they are not allowed to lie oh the ground (which generally swarms with jiggers (Pulex penetrans) and other noxious vermin), but are tied so that they can stand or lie only on raised platforms of sticks. The best, of these hunting clogs — which, like the others, are of no particular breed — are bred by the Tarumas, a remote tribe living near the head waters of the Essequibo, and especially skilful as trainers. Hunting dogs form a regular article of barter, and are very highly valued. A hunting dog, a good gun, and a large canoe are of about equal value in Indian economy. As a rule, each dog is only trained to hunt one sort of game ; so that one is a cleer-dog, another a labba-dog, and so on. It is said that when one dog hunts various kinds of animals, he gives tongue, when on the scent, differently for each kind of game. When hunting, these dogs are generally turned into the forest on the bank of the river, while the Indian himself remains in his canoe on the water. The game, when once started, is driven by the clogs clown to the water, where it is killed by the Indian. There is a very curious superstition connected with HUNTING DOGS. 233 hunting dogs, that if a pregnant woman eats of the game caught by their means, they will never hunt again. The variety of game for which the Indian seeks is large. In the forest there are deer, tapir, two kinds of wild hogs or peccaries, labba, acourie and adourie ; and there are tortoises. There are also many birds, among which the powis or curas- sow-bird, maroodie or wild-turkey, and the various species of maam, are especially sought. On the savannahs is another kind of deer, and, in the reeds at the edges of ponds, num bers of clucks of various kinds. In the river are fish and turtles of many sorts ; and on the river-banks are small alligators and — though these are not eaten by many ofthe tribes — water-haas or capybaras. Let us suppose that the Indian hunting party is ready to start. If fish is sought, these are obtained either by poisoning some creek or side stream, or by shooting them . with arrows, by netting, by fish traps, or by hook and line. The first is, however, the chief, as it is the most picturesque, mode of fishing. A suitable creek or an inlet from a larger river having been chosen, a dam is built across the mouth of this, to pre vent the fish which happen to be within the creek from passing back into the main river. Sometimes the dam is made merely by heaping stones and earth ; but more often a number of straight stakes are tied together, parallel to each other, as are the laths qf a Venetian blind, and the palisade thus produced is fastened across the mouth of the stream. Roots, stems, or .seeds of plants are then beaten until the fibres are loosened, and these are put into the stream at a point some distance above the dam. The narcotic juices of these particular plants saturate the water, and stupify but do not kill the fish. ' Along the banks the Indians stand watching. Before long a few tiny fish rise to the sur face, gasp, leap out from the water, fall back into the stream,. turn on to their backs, and at last float motionless down the stream. Gradually larger and larger fish show similar signs of discomfort. They dart quickly down the stream, trying 234 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. to escape out of the poisonous water which surrounds them ; then, cheeked by the dam, they turn, struggle violently, and in a little while they too float motionless on the Water. If there are many fish in the creek, the water gradually be comes white with their up-turned sides. Meanwhile, the Indians on the bank busy themselves in shooting such of the large fish as might in their struggles escape over the dam, and in collecting those which are already motionless. Very large quantities of fish are often procured in this way, and these, in spite of the poison, are in no way unfit for food. Of the small fish which are left in the water, the very smallest die, but the others after a time recover from their stupor, and remain to restock the stream. The fish-poisons most generally used are the roots of the haiari.( 'Lonchocarpus densiflorus), the seeds ofthe connami (Clibadium - asperum. Dec). Less common poisons are the haiari-balli of the Arawaks (Mullera moniliformis), and the yano-conalli of the Macusis (Tephrosia toxicaria), and many others. Another method of procuring fish is perhaps best men tioned here. When the rivers sink, fish are sometimes -naturally left, without possibility of escape, in the pools; and sometimes when this is not the case the Indians enclose part of a stream or river by dams. In either case the water is baled out in hollow gourds until the fish, strug gling and panting at the bottom, can be seized by the hand. Far greater skill is required to shoot fish with arrows; indeed, the skill with which the Indian in this way pierces his prey, often hardly visible through the water, is most sur prising. The arrows used for this purpose differ — partly according to the circumstances under which they are to be used, partly according to the tribe by which they are used. The most important of these is the harpoon-arrow (Fig. 9 a), which is used almost exclusively by the True Caribs to shoot one particular kind of fish, which frequents the rushing water of cataracts or rapids. In this, one end of a long- string or line is fixed to the head of the arrow, into which SHOOTING FISH. 235 the shaft is only very loosely, inserted, and this line is again attached, at about half-way along its length,- to the shaft, and finally, at its extreme end, j to the arm of the shooter. / The result of this arrange- L i inent -is that the head of \ I \ the arrow when it hits the ^-J I fish becomes detached from the shaft, which floats on top of the water while the line connects the arrow head in the fish, the float ing shaft, and the wrist of the shooter. •The harpoon-arrows are used principally for shoot ing pacu. This fish (Pacu myletes) abounds at all seasons of the year in most of the large rivers of Guiana. When the river is high and the water is tur bid with rain, the pacu are distributed equally in all parts of the rivers, and are almost invisible. When, however, in the dry season, .the river is low and the water clear, when the rocks which form the rapids are partially uncovered, and the ' pacu-grass,' a small water-plant (Lads), which elothes these rocks, comes Fre. 9. f Fish Arrows*. ,i236 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. into flower, then the pacu collect at these falls to feed on the leaves. Large numbers of Indians then camp at the sides of the falls to shoot these fish. Such a scene is highly picturesque. The place is generally a wide extent of river bed, apparently enclosed by the forested banks, and entirely occupied by a curious confusion of rocks and white rushing water. On a rock in the midst of, and almost covered by, the tumbling water, stands an Indian, his feet crushing the delicate, star-shaped, pink flowers of the Lads, and every muscle in his naked cinnamon-coloured body bearing witness to the intentness of his watch. His bow is half drawn; the arrow is in position, but its point rests idly on the rocks.. The water is rushing and tumbling so wildly that an un practised eye can see nothing below its surface. But the Indian sees. Quickly the bow is raised, aim is taken, the arrow flies, and its shaft is there, dancing and tumbling in the water, carried here and there by the terrified rushes of an unseen pacu, in the body of which the arrow-head is em bedded. But the line not only connects arrow-head and arrow-shaft, but its other end is held firmly in the hands of the Indian, who now easily hauls the fish on to the rock. Sometimes, instead of waiting on a rock, in his eagerness he stands waiting in the midst of the almost overwhelming rush of the water, stooping, the better to resist its force. In either case, if he is skilful, he gets a large number of fish. I have seen fifteen pacu, averaging about seven or eight pounds in weight, shot by one man in about twenty minutes. When enough have been taken, the Indian loads his canoe, and returns to his temporary camp. The fish are then cut open and cleaned, their sides are slit again and again, salt is rubbed in, and they are put on the rocks to dry in the sun. It is not, however, only in the falls that the Indian shoots fish, though he rarely gets pacu elsewhere. In the smooth reaches of the river he shoots other fish of various kinds. Indeed he can almost always and everywhere find fish to shoot; and he rarely fails to hit them when they are once FISH ARROWS. 237 seen. Where the water is smooth, two other fish-arrows are used. Of these two, one (see Fig. 9 6, p. 235) differs from the harpoon only in that a short line connects only the head — which in this case also is only slipped- on to the shaft — and the shaft, instead of being carried on to the arm of the shooter. The struggles of the fish when hit immediately cause the shaft to slip out of the head ; and the former, which is very long and light, floats on the top of the water, but remains con nected with the fish by the line, and so serves as a buoy and mark of the position of the fish. In the second (see Fig. 9 c and d, p.-235), which is used chiefly by the Macusis and other savannah tribes, there is no line, for the head is permanently attached to the shaft. In all three cases the arrow-head is either doubly, sym metrically, barbed, or has only a single barb on one side, according to the fancy of its owner. When the river is high, and heavy rain still frequently falls and dulls the colour of the water, so that even the Indian can hardly see the fish under the surface, a stratagem is used. A basket of open wicker-work, filled with the green apple-like fruit of tbe lana (Genipa americana), is thrown into the river and allowed to swim with the stream. Stand ing in the bow of his canoe or wood-skin, while another man paddles, the Indian follows the floating basket. The lana seems to be> a very attractive bait to fish, for they rarely fail to rise to it. As soon as this happens, a rush through the water indicating where the fish is, the arrow flies, and the fish is almost invariably transfixed. Another form of fish-arrow (see Fig. 9 e, p. 235), used principally for shooting small fish in the shallows left by the falling river, ends, trident-like, in three singly barbed prongs, each of which is several inches in length. Fish of larger size which have resorted to- the shallow waters to spawn are also a favourite aim for these arrows. Fish-roes are a great delicacy to the Indians," who in the spawning-season shoot an immense number of heavy fish, the bodies of which are of little account when the rqes have been extracted. The '238 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. roes are then smoked; and in this state large baskets of them may often be seen in their houses. A store of hooks and lines for barter is almost necessary to a traveller. Whether this mode of fishing has or has not been learned from Europeans, it is now frequently practised. Most beautifully finished hooks of large size (2-4 inch) are even sometimes made by the Indians themselves. These large hooks are used for such gigantic fish as the low-low (Silurus, sp ?), sometimes from ten to twelve feet long, and the aropaima (Sudis gigas), which often attain a length of eight or ten feet. One fish, the haimara (Erythrinus), which frequents certain parts of the river, is generally caught with a hook attached to a short line and a spring rod. The whole apparatus is fastened on some rock and left over night. Where haimara abound the rocks may occasionally be seen covered with a thicket of old rods. The bait used in fishing with hook and line is sometimes a piece of meat, but more often the seed of some plant. Indians are per fectly aware that fish gather in large numbers in water over which hang certain trees and other plants, at the time when the ripe fruit drops, to eat the seeds. For instance, one tree thus attractive to fish is the Hatie ' india-rubber ' plant (Hevea Spruceana), and among creepers may be mentioned Sniilax cayannensis. Acting on this knowledge the Indians use the seeds of this and other plants similarly attractive as bait on their hooks. Small hooks are in great request. among Indian children, and are used also by the Arecunas, who live on the savannahs about Eoraima, often far from any but ver}' small streams, and who are consequently obliged to content themselves with very small fish. In these small streams are shoals of fish a few inches in length. To catch these the Arecunas use two methods- which are apparently not in general use among the other Indians. Sometimes they catch them in nets made hke landing-nets, the hoop being made of a pliant piece of wood or strip of bark ; sometimes in small wicker-work traps, not unlike English eel-baskets in principle. TURTLE AND IGUANA SHOOTING. 239 Flo. in. Less legitimate, but far more/ dexterous, was the occa sional fishing of a Macusi Indian who was with me on the Roopoonooni ;. and who, when the canoe was near the bank,. used to watch for a particular kind of fish, and as soon as one appeared, would dive from the canoe, chase the fish to the bank, drive it into some hole there, seize it with his hands, and then bring it up.\ Turtles and iguana lizards are also often shot by the Indians. A special arrow (Fig. 10), with a small, but very strong head, only slipped on to the shaft with which it is, connected by a long line wound round the shaft, is used for shooting turtle. The Indian aims not directly at the turtle, but up into the air, in such a way that the arrow in its descent hits the animal with wonderful precision, and, gathering force in its fall, pierces the shell. The turtle immediately dives. The shaft of the arrow slips out of the head, the line which con nects shaft and head unwinds, and the former floats on top of the water. By the line, thus buoyed by the shaft, the turtle is readily drawn into the canoe. The Indian, having learned the tenacity of hfe of these creatures, generally has a turtle-pen near his house, where he keeps a living stock for use. ' The iguanas, climbing up the bushes over hanging the edges of the river, lie sunning them selves on the highest branches. In this position they can hardly be detected by an unpractised eye. But the Indian, passing in his Canoe, keeps his eye fixed on the banks. The cry of ' waia- mueka ,' the Carib name for the animal, is one of Turtle Aeuo-w the most frequent interruptions to the water jomney. As soon as it is heard, the surest shot among the Indians seizes his bow and arrow — by preference an arrow pointed with bone — and shoots. Sometimes the creature drops unhurt, or but slightly touched, into the water, and 240 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. there easily escapes among the mass of roots and dipping -branches; sometimes it falls, transfixed by the arrow; but most often, if badly wounded, it remains motionless on the branch, and the Indian has to climb for it. To seize it, if it is not dead, is dangerous work ; for the iguana can give a very bad bite. When once seized by the back of the neck, a few blows with a stick or cutlass put an end to its struggles. / Hunting for game is quite as important to the Indians as fishing. For this purpose, he now as often as not takes a gun, instead of the bow and arrows or the blow-pipe which are his own proper weapons. The ambition of almost every Indian is to obtain sufficient money, or goods exchangeable with white men, to buy a gun. For this purpose he will undergo far more labour than he will endure for any other end, and will travel almost any distance. Large numbers of very inferior guns are imported into the colony to meet this demand, and are sold at a retail price of from one to two pounds. The chief point to which an Indian looks to in choosing his gun is its length. The longer the barrel is, the better he is pleased. The reason for this seems to be that an Indian, in order to make sure of his game, likes to make as big a hole in it as possible. He therefore not only stealthily approaches bird or beast, until the muzzle of his gun almost touches the body of the animal, before he fires, but he likes a very large gun in order that the whole mass of the shot may enter unscattered. Owing to this circum stance, of a bunch of ten or twelve pigeons, which were shot and brought to me on one occasion by an Indian, scarcely a shred of flesh was left on the breast of any one. Another somewhat remarkable thing, and one of which I can offer no explanation, is that as soon as a gun is his, the Indian takes off and throws away the cap of the screw-worm at the end of the ramrod. But we are more concerned with the Indian's own wea pons. These are bow and arrows and the blow-pipe. The arrows used for shooting game, as for fish, are of GAME ARROWS. 241 Fig. 11. several kinds. For big game, such as bush-hog and deer. the Indian uses an arrow with a diamond-shaped head, like that of a spear, but occasionally somewhat varied in detail of shap"e, and of very various sizes. (Fig. 11, g, i, j, and k.) These spear-headed arrows are used by most of the tribes ; but they seem more common among the Caribs and Ackawoi — i.e. the coast Caribs — than among the Macusi and Arecunas, the savannah Caribs. All the arrows, whether intended for fish or for game, which have at present been mentioned, are now filed by the Indian out of a piece of the iron hoop of a barrel, or of any other old metal on which he can lay hands. Formerly, and not so very long ago, they were probably made of the bones of turtle or other animals, of the shells of certain molluscs, or of stone. A True Carib, of about forty years of age, who served as captain during several of my expeditions, has often assured me that as a boy he used to see these bone, shell, or stone-pointed arrows in common use. He himself still uses a bone- pointed arrow for a special pur pose. I first questioned him on the subject when I saw him fashioning a piece ,of bone into an arrow-head ; and he told me that this was to shoot iguanas (Iguana tuberculata), and that bone arrows are especially adapted for that purpose. On one occasion I saw similar arrows, headed with stone, in the possession of some Arecunas. B Game Arrows. 242 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. It is to be noted that all the arrows which yet remain to be mentioned are tipped, not with iron, but with wood. To return to the subject of game-arrows : the savannah tribes, instead of the iron diamond-headed arrows, for big game use arrows (Fig. 11 h, p. 241) with very long lance- shaped heads made of a bamboo called by the Indians ' rap poo.' This bamboo — which only grows in a- few places — is cut and carefully dried. The arrow-head is then shaped, and is hai-dened in the fire ; when fixed into the reed shaft, it is ready for use, and is supposed to possess poisonous qualities. The Indians assert that these arrows are as poisonous as those smeared with the deadly ourali ; and this statement seems confirmed by Richard Schomburgk and by C. B. Brown. The latter tells the story of a peccary hunt, during which he saw one of these animals, when struck by a rappoo arrow, stand still, apparently paralysed, for a time, and then fall dead. Wishing to try the experiment, I have more than once caused one of these arrows to be shot gently into a fowl, so that it entered only a very little way and not in a vital part. The fowls were certainly, and naturally, frightened, but showed no more fatal signs than would have been the case if the wound had been made by the most harmless splinter of wood or other weapon. When I pointed this out to the Indians who were standing round, they explained that the poison only took effect if the arrow went in far enough ; that is, probably, if it touched some vital spot. I think, therefore, that the poisonous character attributed to this bamboo-wood may be considered as doubtful, until more accurate experi ments have been made. A far more deadly weapon, used also by the savannah tribes, sometimes for animals, sometimes for birds, is the ourali arrow. The points (Fig. 13, pp and ppp), which are long, narrow, and flat strips of light wood, smeared with a vegetable poison called ourali, more or less jagged according to the purpose for which they are intended, are inserted in the socket at the end of the reed shaft (Fig. 12 b). These points are cither carried -separately from the shaft, in a small POISONED ARROWS. 243 quiver. (Fig. 13 s) made of hollow bamboo, and are only in serted, in the shaft the moment before the arrow is to be used ; or, if they are cairied in the shaft they are covered with a sheath of hollow bamboo (Fig. 12 d). In either case, Fra 12. Fig. 13. pp fpp FlO. 14. I i ! 1 ! i i POISONED ASHOWS. Poisoned Arrow-points and Quiver foe same. Bird Arrows. whether the points are carried separately or whether they are protected by a sheath, the object of the precaution is to pro tect the hand of the Indian from any chance of contact witk 244 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. the deadly poison with which the points are smeared. In another place I shall have occasion to speak of the making of this ourali poison, which is used both for these arrows and for the darts of the blow-pipe ; for the present it is sufficient to say that it is a vegetable substance prepared by the Indians themselves, and especially by the Macusis ; and that its effect is gradually to diminish, and finally to stop, the action of the heart of any animal into the blood of which it enters. The points of these arrows are of two forms : the stouter (Fig. lof)f>, p. 243), with only one or two notches, is used especially for ' baboons ' — i.e. red howling monkeys (Mycetes seniculus), and for other monkeys ; the more slender (Fig. 13p>p>I>> P- 243), with many notches, is used for birds. A very slender variety of the latter kind, smeared with but little poison, is also used for such birds and small animals as are not to be eaten, but to be tamed. Whether in such cases any antidote is used to counteract the effects of the poison, I was never able to learn ; but I. am inclined to think that the real reason of recovery (for though many animals treated in this way doubtless die, a few live) is that there is only a very minute quantity of poison on the arrow used in shooting for this purpose. Four varieties of unpoisoned arrows are also used for birds. These may be conveniently described in pairs. The first pair are those used chiefly by the savannah Indians. Of these, one has a round tapering wooden point, often five or six inches in length, armed with several notches (Fig. 14 n, p. 243) ; this, when shot with force, will penetrate through even the largest bird found in the forests of Guiana. The second, used for smaller birds, differs only in that four small slips of wood are fastened, cross- wise, round the point, at a distance of about a quarter of an inch from the sharp end (Fig. 14 o, p. 243) : these prevent the arrow from entering too far into the bird. The second pair differ from each other but slightly, and are used respectively by the Arawaks and the Ti>ue Caribs (Fig. 14 I, m, p.. 243). Both end not in a point of any sort, but in a large wooden knob. The creole children on the coast BIRD ARROWS. 245 . imitate these arrows by fixing an empty cotton-reel at the end of the shaft of an ordinary arrow, and the imitation is very close. These arrows are intended to knock birds down notby entering and wounding them, but by stunnino- them. The slight difference between the two forms used bv the Arawaks and True Caribs respectively is merely in the form of the fore-shaft and the blunt head.1 The blow-pipe is, I believe, peculiar among the Indians of Guiana to the savannah tribes, and on the rare occasions in which it is found in the possession of the forest tribes, the fact is probably only due to the chance acquisition of the weapon by some idiosyncratic Indian. It is, however, common to many other tribes of South America. The Macusis, Are cunas, and other savannah tribes of the Carib family probably found the weapon in use among the tribes formerly inhabiting the territory now occupied by them, and themselves adopted it; while the True Caribs and Ackawoi, the coast tribes of the Carib family, with the Warraus and Arawaks, having been but little in the interior, were not brought in contact with the original users of this weapon, and so never adopted it. 1 The following list of the various arrows — some of which occur in several slight varieties— which are used in so small a district as British Guiana, may not be without interest to the ethnologist. No. Description Purpose Used by name harpoon . \ with loose head \ witli fixed bead J .with, three prongs f with ' loose head ] ¦< attached by long [ ( string to shaft ) spear-headed iron „ bone „ stone fiance-head of ) 1 bamboo f poisoned (fixed head) „ (loose head) f nnpoisoned ) 1 wooden point J „ (with guard) with blunt head Fish Small fish Turtles Game f „ especialry) 1 Iguana J Game „ and birds MonkeysBirds Small birds Jlirds True Caribs (only All forest tribes . Savanuah tribes All tribes (?) All tribes Forest tribes True Caribs (now rare) Arecuna (now rare) Savannah tribes f Forest & savannah I 1 tribes j" Savannah tribes Arawaks True Caribs 'Harrapoona' (Carib)1 f Sawoto (Carib) [ Atoor.i (Arawak?) Takooya (Cario) (Samoroo (Carib) Sarapa (Arawak ?> f Pooya (Carib) I Waibacash (Arawak?) Tefnkingr (Carib T-)3- Sebrali (Wapiana ?)* (siparara (Arawak?)3 Eappoo (Carib) Ourali-eboo (Carib) Tarau (ITacusi) Tonmmarai pfacusi) Marowa (Ararat) e.'j. 1 The name is evidently European. I am inclined to think that distinct varieties of this arrow exist under different names ; the tefoking aud the sebrali are not quite the same. M6 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. These blow-pipes (Fig. 16) are tubes of very great length, often from 12 to 16 feet or more, through which a small dart (Fig. 25, p. 302) is blown. The manner of manufacture of both tube and dart will be afterwards explained. When set ting out to shoot with this weapon, the Indian takes not only the tube, but also a quiver (Fig. 15 a) containing a large number of darts— sharply pointed splinters of wood, five or six inches in length, each tipped with ourali— and the jaw- Quiver foe Dahts of Br.ow-nrK. bone of a perai-fish (Fig. 15 c) (Serasalmo nigra), and also a small basket (Fig. 15 b) filled with the natural fibre of cotton or of some other plant. The fibre of the silk-cotton tree (Eriodendron) is often used for this purpose. When game is seen, one of the darts is placed between two of the sharp teeth of the perai, and is twisted sharply round in such a way that a very small portion of the point is almost, but not quite severed from the main part ; this is in order that the point may break off in the body of the animal, that the dart may again be used. A little of the fibre is then wound round the other end of the dart — i.e. the dart is 'feathered' — care being taken not to destroy the balance. The dart is then inserted in the blow-pipe, THE BLOW-PIPE. 247 aim is taken, the dart is blown, and the bird almost, invariably falls. The certainty with which an Indian can . take aim with these hugely long- weapons, even when supported by only one hand, is really wonderful. The range of the weapon is as much as from forty to fifty feet. . For its special purpose the blow-pipe is much superior to the gun. The best way of getting a heavy bag of birds with it is to find some tree the fruit of which is attracting large numbers of birds to feed. If the birds sought are parrots, it is especially easy for an Indian with a practised ear to discover such a tree. As he walks throuoh the forest he hears a sound like the fall of heavy rain-drops. Parrots feed in a very wasteful way ; the flock flies screaming to a tree, and then each bird silently begins to pick the fruit, and after once biting each fruit lets it fall. Thus a constant shower of the fruit falls from the tree on to the dry leaves on the ground. In this way, though they do not scream while actually feeding, parrots betray their presence. The Indian, as soon as he hears this sound, creeps stealthily up to the tree, and aims his blow-pipe at the bird lowest on the tree. When this falls the rest of the flock are not much alarmed ; seeing one of then- num ber suddenly disappear, they perhaps cease feed ing for an instant and chatter, but, hearing no noise, they turn again to the fruit. In this way the Indian can bring down a very large number of birds before the flock is really alarmed, and, rising, flies screaming away ; whereas with bow and arrow he could, owing to the twang of the bowstring, get but few shots, and with a gun he could get but one. Much of the Indians' success in killing both hirds and beasts is clue to their wonderful skill in 3 248 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. calling birds— in imitating, that is, the note of any bird which they think may be in the neighbourhood, and so attracting them to their destruction. The Indian name for a bird is almost always an imitation of its cry. This Indian habit of mimicry was well illustrated on one occasion, when two of my Indians started from our camp in two directions to shoot a maam (Tinamus), neither knowing that the other was going. Presently one, hearing the cry of a maam some dis tance on his right, began to imitate it to draw the bird nearer. The other heard a maam cry on his left, and he too began to imitate it. Each mistook the cry of the other for that of a real bird, and the two continued calling each other and drawing nearer through the thick bush, until they met ; each, thinking that he was just about to see his bird, found the other had mimicked the cry of the maam only too well. They came back to camp in very bad temper. From what has been said it will be sufficiently evident that the objects for which the Indian hunts or fishes are many and various ; and it is very rarely that he is unsuccessful. It is, however, noticeable that the Indian can generally hunt suc cessfully only in a district which he knows, and that Indians in travelling through a strange country seldom attempt to hunt, and when they do, meet with but small success. As the provisions which he thus gets have to be carried home, often a journey of some days, and as even after that they have to last for some time, the meat and most of the fish is smoked or babracoted ; the rest of the fish is salted, as has already been described in the case of the pacu shot in the falls. A babra cot is a stage of green sticks, built over a fire, on which the meat is laid and exposed for a long time to the action of the smoke. Meat, fish, and even eggs treated in this way be come very tasteless, but retain their nutritive powers for a long while, and may either be eaten without further prepara tion or may be further cooked. Land tortoises being very common in the forest, the Indian collects these, slings them with a piece of bush-rope across his shoulders, and so carries them home alive. Sometimes also THE RETURN FROM HUNTING. 249 he carries with him one or two of the round, porcelain-like eggs of these tortoises. In the open savannah country, where such a signal may be seen from a long distance, the hunters, when yet far from home, make a big fire, as a signal to announce their coming to their women-kind at home, that due preparation in the shape of a large amount of bread and drink may be prepared. At last they arrive at home, deliver over the meat into the hands of the women, and sink into their hammocks to rest for several days. 250 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. CHAPTEE XII. AGRICULTURE. -An Indian Field — Method of Cultivation — Cassava — Abandonment of Field— Maize in the Mountains— Drought and Famine. The Indians living in the forest use the clearings in which their houses stand as chief provision fields ; but even they generally have one or more other fields at favourable spots in the neighbouring forest. The fields of the savannah Indians are, on the contrary, almost invariably at some considerable distance, often indeed very far from their houses ; for the ground round the houses is unshaded, stony, and unproduc tive, and it is only in the moist and shady coppices that provisions flourish. One only uses the word ' field ' of the spots cultivated by the Indians in default of a more apt term. A stranger on first seeing an Indian field, with its surrounding wall of natural forest, might well think it a place no longer culti vated, but some former clearing in the forest in which the natural growth had once more sprung up unchecked. The cassava and other cultivated plants are lost among the bushy off-shoots which have sprung from the stumps of felled trees, the trunks and branches of which lie just where they fell among the tangled growth. The bark has fallen from some of these trunks, and their white wood glistens in the sun ; others are blackened and charred by fire ; others again have retained their bark, as on the day they fell. Often, among all this, it is almost impossible to discern the narrow foot- trodden track which, winding in and out among the fallen trunks and the cassava plants, leads through the field. This is how the field was made. A fitting place having CLEARING A FIELD. 251 been chosen — cassava, the main object of cultivation flou rishes best in sanely soil — the men cut down the under growth and fell the trees. Then, when it seems likely that the weather will be dry, they set fire to the fallen refuse. The leaves and smaller branches of the trees, together with the cut and now withered undergrowth, slowlv burn; but the tree-trunks and the larger branches are only more or less charred. The fire smoulders long, often for manv days ; and when at last it dies out, there is an open space in the forest, • floored with hot white ashes, and empty but for prostrate trunks, the crooked branches of which stand up into the air, and but for any palms which may have been there — for these are always allowed to stand if they are of a kind with edible fruit. The men have now finished their share of the work. At the beginning of the following wet season the women come, guarded, if the field is far from home, against sudden attacks of jaguars or snakes by a few wretchedly lean dogs, and carrying on their backs baskets heavy with a load of cassava sticks to be used as cuttings. Here and there, at somewhat irregular intervals, they loosen smalt patches of the soil, hardly more than a foot in diameter, and in each of these they insert three or four cassava sticks. The field is then \irtually formed. From time to time, while the cassava is growing, the women do just so mueh weeding as is absolutely necessary to prevent the cultivated plants from being choked by the wild growths which spring up side by side with them ; and while so doing, pine-tops, banana, and plaintain suckers, pumpkin and water-melon, seeds, yams, sweet potatoes, sugar-cane, papaws, cashews, tobacco, and, above all, red and yellow podded peppers (Capsicums) are planted wherever there is space. During the ten months which generally pass before the ¦cassava reaches maturity, not only shoots from the wild plants which formerly occupied the ground, but also those creepers and other plants which in this, even more than in most other climates, are never seen while the land is left in 252 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. a natural state, but always appear wherever man makes a clearing, spring up with new and surprising vigour. Of these weeds which infest Indian fields, first the razor-grass (Scleria scindens) throws its endless stems and grass-like leaves, stems and leaves alike as keenly edged as knives, over the cassava and other plants, and then, having overrun the clearing, flings itself up on to the trees which edge the surrounding forest and, finding no yet higher thing to which to reach, hangs its tangled ends like a curtain from branch and bush. Passion-flowers send out long tendrils, which creep along the ground and up on to the bushes, where they hang their flowers, according to their kind, some large and pur ple, others crimson, others white (Passiflora laurifolid),. and one (P. fcetida) the small pale-coloured petals of which, buried in large moss-like green sepals, remind one of a flower common in old-fashioned English gardens, called with quaint variety ' Love-in-a-mist ' and ' Devil-in-a-bush : (Nigella damascena). Various kinds of pea-flowers and con volvulus add to the confusion. Before long, the hollow and straight stems ofthe trumpet- wood (Cecropia peltata), each crowned with a single rosette of a few big maple-shaped leaves, rise over everything, and with marvellous rapidity reach a height of from twenty to thirty feet. At last, in the ninth or tenth month, seeds appear among the hemp-like leaves at the ends of the straggling branches of the cassava plants. This is a sign that the roots are ready for use. Again the work is done by the women. They cut down the cassava and the weed-bush, and dig up the roots, not all at once, but as they are required. Some short straight lengths of the stems of the cassava — sufficient to reproduce the number of plants which have been dug up — are cut and inserted in the ground as before, and in the same spots. By the way, an old Indian tradition tells that when cassava was first given to the Indians, after their first appearance upon earth, they knew not how to make it reproduce itself; when they tried to sow the seeds or to plant the tubers, it al ways failed to grow ; but, just as the stock was dying out, THE HARVEST. 253 it was discovered by chance that cuttings of the plant if stuck into the ground, grew. So this method of propagation has been followed ever since. The field is deserted after three or four crops have been taken from it; and a new clearing is made and planted. The reason of this periodical desertion of the old, and clear ing of new ground is uncertain, but it is perhaps connected with some superstition. But so httle trouble is, indeed, in volved in this sort of cultivation, that a field is often deserted -in consequence of a mere, whim, often before even the first crop has been gathered. In one instance, a very flourishing field of cassava in the Canakoo Mountains had been deserted, its owners refusing even to approach it, because kenaimas —mysterious murderers, half human, half supernatural — had been heard near it. The produce of these fields is of the finest quality. This is especially the case in the Pacaraima and Canakoo Moun tains; and generally on the savannah, where the plantains and the sugar-canes especially attain a size far greater than in the coast lands. In the sandstone mountains about Eoraima maize is more abundantly cultivated than cassava, the Indians affirming that the latter plant does not flourish well in that district. As the life and prosperity of the Indians depend so much on the produce of their fields, it may not be without interest totell what becomes of these people when their crops fail. This happens, sometimes, owing to the improvidence of the Indians, who use their cassava freely, so long as it lasts, not only for making bread but even for making paiwari, without any regard to the quantity left ; sometimes in. consequence of prolonged drought. The failure from the first of these two causes is met by the habit of mutual hospitality which prevails among the Indians. -When, a family finds its stock of cassava ex hausted, the goods are packed up, and all walk to some other settlement, inhabited by Indians of the same tribe in whose fields there is still plenty. Without invitation, and without 254 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. excuses, the strangers take up their quarters in the new settlement, where, as a matter of course, there is a stranger's house ; and it is an understood thing that the present hosts -will return the visit when they have need ; and there they live and eat as long as. the cassava lasts, or until some one of their own fields is again ripe. Failure of the crops owing to long-continued drought is far worse in its effects. A very severe famine of this sort prevailed in March and April of 1878 throughout the greater part of the savannah region, where the effects of dry weather are of course far worse than in the damp forest. Gradually the cassava and provisions failed, and the young crops made no advance or even died. Even the hardy savannah plants were withered up and burned. The famine was very .great. Most of the settlements and villages were entirely deserted, their inhabitants having wandered away into . some damper and more favoured part of the country. Those who remained — chiefly the women who were too old to walk far, the sick, and here and there a family who were inclined to trust to chance— were reduced to skeletons. 255 CHAPTEE XIII. THE PREPARATION OF FOOD. Cooking done by Women— Fire-making— Staple Food : Meat chiefly In form of Pepper-pot ; Cassava as Bread, Farine, and Paiwari — Effect of Cassava on Indian Physique— Salt— Occasional Food : Eggs, of Birds, seldom eaten; of Reptiles, of ten ; Insects; Fruits— Various Drinks. The staple food of Indians includes both animal and vegetable substances. The men provide the former by hunting and fishing; while the women, almost unassisted, provide the latter. As the pursuit of game generally leads the men for several days' journey from home, and as the booty must be at least roughly preserved on the spot, this preliminary operation, by smoking the meat on a babracot or by salting the fish, is done by the hunters. These rough processes, which are not the final cooking of the meat, but are only- meant to preserve it till it can be handed over to the women at home, have been described in connection with the methods of hunting. As regards the meat which the Indian con sumes during these excursions, when he is naturally without cooking utensils, the method of preparing this is extremely simple. The meat is indeed often eaten just in the half- roasted, half-smoked state in which it is taken off the babra cot ; or, at most, it is cut into small fragments, which are fastened into a cleft stick and so held or fastened over the fire until they are roasted. All other cooking, not only of the dried meat brought home and of meat procured near enough to the settlement to be cooked while fresh, but also of bread, the only staple vegetable consumed, is clone by the women. If by some chance a man is obliged to cook, ex cept so far as is absolutely necessary on an ordinary hunting -256 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. excursion, and is seen to do so by some other Indian, he feels as much shame as if he had been caught in some unworthy act. For example, on one occasion when we were forced by famine to take cassava roots from an Indian field which we found ownerless, it was with great difficulty that any of my Indian companions, who were all men, were persuaded to make these roots into bread, and those who at last did this were ever after scornfully pointed at as 'old women.' In now discussing the preparation of food, it must be remem bered that this, when done at home and under normal con ditions, is wholly women's work. Cooking is perhaps the most frequent occupation of these women. Indians eat not at regular times, but whenever and as often as they feel inclined. Fortunately for the women, no variety of food is demanded. Except on rare oc casions, when a very large store of meat has been obtained, pepper-pot and cassava-bread invariably form the meal. All the meat or fish obtained is put, with cassareep and peppers, into a buck-pot and boiled to a thick soup. This pot is never emptied, but more meat is added whenever necessary. This mess is boiled again and again, and is ready for use at a few minutes' notice. A store of cassava-bread is also at hand whenever required ; for large quantities are made at each baking. Whenever the men feel hungry, the women bring the pepper-pot, with some cassava on one of the fans which are used for blowing the fire, to the side of the ham mock. The men often do not trouble themselves to get out of their hammocks, but simply lean over the sides to eat ; at other times they get up and sit on one of the low wooden stools or on one of the turtle-shells which lie about the floor ; or they squat before their food with their knees drawn up almost to their heads in the invariable sitting posture of an Indian. The bread having been dipped into the mess in the pot, the sodden piece is bitten off. Very little is eaten at a time ; and when the meal is over, the men roll back into their hammocks, and the women fetch away the remains of the food. The women never eat with the men ; indeed, as often FIRE BY FRICTION. 257 as not the former take their food out of the pot, while cook ing. - First, a word must be said as to the making of fire. Fire has very seldom to be made afresh ; for it is continually kept burning in every house, and even on long canoe-journeys a large piece of smouldering timber is usually carried. Even when walking across the savannah an Indian sometimes carries a firebrand. But sometimes, especially during hunting ex cursions, it becomes absolutely necessary to make a new fire. This is done either with flint and steel, or rather with ja?per and an old knife, or — and there is every reason to believe that this is the original Indian fashion — by friction of two pieces of wood. It is a well-known fact which has attracted much interest and notice, that uncivilised people all over the world have been, or are still, in the habit of producing fire by the friction of two pieces of wood.1 Several different kinds of wood are used, but all these have some special fitness for the purpose. That used by the Macusis appears to be from a species of Apeiba.2 That used by the Warraus is cut either from a plant called by them Yoamo (Gaultheria uregon, Aublet), or from the ' bone ' (mid-rib) of the troolie-palm (Manicaria sacci- fera), or from the Yari-Yari, or Lance wood tree, or from at least one other tree of unknown name. Two long thin sticks of one of these, when thoroughly dried, are used in the operation. A small pit is dug on the side of one of the sticks close to one end ; and a groove is cut from this pit half-way round the stick (Fig 17, A, p. 258). One end of the second stick having been cut evenly at right angles to the length of the stick, a few inches at the same end are peeled (Fig. 17, b); A knife or flat piece of wood or stone 1 Much has been written about the source from which men first obtained fire ; and it has been suggested that the first fire originated in the natural friction of two boughs of trees rubbing" against each other in a high wind. It is worth mentioning that the West Indian negroes affirm that bamboo stems do often thus make natural fire ; and if anyone will carefully watch a big clump of bamboos in the tropics during a high wind, he will under stand that if any plants can really thus cause fire, it is these. 2 Schomburgk, Reisen in Britisch Guiana. S 25S AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. is now placed on the ground. Across this the first stick is laid so that the pit is uppermost and immediately over the blade of the knife. The Indian then grasps this stick with the toes— always very prehensile— of one foot, and thus holds it steadily in position. The second stick is held at right angles to the first, the peeled end being in the pit, the other end between the palms of the operator's hands. The left hand being held motionless, the right palm is rubbed Fig. IT. Fide-sticks, a and e, and Method of using ihe Same, e. steadily and somewhat rapidly backwards and forwards against the left (Fig. 17, e). This of course twirls the upright stick rapidly round and round in the pit of the other. The fric tion wears away the sides of the pit and enlarges it. The groove which passes half round the stick, consequently be comes an open channel through which the dust-like frag ments worn away from the inside of the pit fall on to the knife or board below, where they form a small heap. After about a quarter of a minute, smoke arises ; and at the end of half a minute the heat within the pit, acting through the FIRE BY FRICTION. 259 open channel, ignites the little heap of dust. The 'fire, once ignited, smoulders for about half a minute, during which time it is-easily blown into a flame. Xo great exertion is required in the operation. These particular woods are chosen for the purpose by the Warraus because of their peculiarly friable grain. The Apeiba wood used by the Macusis makes but little of this inflammable dust, so that tinder has to be placed under the stick to catch the fire. The beauty of the Warrau operation consists in the fact that the tinder is formed by the wood itself. When travelling, the second stick — that which is held upright in the hand — is kept unpeeled ; and each time that it is used only so much is peeled as is necessary for the operation. In this way it is always dry and in a fit state for use.1 Even when the spark has been procured, it is difficult, if much rain has lately fallen, to find wood dry enough to make a fire. Under such circumstances the patience of the Indian overcomes the difficulty. He collects fallen wood and care fully strips off with his knife the outer parts of this until he obtains so much of the heartwood (often very little indeed) as is dry. Bound the fire thus laboriously made he heaps other wood, and this in time becomes dry and is added as fuel to the fire. Instead of bellows a fan of definite shape, woven of the young leaflets of a palm (Astrocaryum tucumoides) is used. Except the flesh of animals introduced by Europeans, which are always considered unclean, and a very few tabooed indigenous animals, which — different kinds by different tribes — are also considered unclean, all mammals, birds, and fish are meat to the Indian. There is, if we disregard for a moment the rougher method of cooking employed by men ' * It may not be uninteresting to add that, having brought to England sticks which have actually produced fire in Guiana, I utterly failed to rub fire with these here. I believe a similar experience has fallen to the lot of other travellers. Mr. Tylor tells me that the Zulus lately exhibited in Londdn succeeded in robbing fire, but that the operation took considerably - longer than it does in Zululand. s 2 260 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. when away from home or without a cooking utensil, but one way of cooking this— whether it is still fresh or has been pre viously smoked, whether it is meat or fish — and that is, by boiling it down into a sort of thick soup, with peppers (chilis) and cassareep. The nature of this last ingredient will be explained presently ; at present all that need be. said is, that it reduces all flesh to one common flavour, its own, and that it has antiseptic qualities which keep meat boiled in it good for a long time. The result of this method of cook ing meat is the far-famed pepper-pot, which, first made by the Indians, all settlers in the West Indies have now learned to make and like. The one proper Indian meat dish is therefore pepperpot. The one staple vegetable food of the Indians is afforded by the roots ofthe cassava-plant (Manihotutilissima), which are made into bread, like oatcakes, by most of the tribes ; into farine, a rough sort of meal, by others. Xo scene is more characteristic of Indian- life than that of the women prepar ing cassava. One woman, squatting on her hams, and armed with a big knife, peels off the skin of the cassava roots which lie in a heap at her side. Each root, after being peeled, is washed and then thrown on to a new heap. A little way off, another woman stands and, grasping one of the peeled roots with both hands, scrapes it up and down an oblong board or grater studded with small fragments of stone, and so. roughened, like a nutmeg-grater. One end of the grater stands in a trough on the ground, the other rests against the woman's knees. It is violent exercise. As the woman scrapes, her body swings down and up again from her hips. The rhythmic ' swish ' caused by the scraping of the juicy root is the chief sound in the house ; for the labour is too heavy to permit of talking. The cassava, which slips as pulp from the scraper into the trough, is collected and put into a long wicker- woven matapie, which hangs from the roof. This matapie or cassava- squeezer (Fig. 18), is in principle exactly like the not un common toy known as a ' Siamese Link.' It is a cylinder, CASSAVA BREAD. 261 is Fig. 13. -seven or eight feet long and five or six inches indiaineter, made of closely woven strips of pliant bark. The upper end is open, and has a loop by which the matapie may be suspended from one of the beams of the house ; the lower end closed, but it also has a loop, the use of which will presently appear. The cassava, saturated with its highly poisonous juice, is now forced into the matapie ; through the loop at the bottom of this, a heavy pole is passed, one end of which is allowed to rest on the ground and is there fastened by means of a heavy stone or some such device, while the other is raised into the air. A woman now sits on the raised end of the pole, and her weight stretches the matapie downwards. In proportion as the length of the cylinder in creases its diameter is of course reduced. The pressure thus applied to the cassava pulp im mediately forces the poisonous juice out through the walls of the matapie. The juice drops down into a buck-pot which stands on the ground ; and it is this which when it is afterwards boiled be comes cassareep, a thick, treacle-like liquid, which is no longer poisonous, and the use of which in the manufacture of pepper-pot has already been described. Cassareep when but slightly boiled is sometimes eaten by itself and without further preparation ; but if it is meant for pepper-pot it may either be used at once, or, if boiled to a high degree of density, not for some considerable time. The cassava, now dry and free from juice, is taken from the matapie, broken into a sieve (Fig. 20, p. 279), and sifted, so that it beeomes squeezec a coarse flour. This i3 either wrapped in leaves and put away for future use, or i3 at once made into bread. A large circular iron griddle or plate, of European manu facture, is now placed over the fire; by some of the remote Indians a flat slab of stone is used for this purpose, and there ."£' m- "'fs 262 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. can be little doubt that this stone was originally universally used. On the griddle, whatever its material, a thin layer of the meal is spread. A woman, fan in hand, sits by the fire, watching. With her fan she smooths the upper surface of the cake, and makes its edges round. In a very few minutes one side of the large round white cake is done ; and when it has been turned, in yet a couple of minutes the bread is ready. When a sufficient number of these oatcake-like pieces of bread have been made, they are taken out of the house and thrown up on to the roof to dry in the sun. I have often admired, and vainly tried to imitate, the skill with which an Indian woman ' quoits ' up these large and thin cakes (which, until they are well sun-dried, are limp and flabby) on to the roof, often high above her head. When thoroughly sun-dried the bread is hard and crisp, with a flavour like that of freshly gathered nuts ; in this state, if guarded from damp, it will keep for an indefinite time. Xot quite all the cassava meal, freed from juice by means of the matapie, passes through the sifter — a small residue, consisting of the more starchy matter, adheres together in particles too large to pass through the close- woven wicker- work. This coarse starchy residue, called by the Caribs Emoo, which is always small in quantity, is at once made into a cake, which differs from the ordinary cake made of the sifted meal in that, if eaten at once, it has a half-gelatinous consistency, and a pleasant sub-acid flavour ; while, if it is allowed to become cold, it acquires a leathery consistency, and is taste less and uneatable. Some of the True Caribs slightly diverge from this method of making bread in that they pound the meal in a mortar before sifting it, and, if it is to be kept, they slightly smoke it. The bread thus produced is much more friable and much more easily digestible than that made by the ordinary process. When cassava is very scarce, its bulk is sometimes increased by mixing the chopped leaves of the cassava plant, or the pounded seed of the mora tree (Mora excelsa), or of PAIWARI-MAKING. 263 the greenheart tree (Nectandra Rodicei), or even pounded rotten wood, with the meal. Sometimes, especially by the Arecunas, cakes Uke those of cassava are made of maize. The cassava root is eaten chiefly in the form of bread by all the tribes except the Wapianas, Atorais, and Tarumas. These latter tribes make most of their cassava into farine. It is to be noticed that these tribes live on the frontiers of Brazil, and that this form of bread-stuff is almost universal throughout that country. Up to a certain point the cassava is prepared as for bread. The difference is in the baking, for instead of being allowed to consolidate into an entire cake, the cassava meal is kept continually stirred as it rests on the iron griddle, so that in drying it assumes the form of an accumulation of small dry crumbs of wheaten bread. Much cassava, after being made into bread, is further transformed into paiwari, the chief Indian beverage. As tounding quantities of this are consumed at special drinking bouts, of which we shall hear more presently. But paiwari is also largely used at other times ; and indeed as long as there is any cassava to be had, a stock of this liquor is always kept ready. Whenever the men return from hunt ing, ahd whenever a stranger comes into the house, it is drunk. And the women and children — even the youngest babies — ^drink it. Cassava bread which is to be transformed into paiwari, is made as is that for other purposes ; but it is thicker, and is baked, or rather burned, until it is quite black. It is thenhroken into small fragments, and mixed with water in a'large jar or pot. The larger fragments are picked out and chewed by the women, who do this work while moving about and performing their usual household work ; and the chewed masses are again replaced in the jar. As soon as this jar is sufficiently filled, its contents, after being well stirred, are slightly boiled, and are then poured into the trough. More and more is" added to the liquor in the trough until it is full. -The "mixture is then allowed to stand for some days, until it 264 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. is sufficiently fermented — a process which is said to he much accelerated by the mastication of the bread.1 Sometimes a little juice of the sugar-cane is added to sweeten the liquor. The result is a brownish liquor— looking like coffee with a great deal of milk in it — with a sub-acid, but not unpleasant taste. Some of the True Caribs, it is said, and some of the Brazilian tribes, manage to prepare paiwari, and to procure a proper degree of fermentation, by simple boiling, without resortino- to the verv disagreeable but more orthodox chewing process ; but paiwari produced in this way is said to be of very inferior flavour. In some parts of the country, instead of paiwari, both for festivals and for ordinary occasions, a much pleasanter drink is used. This is casiri, which is made of sweet- potatoes and sugar-c-ane. A little cassava is sometimes added. Generally, though not always, it is prepared simply by boiling the ingredients, and allowing them to ferment. It has a pretty pink colour, due to the sweet-potatoes ; and when well made it tastes not unlike thin elaret. To the large proportion which cassava, in the form of bread, or farine, and of paiwari, beatrs to the rest of the food of the Indians, are probably due two veiy marked physical peculiarities of these people. Even at first sight, nothing is more striking in the appearance of the Indians than the extraordinary protuberance of their stomachs ; and after only brief companionship with them, the European is struck by the rapidity with which Indians — usually so sleek and fat — lose flesh and strength when cassava fails, and as sud denly regain these when circumstances become more favour able. Cassava seems to have a great tendency to extend the paunch, and to puff out the flesh and make the whole body look fat and round, without giving any real stamina ; and as soon as it fails, even for a few days, the paunch hangs 1 It must be noted that paiwari differs essentially from the khava of the South Sea Islanders, with which it has sometimes been identified, in that, though the operation of chewing is performed in both cases, paiwari is never drunk until it has fermented, whereas khava is not a fermented liquor. EGGS AS FOOD. 265 like an empty sack, and, the fat disappearing, the skin hanos ,in folds, and every bone in the body becomes prominent. Before turning from the subject of the regular food - supply bf the Indians, a word must be said as to the salt which -almost invariably forms part of it. Indians are ex tremely fond of salt, and large quantities of this substance — procured originally from "the English on our own coast, or from the Brazilians — are passed from owner to owner as a highly valued article of barter. Moreover/ in the Wapiana country salt of a very pungent quality occurs naturally on the savannah ; and this is carefully collected, and used or bartered by the Indians of that districtX Salt, however procured, always forms an ingredient in pepper-pot, though never in bread. It is also largely eaten by itself, just as an English child eats sugar. But beside these regular food articles — bread, meat, and salt — there are many others which are occasionally procured, and are regarded either as delicacies, or are eaten when the regular supplies fail. Most of these are either eggs, insects, or fruits. It is rather curious that birds' eggs are seldom eaten. The fact that the eggs of the ordinary domestic poultry, which generally abound in every Indian settlement, are not eaten, is simply another manifestation of the habit of regard ing all introduced animals as unfit for food ; but it might have been supposed that the eggs of indigenous wild birds, especially of the many kinds of game-birds, would have been eagerly sought as food ; but this is rarely the case. On the other hand, the eggs of certain reptiles are largely consumed and appreciated. When, twice a year, the turtles and the iguana-lizards lay their eggs on the sandbanks in the rivers, large parties of Indians gather from all quarters, not only living upon the eggs for a time, but also smoking and drying others for future use. Sometimes I have seen an Indian canoe weighed almost down to the edge of the water by its load of turtle- or iguana-eggs. Tortoise-eggs are much less commonly found ; but these too are readily eaten. Moreover, 266 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. in a previous chapter I have told how the True Caribs boil and greedily eat the musk-flavoured eggs of the cayman and alligator; on the other hand, this last habit is regarded with disgust by members of most other tribes. Of insects, true ants and white ants (Termes), grass hoppers, grubs of wasps and beetles, and caterpillars, are eaten. When, at the beginning of the rainy season, the winged individuals of the colonies of white ants leave their nests, the Indians make large fires at evening, and the insects, attracted by the light, swarm round, scorch their wings, and fall like rain to the ground, from which they are swept up by the Indians, and are eaten in handfuls. The winged in dividuals of true ants, especially of the common coushie (Ecodema cepihalotes), are also gathered in the same way. At other seasons of the year, if an Indian hankers after ant- meat, he pushes a sharply pointed stick into some nest of ant or termite, and then, withdrawing this, licks off the livino- insects which are sure to have crawled on to the in- trading wood. Possibly this trick has been learned from the ant-eaters (Myrmecophaga), who gain their livelihood by in serting their long slender tongues into such nests, and eating the ants which adhere. The wingless individuals of a large black ant, of a kind unknown to me, but, I believe, a Ponera, which become very prominent at times, are eaten in very unceremonious fashion: the living insect is held by the head, and its abdominal segment is bitten off. I once ven tured to taste one of these latter delicacies, and found it to affect the palate very much as dry corn-husks probably would. Various grasshoppers, especially a beautiful scarlet and black kind, are also picked up and eaten without further preparation. Wasps'-nests are knocked down from the trees, and the grubs are picked out from the cells and eaten. Of beetle-grubs, apparently the only one commonly eaten is the great yellowish-white ' gru-gru worm,' called tacooma by the Arawaks, ewoi by the Carib tribes, which, disgusting as it is in appearance, is also eaten, and even regarded as a great delicacy, not only by the negroes, but also by Euro- VEGETABLE FOOD. 267 pean colonists. It is the grub of a beetle (Calandra pal- marum)1 very destructive to palm-trees, in the heartwood of which it lives.2 Caterpillars are apparently not ordinarily eaten ; but in times of famine the smooth-skinned kinds are collected, boiled, and used as food. Of fruits, those of various palms are most largely used. The fleshy covering round the seeds of the cokerite (Maxi- miliana regia), aud of several species of Astrocaryum is scraped off and eaten ; and even after that the kernels of the former kind of palm are eaten. The cokerite seeds, called mareepa by the Carib tribes, sometimes, indeed, during famines, form almost the sole food of the Indians ; and at such times they are boiled before eaten, in order that their bulk may be increased. The fleshy covering round the seeds of the seta palm (Mauritia flexuosa) is also eaten, being first scraped off and pressed into a sort of cake, in which condition it tastes something like strongraneid cheese. These are all wild palms. The Arawaks, and a few other Indians on the coast region, often have a plant or two of the famous peach-palm (Guilielma speciosa) growing near their houses, though this is not indigenous, nor do the Indians now know whence it came. The soft seeds of this, which grow in large bunches, are boiled and eaten as we eat potatoes. A few other wild fruits are eaten, such as the plum-like fruit bf the bullet-tree (Mimusops balata), certain small guavas, called by the Caribs 'billicoes,' which look and taste very Uke gooseberries, and which grow on bushes (Nigritia Schomburgkii) on many parts of the savannah, and the nut — the most delicately flavoured of all nuts— of the souari-tree (Pelcea tuberculosa). Yams and sweet-potatoes, plantains and bananas, sugar cane and maize, are grown and eaten by the Indians, but in 1 See p. 146. 2 It is perhaps suggestive that the Arawak name for the grub, tacooma, is really identical with their name for the heartwood of any tree (taeoola) ; and the insect is possibly regarded as really part of the wood in which it lives. 268 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. no very large quantities; moreover, these were, according to the Indians themselves, derived from Europeans. Lastly, various beverages, beside the paiwari and casiri which have been mentioned, are prepared. A kind of wine or toddy is procured from the asta palm, though only where the tree is plentiful, for one is very unnecessarily sacrificed each time that this wine is to be procured; and, because these trees produce so many things valuable to the Indian, this is done reluctantly. After the tree has been cut, a large groove is made in that part of the trunk which lies uppermost, and this gi-oove is covered over with loose leaves. In a few hours the sap of the tree collects in this trough, and is collected and drunk without further preparation. If this juice (called by the Macusis gwy*) is kept for a few days it ferments, and then forms a pleasant, wine-like drink which is not unlike thin sauterne. Another drink is made by boiling maize, crushing it, and allowing it to ferment in water. And the pleasantest of all is made simply by crushing the large and very juicy fruit of the wild cashew ( Anacarclium rhinocarpus), which has a strawberry-like flavour, in water. Wild honey, too, which is very abundant, is also mixed with water and drunk. Even in its natural state this honey differs from that of Euro pean bees in that it is not viscid, but almost as fluid as water, and has a sub-acid, highly fragrant taste. 1 The reta tree and the drink procured from it are alike called gwy by the Macusis, arta by the Warraus. As regards this common name for various parts of the same thing cf. note 2, p. 267. 269 CHAPTER XIV. MANUFACTURES. General Considerations — Pottery — Basket-work — Spinning : Three kinds of Fibre ; two Methods of Spinning ; Explanation of Co-existence of two Methods — Weaving: Hammock-weaving; Rude Cloth- weaving — Boat building — Bench-making — Weapon-making — Qrnament-making — Mu sical Instruments — Poison-making— Preparation of Oils, Pitches, Dyes — Tobacco-production. No little ingenuity is displayed by the Indians in making their simple household utensils, weapons, and ornaments. Yet many of the arts practised by their ancestors, such as that of shaping stone into knives and for other purposes, have dis appeared already ; others, such as the making of bows and other weapons, are even now gradually, but rapidly, disap pearing in consequence of an ever-increasing distribution of goods of European manufacture throughout the interior. It has already been remarked that the life of the Indian man is made up of alternate fits of energy and of comparative inactivity ; during the former he hunts or prepares a plot of ground for the women to cultivate, while during the latter he lolls for days together in his hammock, occupied only in most. leisurely manner in fashioning weapons or ornaments. The amount of time spent in this latter way is very striking ; and it is at first sight still more striking that the Indian is ready to part with the articles which have cost him so much time for almost anything. It has again and again been pointed out that this inactivity and carelessness of time are not due to any blameworthy idleness. The Indian exerts himself to obtain all that he needs— food, a very moderate amount of clothing, a good deal of ornament, a shelter of no very elaborate !270 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. kind from the weather, and weapons for defence or for hunting ; of the advantage to him of anything beyond these things he is ignorant, and he cannot therefore be blamed for not striving to obtain more. But the acquisition of these things occupies comparatively little of his time ; and it is therefore not laziness if he spends the rest of his life in dawdling. This is true not only of the Indians of Guiana, but also, as has fre quently been pointed out, of savages generally. But there is another circumstance connected with the same subject of Indian industry which has, I think, attracted less notice. Wherever white men go among Indians — wherever, that is, we learn anything of the life of that people— goods manufactured by the white men soon pass into the hands of the red men. For example, in Guiana, the Indians instead of laboriously shaping stones, as their fathers did, into knives, axes, and other cutting implements, now very easily procure substitutes for these implements from white men. Thus one former source of occupation has long been lost to the Indian. Again, at the present time, he is in the very act of relinquishing his bows and arrows and his blow-pipes, things the making of which occupied much of his time, in favour of European guns — guns which, being of the cheapest kind, he receives from the European in return for a very small amount of labour. Xor has any new industry been taught him to occupy the time thus set free. Thus the necessity to the Indian to work to obtain all that he needs or desires is. now much less than it was, and he has even more time than his fathers had that he cannot occupy. On the old and true principle that work is good for man, this fact, too, probably explains in some considerable degree the very common degeneration of savages in the presence of civilisation. And from another point of view these Indians' arts are interesting. There exists among the tribes of this, as of probably every other similar district, a rough system of dis tribution of labour ; and this serves not only its immediate purpose of supplying all the tribes with better-made articles than each could make for itself, but also brino-s the different INTERTRIBAL DIVISION OF LABOUR. 271 tribes together and spreads among them ideas and news of general interest. The startling rapidity with which news spreads through vast tracts in which there seems to be no organised system of communication, and in which civilisation is altogether wanting, has surprised travellers in all quarters of the world. If, for instance, an event, possibly quite trivial in itself, but yet of interest to the Indians, happens in any part of the in terior of Guiana, news of it reaches even the most remote of the Indians with a rapidity almost as great, if not as certain as could be achieved by the best system of postal communi cation. Naturally, Indians of one tribe constantly visit each other, and these carry news of all that has passed in their own neighbourhood. It is more strange that news is as rapidly passed from tribe to tribe, however hostile the one may be to the other. The reason of this is to be found in the system of division of labour, which has arisen in quite a natural way. Each tribe has some manufacture peculiar to itself ; and its- members constantly visit the other tribes, often hostile, for the purpose of exchanging the products of their own labour for such as are produced only by the other tribes. These trading Indians are allowed to pass unmolested through the enemy's country. When living among the Macusis, I was often amused by a number of those Indians rushing into my house, in the walls of which we had had windows pierced, who, with bated breath, half in joy, half in terror, used to point ¦ through the' window to some party of their enemies, the Arecunas, coming with cotton-balls and blow-pipes for ex change. It is these traders who carry with them the latest news. Of the tribes on the coast, the Warraus make far the best ^canoes and supply these to the neighbouring tribes. They also make hammocks of a peculiar kind, which are not, how ever, much in request except among themselves. ,In the same way, far in the interior, the Wapianas build boats for all the tribes in that district^ The Macusis have two special 272 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. products which are in great demand amongst all the- tribes. One is the ourali used for poisoning arrows and the darts of blow-pipes, the other is an abundance of cotton hammocks— for, though these are now often made by the Wapianas and True Caribs, the Macusis are the chief makers\The Arecunas grow, spin, and distribute most of the cotton which is used by the Macusis and others for hammocks and other articles, The Arecunas also supply all blow-pipes ; for these are made of the stems of a palm which, growing only in and be yond the Venezuelan boundary of their territory, are pro cured by the Arecunas, doubtless by exchange, from the Indians of the native district of that palm. The Tarumas and the Woyowais have a complete monopoly of the manu facture of the graters on which Indians of all the tribes grate their cassava. These two remote tribes are also the great breeders and trainers of hunting dogs. /The Tarumas and Woyowais, however, though it is said that they sometimes pass down the rivers of Dutch Guiana towards the sea-coast of Surinam, do not travel from their own territories into any other part of British Guiana, but distribute their cassava- graters and their dogs through the Wapianas, who act as middle-men. The True Caribs, again, are the most skilful potters ; and though the Arawaks frequently, and the other Indians occa sionally, make vessels for their own use, yet these are by no means as good as those which, whenever possible, they obtain from the Caribs. The Arawaks make fibre hammocks of a kind peculiar to them. They also make a good deal of pot tery for their own use. Possibly in former times they pro duced some other manufacture of more importance to the other Indians ; but now they have become so far civilised, and have so far adopted habits similar to those of the colonists, that they no longer have need of much intercourse with other Indians; for which reasons few traces of any arts peculiar to them are discoverable. The Ackawoi alone, so far as I know, have no special product interchangeable for those of their neighbours. These Indians are especially EXCHANGE OF PRODUCTS. 273 dreaded and disliked by all the others ; and it is possible tjiat the want of intercourse thus occasioned between this tribe and the others forced the Ackawoi to produce for them selves all that they required. It is, further, possible that to this enforced -self-dependence is due the miserable condi tion of most of the Ackawoi. To interchange their manufactures the Indians make long journeys. The Wapianas visit the countries of the Tarumas and the Woyowais, carrying with them canoes, cot ton hammocks, and now very frequently knives, beads, and other European goods ; and, leaving their canoes and other merchandise, they walk back, carrying with them a supply of cassava-graters, and leading hunting dogs — all which things they have received in exchange for the things which they took\ The Macusis visit the Wapiana settlements to obtain graters and dogs, for which they give ourali-poison and cot ton hammocks ; and they again carry such of these graters and dogs as they do not themselves require, together with more of their own ourali and of their cotton hammocks, to other Indians — to the Arecunas, who give in return bails of cotton or -blow-pipes; or to the True Caribs, who pay in pottery. In this way, travellers with goods and with news constantly pass from district to district. Richard Schomburgk has suggested that a higher degree of ornament is apparent in the manufactures of each tribe the further that tribe lives from the sea-coast. There is some slight ground for this suggested theory. The ham mocks of the coast tribes, indeed of all the tribes of British Guiana, are strong, but without ornament. On the frontiers of Brazil live tribes who introduce blue and yellow threads into their hammocks ; and but very little farther away, on the Eio Xegro, hammocks edged with the beautiful feather work of the Indians of Brazil begin to appear. Again, even within British Guiana, as one advances from the coast inland, more and more elaborate patterns are to be seen on paddles, on pottery, and on utensils of all sorts, and more and more feathers .are worn as personal ornaments. On the other T 274 AMONG THE INDIANS OF. GUIANA. hand, the Indians of the coast, with the exception perhaps of the Warraus, certainly surpass those more inland in the neatness and strength of their weapons, especially their arrows, which, after all, are the most valuable and important of their possessions. ' The ornaments which the Indians paint upon their pottery, weapons, aud sometimes upon the posts and walls of their houses, are of a very simple kind. Generally they are mere lines, curved or straight, drawn free-hand and according to the will of the artist, combined in very irre gular patterns. Sometimes a rude and childish drawing of a figure of a man or of some other animal may be distin guished. It is somewhat curious that Schomburgk thought that all such ornamentation, even of weapons, was done by women ; but, however that may have been in his time, it is now certainly as often the work of men as of women. We must now glance, as briefly as the subject admits, at the various Indian products, and learn the ways in which they are made. The pottery first claims attention. The clay vessels made by the Indians are all of a few very simple and unvaried forms. The ' buck-pot ' (see Fig. 19 a) is the most universal. In form this is not unlike an ordinary fish-globe, but has a wider lip or rim; it stands in a saucer, which serves also on occasion as a lid. It is in these vessels that all the food of the Indians is cooked. One or two vessels, like ' buck-pots ' in form, but very much larger — being often two feet in diameter and two and a half feet in height, and without a saucer — may be seen in almost every house (see Fig. 19 b). These are for holding casiri or paiwari, the two favourite beverages of the Indian. The casiri-jar is so large and heavy that to prevent the body, or belly, from breaking away from the rim when the vessel is full of heavy liquor, the lower part is bound round with a network of bush-rope, the tough and pliant stems of certain creeping plants. It seems not impossible that in some, though not all cases, where, in other parts of the world, pottery is found marked on the outside as though POTTERY. 275 with basket-work, and this is regarded as evidence that pottery was originally made by lining baskets with clay, the real explanation may be that, as in the case of the casiri- jar, the pottery was bound with basket-work for the sake of greater strength. Goglets (see Fig. 19 c and n), clay bottles with globular bodies and long straight necks, are made, and used to con tain liquids by the forest tribes, but not by the savannah Indians, who use the empty skins of gourds and calabashes in their stead. Another vessel (see Fig. 1 9 e), made chiefly by the True Caribs and Arawaks, and seldom used by the other tribes, is Trr-ES op Pottery. the sappoora. This is shaped hke an ordinary basin, and is used, not for cooking, but for holding food. / Various degrees of skill are shown by the women of the different tribes in making pottery. As has been said, the True Caribs are the most skilful. Moreover, the success of the potter seems also in part due to the place from whence the clay is obtained ; for ft differs much In different places. The clay from certain places on the Cuyuni river is said by the Indians to be the best in the colony ; and more goods are always asked in exchange for a vessel made of this clay. The clay from the Pomeroon river is said to be of very bad quality ; vessels made of it are certainly remarkably fragile. The best- of the vessels are, in appearance, as perfect in shape and as truly curved as though made with the potter's T 2 276 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. wheel ; and yet they are formed by the hand alone, guided only by the eye. A flat, circular sheet of clay, the foundation of the in tended buck-pot, or goglet, is first laid on a small piece of board. The rest of the clay has been rolled between the palms of the hand into long cylindrical pieces as thick as a man's thumb. One of these rolls is now laid round the edge of the foundation so as to stand up round it like the rim of a tray. This rim is now manipulated between the finger and thumb ; it is amalgamated with the clay of the foundation ; it is flattened and smoothed ; and, with great nicety, exactly that curve is given to it which it will have to bear as a part of the body of the vessel. On top of this another roll is now applied ; and this is manipulated in the same way. In this way the vessel is gradually built up piece by piece ; and its walls, though moulded only by the fingers, acquire a perfectly true curve. To smooth the edge or lip of the vessel, a piece of the shell of a calabash is used. A piece is carefully cut out from one side of the shell, so that the space left exactly corresponds with the intended lip of the vessel. By means of this nick, the shell is then fitted on to the edge of the vessel, and is passed round its circum ference. This of course smooths away any inequalities in the clay, and leaves a perfectly smooth edge. In the same way, either a projecting ledge or a groove is sometimes made in the soft clay by way of ornament, entirely round the body of the growing vessel. In such cases, aocording as a ledge or groove is to be made, a groove of the required shape and size is made in the edge of the calabash-shell, or a projection is left on its edge. After the vessel has been shaped, it is smoothed and polished by much rubbing with a water-worn pebble — pre ferably a piece of porphyry or, if it can be had, an old Indian stone axe-head. Suitable porphyry pebbles rounded by the action of water, occur in many of the smaller rivers of the interior ; these are collected and form a regular article of trade. If I am not mistaken, the so-called ' charm stones ' POTTERY. 277 which Schomburgk and others obtained from the Indians under the impression that they were worn into their present shape merely by being long held in the hands of Indian chil dren, in a form of divination, are in reality the natural water- worn "pebbles used by potters. After being polished the pot is dried in the sun. Some time after this, a pattern is drawn on the vessel with pieces of the bark of various trees, the juice of which produces markings of -red, brown, pink, or black. Rude figures of animals are often drawn in this way, and, at other times, geometric patterns of spiral, curved, or straight lines. Some of the True Caribs have the knack of producing a fine glaze on the vessel, by the application of certain juices to the clay in this stage of its manufacture. The vessels finally are slowly baked over. a fire. This brings out the glaze or the pattern, if any is prepared, or if, as is often the case, the bark of a certain tree, called by the Arawaks kawta (Artocarpus ?), burned and ground to powder, has been mixed with the clay, leaves the vessels quite black; or if neither of these precautions have been taken, leaves the vessels hard, but of the natural yellow colour of the clay. They are then finished. The labour and care devoted to building up an enormous casiri-jar, bit by bit, with inch-broad strips of clay, and the wonderful skill. shown in keeping the walls of the growing, structure perfectly round, are worthy of notice. Often, indeed, the women fail in many attempts before they suc cessfully fashion one of these large vessels ; and even after one has been made, it often cracks or breaks during the baking. A perfected casiri-jar, especially if it is much ornamented, is highly valued ; one especially fine specimen, which I had often tried in vain to get, I only secured at last by bar-gaining for it one day when I happened to find its owner merry and good-humoured after a long drinking feast. ' It is only vessels of the two or three shapes which she and her ancestors have long been accustomed to make that the Indian woman can make well and perfectly round. 278 AMONG THE INDIANS OF 'GUIANA. Asked or unasked, the women who come in contact with white people frequently imitate such vessels of European structure as they may see, such as teapots, cups and saucers, tumblers, or wineglasses ; but these articles are always mis shapen and untrue in. curve. Before passing from the subject of Indian pottery, it must be noted that the vessels made are strikingly similar in form to the ruder forms of those found in the Xorth American earth-mounds. The ' buck-pot ' and the goglet are exactly matched in shape by vessels from these mounds ; but those made by the present Indians of Guiana are more highly finished than most, at any rate, of those left behind by the old Xorth American mound-makers. Another sig nificant fact is that, while the Indian women of Guiana are shaping the clay, their children, imitating them, make small pots and goglets. Many of these toy vessels' may be seen in and about almost every Indian house. The large number of vessels too small for practical use which occur in the North American mounds, and the object of which has long been a question, were, judging by analogy, probably made by the children of the mound-makers. The Indians — this time the men — are very skilful basket-makers. Baskets of various shapes are used by them for many different purposes. The material used for all fine basket-work is the split, reed-like stems of a kind of maranta (Ischnosiphon), called iturite by the Indians. For rougher work other species of iturite are used ; and for the roughest of all, the unsplit stems of certain creepers, especially one called by the Indians mamoorie (Carludovica plumierii) are iised. The so-called pegalls ! are made to contain all loose arrow-heads, a ball of cotton for binding, some wax, such beads and other ornaments as are not in use, and all the other smaller properties of the Indian. The pegalls of the ! The word jtegalla is possibly a genuine Carib word; but the form pach-all which is used by colonists, is, when the object of this basket is remembered, suspicious. . BASKET-WORK. 279 Arawaks, Ackawoi, and Warraus are generally square in shape. The basket itself and its lid are of exactly the same shape, and the latter, being rather the larger, slips over the former and entirely covers it. It is, perhaps hardly neees- Fig. 20. I Cassava Sifter. sary to observe that the 'nests ' of these pegalls, which are often exported, are only made as curiosities for Europeans. Many True Caribs make their pegalls of a peculiar oblong shape, "with very gracefully curved lines, and adorn them with long strings of thick white cotton on which are knots of coloured feathers. Round pocket-shaped baskets, without Fig. 21. Haclsi Biiead Basket. lids, but covered with loose leaves if there is • need of pro tection, are chiefly used by the Indians of the savannah, instead of the more ordinary pegalls. Sometimes, especially by the True Caribs, each pegall, basket and lid alike, is made double, and between the two ;280 AMONG -THE INDIANS OF GULVNA. layers of basket-work certain leaves (Ischnosiphon) are in serted, to render the whole basket waterproof. Most of the implements used in making cassava-bread are of basket-work. The matapie, a very peculiar basket, by means of which the bitter, poisonous juice is expressed from the cassava, has already been described (Fig. 18, p. 261). The square sieve (Fig. 20, p. 279) through which the cassava- meal is sifted before it is strewn on the baking-iron is made of basket-work. To hold the cassava-bread when made, large square tray-like baskets (Fig. 21, p. 279), with little or no rim, rue made by the Macusis and Arecunas, and similar, but much Fig. 22. AUAIYAK BKAD BASKET. deeper baskets (Fig. 22), raised some distance above the ground on wooden legs, are made and used for the same purpose by the Arawaks, True Caribs, and most other Indians of the forest. Another basket in common use is the suriana, which is used for carrying heavy loads • of cassava and other roots home from the fields, for bringing in firewood, and for carrying hammocks, cooking utensils, and all other goods when travelling. This basket is shaped like a slipper ; the Hat side, answering to the sole of the slipper, fits against the back of the carrier ; a string is laced backward and forward across the open side, so as to keep the contents of the basket from falling out ; and a strong and broad band, cut from the inner bark of a tree, passes from the two upper corners BASKET-WORK. 281 of the basket across the forehead of the carrier so as to support the whole weight. The quake, again, is a much- used basket with rounded bottom, and is made of very open wicker-work." Quakes are used for storing provisions ; they - also serve as cages to confine young birds and animals which are being tamed ; and they are used for half a hundred other everyday purposes. Special baskets are also made to hold the cotton fibre when it has been separated from the seeds before being spun. These are round, shaped like flat basins, or, rather, saucers. Most of these baskets — all indeed, except some of the surianas and quakes, are made in much the same way, and of the same .material. The very strong stems of iturite, which grows commonly in the forest, are split into many parallel pieces. These pieces are sometimes used in their natural state, sometimes peeled and bleached, sometimes stained black. They are closely woven together, so that the walls of the basket are as dense as cloth. If the materials used are of various colours, the different kinds are so care fully interwoven as to produce very intricate patterns in the finished basket. Waist-belts, to support the cloth lap, are also made of these strips of iturite stems by the Macusi. The rougher surianas and quakes — those which are only intended for very brief use — are woven either of certain sorts of bush-rope, which ' are especially strong and suitable for the purpose, or of strips of iturite, as described above, but 'very roughly prepared ; or again, if they are required for some 'emergency, and only for a very brief time, they are rapidly woven of the leaflets of a single palm-leaf. The quake, which, next to the buck-pot, is the most 'used of all the possessions of the Indian, is, as has been said, much used for packing provisions, such as farine, salt, and cassava bread which is to be kept for some time. But the quakes are loosely woven, and have large holes, through which such things as farine— coarse meal made of cassava —and salt would certainly fall out. They are, therefore, 282 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. lined with the broad oval leaves of the iturite. The bot tom of the basket having been lined with a single layer of leaves placed in beautifully regular order, a line of the leaves is placed, their stalks on the bottom, their upper part against the sides of the baskets. As much farine or salt is then poured in as reaches nearly to the top of the first line of leaves. The lining is then carried up higher, one more row of leaves being added, their stems secured in the farine. More farine is poured in, and the processes are continued until the basket is full. A covering of leaves is then added and tied down. In this way the contents of the basket are entirely guarded against all damp. The Xikari-karus, a curious hybrid tribe of Indians, living on the Brazilian borders, are peculiar in making their pegalls of the leaves of a palm (Orbigignia) very rare in British Guiana, but growing near the Oorooa rapids on the Eoopoo nooni. These pegalls are square or oblong in shape, hke those of the Arawaks. Indian basket-work is so beautifully neat, that it is much to be regretted that the art pf producing it is fast, dying out, at least wherever the influence of white men is felt. Missionaries would certainly be doing good work if they endeavoured to revive and retain this and all other such native arts. Having so lately spoken ofthe baskets used in the manu facture of cassava bread, it may be as well to find place here for some account of the cassava-graters. These are, as has been said, made only by the Woyowais and Tarumas, and are distributed throughout the interior of the colony by the Wapianas. They are oblong boards, with a slight curve. parallel with their length. On the concave surface of this many small holes are drilled, and in each of these a sm 11 and angular fragment of granite or other hard stone is in serted, so as to project slightly. The whole is then rubbed over with a strong black vegetable pitch, called karamanni, so that the holes are entirely filled up ; and the stones, as soon as the pitch is dry, are firmly fixed. The result is that SPINNING. 283 this side of the board is roughened like a large nutmeg- grater, and on this the cassava roots are scraped up and down, and are thus reduced to pulp. Sometimes the top of the board is painted and carved. Before handing them over to the Wapianas, the makers pack each carefully in a single layer of the waterproof iturite leaves. Thread, or string, is one of the first of human wants, being needed for fishing-lines, bow-strings, and for tying purposes ; and in a very slightly higher stage of civilisation the art of twisting this thread into some sort of cloth is at tained. The Indians of Guiana have, therefore, of course provided themselves with string to be used in the first- mentioned simple ways ; and they have even attained some slight knowledge of its use for the latter purpose. Their string is made of but three kinds of fibre. These are cotton, the fibre called tibisiri, which is obtained from the reta palm (Mauritia flexuosa), and that called crowia, which is pro cured from the silk grass-plant (Bromelia and Anannassa). A small quantity of cotton is grown and spun by almost all Indians, but by far the larger part of that used by them is prepared by the Arecunas, and is distributed by them among the other tribes. JEta. palms grow, sometimes in very considerable quantity, in swampy places throughout the colony. Silk-grass, though also an indigenous plant, is cultivated in almost every Indian field. Tibisiri and crowia are gathered and prepared by each Indian as they are required. Mta. fibre, the tibisiri of the Arawak Indians, is pre pared from the young leaf of the palm (Mauritia flexuosa). The leaf, when fully developed, is fan-shaped, but it first appears folded in a spike which springs from the very centre of the plant. It is from this spike that the fibre is obtained. Fibre taken from the spikes of old plants is not nearly as strong as that taken from young plants. Each leaf, or spike, is taken singly ; a sharp dexterous rub at the top separates the outer skin, and the whole of this is then torn off. This is the" fibre, the resfiswaste. It is further prepared by 284 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. boiling, drying in the sun, and twisting into strings, in a way which will' presently be explained. The fibre from a dozen such spikes is sufficient to make a large hammock. Crowia— called silk-grass fibre in the colony— is in geniously extracted from the leaves of a bromelia, and some times of various species of anannassa, plants like huge pine apples. A string, from which hangs a small noose, with a slip knot large enough to allow the pointed top of one of the leaves to pass through, is tied round a tree. A single leaf is then split up the midrib from the point where it was cut from the plant nearly to the top ; and each of the two halves thus separated is bent back so as to lie flat against the unsplit top of the leaf. The latter is then passed throuo-h the noose, so as to hang down on one side of the string, while the split parts of the leaf hang down on the other. The noose, by means of the slip knot, is then made smaller, so as to confine the leaf tightly. The Indian then takes the point of the leaf in his hand, and by a sudden and strong pull, forces the whole leaf toward him, through the loop. The green skin and soft matter are torn or rubbed off against the string of the loop, and only the long tough fibres pass through and remain in a neat bundle in the hand of the Indian. After this the fibre is washed, to free it from what remains of the green matter, is dried in the sun, and is then ready for use. It assumes a very white colour, and, unlike tibisiri, which turns yellow in the water, washes well. It is a remarkable fact that, at least among the Arawaks, the men peel the leaf from the bottom upward, the women from the extreme point downward to the base of the leaf. Both these fibres — tibisiri and crowia — are twisted into string in a very simple and ingenious way, but one which would be impossible to all except people such as these Indians. A proper number of the parallel fibres are held firmly by one end in the left hand, the remainder of the fibres resting across the naked right thigh. The palm of the right hand is laid across the fibres and, therefore, parallel to the thigh. By a very rapid downward and sideward motion of the right SPINNING. 285 hand, followed by a slight backward motion, the fibres are rolled downward along the thigh and become spirally twisted. And this spiral is retained. The single strand thus produced is used for making hammocks; but three strands are rolled together, in the same way, to make the string used for bow-lines ; and three of the triple cords — some times nine strands — are used in making hammock-ropes. The bodily form and the habits of the Indian are such as render the making of the string in this way easy ; for not only are their thighs naked, but their skins are smooth and hairless. If a European tries to do this same thing, the small hairs on his skin are caught up among the fibres and are twisted in with them ; and this is not only painful, but it also prevents .the work from being done quickly and evenly enough to be successful. Similarly, the Indian women, whose duty it is to prepare the twine for hammock-making, so soon as they become so far civilised as to wear dresses, have to give up this work. The string prepared from the seta is strong, but is not nearly so even and regular as that from the silk-grass. The latter kind of fibre is made in much smaller quantity, and is only used for the most important purposes. The cotton is gathered and spun by the women. The fibre having been carefully extracted from the pods and freed from seeds, is pulled by hand into a long, uneven, and loose band. One end of this is fastened to a hook at the end of a small spindle — one of a pair — which is held between the thumb and one finger of the left hand. About six or eight inches of the band of cotton hangs freely from this spindle,. and the remainder is wound loosely round the right wrist. Each of the spindles is a round wooden stick, about eight or ten inches in length, which passes, at about two inches from the end which is held in the hand, through a circular disc, or whorl, of bone. This whorl serves as a guard, beyond which the spun cotton when wound round the spindle cannot 1 pass. At the other end of the spindle is the small hook to which the end' of the loose cotton band is fastened. .§86 AMONG THE INDIANS OF -GUIANA. The spindle, after the cotton has been arranged as described, is twirled rapidly round between the finger and the thumb; and at the same time the right hand is raised and removed fmther from the left. The circular motion given by the twirling of the spindle twists the fibres to gether ; and the band, being extended by the gradual separation of the hands, is reduced to the thickness of the required thread. But certain parts of the compact thread thus produced are thicker than others. These thicker parts are, therefore, pressed in with the fingers of the right hand ; and the thread being yet more extended, the whole becomes even and of one thickness. The part of the strand thus finished is then wound round the spindle without breaking its connection with the band round the right wrist. More of the latter is now unwound and spun in the same way. The first spindle, when as much as it will carry has been wound round it, is put aside till the second has been filled in the same way. The thread thus prepared is of course but a single strand. Cotton of three thicknesses is used for three different purposes. Very fine cotton js used especially for binding the heads on to the shafts of arrows ; a thicker kind is used, somewhat as in knitting, for making various articles, such as the bands worn round the arm and leg ; and the thickest kind is made into hammocks. All these consist of but two strands ; but the strands themselves are more or less thick according to the kind of cotton into which they are to be combined. If, for instance, a very fine strand is to be made, for arrow cotton, very little cotton is put into the original band ; and while the spindle is being twisted, this band is much further extended than would be the case if a thicker strand were being made. Whatever the thickness of the strands, they are twisted together from the two spindles on to a third and larger spindle, exactly in the same way as the fibres were spun into the single strand. The cotton, when it has been wound from this third spindle on to a ball, is then ready for use, and is TRIBAL DIFFERENCES IN SPINNING. 287 care-fully wrapped in leaves, tied round with string, and put aside until- it is required. Attention will doubtless be at once attracted to the curious fact that in each one of the tribes these two distinct methods of twisting fibres into threads are employed side by side : one, the rude, laborious, and often painful method of rolling the fibres on the thigh; the other the much more apt, simple, and less laborious method by use of the spindle. It might naturally be supposed that a tribe which had once attained to .a knowledge of the better of these two methods -would at once cease to use the worse ; and I believe it is really an unusual thing in other parts of the world to see tribes long retaining two such methods side by side. But I think there is a very simple and significant explanation of the anomalous state of the art of spinning in Guiana. Two facts must be observed : that the spindle is used only for cotton, the other fibres being twisted on the thigh ; and that, though all the three. fibres are used by each of the tribes, yet cotton is used especially by, the Carib tribes, the other fibres especially by the other tribes. In illustration of the latter of these two facts, it is sufficient to point out that the hammock, which is the most important, and indeed the only considerable- form of woven work used by the Indians, is, as we shall presently see, made of cotton by all the Carib tribes, of palm or other fibre by the other tribes. Now, we have - elsewhere found many reasons for supposing that the tribes not of -Carib origin were the earlier, inhabitants of Guiana, and that the various Carib tribes came into the country later. It therefore requires no great stretch of - imagination to suppose that the Carib tribes brought with them the habit of using cotton and the spindle; and that .the tribes previously in Guiana had before used only palm and silk-grass fibre, and had twisted these on their thighs. The two sets of -people, the thigh-twisters and the spindle- users, having,if . not intermingled, yet come into proximity, each adopted, for certain minor purposes, the kind of fibre used by the other; and with the fibre they adopted the 32 8 S AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. method of preparing it. Thus not only is an explanation afforded of the simultaneous use of the better and the worse method, but additional light is thrown on the Carib migra tion into Guiana. Each of the three kinds of fibre is used in the- simple form of string. Tibisiri, which is coarse and makes but rough strands, is used for the rougher purposes, as for the laces of the sandals used on the stony parts of the savannah, for hammocks, and occasionally for hammock-ropes. It may perhaps be as well to note here that for rough tying purposes — as, for example, in lashing together the beams and posts of his house, in fastening on the thatch, in fastening together the various parts of his boats, and in many other such ways — the Indian uses no artificial rope or string, but the natural ropes .or strings afforded by the larger or smaller stems of certain pliant creepers. Crowia fibre, since it can be made into much stronger and more even string, is used for all more important purposes — for bow-strings, fishing-lines, and especially for hammock-ropes. Entire hammocks are occa sionally, but very rarely, made of it. Cotton is used for many such purposes as binding on the heads of arrows, and for ornament, as in the numerous long streamers which float from the feather head-dress of the Indian and hang from his necklaces and other ornaments, and from his arms. It is in the manufacture of their hammocks that the Indians first exercise the art of weaving their thread into textile fabrics, though only of a very simple kind. The three kinds of hammocks chiefly produced in British Guiana are made either of cotton or of tibisiri fibre. Cotton hammocks are made by the Macusis and Wapianas, and occasionally — though in a slightly different way — by the True Caribs. They are made on a square frame, formed of four bars of wood. These bars are so fitted together that two of them — those forming the top and bottom of the frame — can be slid along the other two, so as to reduce the size of the rectangular space which they enclose and make it correspond with the size of what the intended hammock is to be (Fig. 23). HAMMOCK-MAKING. 289 A continuous length of cotton thread is then wound round and round' the frame, from side to side, or from top to bottom, in such a way that the threads lie parallel, and are equidistant from each other. These lengths of the thread form the longitudinal bars of the hammock. The cross-bars are then put in. Three reels, or shuttles, charged with cotton thread, are provided. Each cross-bar consists of three strands of cotton — from the three reels — which are simply plaited together, each of the longitudinal bars of the hammock being successively inserted into one of the plaits. When the first cross-bar has been carried entirely across the width of the hammock, its three threads are broken, and a new Fro. 23. JP^i Cakie Hethod of jiakixo a Hammock. cross-bar is begun parallel to, and a short distance from, the former. When all the cross-bars have been inserted, the hammock is taken off the frame. So far the work has been done by the women. The hammock is then handed over to the men, who always prepare and add the scale lines. These scale-lines are of much thicker cotton than is the hammock ; to fit them properly, so that the hammock hangs evenly, is an operation requiring extreme care. At each end of the hammock is a series of loops, formed by those- parts of the longitudinal threads which passed round the side-bars of the wooden. frame. The scale-line having been fastened to the first of these loops, a certain length of it is allowed to hang u 290 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. loose; it is then passed through the second loop and a slightly longer length is allowed to hang loose, and in the same way it is passed through each successive loop, a certain definite length being left to hang loose between each two. These loose loops of scale-line must be very nicely measured and adjusted; for only if the centre one is the shortest, and each successive one, on either side, is made longer than the one before it, so that the outermost is the longest, will the hammock hang evenly and comfortably. Lastly, when the ends of these scale-lines furthest from the hammock have been bound together, the hammock is finished. Fibre hammocks, made in the same way, but of parallel threads of tibisiri fibre, with cross-bars now generally of cotton but formerly probably also of tibisiri, are made by the Arawaks. Similar hammocks are probably made by the remote Woyawais and Tarumas ; though, as hammocks made by these Indians are never seen outside the eountrv in which they are made, it is impossible to speak with certainty as to their kind. Another kind of fibre hammock is made only by the Warraus. These are also made of tibisiri fibre, but the thread, instead of being arranged in straight lines, is netted as in an old-fashioned silk purse. The square wooden frame on which these hammocks are made lies on the ground; and the whole hammock is netted of one continuous string. Each tribe, besides the large hammocks of its own peculiar kind, makes small hammocks, or rather broad 'endless bands' of tbe same kind, in which, being worn by the women over the shoulder, the children are carried. All these hammocks, are, however, almost too loose in their texture to deserve the name of cloth. Cloth, indeed, as we have it, is but little needed by Indians, in that they wear hardly any clothing. Yet these people do make some fabrics of far closer texture than that of the hammocks above described. One example is to be seen in the so-called Brazilian hammocks, which are woven of cotton, often coloured, as closely as felt, by some few True Caribs ; but it is certain CLOTH-MAKING. 291 that this art has merely been copied from some of the half- civilised Brazilian -Indian half-breeds who have settled on some of the rivers. A genuine Indian advance in the art of weaving is, however, to be seen in the broad cloth-like cotton bands" which are worn by some tribes round the legs and arms, being, curiously enough, woven on to the limbs, and so without seam; and also in certain narrow cotton fillets, of equally compact texture, which the women wear round then hair, on certain festal occasions, and the men wear round the lower edge of their feather crowns. In both these cases the web is put together by means of a number of sticks like knitting needles ; aud the stitches are all of one kind. A further ahd very much greater advance in the art is to be seen in certain curious strips of cotton cloth worn by men (Fig. 6, p. '200) from shoulder to shoulder during feasts, in which, by means of various stitches, a distinct pattern is produced; but the art of making this particular cloth has already been lost, and the cloths themselves are exceedingly rare. Of the only two which I was able to procure, or, in deed, ever saw, one is now in Georgetown Museum, the other in the British Museum. Before Europeans went westward and supplied the Indians with ready-made cloth, it is probable that some of these people wove for themselves, in the way that the leg bands are now woven, both the long narrow strip of cloth which, passed between the legs, forms the only garment of these men, and the small apron which serves a similar pur pose in the case of the women. In some tribes, however, then, as now in very rare cases, the soft cloth-like inner bark of a tree (Leeythis) was used for these pm-pqses. Some of the Arecuna' women in very remote places still make their aprons of cotton, adorned with seeds instead of beads. The invention of the simple art of plaiting probably is of older date than that of weaving ; but it seems more con venient to speak of it, as practised by the Indians, in this place. It is employed chiefly, if not only, in making the belts which the men wear round their waists to support the u2 292 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. cloth passed between their legs. These are plaited, ap parently of different materials by different tribes, sometimes of cotton, sometimes of fibre, sometimes of strips of the material used for basketwork, and sometimes of hair, either of men or monkeys. Schomburgk speaks of human hair having been frequently used for this purpose only forty years ago ; but, probably because intertribal war has now almost ceased to be waged, monkeys' hair is now far more commonly used. Lastly, it may be pointed out as somewhat curious that, though the work of spinning and weaving is in other respects naturally enough distributed between the sexes, the cotton fillets worn by the women round their heads are made only by the men. Not the least admirable of the simple arts of the Indians of British Guiana is that of working in wood. Only the men do this. The axes, scrapers, and chisels of stone which once formed their whole stock of wood-working implements are no longer used. Yet even now, as a rule, the only tools used to transform the rough block of wood into the required shape are an axe, a cutlass, and a knife. Sometimes a small adze is also used; nails too are now sometimes obtained from Europeans and used. But an Indian is quite capable of building his house, or hewing a beautifully neat boat, stool, or other such article, from a rough block of wood, without the use of any implement beyond his axe and cutlass. So much of the life of these Indians being spent on the water, boat-building is the most important form of carpenter's craft practised by them; The boats made are of four kinds ¦ — the canoe, the eorial, the buckshell, and the woodskin. Each of these forms was possibly once peculiar to a special tribe ; but they are now nearly, though not quite, indis criminately used. The Warraus on the coast, and the Wapianas in the interior, are the most apt boat-builders, and the canoes which these make form their principal article of barter with the other tribes.. When a canoe is to be made, a suitable tree is carefully BOAT-MAKING. 293 sought in the forest, often at a long distance from the nearest river or creek. I have known cases in which this distance was more than two miles, through dense, pathless bush. The tree is felled, and is roughly hewn, on the spot where it falls, into the shape of the required canoe. It is then hol lowed, partly with axe or adze, partly by burning out the interior. Sometimes at this stage, but sometimes not till it is finished, it is carried down to the river. A path through the bush down to the water-side having been cleared and laid with cross-pieces of wood as runners, the canoe is laboriously dragged to the water. At this stage the two sides of the canoe are much closer together than they will eventually be, and are parallel to each other throughout the greater part of their length, so that, instead of the canoe ending in a point at the bow and another at the stern, there is a gap left at each of these points such as would be .produced by cutting off the bow and stern of a boat of ordinary shape perpendicularly to the water-line. The Indian boat-builder has next to open the canoe further, to bend the sides from .each other, and to give these sides the proper curve. The gaps at bow and stern are now explained ; for the sides could not be forced sufficiently apart from each other if they were joined firmly at bow or stern. There are several ways of forcing the sides apart and giving them their proper shape. Sometimes the canoe is inverted over a fire till the action of the heat spreads the sides ; sometimes it is filled with wet sand, the weight of which eventually forces the sides, softened by the moisture, outward ; and sometimes the canoe is sunk for a considerable time in running water, and when the wood has thus been made pliant, the sides are forced asunder by driving large wedge-shaped pieces of timber in-between them. In any case, as soon as the sides have been spread, bars of hard wood, about an inch and a half in diameter, are fixed firmly across within the canoe from side to side, so as to prevent the sides from again approaching each other. The benches, too, are at once fixed in their places and help the same purpose. s 294 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. Two triangular pieces of plank-like wood are then cut and fitted into the gaps at bow and stern. The side and 'squared' ends of the whole canoe are raised by the addition of a plank or ' extra-streak.' The junction of this streak with the dug-out body of the canoe is carefully caulked with shreds scraped from fhe inner bark of certain trees, and is pitched with hyawa — i.e. the resin of a common tree (Idea heptaphylla)—or with kammanni, which is a curious pitch-like substance, with very strong adhesive powers, much used by the Indians, not only as pitch, but also as glue. It is obtained from a very beautiful tree, the manni of the Indians (Siphonia bacoidifera). Before it is used it is generally, if not always, mixed — by melting the two together — with the wax of a wild bee.1 ' The following note, supplied by a correspondent, on canoe-building as it is yet practised in some of the West Indian islands, from which places the ancestors of many of the Indians of Guiana doubtless came, exhibits a marked case of the survival pf old habits, notwithstanding the introduction of new, and presumably better, European methods : * It may not be with out interest to mention that in St. Vincent, St. Lucia, and Grenada canoes are generally used along the coast in lieu of built boats. These canoes are often of considerable size, capable of carrying ten or twelve passenger?, with more cargo in the shape of barrels of flour, quintals of salt fish, &c, than their apparently frail construction would seem to warrant. They are rowed by a crew of four or six men, always Creoles. The shells are in variably furnished — at all events in St. Vincent — by the Caribs. A small settlement of those people, distinguished as Black Caribs, sprung from intermarriage between the aboriginal yellow Carib and some Africans landed from a slaver wrecked on a neighbouring island some two hundred years ago, still exists on the leeward side. On the windward coast some of the more or less pure yellow-skinned Caribs are still to be found. These latter are invaluable as boatmen for the purpose of shipping pro duce. They are as much at home in the rolling breakers as on terra firma ; but rum, enm annexis as we say here, militates against their continued exist ence as a race. The tree used in St. Vincent is the " gommier,'' so called because it exudes a quantity of resin so fragrant as to be a chief ingredient in the incense used in the Roman Catholic churches. The tree is felled and treated much as Mr. im Thurn describes, but the practice in St. Vincent is to hollow out the trunk with fire and axe (formerly a stone implement) in the woods and to haul down the shell to the beach. There it is. spread by wet sand — the bow is never split down — but a triangular board o£ white pine is let in and a streak of the same material superadded ; then " knees '; of the white cedar (Bignonia lencoxyloii) keep it in form, and seats of pine complete the craft. Thole-pins of tamarind and oars of "Shoemakers' CORIALS AND BUCKSIIELLS. 295 If the canoe is to be used for long journeys, a tent is added for the protection, not of the Indians themselves, but of their goods. A number of sticks are bent into .semi circles-, and the two ends are fastened, ane against each side "of the canoe, so as to make a framework for the tent ; these are held in place by cross-sticks tied on at right angles ; and on the framework thus made a thatch of palm-leaves is laid. Sometimes— especially in the interior — instead of the thatch just described, two thin wiekerwork mats, each large enough to cover the whole frame of the tent, are made ; a layer of leaves (Ischnosiphon) having been placed between them, tbe'two are fastened one over the other, and the one mat thus produced, which is perfectly waterproof, can be laid on to the framework of the tent or taken off in a few minutes. This latter methed of making tent covers seems to have been learned from the Brazilian Indians, and it is rarely seen far from the border land. A ' corial ' resembles the dug-out body of a canoe without the plank- which raises the sides of the latter; as a rule, too, the corial is smaller than the canoe and is not flat — that is to say, its sides are not so widely opened. It is used more for short excursions, to fish or hunt, or to go to the field, while the canoe is used for long journeys. The ' buckshell ' is dug out from the trunk of a tree in the same way as the canoe and corial ; but it is made with pointed and closed ends, so that it is impossible to spread its sides as widely apart. Buckshells, on account of their shape, are more cranky, and more easily upset, but lighter to pull and more speedy, than canoes. Those made by the Arawaks and True Caribs differ slightly in shape. bark" (Byrsonima spicata) are usually preferred. For the latter, imported ash oars are sometimes substituted. A rudder of European shape is used. - In St. Lucia the construction is much the same, only the upper streak is- lower or sometimes entirely omitted, and the oar consists of a stick, with an oval board, perforated with two holes, lashed to it. A couple of cows, well lashed down,- are often brought across to St. Vincent in one of these "pirogues" — a word some of us first learned from "Robinson Crusoe." These craft are wonderfully buoyant. The canoe rarely upsets ; the only danger' arises" from overloading and swamping.' 296 AMONG THE INDIANS "OF GUIANA. The lightest and most easily made boats in use among these Indians are ' woodskins.' These are usually made of the bark either of the locust-tree (Hymencea courbaril) or of the purpleheart (Copaifera pubiflora). A strip of bark of sufficient length is first carefully taken from the tree, and this is cut to an oblong shape. The natural curve of the bark is carefully preserved. From each of the two long sides of this, between two and three feet from, either end, a wedge- shaped piece, the base of which corresponds with the outer edge of the bark, is cut out. The two ends of the whole strip of bark — that is to say, the short piece between each end and the nearest wedge-shaped incisions — are raised till the edges of the wedge-shaped slits meet; and these edges are then sewn together with bush-rope. This, therefore, raises the bow and stern at an angle from the water, while the body of the craft floats parallel to the water-line. Sticks of strong wood are sometimes, but not always, fastened round the gunwale inside the woodskin, to keep the bark in shape. Two or three small square pieces of bark are then laid, the rough side upward, on the floor of the woodskin ; these serve as seats for the passengers and rests for any goods carried. The craft is then ready. Woodskins are made and used chiefly by the Ackawoi and Arecunas, and also by such other Indians as live on rocky rivers much interrupted by falls and rapids. A woodskin, even when large enough to carry three or four Indians, with their goods, is so light that it can easily be taken from the water and carried past a fall or other obstruc tion to navigation in a few minutes. When not in use, woodskins are kept sunk under water, to prevent their splitting or warping under the action of the sun. The paddles, by which alone all these kinds of boats are generally propelled, are hewn merely with cutlass or knife, sometimes out of a solid block of timber, but more often, because more easily, out of one of the board-like natural buttresses of the ' paddle-wood ' tree (Aspidospermum ex- celsum). In appearance this tree is one of the most peculiar PADDLES AND SAILS. 297 in the forest; the trunk resembles a number of boards standing on end, one edge of each going to form the com mon centre from which they all radiate. In the South American forests there are many kinds of trees which have these queer board-like trunks, but in no other of these is this habit of growth so strongly developed as in the paddle- wood. The mora (Mora excelsa) for example, has board- like buttresses, but these radiate from a main trunk of considerable diameter and of the ordinary approximately round form ; but in the Aspidospermum the whole trunk, at any rate for some distance from the ground, often consists merely of boards. It will readily be understood that one of these buttresses can easily be shaped into a paddle. In shape the paddles vary but little throughout Guiana. All the tribes, with one exception, make and use paddles with broad, oblong blades and round shafts ; at the top of the shaft is a small semilunar handle, into whieh the hand of the paddler fits most readily and comfortably. The one ex ceptional -tribe is that of the Wapiana, who use paddles with perfectly circular blades, rounded shafts, and straight cross- handles. Similar paddles are in fashion among the Brazilian Indians of the Rio Branco, from whom, doubtless, f-'e neigh bouring Wapiana learned to use them. The paddles, what ever the shape, are often roughly ornamented with painted figures and patterns. Sometimes, though rarely, and principally on the lower, broader parts of the rivers near the sea-coast, square sails made of strips of the pith of the seta palm (Mauritia flexuosa) tied together somewhat as in a Venetian blind, are used to drive canoes. The Warraus seem more apt at making and using these sails than any other Indians ; but True Caribs and Arawaks, at any rate now,, occasionally use them. Next in importance among the wooden articles made and used by the Indians are the low seats or benches common in their houses, which are also hewn in spare moments from sohd blocks of wood. The very desirable object of these 29 S AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. seems to be to raise the hams of the Indian, when sitting, out of the reach of the jiggers which usually abound on the floors of the houses, and are painful enough when they enter the flesh of the feet, but are far more inconvenient in other parts of the body. These benches are from six to ten inches high, and they are often so carefully scooped out aud shaped to fit the body of the sitter that they are as com fortable as any cushioned stool could be. They are often forme.! into grotesque figures of tortoises, frogs, armadilloes, alligators, and other animals. One in the Christy collection, which, though not from Guiana, is Carib, is in the form of a man on all fours, the middle of his back forming the seat. Bright-coloured seeds, and occasionally pebbles, are inserted to represent the eyes. But, after all, the greatest time and care is spent in fashioning weapons, both offensive and defensive. These, instead of being roughly finished, as are boats, benches, and such large articles, are smoothed and polished as carefully as any piece of European furniture. For the first rough smoothing the palate bones of certain fish are used in place of files ; for the final smoothing the rough leaves of the trumpet-wood (Cecropia. peltata) are used in place of sand-paper by the Forest Indians, the somewhat similar leaves of a shrub (Curatella americona), very common on the savannahs, by the Savannah Indians. Of weapons of war the only kind now to be seen is the war-club, called tiki by the Carib tribes ; and even these are probably no longer made, and are carried more as orna ments than for use. They are made of hard heavy wood, and are often highly ornamented, being covered with a pat tern formed by engraving and filling the lines thus made with a white earth, brightly polished, and neatly bound with large quantities of red or white cotton from which fringes and streamers, tasselled with bright-coloured feathers, hang loose. Originally, apparently, they differed in' shape accord ing to the tribe which made them ; but these differences, as in so many other similar cases, seem now to be somewhat BENCHES AND WAR-CLUBS. 299 lost, and most of the. various forms of tiki may be seen in possession of any one of the tribes. The commoner forms are three in number. One is four-sided ; that part which is grasped in the hand is square, but from that point the sides gradually curve outward, the one end much more than the other, until they are abruptly cut off and end in both directions in flat surfaces at right angles to the sides (Fig. 24 c and d). This form appears to have been appropriated by the Macusis. Another type is shaped somewhat like a paddle, with a thin Fig. 24. T if I! S War Clubs. rounded shaft and a broad, flat, somewhat oval blade ; but the shaft, unlike that of a paddle, tapers to a very sharp point, which is said to be intended to stick into the ear of the enemy as a coup de grace after he has been knocked down by a blow from the knife-Uke edge of the blade. Different varieties of this type seem to have been appropriated by the Wapiana and the Arecuna(Fig. 24 a and b). The third kind is wedge-shaped, the pointed edge being that which forms the handle. There is nothing to show to what tribe this form originally belonged, and it is the rarest of all. A very severe blow could cer- SOO AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. tainly be inflicted with any one of these weapons. From specimens existing in English and Emopean museums, derived from Guiana and the neighbouring parts of South America, it would appear that these clubs were occasionally made yet more formidable by the addition of a stone axe- blade, or in later times a similar blade of iron, which was occasionally fixed into the side (Fig. 43, p. 425).1 Hunting weapons, such as the blow-pipe with its ap paratus, and bows and arrows, are made in much greater number ; for while warfare among the Indians is now almost entirely at an end, hunting is as necessary to them as ever. The blow-pipe is not complete without the quiver, with its complement of darts, and a small basket of peculiar shape containing cotton or other natural fibre, which, being wrapped round the blunt end of the dart, serves, as the ' feathering ' of an arrow, to balance it. The gigantic hollow reed (Arun- dinaria Schomburgkii) of which the main part of the blow pipe itself is made, is said to grow only in the country about the sources of the Orinoco. Of all the tribes of British Guiana the Arecunas live nearest to that district : and it is these, therefore, who procure the reeds and make the blow pipes, or perhaps sometimes procure ready-made blow-pipes from yet more remote Indians, which they distribute among the other Indians. A straight piece of the reed of length sufficient for the blow-pipe, which may vary from eight to fourteen feet, is cut from between any two of the widely separated nodes, and is thoroughly dried, first by fire and then in the sun, care being taken to prevent warping. This reed forms the required barrel. It would, however, if left unstrengthened, bend after a time. To obviate this, the straight slender stem of a certain palm, which is also pro cured from a distance, by means of barter, is bored through out its length, with a long sharply pointed stick; and within the rigid tube thus made the reed is inserted, as in a sheath. The end to which the mouth is to be applied when the pipe 1 Since this was written I have been fortunate enongh to procure one of those wooden war-clubs with a stone blade, from the Essequibo River. BLOW-PIPES. 30 1 is used is left as it is, or at most it is neatly bound with string; but on the opposite end, to prevent dirt from get ting into the tube when it stands on that end on the ground, the cup-like half of a round hollow palm seed is fixed, like the lip of a trumpet. Generally, but not always, two pec cary teeth are fastened, close together and parallel to each other, on the outside of the tube, near the end : and these serve as 'sights.' The blow-pipe is then complete in all essential points. But sometimes, merely for the sake of ornament, a close covering of basketwork — the so-called pegall work, which has been already described — is put round it. Most of. the examples in European museums have this added ornament; but such are, according to my own ex perience, rarely actually used by the Indians. To prevent any chance of the tube losing its straightness it is very seldom allowed to rest on its end on the earth, but, when not in use, it generally hangs, passed through two slings, parallel to the ground. The quiver (Fig. 15, p. 246) in which the darts are carried is in shape exactly like a dice-box, but larger. It is made of wickerwork thickly coated on the outside with the black pitch-like substance which is made and used by the Indians for so many purposes. Attached to the quiver by a string is a lid, made of the tough hide of the tapir (Tapirus ameri- canus). Inside the quiver is a bundle of darts, the whole lower jaw of a perai-fish (Serasalmo niger), and some crowia fibre. The darts, each about eight inches long, are made simply of splinters of the woody midrib of the cokerite palm (Maxiviiliana regia/), as sharp as needles, which are dipped in urari poison. They are fastened together, palisade-fashion, by means of two parallel plaits of string (Fig. 25, p. 302) ; and the band of darts thus made is wrapped lightly round a stick, the upper end of which— that towards which are the points of the dart — is provided with a few sticks tied together into the form of a wheel ; the object of this latter arrangement being to protect the hand of the Indian from any' chance contact with the poison-smeared points of the darts (Fig. 26, p. 302). '302 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. It will easily be understood that any single dart may readily be slipped out from the bundle the moment before it is to be used. With two or three crowia fibres, sufficient cotton, or whatever fibre is used for the purpose — which is carried in a DARTS FOR BLOW-PIPE, UXEOLLED FROM GlIAED. small wicker-basket, bottle-shaped, or like a sack tied in near its mouth, which hangs by a string from the side of the quiver — is tied on to the blunt end of the clart to fill the diameter of the blow-pipe ; so that when the Indian blows into the tube Fig. 26. Darts, hulled as carried ix Quiver. behind the dart the latter is propelled with force and ex pelled into the air. It is thus apparent that the whole ap paratus, though so admirably suited for its purpose, is very , simply but skilfully made. Of the ourali, called also curare and urari, the poison used ARROW-MAKING. 303 for these darts and also for certain arrows shot from the bow it will be more convenient to speak later, when tellino- of the methods by which Indians prepare other substances from plants. The forms of the various arrows have been described in telling of the methods of hunting. The very long shafts are cf a peculiar reed ; and these are generally provided with a short fore-shaft of hard wood, which is forced into the reed and fastened with karamanni pitch. The point of union is then very neatly bound with cotton, which is often arranged in a sort of pattern and finished off with one or two short loose streamers. In some arrows the fore-shaft, being- sharpened and cut into notches or small barbs, forms in itself the point. More generally there is a distinct point of iron, hardened bamboo, or, in rare cases, of turtle- bane, which is laboriously filed from the rough material. The arrow is feathered or not, according to the fancy of each maker. The notch at the end of the arrow, which fits on to the bowstring is made in this way : Two slits, crossing each other at right angles, are made across the end surface of the reed, and are continued down the length of the shaft for rather more than an inch; the pith having then been removed from between these split parts, a short, thin stick of hard wood, one end of which has been cut into a proper notch, is then inserted in place of the pith ; and the four pieces of the rind of the reed are tightly bound with cotton round this plug. The Indians of the various tribes differ much in the degree of neatness with which they make their arrows, the neatest being made by the Arawaks, Ackawoi, and True Caribs. The bows, which are very long and straight, are made of various sorts of hard wood, generally of purple heart (Copaifera pvMflora) or, when ornament is intended, of letter-wood (Brosimum Aubletii). The bowstring is, as has been said, twisted of crowia-fibre. -Passing to the making of -ornaments, these are generally so simple, consisting of feathers, teeth, or seeds, tied together, that little art is exhibited in them. The feather ornaments '304 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. consist chiefly- of two kinds of headdress and of ruffs, or mantles, worn round the shoulders. The former are in geniously made. They are of two shapes: in some the feathers stand, crown- like, round the head ; in others they stand straight out from the head (see Plate), like the halo round the head of a saint in some old picture. In either case a frame of light wickerwork is used. The frame of the crown is like a round bottomless and lidless basket, some three inches high, with a broad lip turned outward at right angles to its sides. A band is woven of cotton, much iu the same way that the ordinary cotton hammock is made, as broad as the height, and as long as the circumference, of the frame; across each end of this band a stick is fastened so as to pro ject slightly both above and below the band; and beyond the sticks the cotton is continued in a loosely twisted rope for three or four feet. The feathers, from two inches to half an inch long, having been carefully sorted according to colour and size, a row of the longest, all of one colour, are tied evenly side by side on a string ; and this string is fastened along the top of the cotton belt. A second row, of rather shorter feathers and of a different colour, is then prepared, and is fastened on to the band so as to cover the base of the first row ; and this -process is repeated until tbe whole cotton band is covered by feathers lying as closely and evenly over one another as they do on the breast of a bird. To cover the base of the lowest row of feathers, a very narrow fillet of cotton (see Plate S, p. 198), coated with a white pipeclay-like earth, is then added at the bottom. The whole band, thus prepared, is then applied round the outside of the frame, and is fastened by slipping the projecting ends ofthe cross-sticks, when they meet at the back of the headdress, into the wickerwork of the frame. The cotton ropes in which the band ends hang down side by side from the back of the frame. Three long red feathers from the tail of a macaw are then fastened each. on to a separate stick, and, by slipping these sticks into the wickerwork of the frame, are fixed side by side, so that they rise straight up from the back of the headdress. The tips FEATHER HEADDRESSES. 305 of these long feathers are sometimes clipped into fantastic shapes, or are sometimes removed and replaced by tips cut from white feathers. When the headdress is not in use, the band of feathers is slipped without trouble from off the frame, and is rolled up in very compact form ; and the long feathers are also removed, and put, for safety sake, in a cylinder of closely plaited wickerwork. The other kind of feather headdress — that which has been described as like the halo of a pictured saint — has a much smaller framework, a simple, very narrow, circle of wickerwork which stands out round the head. Eound the outer circumference of the frame is a deep groove. The feathers are fastened together in rows, three or four in number, as in the former case; but these rows are not attached to any common band, but are drawn, one after the other, base inward, into the groove in the frame. The row first applied — that which is uppermost when the headdress is worn — consists of long, white, half-fluffy hackle-feathers from the backs of white cocks. The next row consists of shorter parrot's feathers ; the next of yet shorter, and the next of the shortest feathers. In the one figured (Plate 8, p. 198) there are four rows of feathers — white, green, red and green, and black respectively. / ' Each tribe makes these headdresses of special colours. In the crown-shaped headdresses of the 'Macusis, the top row is yellow; then come one or two rows of crimson feathers from the breast or tail of toucans ; and last and lowest is a band of black-green feathers from a powis or curassow-bird. The yellow feathers used in this work are mostly grown by artificial means on living birds kept for the purpose; and the chief reason for which Indians keep domestic poultry is to supply themselves, with the white hackle-feathers for the same purpose. , It seems probable that each ofthe two kinds of headdress was originally peculiar to certain tribes ; but both are now used indiscriminately. I once, and only once, saw a headdress of a third form — a row of long feathers from the" tails of macaws, erect and encircling the whole head. x 306 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. The feather shoulder-ruffs and collars made by the Indians are of three kinds. One consists of a closely placed row of tail-feathers of one or other of the two reddish kinds of macaws, arranged side by side, their bases connected by a string, while another fine thread ' passes across them in a straight line, at a certain distance up their length, to keep them parallel to each other and in the same plane (Fig. 27). This mantle of gaudy feathers, the top of which is as wide as Fig. 27. SlIOUI.DEH-RUFF OF MACAW-FEATIIEF.S. a man's back across the shoulders, is stretched from shoulder to shoulder, so that, the string being brought under the arms and drawn very tight, the feathers stand out from the body of the Indian like a gigantic ruff. (See Frontispiece.) The two collars are more simple ; and they only differ from each other in that one is made of the feathers of a white heron, the other of the black feathers of the powis. In either case the web of the feather is stripped from the quill, and the long pieces of web are made into a fringe which, when hung round the NECKLACE-MAKING. 307 neck, covers the shoulders and upper part of the chest. The heron's feathers are worn especially by men eno-ao-ed in run ning foot races ; the black when dancing, and sometimes when paddiing in canoes. But that the part of the body sheltered by these feathers is not especially delicate, it might be sup posed that the original reason for the custom might have been to obtain some slight shelter from the heat of the sun by men engaged in violent exercise. Of necklaces the most important is made of a very large number, sometimes over a hundred, of teeth of the bush- hog or peccary ; and as only the two upper canine teeth are used, such a necklace would represent the spoils of fifty animals. The fact that every Indian possesses one such necklace consisting of more or less teeth, is some indication of the enormous abundance of these animals in the forests of Guiana. Each tooth is filed down till its four sides are square; ahd the top is filed to a point; the bases of the whole are then firmly embedded, side by side and quite close to each other, in a thick fibre-woven cord. The two ends of the row of teeth thus formed are bound together ; and from this point :of junction, which is that which, when the neck lace is worn, rests on the back of the neck, two long cords of cotton, the ends ornamented with tassels. of bird-skins and beetle-wings, hang down. The teeth are kept very white ; and that they may be more readily cleaned, the necklace is occasionally taken to pieces and the teeth reset. There seems to be some slight difference in the way in which these teeth are put together by the different tribes; for on one occasion when I tried to induce a Macusi to put on a neck lace which I had obtained from a source unknown to him, he refused angrily^ on the ground that it had been made by a True Carib. But the difference is so slight that it is un- noticeable to any but an Indian eye. Other necklaces are made by simply piercing and stringing together the teeth of acourie, caymans, jaguars, or sometimes water-haas (Capybara). True Caribs make, them also very prettily of deer's teeth, separating each two by a couple x 2 308 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. of brown seeds or red beads. Other necklaces are made in the same way, but of seeds instead of teeth. One Indian often has many necklaces of various kinds, but none except that first described is regarded as of any special value. Turning to the musical instruments of the Indians, but few words need be said. Their drums, which are of the ordinary shape, are made at the cost of much labour. A suitable tree, generally an a;ta palm, is felled, and a piece of the trunk, of the right height for a drum, being cut off, this is hollowed into a cylinder with a very thin wall. Two pieces of jaguar, deer, or monkey-skin, for the top and bottom of Fig. 28. Dri'm. the drum, have been previously stretched in a wooden frame and thoroughly dried in the sun. One of these is now fixed on to either end of the cylinder. A very fine double thread, in the middle of which is a slip-knot, is then stretched diagonally across the skin at one end of the chum, and before this is finally drawn tight an excessively slender splinter of wood is passed through, and secured in the slip knot, so that it rests on the skin at right angles to the line of the thread (Fig. 28). The result is that the two ends of the drum when beaten produce different sounds ; for the one on which is the string and splinter returns a metallic sound. caused by the vibrations of the splinter against the skin. The skin of the baboon, or howling monkey, is preferred by the drum-maker, because it is supposed to possess the power MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 309 of emitting the rolling roaring sounds for which this monkey is celebrated. Another instrument, akin to the drum, but ruder, is made by stretching a piece of baboon-skin over one end of a four- feet-long piece of a hollow bamboo, of a particular and rare species. This instrument, when repeatedly struck ao-ainst the ground, produces a drum-like sound (Fig. 32 d, p. 322). Flutes are made simply by piercing the necessary holes Fio. 23. Boxe Flute. in the bone of a jaguar or deer, or, though such are no longer common, a man. Intricate patterns are sometimes engraved on these flutes, and are coloured black or red, to contrast with the pure white of the bone ; and very long tas sels of white cotton are fixed at each end of the instrument (Fig. 29). Wooden flutes, always used in pairs, are also made in somewhat the same way, of short pieces of bamboo-stem (Fig..30,p.310). Pan-pipes are made of hollow reeds. Bude wooden trumpets are said to be made ; and I once saw the fragments of one in an Indian house. 310 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. One other very curious instrument is made and used on the savannahs. This is a sort of JEolian harp, formed from the leaf-stalk of the Beta palm, by picking and separating, without severing, four or five feet of several of the parallel fibres of Avhich the skin of the stalk consists; a bridge, like that of a fiddle, is then placed under each end of these fibres, Fig. 30. Pair of Woodex Flutes. so as to raise them from the level of the stalk (Fig. 31). The leaf-stalk thus prepared is fastened upright in some exposed place, and the wind passing through the strings causes a soft musical sound, which rises and falls as the strength of five breeze varies. Fig. si. JEoliax Haup. Last of the simple arts of the Indians may be mentioned their ways of preparing the chief poisons, oils, resins, dyes, and the tobacco which they use. The poison used for the darts of the blow-pipes, as also for various kinds of poisoned arrows, is the far-famed ourali. The various properties of this curious poison have, in spite of much research, not yet been fully traced.1 Its 1 For an elaborate account of this poison, the reader is referred to a pamphlet by Richard Schomburgk, published in Australia. 'OURALI.' 3H very name is but confusedly known. In Europe it is variously called curare, curari, urari, urali, and ourali. The two first of these forms have probably arisen from a mere blunder ; but the three latter are various attempts to pronounce the Indian name. The letters r and I are veiy commonly interchanged in Indian, as in other languages ; and of Indians, not necessarily of different tribes, but per haps only of different settlements, some use the word -urali, or even idali, some urari. The Macusis are the chief makers of this poison in Guiana, and they distribute it to the other Indians. But even of the Macusis it is only a man here and there who can make ourali, and the recipe is carefully kept and transmitted from generation to generation ; so that the poison-maker is a great and important man in his district. The recipe appears to be known to other Indians of the tribe, and the fact that these do not prepare poison appears to be due, not to ignorance of the method, but to a superstitious feeling of the unlawfulness of its practice except by duly qualified practitioners, or perhaps to a feeling akin to the professional etiquette which in more civilised communities prevents members of one branch of a profession from doing work more proper to another branch of the same. Ourali is made with much ceremony, probably intended to enhance the importance of the maker. A small hut is built especially for the occasion; and no woman or child is allowed to approach this. Many ingredients are used, such as several kinds of barks, roots, peppers (Capsicum), ants, and the poison-fangs of snakes ; but of these, only- one, the bark of a creeping plant (Strychnos toxifera), is alone essential, as appears from an experiment made by Sir Eobert Schomburgk, who produced poison of an effective kind from this substance alone. The Indians, however, as far as I have seen and heard, always use a variety of barks and one or more roots; and this is confirmed by Sir Eichard Schomburgk, who also saw the poison prepared. The latter traveller mentions the ingredients which he saw used, as follows : — 31:2 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. Bark and albumen of Urari-plant (Stryelinos toxifera) . 2 lbs. „ „ Yakki (Stryelinos SohomourgMi) . a lb. „ „ Arimaru (Stryahnos cogens) . \ lb. Tarireng (?) . ¦ ¦ i lh. Wokarimo (?).... i lb. Root of Tarireng . . . . . £ oz. Tararemu . • i oz. Curamu (Oissits, sp. ?) ... . ? A few small pieces of Mannca wood. I myself saw the first of these (Strychnos toxifera) used together with the fleshy roots of a caladium, and with certain other barks, which may or may not have been the same as those mentioned by Schomburgk, as I only saw these in a dry state and after they had been scraped into small fragments. The caladium root which I saw used replaced, 1 presume, the fleshy cissus root of Sehomburgk's formula. Water was fetched especially for the poison-making from a stream nearly a quarter of a mile distant; and care was taken, in carrying this to the house, to rest it on the ground every few yards. For, say the Indians, a bird wounded by a poisoned dart will fly only as far as the water with which the poison was made was carried without rest. The shreds of scraped bark were placed in a large and new earthenware buck-pot, which contained three or four quarts of water; and the mixture was allowed to simmer gently for many hours, during which the poison-maker carefully tended the fire, and every now and then blew into the boiling liquid. As we shall see elsewhere, the Indians believe greatly in the virtue of the breath of certain indi viduals — as, for instance, of the peaiman who blows away the spirit of disease from invalids, and the evil principle from meats otherwise unclean. After twenty-four hours the pot was taken off the fire. By that time the contents had been reduced to about a third of their original bulk, and were thick and syrup-like. This syrup was now strained through a new cassava-strainer, and was then exposed in a fiat vessel to the heat of the sun. The juice of the cala dium roots, which had in the meantime been boiled in a POISON-MAKING. 31 3 separate pot, on a separate fire, was now mixed with the other ingredients, with the immediate result of rnakino- the poison darker in colour and thicker in consistency. It was placed in the sun for some hours, till it at last darkened to a deep coffee-colour and to the consistency of a thick jelly. In this state it was put into the small gourds, in which it is kept, and, after four days, it was declared to be ready for use. Experiment proved its effectiveness. A fowl slightly pricked with a dart on which the poison had been smeared, ceased to live (for that is the only way to describe the apparent symptoms of the poison) in about six minutes. The poison, if kept warm and dry, retains its power for several years. That without these conditions it soon becomes powerless, I learned on two occasions. The first lesson was when I happened to pick up a stick in the forest, and accidentally pricking myself with the sharp end I found that it was an old blow-pipe dart with the poison still visible on it ; exposure to the weather had, however, deprived the poison of its proper effect. On the second occasion, a bundle of poisoned darts which I had taken out of the quiver of an Indian two years previously, and had brought into the cold climate of England, fell so that the points entered the flesh of my hand. Eichard Schomburgk was told by the Indians that the deadly power could, though once lost, be restored to the poison by mixing some cassava-juice with it and burying it. This poison is prepared by particular Indians in several parts "of South America. The materials apparently vary; but a Strychnos with poisonous qualities such as those of S. toxifera always forms the essential basis. Where ourali is made, Indians from distant parts of the country come to barter for it. That it is only made in these centres appears to be clue to the behef of the Indians that the poisonous species of Strychnos grows only very locally. For example, in Guiana it is believed that*?, toxifera grows only in certain places on the Canakoo monntains in the Macusi country ; and the poison is only there made. But as Eichard Schomburgk pointed out, the plant grows also on the Pomeroon and 314 AMONG THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. Waini rivers, where it is unrecognised and unused by the Indians. Another poison, called ' wassi,' is said by Eichard Schom burgk to be prepared by the Ackawoi. From the descrip tion given of this it appears to be the white powder with deadly qualities which, as is told in many an Indian story, all kenaimas, and especially all Ackawoi kenaimas, are said to rub into the flesh of their victims. A considerable quantity of oil is used by the Indians to anoint their bodies and to polish their bows and other weapons of hard wood. Among the Indians of the forest, most of this oil is prepared from the nuts of a very common tree, the crab-wood (Carapa guianensis). At the season when the nuts fall they are gathered, and, after being boiled, are put aside until they become half-rotten. When they are in proper condition they are shelled and kneaded into a coarse paste. Troughs are prepared of natm-ally curved tree-bark, one end being cut into a point : the shape of these troughs is in fact exactly that of the steel nib of a pen. These, having been filled with the nut paste, are fixed in some sunny place, slanting, and with the pointed end over some vessel. The oil oozes from the paste, runs down the trough, and drips from the point into the vessel below. The