The Central Caribs

GEOGRAPHICAL ENVIRONMENT

The Carib tribes under discussion are divided geographically into two groups; those of the open savannah and those of the forests. The Macusi, the largest of the tribes, occupies the northern part of the great savannah which reaches from the banks of the Essiquibo River nearly to the Venezuelan boundary and from the Amazon forests to the foot of the Pakaraima range of mountains; or in its greatest extension from about 58JA0 to 63° W. Long, and from 1JA0 to 4 jT° N. Lat. It is an undulating plain dotted with roundtopped grasscovered mountains and islands of forest growth. Three short ranges of mountains are somewhat forest clad: the Kanuku, between the Rupununi and the Takutu; the Moon, between the head waters of the Takutu and the Branco, and the Mocajahi, south of a river by the same name which enters the Branco from the west.

This plain at its highest part between the Rupununi and the Takutu stands at an elevation of six or seven hundred feet and is interrupted by numerous depressions which become lakes during the wet season. The waters of these lakes evaporate during the dry season, leaving behind great meadows with narrow streams whose courses are marked by lines of aeta palms which give beauty to the scenery. One of the depressions was the mythical Lake Amucu on whose shores stood the Golden City, El Dorado, of the Spaniards.

There are two short periods of the rains, in December and June, with a fall of sixty inches in the eastern and forty two in the western sections, three fourths of which falls in the latter season. The rivers cease to flow during the long dry seasons and thus confine the fish in deep pools in the bends of the rivers where the Indians obtain them by poisoning the water. When the luxurious grass of the savannah becomes dry, it is burned to kill the rattlesnakes and to drive the game in the direction of the hunters.

The presence of a never failing spring or a water hole determines the site of the village which is usually located in the open savannah a short distance from the water supply. The people may be called agriculturists although they add variety to their food supply by hunting and fishing. Their fields are located in the nearby forests. Cassava is the main crop but other vegetables and fruits are also grown. Deer may be stalked in the savannah and birds and monkeys shot in the forest.

The other group of tribes is found in the depths of the forests along the Acarai Mountains and the head streams of the rivers on both sides where the rainfall is greater, agriculture more difficult and game more plentiful. The natives here depend more upon hunting and fishing and less upon cultiva¬ tion for their food supply than do their relatives of the plains. The effect of these differences in environment upon the culture and physical development of the two groups will be observed as we proceed from tribe to tribe.

The principal neighbors of these two groups are corre¬ sponding groups of Arawak tribes who are living under exactly the same physical conditions.

THE MACUSIS1

The first visitors to the Macusi country were the Dutch traders who made their way up the Essiquibo River to the plains south of the Pakaraima Mountains early in the eighteenth century but the first name we have associated with the region is that of the German surgeon, Nicholas Horstman, who was sent by the Dutch West India Company, in 1738, to find a passage from the Essiquibo to the Amazon and incidentally to discover the city of El Dorado. He successfully crossed the divide and reached the Negro, where he deserted the Dutch cause and remained with the Portuguese. The map he made of the region traversed he gave to La Condamine and it was published ten years later by d’Anville in the first great map of South America.2 At that time the Macusis occupied the region north of the Kanuku Mountains and the Takutu River.

The best early account of the Rio Branco region was written about 1814 by a Portuguese priest, Andre Fernandes de Sousa, who gives the following list of fifteen Indian tribes living near that river; Uapixana, Paraviana, Sapara, Uatarai, Paracoana, Caixana, Macuxi, Uayca, Porocoto, Atanayru, Uayuru, Tapicari, Chaperu, Atyai and Caripuna. These tribes were then in com¬ munication with the Dutch, “crossing by a short day’s journey the isthmus which separates the Itacutu from the Ripanuni.” This same route was used by Col. Barata in carrying dispatches to Surinam in 1793.

Johann Natterer visited the Rio Branco in 1832 and wrote a good account of the region but his ethnological report has been hopelessly lost with the exception of his Macusi vocabulary published by Martius.

1 Makuschi, Macoushi, Macuchi, Macuxi.

2J. A. J. de Villiera, Roy. Geog. Jour., May, 191 1.

In 1835, when Robert Schomburgk first visited Southern British Guiana, he found some three thousand Macusis in the same territory they occupied when first reported by the Dutch. He described the Macusis as the most beautiful Indians of Guiana, possessing rich voices, fluent speech, cleanly habits, good morals and a love of order.

Appun,1 Im Thurn and Coudreau2 in turn visited the Rio Branco region and gave some account of the Macusis whom they found still occupying the same old territory where they may be found today holding their own against the time now not far distant when the coming of a railroad will open up their beautiful country to the white race, and when that time arrives the newcomers will find the Macusis a delightful people, ready and willing to cooperate in any worthy enterprise.

At present there are no Macusi villages east of the Rupununi nor south of the Seriri Mountains in Guiana. Their largest villages are in the Kanuku Mountains and in the region of Lake Amucu. In Brazil their villages are found for the most part between the Takutu and the Uraracuera Rivers and the high mountains to the north. Within this area there is one large Wapisiana village on the Majari River. The Arecunas, a very closely related Carib tribe, live to the north of the Macusis and the Wapisiana Arawaks to the south. At present the Macusis are living in peace with their neighbors. Formerly they were preyed upon by the Caribs proper and the Arecunas, who captured and sold them as slaves to the whites in Surinam. The hatred engendered by former wars still persists between them and the Wapisianas. While these two tribes regard each other with suspicion they carry on trade with as little contact as possible.

1 Manuscript published by Lieut. Smyth, Jour. Roy. Geog. Soc., Vol. 6, 1836, pp. 11-23.

2 See bibliography.

MATERIAL CULTURE

Houses

1 he Macusi house may be square, round or elliptical; very small or very large; built to accommodate one family only or sufficiently large to furnish accommodation for a dozen families. The size of a man’s house depends not so much on the size of his family as it does upon the sex of the children. When a daughter marries she brings her husband home with her to live in her father’s house. If there are many daughters, a very large house will be needed to protect the new families. If all are sons they will eventually leave home and a small house will suffice for the present. The houses are grouped in villages without any regularly laid out plan; they stand near together as at Puerueta or far apart on either side of a stream as at Napikeri. The village is usually located on high land in the open savannah a quarter of a mile from a stream and a long distance from their cultivated fields, but sometimes it is found on a stream with cultivated fields about the houses as at Napi¬ keri. The high savannah location is more hygienic and more comfortable; there is more air and fewer flies and mosquitoes.

The walls of the houses are of palm leaves, bark or adobe and closely built for protection against insects and the cold winds which come down from the mountains during the dry season. The tight wall serves the more important purpose of keeping out the kenaimas, or evil geniuses, who are always lurking about at night endeavoring to injure or to kill anyone found unpro¬ tected. The walls of rectangular houses are usually made of adobe and are higher than the walls of the other types of houses. Horizontal poles are lashed firmly to the wall posts about eight inches apart, and withes, a half inch thick and as long as the height of the wall, are woven in between these poles in regular wickerwork fashion six inches apart. The adobe which has been mixed with the feet in a hole near the house is then applied on both sides making a smooth wall six inches thick.

The bark walls are usually about five feet high. The posts supporting the roof carry three horizontal stringers firmly lashed at the required heights. The heavy bark of the tirikir tree (Hymenaca courbaril), is cut in sections, set on end inside and lashed to the stringers, thus making a tight, smooth wall irom door to door.

The framework of the house depends upon the size and type of house desired. A small round house has the centre pole only, whereas the same type forty feet high and forty feet in diameter has in addition six interior posts supporting the roof and thirteen wall posts. The odd number comes from having

two posts at the single door. All the posts are forked or notched at the top to receive the plate and are set three feet deep. Near the top of the roof a binding pole is lashed underneath the main rafters. Additional short rafters are lashed between the two plates. The roof of the round house is always much steeper than that of any other type of house. The rectangular house is of simple construction having the four corner posts with one or more as needed between on the sides and the two higher end posts to carry the ridge pole.

There are two types of frames for the elliptical houses, one having a very low wall and the other a very high wall. A large communal house 48 feet long and 24 feet wide having a seven foot wall would have eight wall posts six inches in diameter with two principal posts eight inches in diameter, 20 feet high and 12 feet apart, located near the foci of the ellipse.

The two principal posts are forked at the top to receive the ridge pole which is allowed to project about four feet beyond its supports. The wall posts support four cross beams, the two interior ones being lashed in the middle to the principal posts. The other beams have no middle support. The plates rest upon the ends of the beams. The four end rafters are heavier and have cross poles three feet from the top to support the end rafters. This leaves a small open gable which is pro¬ tected by the projecting plate and its covering and allows the smoke to escape. The roof is made of the leaves of the cokerite palm ( Maximiliana regia) with the fronds laid horizontally.

Another type of house with a wall four or five feet high has six principal posts fifteen feet high, three on a side ten feet apart. These carry two plates. The long rafters from the walls are lashed to these plates and to their opposite pairs at the top. Plate VI, K shows a house of this type with bark walls. One house at Kazawing was built on posts five feet above the ground and floored with chouta palm planks. There was a clay fireplace built in one corner on the floor. At the end, the roof projected six feet, covering the mortar and grinding place and the steps which were made of notched poles with crossbars in notches. This style seems to be an innovation here although common among the Pano of the upper Amazon.

Besides these dwelling houses there are always small work houses nearby where corn is ground in the mortar and farina is manufactured from the cassava. It is a place where all the rough work of the household is performed. Plate II gives a very good idea of the furnishings of such a house. There will be found the mortar set in the ground, the long pole pestle, the great cooking pots for making drink, the cassava graters, strainers, sieves, baking pan or oven, and the supply of wood and water.

All the large houses have two doors, one at each end, feet wide; one for men and the other for women, but in many instances only the east door is in use. The smaller houses have

only one door which may be at the end or on the side. . The doors of the large houses have bark or plank jambs 1 5 inches wide. The movable door of leaves or bark is lifted and set into place at night to prevent the entrance of mosquitoes and kenaimas. For the same reason, earth is thrown up against the wall on the outside. No crevice is left open; thus the interior of the house is so dark that the small black flies, which at cer¬ tain seasons of the year are such a pest, will not enter.

The roof is made of palm leaves of different species. The rafters on the large houses are placed 2 feet apart, .the fronds of the cokerite palm {M aximiliana regia ) are laid horizontally and lashed to the rafters instead of laths. When the aeta palm ( Mauritia flexuosa ) is to be used the rafters are placed farther apart and laths are used. In making this kind of roof a part of the leafstalk is bent down and hooked over the lath, thus doing away with the necessity of tying.

The Interior

No partitions separate the apartments of different families in the communal houses. Each family has its own private section where the hammocks are hung from posts and cross beams and the individual things are kept. Each woman has her own little fireplace made of three stones near the outer wall where she does the family cooking and where she keeps her food, bowls, gourds for carrying water, and a small supply of firewood which may be needed on cold nights.

The interior of the house is dark and gloomy. There are no windows and all the light must come through the open door, the smokeholes and the joints of the bark wall. The smoke from the numerous fires has blackened the roof and the frame¬ work. The floor has become hard and smooth from the con¬ stant tread of bare feet. The soil was removed before the house was built but no other preparation for the floor was made. The floors are kept remarkably clean ; no refuse being allowed to collect around the walls nor in the common central portion.

The rough work, such as preparing cassava roots and removing the husks from corn, is done either in the open or in the small work house.

The furnishings consist of stools and hammocks. There are three types of stools; a turtle shell with a large hole cut in the back to prevent its rolling over, a stump with three roots and the half of a hollow log which has the sides cut away to leave handles at the ends. When a visitor enters a house upon invi¬ tation he is asked to sit in a hammock, the best of the numerous ones which are always swinging from post to beam. When not at work, the men are often found resting in their hammocks because the interior is cool and more particularly because of the protection from the small flies.

The house is the storage place for all food and personal belongings. When corn is ripe the ears are plucked and the husks tied together in bunches of a dozen or more ears. These bunches are then hung on cross beams out of the way until needed. Large ears are selected and hung in the most secure place to be used for seed at the next planting season. Bananas are cut from the bunches in hands and strung between the rafters to ripen. Gourds and baskets hang from the rafters and beams. The baskets may contain trinkets, raw cotton, spin¬ ning outfit or nuts and fruit. Poles are often placed across the beams to form platforms upon which all kinds of things are stored. The bows and arrows are stuck into the roof as are so many other things, or they may be laid upon the platform, but the long blow gun must not be so carelessly put away because it may easily warp, twist or bend out of adjustment. It must be suspended by the end from the ridgepole. Sticks with many forks for supports are hung from the roof. They are convenient for hanging up food out of the way of the dogs which have the freedom of the house.

Utensils

The larger utensils, such as those used in connection with making meal, farina and cassava bread, drink for festivals, weaving of hammocks, etc., are kept in the work houses or in

the centre of the large house for use in common. Only the smaller things are individual. The loom is a very simple affair composed of two upright poles with two mortises near the top and one at the bottom for cross poles which are separated the proper distance for the length of the hammock. The mortar used for grinding corn is a log of wood set deep into the hard ground. It has a slight depression in the top and a hole about 5 inches in diameter extending to a depth of 15 inches. The pestle is a pole of hard wood 10 feet long having a tapering point. The grinding is done, not by pounding, but by pressing the grain against the side of the mortar and revolving the pestle. When the grain is pulverized the pestle is removed and the meal taken out with the hand. As :he minding proceeds the meal has a tendency to work up between the pestle and the sides of the mortar, hence the depression at the top of the mortar to prevent the meal from falling on the ground. A woman can grind a quart of corn into the finest kind of meal in ten minutes. It is an easier and a more rapid method of grinding than that in which the pestle is lifted and the grain pulverized by pounding. The woman grinding usually stands on one foot with the other braced against the top of the mortar. She moistens her hands with saliva to prevent them from slipping on the pestle.

The principal food plant is the bitter cassava (. Manihot utilissima ) which is native to tropical America. It cannot be used as a vegetable because it contains a poisonous principle, hydrocyanic acid, which the Indians have learned to extract and to drive off by roasting or baking. To extract the poisonous juices the roots of the plant must first be reduced to a pulp. This is accomplished by means of a grater made by driving small sharp stones of porphyry into a soft board. The board, 2)4 feet long, 1 foot wide and 2 inches thick, is cut from the broad flat root of the A spidospermum excelsum. Holes are made with a bone awl, the stones driven in with a wooden mallet and the whole surface covered with pitch ( Ceroxylon andicola ) to fasten

the stones more securely and to fill up the pores of the wood. The best graters are made by the Waiwais south of the Acarai Mountains. The Macusis obtain them by barter from the Wapisianas who get them from the Tarumas who are neighbors of the Waiwais. An enterprising Taruma trader living among the Wapisianas married a Waiwai girl who is a good grater maker and through her industry he supplies a large market.

The carapace of a turtle ( Emys tracaxa ) or the leaf stock of the aeta palm ( Mauritia flexuosa ) is used as a receptacle in the grating of cassava. (Plate IV, B.) Large wooden troughs are used to hold the pulp of the grated cassava until it is pressed and also to hold the stored drinks. The Macusi women stand up and hold the grater against their thighs while grating the cassava but the Waiwais sit on the ground and hold the grater between their legs. The pulp falls on banana leaves. They use the sieve also while sitting on the ground but the sieve stands up on a framework of its own and rests on a circular mat.

The wickerwoven cylindrical press which is six or eight feet long and about six inches in diameter is made of closely plaited splints from the fronds of the long leaves of the cokerite palm (Maximiliana regia). These different splints are con¬ tinued beyond the body of the press and plaited into two loops. The one at the top is so made that it leaves the end of the press open while the bottom one closes the end of the press. When the press is filled with pulp it is hung up on a house beam or a forked pole set for the purpose, and a lever is thrust through the loop at the bottom for the application of pressure. This press, which acts on the principle of the “Siamese link,’’ is one of the most ingenious and most important inventions made by any primitive people. It was not by chance or happy accident that the invention was hit upon. The possibilities of the use of this poisonous plant for food purposes was discovered and the press was invented for a very definite purpose. It was not an adaptation of something already in use to a new purpose, but a direct invention of a new device for a new service.

For the removal of the woody fibre from the cassava pulp, a sieve, made by plaiting splints of palm fronds, is in use. They are usually square with the sides raised by tying small sticks along the sides. Covers for pack baskets and trays for bread are made in the same way, but are usually oval or circular in form. After the pulp has been rubbed through the sieve it is ready to be baked into great flat cakes fifteen inches in diameter and a quarter of an inch thick on an oven or baking pan. The pan, 2 feet in diameter and 2 inches thick, is made of clay and has the edges turned up so it may be used for making farina as well. It stands on three stones or adobe supports eight or ten inches high, while room is left between the supports for firewood. As baking requires a quick hot fire, small wood is used instead of the larger logs which make a better fire for boiling. Metal pans are now being introduced for making farina.

Basketry

Besides the cassava presses, sieves and bread trays, which may be considered basketry work, there are many other types. The most important of these is the pack basket. It is used for all kinds of heavy work, such as carrying firewood, ears of corn and cassava roots from the fields and nuts and fruit from the forests. It is also used for carrying personal baggage on the trail. The rougher examples are made of split lianas and the finer ones of the splints of palm fronds. They are made in the form of a Sioux baby cradle, but are carried with the closed end down. The flat side which rests against the back is made secure by a framework of four small rods, two of which project below the basket and serve for supports when the basket is removed. The basket is filled while in a reclining position and a cord is laced back and forth across the open side. A flat piece of closely woven basketry or leaves may be used to cover the contents and to protect them from the rain. Men and women carry with a tump line made of the inner bark of a small cakaralli tree (. Secythis ollaria). The line is secured one third way down the

framework of the basket and is so short that it keeps the load well up on the back. (Plate XI I, G.)

While no fine baskets are made by any of the tropical tribes they are all expert at making rough baskets for temporary use. For fish, game or fruit a basket of the required size is made of a single leaf in a few minutes. The material is always at hand in the forest and it is much easier to make a new basket if one is needed than to carry one along; hence there are few baskets of any value except the small telescopic shoulder baskets used by the men for carrying their trinkets. A special basket is made for the storage of farina. It is loosely woven of palm frond splints in the form of a truncated cone and made to stand on the small end. It is lined with leaves to prevent the farina from sifting through, and when filled is covered with leaves and splints firmly interlaced over the top. Put away in this form in a dry place the farina will keep indefinitely.

I he women make a rough narrow mouthed basket without a lid for their own little trinkets. It is always seen hanging along the wall near the fireplace. The men spend considerable time and skill in making their trinket boxes or shoulder baskets which they carry with them on all occasions. The splints are made of the maranta plant; scraped until perfectly smooth and regular and bleached or stained black as desired. These two colored splints are woven to produce various geometrical or animal forms. I he lid is made to telescope the basket and often it alone is decorated. F'or carrying over the shoulder, a fine cord, fastened underneath, passes around the ends and through the lid. The baskets are often decorated with tufts of bright feathers. When visiting, a man always carries this basket in which may be found his toilet articles, his ornaments, his mending things, and small objects for trade. Upon arrival at a neighboring village, a man takes a bath, paints his body and puts on his ornaments. These baskets are bartered from tribe to tribe. The Waiwais make the best ones (Plate XXXIV.)

Pottery

The Macusis make no fine pottery but their cooking and storage pots are well made and more beautiful in form than those of any other of the tropical tribes. There is no good potter’s clay in the savannah country, but if there were there is little use for it, because the calabash takes the place of pottery vessels and serves the purpose much better. It is light, durable and ready at hand. The coiling process is used in making pottery. Fillets of clay are laid on m successive layers, pressed down with the fingers and smoothed inside and out by rubbing with a pebble and a piece of calabash. The clay is tempered with ashes. The vessel is fired in the open. For a large pot, a shallow hole is dug, the pot placed inside bottom upward and a fire built over it. While the pot is still hot, cassava juice is poured over it to fill up the pores. 1 he large pots for storing or ripening drink may hold as much as twenty gallons. They are set against the main posts in the middle of the large house for protection.

Water is carried and stored in large gourds capable of holding six quarts. The gourd is carried on the shoulder and held there by placing the fingers in the hole at the top. Small gourds for carrying water on the trail have holes on the side of the neck but the large ones have the whole end of the neck cut off. Dip¬ pers and all bowls for food or drink are made of the half shell of the calabash fruit ( Crescentia cujete).

Spinning and Weaving

Cotton is found growing about all the villages, not in planted and cultivated fields, but individual trees or small groups here and there where they are protected. The trees are perennial and grow to a height of eight or ten feet. The women do every¬ thing in connection with collecting, spinning and weaving cotton, while the men make strings and larger cords of other fibres. The cotton is collected and stored away to dry in small leaf-lined

baskets which are suspended from the roof near the ridge pole. As needed the cotton is seeded by hand and the little pads of cotton from the separate bolls are pulled out into long loose bands which are now ready to spin. A band is wound around the left wrist, one end being fastened to the small hook of the spindle, which is spun by rolling it with the right hand down¬ ward along the right thigh. While the spindle revolves the thickness of the thread is regulated with the right hand. If the woman is standing as in Plate X, B, she lifts her right leg and rolls the spindle along her thigh. She prefers to stand or to sit on a high seat in order to give more room for the suspended spindle to revolve. The finished thread is wound around the spindle above the whorl until it is full. Then small balls are made and rolled up in leaves for safe keeping until sufficient thread for a hammock, breech cloth or baby carrier has been spun. For making hammocks larger threads are needed so the threads from two balls are united and spun together. Flat work baskets are used to hold cotton spindles and balls of yarn.

The Macusis were, no doubt, the first of the savannah tribes to spin cotton and make cotton hammocks. The Wapisianas, who now make the best hammocks, say they learned to spin from the Macusis in rather recent times. The Macusis learned the art from the Arecunas. The endless warp thread is wound round and round the loom frame in a horizontal position. The loom is then turned over, making the warp run from top to bot¬ tom, and stood up against the side of the house. The weaver sits on the ground and puts the woof threads through from side to side by hand. The loom has been described. No shuttle is used, nor batten, but a chain is sometimes used to lift the outer warp threads. The hammock, instead of having solidly woven woof threads, has a number of equidis¬ tant crossbars consisting of only three entwined threads. In smaller hammocks aeta palm fibre ( Mauritia flexuosa ) is often used for the warp and cotton for the woof. Palm fibre was in common use for making hammocks throughout the

Guiana regions before the introduction of cotton spinning, as it is today by all the forest tribes. Both types are still found in many places. When the body of the hammock is finished, scale lines made of heavier cords are threaded through the loops of the warp threads at the two ends. The outer loop of the scale lines is bound and well wrapped to prevent wear. The rope for swinging the hammock is made of aeta palm fibre or of the fibre of the Ananas by the men. The comfort of the hammock depends much upon the proper length of the scale lines and the care with which they are arranged. The cotton hammocks made by the savannah Indians, Arawak and Carib, are the most serviceable as well as the most comfortable and convenient of any made by any people known to me. Hammocks are some¬ times made for dogs by tying the ends of a broad piece of bark and suspending it with a rope.

Cotton is used also in weaving loin cloths for men. These are from one to two yards long and about eight inches in width. They are worn between the legs and suspended back and front over a plaited belt. The Waiwais usually wear a longer cloth which is made to serve as a belt as well. To put it on, the man holds one end under his chin, passes the other back between his legs around in front over his right hip, back over the left and fastens it behind with a regular timber hitch leaving eight or ten inches free to fall down over the left hip. The front is then folded down near to the knees and attached by the tassels which are allowed to hang down in front on either side of the cloth. Extra ornaments are often attached to the cloth or worn as a separate string tied over the cloth. Baby carriers, endless bands eight or ten inches wide, are woven of cotton on a peculiar loom made of four crossed sticks. Carriers are sometimes made of bark. They are worn over the shoulder, the child sitting in the loop with his feet hanging in front of his mother’s hip. Her back is thus left free for the pack basket which is suspended from a bark or woven tump line over her forehead. Endless bands an inch wide are woven over pliable sticks and worn on

the head by young women of marriageable age at their dances. More interesting and more difficult to weave are the leg bands or anklets from one to two inches wide woven in place. The whole bands in the collection were woven around a stick of wood. A very different type of weaving is that used in making the women s beaded aprons. A small loom, made of one bent stick held in place by a crossbar is strung with the warp threads. The woof is a string of small beads of different colors so strung that they form the designs of the apron. The loin or back apron is woven in the same fashion. This loom and the apron also are developed from the old style of apron, still worn by small girls, made of a fringe of suspended cotton strings.

The spindle in use is made of a stick of hard wood from ten to fifteen inches long having a small hook at the top. Six inches from the lower end is the whorl, a disc of stone, shell or pottery two inches in diameter, which holds the thread in place as it is wound around the spindle and adds to the momentum of the spindle when spinning.

Strings are needed for a great variety of purposes. Cotton is used for the softer, finer threads and for weaving hammocks, baby carriers and breech cloths. The twisted fibre of the aeta palm ( Mauritia flexuosa), which grows abundantly in the low¬ lands, is used for making bags, nets and hammocks. Fish lines, strong cords and bow strings a^e made from ixtle grass ( Bromelia sylvestns ) and a variety of Ananas which grows on high land. The aeta palm fibre is taken from the young leaf which grows inclosed in a spike from the centre of the tree. The outer rough skin is torn off by rubbing it at the end and separating it from the fibre. To twist the fibres into strings of the desired size requires skill and long patient practice. The required number of fibres are held by the upper end in the left hand and across the bare right thigh. They are then rolled along the thigh with the right hand so that each strand twists separately; then by a backward roll these strands are made to twist about each other into a single thread. When heavier cords or lines

are required two, three or more of these threads are twisted together in the same manner. The leaf of the ixtle is broad and heavy, with a tough skin. To free the fibre, the leaf is soaked in water and beaten over a rock until the pulp is softened and the fibre freed. The fibre is then washed and dried in the sun for a few days, when it is ready for use. The fibre of the Ananas is finer and softer but very strong, while the skin covering and pulp are soft. At the height of a man’s head, a heavy cord with a loose double slip knot is tied around a small tree or house post. The leaf is split along the midrib from the bottom nearly to the top. The end of the leaf is put through the slip knot in such a way that each side of the loop tightens on a half of the leaf. The man, taking the tip of the leaf in his hands, gives it a sudden jerk which forces the leaf through the loop. The cord strips off all the soft parts and allows only the strong fibres to pass through. If the jerk is too violent the fibres break off at the top. A slow pull tightens the knot on the fibre and it cannot be pulled through. After skill has been acquired the leaves can be run through quite rapidly. The fibre is washed and dried in the sun until properly bleached and cured. This makes the strongest and smoothest cord of any of the fibres. The men collect the materials, make all the strings and cords and manufacture all the nets while the women do the spinning and weaving. Women weave the hammocks, but the men make the ropes to swing them: women make the breech cloths, but the men make the belts. Schomburgk refers to belts made of human hair and monkey hair, but none are in use today. Round and flat belts are now plaited of strips of bast or vine. Bandoleers are made of several loosely spun cotton cords or hair cords and worn as ornaments instead of long strings of seed necklaces. Schomburgk may have seen these used as belts.

The forest provides ready made splendid substitutes for the manufactured cords in the pliant stems of a great variety of lianas or creepers known locally under the general term bush

rope. ’ A bush rope may be the size of a thread or a six inch cable; it may be one foot or a hundred feet in length. With it you may tie a bandage on your toe or haul your canoe; suspend your pipe bag or hang a horse. One must learn how to pull down a bush rope because it requires some skill and manipu¬ lation. Suppose a bush rope is hanging from a branch fifty feet from the ground. It would be impossible for a man to pull it down by a direct pull; so he twists it, keeping it tight meanwhile, then pulls hard and suddenly slackens it to allow the twist to run to the top of the rope where it kinks. Just at the instant the kink forms he gives the rope a violent jerk and breaks it off. These bush ropes are used to tie the framework of the house together, to tie the roof and the sidewalls on, to make traps and snares and baskets. The water from one slakes the thirst of the hunter while that of another is used to poison fish. No other forest product supplies so many wants.

Agriculture

The open savannah land is not suitable for cultivation without irrigation because the hot sun and the winds of the dry seasons take up the 'moisture, leaving the ground parched and baked before the rains come again. The fields are usually made at some distance from the village in the depths of the forest where the soil is rich and the moisture retained by the protec¬ tion of the surrounding trees. During the dry season the trees and underbrush are cut down and allowed to remain where they fall. When the leaves and bark have dried out the whole place is burned over and all the smaller branches consumed. The blackened trunks with their interlocking branches are allowed to remain where they fell. No attempt is made to roll them together and burn them for a very good reason which will appear later. By this method of burning a layer of ashes is left over the whole surface of the field which adds to the fertility of the soil. The bark on the logs is partially burned. The remainder later falls off and is decomposed where it falls. This

method of clearing differs from the two methods used in North America in frontier days. 1 he frontiersman either cut down all the trees, collected them into great heaps and burned them, or he left the large trees standing and girdled them. The Carib Indian method is better for his country at least. The fallen logs hold the moisture and interfere very little with his style of cultivation. His corn, which needs more moisture than cas¬ sava, he plants along the logs where the ashes and the decom¬ posing bark make the soil more fertile as well. For these reasons he is willing to cut down the trees which will not be decomposed before he must desert the field on account of the rank growth of weeds and other filth and make a new field. The fallen logs also furnish good pathways through the cassava fields— an Indian thoroughly enjoys walking on a log.

In preparing the field for planting, no plows or hoes are used to turn over the soil. Neither agriculture nor horticulture is the proper term to use in connection with the cultivation of the soil in these regions. The fields are new and roots are plentiful. Hence a sharpened stick is the best implement that can be used in breaking up the hard soil between the roots. The Indians now have some hoes and have adjusted iron points to their sticks but in some places they still use the old form of stick. Hills two and a half feet in diameter and eight inches high are dug up about five feet apart into which five or six stems of the cassava plant are inserted in a slanting position to a depth of a foot or more. Planting for the most part is done just at the beginning of the rainy season in May or June. This is also the season for making farina, which is stored away in baskets. The old plants are pulled up by their roots. Stems of these old plants, from two to three feet in length, are used in planting the new field. It is customary to replant the old field by inserting stems in the old hills as the cassava is used out; thus with little labor the field is kept full and growing. But this system soon exhausts the immediate soil while other rank vegetation takes possession between the hills. Very little

cultivating is ever done after the first planting gets a good start. For a few months the weeds are pulled from the hills and the- young shoots stripped from the stumps, but by the time the plants are six months old they have attained a height of five feet and their spreading leafy branches cover the ground and their shade holds the moisture. The days and nights are of equal length, so the hot sun of the dry season has no bad effect upon the growing plants. By this time the corn and sweet potatoes, which are planted with the cassava, have rip¬ ened and gone, leaving the cassava in complete possession. The Indians understand the value of careful selection of new seed. They make long journeys to get new varieties.

When the cassava is eight months old it is ready for use. Bread is often made of younger roots but it is not nourishing because it is composed largely of fibre with little pulp; the best age is from eight to fourteen months. After this period the roots tend to harden and become woody. Sometimes two fields of cassava are planted; one before the June rains and the other before the December rains. All other crops are planted in May because the June rains are longer continued and the plants get a better start for the dry season. It very often happens that little rain falls in December and the November planting fails for want of moisture.

The sweet cassava ( Manihot palmata aipi ) is used as a vegetable to some extent and is planted in the same field with the poisonous variety.

For many reasons cassava is the best food plant for the tropics. It requires less moisture than corn. Its roots extend deep into the earth and its spreading branches make a dense shade which prevents evaporation of moisture from the soil during the long dry season. It grows from cuttings, may be planted twice a year, may be used at any time, does not die out at the end of the season, and gives the whole crop for use. It is a poisonous plant which animals, birds and insects neither eat nor destroy. Besides, it is less difficult to prepare and more convenient for use than corn or wheat.

Corn, beans, melons, squashes, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and sugar cane are all planted to some extent in the same field with the cassava. Corn is planted along the logs where it gets the advantage of enriched soil and preserved moisture. Potatoes are planted a few hills together in the best soil. Cane is planted on the lowest ground; it grows best there, while cassava grows best on higher ground. Tobacco, peppers, pineapples and pumpkins are planted without regularity or grouping; while bananas, cashews (. Anacardium occidentale ) and the papaya (i Carica papaya) are scattered here and there about the field.

Thus the field is planted with reference to its later abandon¬ ment. After three years of replanting cassava in the same hills the soil becomes exhausted and weeds, grass and shrubs take possession of the field. Of the great profusion of plants the two most conspicuous are the ant wood ( Cecropia peltata) and several varieties of the passion flower ( Passiflora laurifolia). These mat themselves together so that it is next to impossible to make a passage way through them. The fruit trees hold out against the encroaching forest for a time, and the natives return for the fruit. It is a dangerous undertaking, however, because an old field is a favorite place for poisonous snakes, and the millions of ants from their homes in the hollow stems of the ant wood make one’s life miserable.

Harvest time extends the year round for cassava and sugar cane as they know no season. Corn when ripe must be col¬ lected before the next rains begin. Men set up some posts with cross bars in the field as a drying frame; then they pull off the ears and tie the husks together in pairs, while the women carry them in and hang them on the frame. When dry the corn is carried to the house where it is hung up on the cross¬ beams. Men usually cut and carry in the sugar cane, while the women pull up and carry in the cassava as it is needed. Men clear the fields, assist in burning and planting, but the women take care of the scanty cultivation.

FARABEE — THE CENTRA!. CARIBS

Food

I he Macusis live more by agriculture than by hunting and fishing. They are fond of game and make long hunting journeys into the forests. At certain seasons of the year they catch fish by poisoning the pools along the river. Fruits and nuts are eaten raw, but all meat and vegetables are cooked by boiling, baking or roasting. Meat is preserved for four or five days by roasting and smoking it continually on a barbecue. For the most part, meat is boiled because the people prize the soup quite as much as the meat itself. The soup is used for soaking the dry hard bread or for mixing with farina.

All the native animals except the jaguar, puma, anteater and sloth are used for food. Monkey meat is preferred to all other. The big black maicasapa is the best and the red howler (■ Mycetes seniculus ) second. Then in turn come the birds, turtles, animals and insects. The native stalks the savannah deer ( Cervus savannarum ) and shoots it with the bow and arrow. The small red forest deer ( Cervus humilus ) is also prized. Two varieties of peccary are common in the forests; the Dicotyles labiatus is found in large droves and the small one (D. torquatus ) in small groups. Both are good eating, particularly so when half grown. Many are kept as pets about the house but they have not been domesticated. The coarse flesh of the tapir {Tapiris terrestris ) which is better than poor beef, is greatly prized. I he capybara ( Hydrochoerus capybara), the largest of all the rodents, is occasionally eaten under necessity, but the agouti ( Dasyprocta aguti) and the paca ( Coelogenys paca ) are always eaten. The large lizard ( Iguana tuberculata ) is consid¬ ered as good as a bird.

The larger birds, with the exception of the falcons, vultures and now domestic fowls, which are considered unclean, are regularly eaten. All the toucans, parrots and doves are difficult to catch or to kill, but the curassow ( Crax alector), maroudi ( Penelope pipile), trumpeter (P sophia crepitans) and the maam (' Tinamotis elegans) are easily shot with the bow and arrow

because they come when called by the Indians, who are perfect imitators. The whistling ducks ( Anas autumnahs) are numerous in the lakes in the wet season. The muscovy ( Cainna moschata) occurs, but not in great numbers. The great negrocope (Tan¬ talus loculator) is seldom eaten, but the jabiru (Mycteria amencana ) is considered as good as duck. The small herons are so poor they are not eaten. Domestic fowls are now common, but desired only because the cocks crow in the early morning.

Two varieties of land tortoises, the small one ( Testudo tabulata ) so common in the savannah, and a large one that lives in the forest, and water turtles ( Emys tracaxa ) are greatly sought after on account of their delicate flesh. They are usually roasted whole in the shell. The savannah tortoise is difficult to find in the grass, but when the ground is burnt over they may be seen and collected in large numbers. The forest variety may be tracked in the leaves -and caught. The turtles are caught on sand-bars along the river when they go out at night to lay their eggs. The soft shelled eggs of the tracaxa are about the size of pigeons’ eggs and may be eaten raw or cooked. They have good food value, the granular yolk being very rich in oil. Fifteen to twenty eggs are found together in one nest. All birds’ eggs found in the forest are eaten regardless of the stage of incubation.

When other food is scarce, insects are eaten. The large grub of the palm beetle (Calandra palmarum ) is greatly prized by all who have made its acquaintance. Wasps’ nests are robbed of the grubs, which are fried or parched.

Wild game is not plentiful in the savannah, but there are many fish in the rivers and the Macusis have learned to capture them in large numbers by poisoning the pools during the dr
season. When freshly caught the fish are boiled and the soup used for soaking the bread. When they are taken in large numbers at a poisoning they are roasted on a great barbecue and carried home, where they are kept over the fire and smoked. There are a great many varieties of fish and all are eaten, but

FARABEE — THE CENTRAL CAR’BS

the most prized are the following: arapaima ( Sudis gigas), aimara ( Erythmus macrodon) , pirai ( Sarasalmus piraya), pacu ( Myletus pacu), electric eel ( Gymnotus electricus) and even the stingray ( Trigon hystrix).

The Macusis eat salt and often rub it on the meat before it is dried. They formerly obtained their salt from the Wapisianas, who evaporated the water which collected in shallow pools about the foot of Mount Seriri. Many of the Carib tribes of the interior forests use no salt.

The principal food of all the central Carib tribes, and the Arawaks of the region as well, is the flour and bread made from the roots of the bitter cassava plant (M amhot utilissiwia ) which is common throughout tropical America. It is a perennial with a slender stem six feet high and long spreading leaves which cover the ground between the hills with a dense shade. Its tapering roots six inches in diameter and eighteen inches long at maturity contain a milky juice which holds in solution a poisonous principle known as hydrocyanic acid. It cannot therefore be used as a vegetable, but the Indians have learned how to extract the juice and to drive off the poison by heat. The roots must first be reduced to a pulp by grating or rasping on an instrument ingeniously made for the purpose.

The manufacture of farina or the baking of bread is a laborious undertaking. The cassava roots are pulled up, carried home, peeled, washed and grated by the women. The grater and the other necessary implements have already been described on page 2 1 . One end of the grater is placed in a large receptacle, usually a leaf stock or turtle shell, while the other end rests against the thighs of the operator, who, grasping a root in each hand, rubs them up and down over the angular stones of the grater, reducing them to pulp. This pulp is then forced into the upper end of the cylindrical press, which has been expanded to its greatest size, thus shortening it to half its former length. The press is then hung on the end of a beam or the fork of a pole set for the purpose and a lever passed through the loop at

the lower closed end of the press. A woman sits on the end of the lever, thus stretching the press downwards and con¬ tracting its sides. The poisonous juice is forced out through the wickerwork sides of the press and runs down into a bowl at the bottom. The longer the weight is applied, the drier # the pulp in the press becomes, but fifteen or twenty minutes is sufficient for all requirements.

When the weight is removed the press expands and releases the solid cylinder of dry cassava about six inches in diameter, which looks like the core of a diamond drill. The pulp is broken up and rubbed through a coarse sieve to remove the particles of woody fibre. It is now ready for baking or for mak¬ ing into farina. When bread is to be baked, a very hot fire is made of small dry wood, and a thin layer of cassava is spread over the entire surface of the oven or baking pan. A fan made of a palm leaf (. Astrocaryum tucumoides ) is used to spread the cassava on the pan and to turn the large cake when one side has been baked. The edge of the cake is smoothed and rounded with a small wooden paddle. When the bread is first baked, it is rather soft, but after it has dried in the sun on the house roof for a few hours it becomes so hard that it must be moistened when eaten. It will keep for months if stored in a dry place where mold will not form. While not palatable, this kind of bread contains high food value and one soon learns to eat it with relish.

It would appear that the Caribs and the Arawaks of this region learned the manufacture of farina from the Brazilian Indians in comparatively recent times. The step from making bread to making farina is not a difficult one. If the pulp on the baking pan is stirred and broken up into small particles and cooked or baked for a longer time it becomes brown and parched. In this state it is called farina. The oven for making farina should be larger, with upturned edge, making the oven two or three inches deep. The sifted cassava pulp is spread over the hot oven and stirred constantly to prevent it from

sticking to the bottom and burning. After it is thoroughly cooked it is allowed to cool and then stored away in small conical baskets for future use. When made in this way it is called white farina. Another variety, called yellow or water farina, is made by the same process except that the roots are allowed to soak three or four days in water before they are grated. For the trail, farina is a most desirable food to carry. It has been thoroughly cooked and can be eaten dry, mixed with cold water or soup of any kind. It is preferred to bread because it can be mixed and eaten with so many things — with meat and fish, pumpkins, squashes, palm nut and other kinds of drink.

Among the Macusis, corn is the second most important food. It may be roasted in the ear before it matures, parched, made into hominy or ground in the mortar as already described. It is seldom made into bread by itself but is mixed with cassava, thus greatly improving the otherwise tasteless cassava bread. Nuts and seeds of various kinds are gathered and eaten. They are sometimes mixed with the cassava, when it is young and weak, to give it body and strength. The Brazil nut ( Bertholletia excelsa ) is eaten raw and greatly appreciated. It is pounded in a mortar to extract the oil which is used on the hair and on the body. The meal is mixed with cassava and made into bread or it may be mixed with mashed sweet potatoes and made into a most delicious potato bread. In extracting the oil a small press like the one used for cassava is used. Pumpkins and squashes are cooked with the meat or mashed and mixed with farina. Sweet potatoes are boiled and eaten cold, roasted or baked with nuts. Peppers of various kinds are used for flavor¬ ing. Sugar cane is used for making drink or chewed for food. A very good press has been invented for extracting the cane juice for making drink. Watermelons and muskmelons are eaten raw.

If the diet is confined entirely to cassava bread or farina it tends to distend the stomach, particularly among the children. As the children grow older, or with a change of diet, the condi¬ tion disappears.

Fruits form a large part of the diet. Bananas are the most important, the plantains are known but not depended upon. The cashew (Anacardium occidentale) , the pineapple ( Ananas ananas ) and the papaya ( Carica papaya ) are all eaten raw, when ripe, and used in making drinks. The nut of the cashew is roasted and greatly prized. The papaya fruit or leaves are cooked with tough meat to make it tender. Of the wild fruits the abiu ( Achras cainito), the guava ( Psidium pomiferum ) and the imbira are the best. The abiu grows on a very high tree in the forest, while the guava grows on small bushes along the rivers in the savannah. The small fruit of the rubber tree (. Mimusops balata ) is delicious but difficult to collect without cutting off the limbs — a method our expedition used in getting the abiu when in dire need of food. The fruit of the bulucush palm is cut open and the milk dried for soup. The heart of the manicole palm ( Euterpe exorrhi^a) is eaten either raw or cooked. It has little food value, reminding one somewhat of cabbage. There are a number of palm fruits used for making drinks, but they contain such a small amount of pulp that they are seldom eaten raw.

Fire is made by rubbing two sticks together in the form of a chisel and groove. The chisel is held at an angle between the hands and rubbed violently back and forth along the groove until the wood particles thus produced glow with heat, when they are blown into a flame. Fire is kept burning in every house, so it is not often that fire has to be made. The Macusis now have matches and few of them know how to make fire by the old method. For kindling fire quickly when wood is damp or for making a light about camp, they use the resin from the acaiara or konima tree ( Idea heptaphylla). It burns slowly; a lump two inches square and an inch thick would give a good light for an hour. When eating our dinner at night in the forest we often depended upon the konima tree for light. The resin is found at the root of the tree in hard lumps.

Manufacture of Drinks

The most important drinks made by the Macusis are those used at certain dances or drinking bouts which take place upon all unusual or important occasions. The greatest dance is the paricari, and the best drink is made for that dance and bears its name. The Arawaks call the drink parikara and the coast Caribs call it paiwari. It is manufactured in a similar way and used for a similar purpose among all the tribes. It is not always kept in stock because it is difficult to make. To manufacture it the ordinary cassava bread is made a little thicker than usual and while still hot is dipped quickly into cold water. A bed of banana leaves covered with cassava leaves is made on the floor in a dark corner of the house. The hot moistened bread is then spread out in layers, six feet across, until the mass is about two inches thick, the whole is then covered with banana leaves. After four days, when the leaves are removed the mass of bread has undergone fermentation and is twice its former bulk. Its whole surface is covered with a thick heavy white mold. It is now ready to be broken up and stored in large pots where it remains for two more days to complete fermentation. A small canoe or a great trough made for the purpose is placed in the middle of the dancing ground, which is usually the centre of a large house, the fermented bread transferred to it and water added to suit the taste of the expert manufacturer. At the dance, a girl is placed in charge of the drink, and after straining it through a small basket she passes it to the head man, who serves it to the dancers. It is mildly intoxicating and men often drink enough to feel its effect. Women drink it also but never to excess. The observer is astonished at the amount the men can drink. They have the ability also of emptying the stomach at will and filling it again. After some hours a drinking bout or dance of this sort becomes a disgusting spectacle. Apparently there are no evil effects produced by the drink. When the dance is over, the men immediately go to sleep and wake up hungry, but as well as usual.

Another drink is made for the paiwai dance and is called by the same name. Cassava bread is made twice its ordinary thickness and baked on both sides until it is black and charred. While it is still hot, it is rolled up in green banana leaves and stored away on the cross beams of the house. At the end of a week, it is taken down and unrolled, when it is found to be covered with a heavy mold. It is then broken up and mixed with water and casiri, or cassava juice. It is now the consistency of thick soup and somewhat intoxicating. It is used at the pai¬ wai dance in much the same way that the paricari is used. These two drinks are made for special occasions and are not on hand at other times.

The yaposa, however, is always found in the large storage drink pot which stands against one of the main house posts. It is made of the ordinary cassava bread without fermentation in mold. A portion of the bread is chewed and the whole mixed with water. In three days the drink has reached its best stage; by the fourth day it has become too sour to drink. Upon one’s arrival at any village, he is immediately offered a drink of yaposa which he finds most refreshing and even palatable, until he learns of its manufacture — when it is too late, he has acquired the appetite.

The Macusis make a variety of drinks from fresh ripe fruit. They never drink water except when on the trail. The pulpy covering of various palm seeds is extracted and mixed with water, making a thick liquid which may be drunk or eaten with farina. The best of all the palm drinks, at least to the white man’s taste, is the assaii ( Euterpe oleracis), but the most common is the bacaba (. Enocarpus distichus). The awara (A strocaryuna tucuneoides) , aeta ( Mauritia flexuosa) and the cokerite ( Maxi - miliaria regia ) are also used. Wild pineapples, cashews and bananas are crushed and mixed with water to drink.

Eating and Drinking

The Indians eat less than a white man at their regular meals, but they eat more between meals and upon special occa¬ sions when food is plentiful. When at work on the trail they eat three times a day: a small amount at daybreak, a good meal about eleven o’clock and another good meal at dark. Men and women do not eat together, even at home alone. Men and boys eat first and then the women and girls remove the pots and eat what remains. At home, the wife brings bread and the cooking pot, containing meat and soup, and places them in front of her husband, who is seated on a stool. He soaks some bread in the soup, turns away from the pot and eats the moistened bread, then turns back for more. The boys eat with the father. If there are no children the wife may eat at the same time her husband does and out of the same pot, but she must eat standing. When she eats alone or in company with other women she sits on her heels or on a stool.

When several strangers appear at a village, all the women bring out food, the chief invites the visitors to eat and he eats with them. All squat around the food, those near soak their bread and then move back without rising to make room for others and the process is repeated until all are satisfied. The meat at the bottom of the pot is eaten with the fingers after the soup has been consumed. Women in the party are taken inside to eat with the women and girls of the village. Choice food is often selected for visitors, particularly fruit and nuts. Fruit is eaten at the end of the meal. When strangers arrive the women bring the yaposa drink at once and immediately prepare some food. No word of greeting is offered with the drink and no word of thanks returned with the empty bowl. Any empty receptacle must be returned by the individual to whom it was first presented.

Hunting

The Macusis are primarily agriculturists. Each man makes his own field and depends upon that for his main support, but the chase supplements and gives variety to the diet. Men enjoy hunting and fishing and observe certain rites to secure the assistance of the spirits in their success. There is a partic¬ ular charm or bina for each animal, which makes its capture certain. A root, leaf or other object may suggest some part of an animal and be used in its capture, or the actual part itself, as the heart, head or bone may be carried as an amulet.

A special charm is needed for the hunter of the savannah deer because it is difficult to approach in the open. It takes fright at the scent or movement of the hunter, hence he must hunt up the wind and remain motionless when the deer lifts its head. Only those who have the special charm are able to call the deer or to walk up and shoot it with the bow and arrow. The would be hunter selects the leaves of a certain caladium and macerates them in water. The leaf has a fancied resemblance to the ear of the deer. Then he makes four thongs from the fibre of the aeta palm, two small thin ones and two as large as a lead pencil and three feet long. One end of the thong is tapered to a fine thread. When all are ready the thongs are soaked in the solution, and the hunter, taking the fine thread, passes it back through the nasal passage and pulls it out through his mouth — the small thongs first and then the large ones through each nostril. These thongs are then tied to a stick and hung up in the house as evidence that the man has per¬ formed the ceremonies which make him a deer hunter.

The forest tribes depend much more upon the chase than the savannah tribes do. They pay more attention also to breeding and taking care of hunting dogs. When not hunting the dogs are kept tied on platforms and never allowed to run about the house on account of the danger from jiggers (. Pulex penetrans), the small insects which burrow under the skin near the toe nails and make the dogs’ toes sore. These jiggers infest the dust

about the village and cause a great deal of suffering among men and animals. We were constantly removing jiggers from our own bare toes. The women have most care of the dogs. They take them from their platforms and carry them under their arms to the creek each day for a bath. Morning and evening they carry them away from the house and turn them loose for a run, but gather them under their arms again to carry them back to their platforms. By this method the dogs’ feet are kept out of the dust of the village, and free from the jiggers. The short rope with which the dog is tied has a stick in the middle part to prevent the dog from chewing the rope. Dogs have binas as well as men but they do not select them for them¬ selves. If a dog is lazy or unable to scent the trail, ants are allowed to sting him. The hunter, unless he is going far from home, does not take his dogs with him. He carries a bamboo horn, which can be heard a long distance, and sounds certain signals when he encounters game. Dogs are most useful in hunting the peccary and the tapir.

When the hunter finds peccaries he sounds his horn, two blasts about ten seconds apart; then, following in the direction the game is going, he continues to blow two blasts each at frequent intervals so the men at the village may know which way to run with the dogs. All the men and all the dogs rush through the forest at great speed. The dogs are not released until the men have killed all the peccaries possible with their spears and bows and arrows. By this time the herd of half a dozen or half a hundred has been scattered in all directions. The dogs chase individual ones into hollow logs, tree trunks or holes in the ground. Sometimes one or more may take refuge between the great flat roots of a tree and turn to defend them¬ selves. The dogs are afraid to make an attack, but hold them at bay until the men arrive and dispatch them with a spear. When the peccary ( Dicotyles torquatus ) takes to a hole in the ground, which he happens to find in his flight, the men fasten the opening with sticks or logs to prevent his escape and then

44 UNIVERSITY MUSEUM

ANTHROPOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS, VOL. X

make a very ingenious trap. About a dozen small poles are cut six or eight feet long and tied or woven together in the shape of a long funnel which tapers from a size sufficiently large to admit the peccary to six inches at the other end. The large end is placed at the hole while the other is lifted up and tied to the crossed poles. The fastenings are then removed and the peccary makes a rush for freedom but his legs go through between the poles and he finds himself helpless. He attempts to get back, but one man blocks the way while another hits him on the head with the end of a pole and kills him. This is a very effective trap which never fails because the peccary always comes out at once. This trap is used by all the Carib and Arawak tribes in the region (Plate XI, B).

When the hunter arouses a tapir ( Tapirus terrestris ) from his lair, he sounds his horn giving three blasts at intervals of ten seconds and repeats them within a few minutes to tell the listeners the direction the tapir is traveling. The tapir feeds late in the evening and at night and lies down during the day wherever he happens to be when light overtakes him. When aroused in the daytime he makes a wild rush through the thick forest in the direction of the river. He has a regular run where he crosses a low divide or where he is accustomed to go to drink and bathe. These crossings are known to the hunter and when his horn sounds the direction the tapir is going the men at the village run with the dogs for one of these crossings. The dogs chase the tapir to a water hole where they surround him until the hunter kills him with a spear or bow and arrow. The tapir has no defense; he therefore runs for a safe place. He is an excellent swimmer and diver, so he attempts to reach deep water, where he is safe from his enemies. Deer are hunted with dogs in the same way and they, like the tapir, take to the water.

Traps and snares are used to catch some of the smaller animals and birds. A beehive trap is made to catch birds. Seeds are scattered under the trap, and when the boy on watch sees a bird enter he pulls a string, which releases the support

and allows the trap to fall. Animals have runways which they habitually travel. A loop is so placed in the runway that the head of the animal passes through the loop. The loop cord is attached to a stout pole which is bent over and held by a trigger. The weight of the moving animal springs the trap and releases the pole, which lifts him from the ground. A net is sometimes stretched across the runway of deer and the grass set on fire. The frightened deer run into the net and are killed by men in hiding. Iguanas or lizards ( Iguana tuber culata) sun themselves by climbing on the bushes or on rocks along the rivers. The Indian from his canoe shoots them with a special kind of bone-tipped arrow having a lateral projecting barb. When the iguana falls into the water the arrow reveals his location. Deer, peccaries, monkeys and birds even in the forests are sometimes driven to a hill top where they are killed by men in hiding.

The Indians are not particularly good shots with their bows and arrows at long range, but they are such experts at stalking the game or at imitating the calls of all creatures that they succeed in getting near enough to kill at short range. The deer, peccary and tapir must be hunted, because they do not always respond to the call. On one occasion, we saw a young tapir crossing the river and our boys called it back and killed it, but old tapirs will not answer the whistle. The native knows all the characteristics as well as the calls. Some animals will follow a call, while others will answer but will not follow. Some answer a call only when they themselves are calling; others will follow up a response when they are calling; while others will follow a call without responding. Some respond and follow only when the flock is scattered. Some respond and come alone, while others respond and bring the flock with them.

The monkey is always willing to answer and to follow up a call, but he is cautious at times and leaves his companions behind. He is very tenacious of life and difficult to dislodge from the branches of a tree. When transfixed with an arrow, he may hold on until the Indian climbs up and kills him. We

sat down to wait for one to fall that had been mortally wounded, but while we watched an eagle happened along and carried it off. At another time I shot a curassow, which fell behind a large log, and a jaguar gathered it up and ran away. The trumpet birds ( Psophia crepitans ) feed on the ground, for most part, in small flocks. They answer the call, but they take fright easily; hence it is necessary to build a blind of leaf
branches before beginning to call. When the birds are within twenty feet, the man shoots one; the flight of the arrow makes no noise; the cry of the wounded bird brings the flock together where a number may be killed. The male curassow ( Crax alector ) crows just at the break of day before leaving the roost and again about the middle of the forenoon, or rather these are his principal crowing times on dry days. The hunter gives the answering call of the female and waits for the male, who comes at once bringing his flock with him. Several may be killed with the bow and arrow before they take flight. With a gun a man may shoot three or four times before they run or fly out of range. For the white man, the best game of the forest is the maam ( Imamus ) ; the white meat of the breast is most delicious. When, at dusk, the hunter hears its call, he goes after it repeating its call at regular intervals until he comes up to it. The maroudi ( Penelope pipile) is also greatly prized for food and as a pet. The green parrots are very good eating, but they feed in the tops of tall trees and they have excellent eyesight; besides, they post a sentry when feeding, hence they are very difficult to shoot. Other birds are often found feeding with these par¬ rots, and I have wondered if it were not for their protection. The parrots are very noisy except when feeding, but they are wasteful feeders and the ground under the tree is always littered with the fallen fragments, thus revealing their presence. The hunter hides under the tree before the parrots come, and with his poisoned darts ready he awaits their arrival. They come first into the top of the tree, and when the sentry is satisfied that all is well, they move down to the lower branches, where the hunter

picks them oft one by one until he is satisfied. The arrow, the size of an old fashioned knitting needle, makes no noise if it misses, and it it hits its mark the bird soon drops off without making any outcry. If it were possible for the hunter to use the bow and arrow the twang of the bowstring would be suffi¬ cient to frighten the birds away. The macaws ( Ara macac, Ara mtlitaris and Ara ararauna ) are greatly prized for their long feathers of beautiful red, green, yellow and blue colors. These birds frequent the tops of the tallest trees. There the hunter builds a blind and awaits their coming. He sometimes uses a pet macaw as a decoy.

Fishing

The Macusis catch fish with a variety of traps, a net or a hook and kill them with the bow and arrow or vegetable poisons. The method depends upon the kind of fish, the season and the water. 1 he bait depends upon the appetite of the particular fish desired; if you want pacu you use fruit; if another you use leaves, insects, worms, flesh of animal, bird, or fish. The pacu (. Myletus paca ) feeds largely upon the fruit of the yellow plum ( Spondias My rob alarms) during its season, which happens to coincide with the high water. The fish cannot be seen in the yellow water, so the Indian climbs to an overhanging branch of a tree and drops fruit into the water. When the fish rises to the bait it is shot with an arrow attached to a string for retrieving it. The pacu in the dry season is found only in the rapids, where he is shot with the same arrow attached to a string. During the rains he is found all along the river. The dip net is used along the banks of the river when the water is high and at a poisoning to gather up the dead fish. The net is ten or twelve inches in diameter and from one to two feet in length. It may be used also for landing hooked fish, but the more common method in landing a big fish is to shoot an arrow into it. The most savage fish known to South American waters, is the pirai (. Serasalmus piraya), a short, deep bodied fish, from a foot to eighteen inches in length, having very sharp saw edged teeth.

It cannot be taken with the hook, so a very ingenious trap is used to catch it.1 This trap is used by all Arawak and Carib tribes in the forest region. The trap consists of a funnel shaped basket attached to a spring pole. A number of split sticks, thirty inches long, are woven together with split bush rope making a basket ten inches wide at one end and tapering to a point at the other. The mouth of the basket is fastened to the spring pole with two cords about three feet long. The pole is bent down and the basket is placed below a projecting pole or prepared framework to keep it under water, where it is held in a horizontal position by a third cord attached to the spring pole and the trigger stick. The bait attached to the trigger hangs down in the middle of the trap. When the fish coming up stream strikes the bait, the trigger releases the pole and the trap is pulled forward and upward out of the water. The electric eel ( Gymnotus eledricus ) and the stingray ( Trigon hystrix ) are also eaten. The aimara ( Erythinus macrodon ) and the arapaima (Sudis gigas) are both good large fish; the arapaima weighs fifty pounds or more. The aimara has very sharp teeth and a savage disposition. The Indians are afraid to fish from a canoe because the aimara when hooked offers no resistance — cannot be felt on the hook when pulling the line in — but when near the surface he jumps for the fisherman’s hands. They fish from a rock or the river bank and keep a club at hand with which to kill the fish when he comes out of the water.

The simplest trap found everywhere is made by building a dam across the river, where the fish, coming into it, cannot get out. A dam is sometimes built at a small waterfall in such a way that the channel is restricted to a narrow opening into which a funnel shaped trap is placed. The fish are thus forced into the trap. If the trap is made double,2 with the inside funnel so woven that the fish may pass through but can¬ not return, it may be set anywhere in rapid water. The end

1 Farabee, W. C. The Central Arawaks, Anthropological Publications, Vol. IX, Fig. 6.

2 Ibid., Fig. 4.

may be untied to remove the fish. The trap1 is a simple affair, made ot sticks two and a halt feet long, in the form of a truncated cone. It is carried into the pool and planted down on the bottom. The fish are removed at once from the top by hand. 1 raps are in use partially because the pirai with his sharp teeth cuts the line and makes it difficult to fish with the hook.

During the dry season the fish remain in the great pools along the river and refuse to take the hook. The Macusis, like the \ apisianas, have learned to catch the fish by poisoning the water of the pools. The poison liana is collected in the forest, sometimes at a distance of two or three days’ journey and car¬ ried to the pool, where it is pounded on the rocks to reduce it to pulp. The amount needed depends upon the kind of poison, the size of the pool and the amount of water. One hundred pounds of the best poison pulp would be sufficient to poison a pool six feet deep, fifty feet wide and one hundred feet long. Everything is made ready the day before the poisoning is to take place. It the pool is a long way from the village every¬ body goes along and camps there. Barbecues are built and firewood gathered to roast the fish before they are carried to the village. Baskets are made to use in collecting the fish.

I he day of the poisoning, the men go to the pool under the direction of a head man, who has full charge and gives direc¬ tions to the men who carry the poison and to the whole group when the dead fish are being collected. The baskets of poison pulp are soused up and down in the water and then held up to allow the poison to drain out. Then they are taken back to the rock where the pulp is pounded for a time and taken back to the water. The fish soon feel the effect of the poison and rush about in a vain endeavor to escape the discomfort, but it requires an hour or more to kill all the fish. The pirai, or any other vicious fish, is speared at once and thrown out bv the men

1 Ibid., Fig. 5.

with the poison. When the man in charge is satisfied that the fish are all dead he gives the signal and everybody rushes in and gathers up all the fish he can find. A large pool will yield five or six hundred pounds of fish. The whole performance has taken about two 'hours. The rest of the day is consumed in cleaning and barbecuing the fish and at night a great feast is held. The following day the remaining fish are packed up and carried to the village, where they are kept smoked until they are used. Many pools are thus robbed of every fish they con¬ tain every dry season. One observing this complete destruction wonders why the fish are not exterminated in the whole river. The secret is that the pools in the lower reaches of the rivers are so large that they cannot be poisoned and thus the fish are preserved and the rivers restocked when the rains return.

The interior tribes living along the head streams practice different methods. The fish are smaller and more difficult to shoot or to secure in traps. The pirai cuts the line so these people never fish with the hook. They use a trap to catch the pirai, but make no other traps. The streams continue to How throughout the dry season, and the fish are on the move. However, the natives poison the streams and have just as much fun catching the small fish as their kinsmen on the larger rivers have in catching large ones. On January i, iQ!4) we attended our first fish poisoning with the Waiwais. Two days before, the bush rope, aiya, was cut and carried to the village, where mallets were made for reducing it to pulp. All the next da
was spent by five or six men in pounding the rope into fine shreds and collecting it into baskets — in all about ten bushels weighing between three and four hundred pounds. Plate XI, A shows the method used and the size of the bush rope. At daybreak, New Year’s morning, everybody started for the river three hours’ journey away. 1 he first thing, after the loads of pulp were deposited on the river bank, was to make baskets of leaves to hold the small fish. The larger fish were strung on a cord or bush rope over the shoulder. The place

selected for the poisoning was the deepest pool on the river. Some of the men took the poison into the rapids just above the pool and continued to pound it and to roll it about in the water (Plate X, A). Other younger men arranged themselves down stream to spear the vicious fish and those first affected by the poison. At the end of fifteen minutes the fish were coming to the surface half stupefied; if touched, they would dart away for an instant and then float, but after half an hour all the fish were quite dead. When the chief gave the signal, all made a wild rush to see who could get the most fish. After fifteen minutes of the most exciting scramble of my experience, I found my camera on the tripod commanding the view, but no one had exposed a plate — we were too busy fishing. Large fish were killed two hundred yards down stream, and small ones, six inches long or less, for a half mile down; but below this they were unaffected. Some poisons appear to stupefy the fish only, but this one kills them outright. Two or three hours after the poisoning we found dead fish floating on the surface a mile and a half below the poisoned pool.

Very few poisons are used by the forest tribes; possibly because the variety used above, aiya (. Muller a maniliformis) , is so plentiful and so effective that others are not needed. This variety is the kind most desired by the Macusis for poisoning pools, but it grows a long distance away. The Wapisianas call it aical and class it as their best poison. It is a bush rope or liana which grows to the thickness of six or eight inches. The stem and roots are used. It is more valuable also because it may be stored for several days without losing its strength. It is often an article of trade from tribe to tribe. " Kowui ( Lon - chocarpus densiflorus ), a bush rope, is used at times. The roots and the outer bark only contain the poison. A dark flat bush rope, called pici, is sometimes used although not so good as either of the above. Four shrubs are known: Kunani ( Tepb - rosia toxicaria), leaves and seeds used; kunapari ( Clibadium asperum), leaves and seeds used; tcukuya and haya are shrubs

whose leaves only are used. The curale ( Strychnos toxifera ) poison is not used in shooting fish or in poisoning the pools, but is reserved for the blow gun darts and arrow points.

Hunting Implements

Indian implements of the chase are always well made and well adapted for their uses. Each man, when it is possible to get the materials, makes his own implements. It is sometimes necessary for him to get certain things by barter, not because he could not manufacture them, but because the best materials are not available. An Indian is a successful hunter, not because he is a wonderful marksman, but because he knows so perfectly the habits and instincts of the game he pursues. He knows their haunts and lies in wait, stalks into their presence or calls them within easy range. He has a particular arrow or spear for each species.

The best bows are made of purple heart ( Capaifera pubifloris) or the stiff central part of the letterwood ( Piratinera Guianensis) . A tree two feet in diameter will yield a stick six inches in diameter, from which bows can be made. The bows were formerly worked down into the desired shape and size with knives made from peccaries teeth (Plate XXXV, C). The forest tribes continue to use these knives in making their bows. The bow is finished with the rough leaf of the savannah tree ( Curatella Americana ) and polished by hand with the oil pre¬ pared from the nuts of the crabwood tree ( Carapa Guianensis). The bow, seven feet long, an inch across the back and an inch deep, is very stiff and must not be flexed too far. When the bow is relaxed it is perfectly straight. I he middle of the bow is wrapped with fine cotton thread for about six inches and is decorated with tufts of feathers. The surplus string is wound around the lower end of the bow. To tighten the string for immediate use, it is slipped from one end, given a few twists and replaced, the bow being flexed by pressure against the knee. The Waiwais make the best bows of all the tribes. Arawak as well as Carib tribes secure Waiwai bows by barter.

All tribes make the same general type of arrow. They have no flint, hence their arrows are tipped with bone or wood. The arrow shaft is made from the flower stock of the wild cane 0 Gynoecium saccharinum), which grows plentifully along some of the rivers. The foreshaft of hard wood is inserted into the reed shaft which is compressed for an inch or two by using a cord with a stick tied at each end. One end is held by the hand and the other between the toes. The cord is wrapped once around the shaft and pulled tight while the shaft is rolled up and down the string and pressed firmly around the fore¬ shaft. Then a waxed thread is wound about the shaft to hold it in place. If no point is to be attached the end of the fore¬ shaft is pointed and barbed. A bone point may be so attached that the upper end projects and serves for a barb. A flat or a curved bamboo point may be attached to the shaft or to the foreshaft. The foreshaft may be made with a socket for a poisoned wooden point eight or ten inches long. And again there may be a socket for the harpoon head. The foreshaft may end in a large blunt point or it may have four very short sticks tied about it to prevent penetration. The feathering is done with considerable care. Cotton threads of different colors are woven into designs which distinguish the workmanship of the makers. Some of the harpoon arrows are not feathered. The thread for wrapping the shaft is waxed with the pitch of the Ceroxylon andicola mixed with beeswax and powdered char¬ coal. Care must be taken lest too much beeswax should destroy the adhesive quality of the wax. It is stored in bamboo joints and used for covering arrow cases and blow guns, repairing implements and canoes.

Spears are used for killing animals at close quarters — jaguars, tapirs and peccaries when the dogs are holding them at bay. The spears are made from purpleheart or other hard woods. They are about eight feet in length and have a long, tapering square head. Most arrows may be used for different purposes but many are made for one primary purpose. The arrow with a long barbed foreshaft may be used to kill birds,

L — ANTHROPOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS, VOL. X

54 UNIVERSITY MUSEUM

monkeys or fish. The large arrows with long bamboo points are used for deer, tapir, jaguar and man in warfare. The har¬ poon with toggle head is used only for large fish. The blunt points and those with slight penetration are used for land

birds only.

The Indians of this region know the use of many poisons in killing fish, but for killing animals on land only one poison was in common use — and that was curari, urari, ourali or wourari according to the person pronouncing the word. It is known to many tribes, who get it by barter from others who make it. The ingredients differ from tribe to tribe but all the formulae contain the bark of a creeper ( Strychnos toxifera ) which is the most active principle. This plant grows abun¬ dantly in the Kanuku Mountains, where the Macusis have a monoply of its use. They manufacture the poison and exchange it with surrounding tribes to their own great advantage. The Wapisianas and Arecunas depend upon them for their whole supply. Even with this demand comparatively little is made because it is so deadly that small amounts only are needed. Both Waterton and Schomburgk witnessed its manufacture and both performed many experiments to determine the exact effect of the poison. It apparently paralyzes the nerves of the volun¬ tary muscles. With a blow gun dart, Waterton killed a chicken in five minutes and an ox in twenty five minutes with three peccary arrows. The properties of this curious poison are not fully understood by the outside world. The formula which Richard Schomburgk saw used may be of interest:1

Bark and albumen of Urari plant ( Strychnos toxifera ) . Bark and albumen of Yakki ( Strychnos Scbomburgkii) . Bark and albumen of Arimaru ( Strychnos cogens ) ....

Bark of Tarireng .

Bark of Wokarimo .

Root of Tarireng .

Tararemu .

Caramu ( Cissus Sp.?) .

Manacu wood . .

2 lbs.

1 Reisen in British Guiana, p. 450.

Only a few men know how to manufacture the poison, and these go about it with great ceremony and secrecy. I did not witness the ceremony but learned from others about it. A new leaf shelter is first built. A new pot must be made for the pur¬ pose of boiling the ingredients. The water must be brought from a clear stream some distance away, and the vessel must be set down at frequent intervals because a bird shot with a poi¬ soned arrow will fly only as far as the water was carried at one time. The maker must keep his own fire and while tending it must blow into the boiling pot at certain intervals. When the ingredients are all boiled for the proper length* of time, they are strained through a new press. The juice is then boiled for twenty four hours or until it is the consistency of vaseline and dark brown in color. It is then stored away in small gourds for three or four days, when it is ready for use. If the poison is allowed to dry on the dart it becomes useless, hence it is that the darts and the arrow points are carried with their ends jn the poison, and are not taken out until needed for immediate use. When the poison becomes dry in its container it can be freshened by mixing with it some fresh cassava juice. Little danger need be feared from handling poisoned arrows in mu¬ seums. Even if the poison were active the small amount one would receive from the prick of a dart would do him little harm. The whole amount on a fresh blow gun dart, which is sufficient to kill a chicken in five minutes, would not be a grave danger for a man. To kill a peccary, the arrow point must break off and remain in the wound thereby preventing bleeding and insur¬ ing the absorption of all the poison. An accidental prick from such a point would not be very dangerous to man. I mention these things because one hears so much of the great danger from such sources. The reason we hear these startling things is because we have not advanced beyond the primitive man’s ideas of the mystery surrounding poisons. We easily believe extravagant stories concerning deadly insects, deadly snakes and deadly poisons.

Detachable poisoned points, eight inches long, are used primarily for killing peccaries. The point is made to fit loosely in the socket of the arrow shaft so that it will remain in the wound and allow the shaft to drop to the ground. If the point were firmly attached, the arrow would be caught in the brush and pulled out, leaving an open bleeding wound which would allow all the poison to escape. The arrow point is notched in several places so it may break off in the deep wound. These points are carried in a small bamboo joint which contains the curari poison in the bottom and is covered with a close-fitting cap of tapir skin. This is so near air tight that the poison will remain moist and active for a long time. I he points must remain in the poison until needed for use.

The most mysterious and awe inspiring weapon in the world is the blow gun. It is found among most of the forest tribes in eastern South America, in the Antilles and among the Cherokee, Iroquois and Muskogean tribes of North America. Its occur¬ rence in Asia has led some extremist to conclude that this is another evidence of contact, but the instrument is such a simple one that we may safely assume an independent invention. A hollow reed is in itself an invitation to blow through it. A pellet of any kind might well be the first missile. It is one of the simplest of useful inventions. The blow gun is by no means the most useful of Indian weapons. Its use is restricted to birds and small climbing mammals. The ^larts do not carry sufficient poison to be effective in killing big game. However, it justifies itself for the suggested uses. Birds of every kind feed in quiet and fly away at the slightest suggestive noise. In a tree top they are small targets; a miss with an ordinary arrow would frighten the whole flock, but the dart is noiseless, and, besides, the shock from it is so slight that the bird struck utters no cry before dropping from sight to the ground. The monkey is most difficult to get down — he has so many hands to cling with. When wounded with an arrow he finds a secure place in the fork of a tree from which he cannot be dislodged; but when

FARABEE — THE CENTRAL CARIRS

hit with a dart he remains quiet until he drops from the limb to the earth. 1 he gun is used also to get birds for pets. A small amount of poison is used, and, when the bird drops, the dart is removed and salt rubbed into the wound. It is generally stated that salt is the only antidote known for curari.

The Macusis secure the reeds for their blow guns from the Arecunas who get them near the head waters of the Orinoco, where they grow in abundance. The inside section of the gun is made of the first joint of a small bamboolike reed ( Arun - dinaria Schomburgkii), a half inch in diameter, which grows per¬ fectly straight between nodes, ten feet or more apart. This tube, after it has been carefully cured to prevent warping, is placed inside the stem of a palm (Ireartia setigera ) to prevent warping and to add strength and endurance. Sometimes the guns are secured in this form, and they may be so used; but the better and more common method is to cover the gun with pitch and wind it with bark or split lianas. While the reeds are uni¬ form in thickness the gun is wound heavier at the butt and tapering to the point, thus making it better balanced when in use. The Wapisiana guns have a mouthpiece of palm nut or spool shaped hard wood, but the Macusi guns are plain, with an enlarged funnel shaped opening made by cutting away the end of the reeds. All blow guns have the so called sights which are mere indications to show which side of the gun to hold uppermost. The long tube, when held out from one end in a horizontal position, always has a weaker side which allows it to bend. If this weaker side is held uppermost the gun will be straight. The “sights,” usually made of one or two agouti teeth ( Dasyprocta agouti ) set in wax, are always fixed on the weaker side of the barrel, a foot or two from the butt. The gun is useless if allowed to warp, hence it is never stood up on end or laid across beams, but is suspended from the ridge pole by the small end.

The blow gun darts, ten inches long and the size of knitting needles, are made from the midrib of the cokerite palm ( Maxi -

miliana regia ) and carried in a wicker woven quiver, which is coated with karamana wax and covered with a tapir skin cap. Attached to the quiver, there is a jawbone of the pirai ( Serras - almus piraya ) and a small basket for carrying silk cotton ( Eri - odendron). The quiver contains curari poison at the bottom, into which the ends of the darts are placed. When a man is ready to use his gun, he takes out a dart, rolls it between the teeth of the pirai to cut it half in two so the end will break off in the wound, takes a small tuft of cotton from the basket and rolls it around the dry end of the dart to fill the bore of the gun. The arrow is then inserted in the butt of the gun and with a sudden explosive puff is shot noiselessly to the distance of a hundred feet with considerable accuracy. One great advantage of the poisoned dart is that it need not hit a vital part.

The blo\v gun is never used in warfare — the story teller and the Sunday newspaper traveler notwithstanding. Neither is the poisoned peccary arrow used in warfare. 1 he one arrow made and used for that purpose is the large bamboo pointed arrow. It is more deadly than any other because it contains some poison and it makes a large, ragged, crescent shaped wound which bleeds profusely. All the traditions point to the arrow as the primary war implement used among both Arawak and Carib tribes.

There are three stories which belong to the South American tropical travelers and story tellers. The traveler is in constant danger of losing his life; (i) by being attacked by Indians with blow guns; (2) by eating birds, monkeys and peccaries shot with poisoned arrows; and (3) by drinking the water of a river below a fish poisoning. No traveler ever was in any danger from any of these causes. If an Indian wished to kill an objec¬ tionable traveler he would use more direct methods and more effective implements. The small amount of poison one would get from eating a bird or animal killed with a dart or arrow point could be eaten with impunity. One would not be foolish enough to drink the water in the pool at a poisoning, but he

might drink from the river immediately below without danger an hour later. The poison goes to the bottom of the river because its specific gravity is greater than that of water. A surface poison would kill no fish.

Division of Labor

The duties of all individuals in a Macusi village are fairly well established by custom and on the whole equally divided between the sexes and along perfectly natural lines. The male members of society, men and the boys old enough to leave their mothers care, do the hunting and fishing and all the heavier work in clearing their fields. The men select the location, clear the land and build the house. In making a field the men first cut the underbrush, then fell the large trees, but the women assist in the burning. The men go to some neighboring or even remote village to obtain cassava cuttings for the new fields. They dig up the hills, but the women carry the cuttings from the canoe and plant them. All work together in planting corn, potatoes, squashes and sugar cane, but the women take care of what little is done in the way of cultivation and in gathering these vegetables for cooking before the final harvest, when the men assist. Their fields usually are a long way from the village, making the gathering of daily food very laborious for the women.

Men use the dogs in hunting, but the women care for them at other times. Men gather the fish poisons, prepare them and poison the water, but the women dress and barbecue the fish and carry them home in their pack baskets. Men make their bows and arrows, blow guns, snares and traps. Men are the traders and often make long journeys on foot or by canoe, but women often accompany their husbands to pack on foot or to steer the canoe if traveling by water. Women gather the food from the fields and forests, cook it and serve it to their husbands and sons. They carry water from the river and make the drink. They gather the cotton, spin it and weave it into cloth and

hammocks. Women among all tribes appear to the white

visitor as burden bearers and hard laborers because they are so busy cooking while the men are visiting. If the visitor, how¬ ever, should accompany a hunting party to a distant mountain, enter into the chase, kill his 125 lb. peccary late in the afternoon and carry it back to the village, he would agree that hunting for one’s food is very much like work. The Indians are very well satisfied with the present arrangements and desire only to have them continue.

SOCIAL CULTURE Clothing and Ornamentation

The Macusis have been for so long a time in contact with whites that they have learned to use the white man’s clothing to some extent. The men wear trousers and the women skirts when they go away from home, and they may even add shirts and waists, but at home they all prefer their own native dress. The interior tribes have nothing of outside manufacture. Chil¬ dren everywhere go about with only a necklace until they are six or eight years of age. The girls are first to dress; they put on a fringe of cotton strings, and as they grow older they make for themselves beaded aprons. In earlier times the women all wore the fringe of strings. When they got beads it was a very simple matter to string them and to weave them using the fringe strings as warp. The hint may have come from an out¬ side source or from the custom of wearing colored seeds and nuts. Many of their bead aprons have fringes of nuts and seeds. The size of the apron varies with the age of the wearer until in adult age it is about twelve by fifteen inches. The different colored beads are woven into most beautiful geometric designs, all of which may be traced directly to natural forms. In many cases a stranger can recognize the animal form at a glance (Plate XXV). In many cases the body of the apron is in plain color, while the borders are ornamented with fragments of realistic designs. Sometimes the aprons have fringes of nuts or seeds which serve as ornaments and also as rattles, making

tinkling sounds at every step as the thighs strike the apron in walking or in dancing. As there is considerable traffic in aprons it is difficult to determine the preferences of individuals or tribes. 1 he choice of colors depends more upon the available supply than the tastes of individuals. The Waiwai women prefer white beads for the body of the apron and blue ones for the narrow borders at top and bottom. The Macusis prefer the apron entirely plain or covered with a single repeated design. The Diaus and the Waiwais often wear longer aprons with fringes of nuts. The women of the forest tribes often wear at their dances a beaded back ornament, ten inches high and a foot in length, made with sticks attached along the ends to hold it in position. It is ornamented with feathers and attached to the apron string. Plate XII, F shows a Waiwai woman wearing the back ornament and the long apron. The apron string is worn so tight that it becomes deeply imbedded in the flesh.

The men wear a loin cloth made of cotton woven in a strip five or six feet in length and six or eight inches wide with loose threads or long tassels left at the ends. The cloth is passed between the legs and the ends suspended before and behind over a tight-fitting belt of jaguar skin. The tasseled ends are usually tucked up at the sides. Cloths for everyday wear are shorter and lack the tassels. Among some of the tribes a bov receives his first loin cloth at his puberty ceremony (Cf. Apalaii). The Indians are in the habit of coloring their bodies with a paint made of oil and the red pulp surrounding the seeds of the annatto tree ( Bixa orellana). A mass of paint is rubbed between the palms and smeared over the body. A dye is made of the pulp of the same plant mixed with the gum of Idea heptaphylla for coloring loin cloths and hammocks. The Macusis, for ordinary wear, use red cloth obtained from the whites. The belts are made of strips of jaguar skin, plaited liana splits, or of the inner bark of the cakaralli tree ( Lecythis ollaria). This bark is sometimes used for baby carriers, small hammocks and tump lines.

The Macusis, when traveling in the savannah on stony trails, wear sandals made of the leaf stock of the aeta palm (. Mauritia flexuosa ) or. of the thick hide of the tapir. The sandal is roughly cut with square toe and heel and wide enough to protect the sides of the foot. The sandal is securely fastened by thongs, which pass through slits at the sides of the foot around the heel and between the great and second toes. The interior tribes do not use sandals because their forest trails are shaded and leaf covered. Neither are they found in the savannahs during the wet season when they would be useless on the slippery ground. They are of more value as a protection from the heat of the sun baked trail than from the stony soil, particularly so where there are frequent streams to be forded and the soles of the feet become cooled and softened by the water. At such times, without sandals to put on after the crossing, the feet are torn and blistered and the traveler is soon disabled. The leaf stock sandal is easily made, but quickly worn out. It is preferred to the tapir skin sandal in some respects; it does not slip on wet ground, and, being thicker, it protects the feet from feeling the pebbles. The use of the sandal is widely distributed in South America outside the Amazon Valley. Some doubt has been cast upon Ortiguera’s statement that sandals were used by the Indians on the large island at the mouth of the Amazon in the sixteenth century, but the story was probably true because the eastern half of the island (Marajo), was an open savannah whose hot, stony trails would necessitate some protection for the feet. The western or up river part of the island is alluvial and forested.

Ornaments attached to, or worn on, the body are much alike in both sexes. Men and women wear seed and bead neck¬ laces, and bandoleers; strands of beads wound around the upper arm and above the calf of the leg; shell ear ornaments with necklace and pendants and lower lip plugs with pendants attached. The women wear wristlets on both arms, and anklets woven in place, d he men wear wristlets on the right arm but

not on the lei t on account of its interference with the bowstring. 1 hey sometimes wear armbands of bark or palm leaf decorated with beads and leathers. Only occasionally do the men wear anklets, and then they are the removable type, either woven with drawstrings or strands of beads wrapped around the ankles. The bandoleer of monkeys’ hair is given to the Apalaii boy at the conclusion of his puberty ordeal. The men have the septum of the nose perforated for wearing sticks with feathers attached at their dances. Ear ornaments of shell, bone or teeth are usually attached to a plug, which is joined from the back to a corresponding plug in the other ear by a plain string or beaded strings under the chin. There are attached to the plug also pendants of beaded strings with tufts of feathers at the ends. The lip plug has similar pendants. The photographs (Plates XXIX-XXXII), give a very good idea of the personal orna¬ ments worn by both sexes on ceremonial occasions.

The hair is worn long by both men and women among all the tribes except the Macusi whose men are now beginning to cut their hair in the prevailing white man fashion. At puberty the men of the forest tribes cut their hair in front and put up the rest in beautifully decorated bamboo tubes from six to fifteen inches in length, which are allowed to hang down their backs. The hair is first oiled, combed and wrapped in a long queue; then the tube is slipped up over the hair and held in place by the hair string. The white down of the harpi eagle is sprinkled over the hair at festival times. The men are proud of their long hair and take exceedingly good care of it, dressing it every day with Brazil nut oil, which they carry at all times in their toilet cases. The women give less attention to their toilet. They wear their hair loose over their shoulders and frequently have it cut across in front to keep it out of their eyes. At puberty girls cut their hair in front and put on a head band of cotton, woven over four bent splints, with streamers hanging down the back. The combs in use (Plate XXIX) are made by setting the hard wood teeth in a slit in the leg bone

of a bird. The comb is from four to six inches wide and the teeth are about two inches long. The hollow bone is filled with wax, the ends of the teeth imbedded in the wax, fine cotton or fibre thread is interwoven with the teeth for an inch, and then a clamp of two small sticks firmly attached to all the teeth and to the bone above. Thus the teeth are secured in place and strengthened. The bone back is carved at the ends and deco¬ rated with bright red and yellow leathers.

The body is not mutilated for ornamental purposes. I he ears, nose and lip are pierced for wearing ornaments. Formerly both men and women pulled out their eyebrows and put on a line of black paint instead. Now they have scissors and razors and either cut or shave the eyebrows because they interfere with clear vision. The neighboring Wapisianas shave off their eyebrows for the sake of beauty. They sometimes leave. a thin line a quarter of an inch wide. 1 he Macusis pull out the scattering hairs on the face, but leave them on the upper lip. Some have fair mustaches, which, however, are never thick and heavy. The front teeth are often filed to a point with the idea of preserving them. The girls who are selected to chew the corn or cassava bread in making drinks have three radiating lines tattooed at the corners of their mouths. Fine lines are pricked in the skin with thorns and a mixture of calcined cas¬ sava bread and wild honey rubbed in. The sides of the tongue are scraped and rubbed with the same mixture. It is an honor to be selected as a chewer and the tattooing serves as a dis¬ tinguishing mark, but it all appears to be most important in rendering the drink sweeter to the taste. There is no other tattooing, but the whole body is sometimes covered with intri¬ cate geometrical painted designs which, so far as we were able to learn, have no significance in themselves. The individual design may be that of a conventionalized animal or plant but in body decoration it is used for the sake of beauty only. Frag¬ ments of designs are used to fill up irregular spaces. Two girls were painted up for us and we took their photographs but un-

fortunately that one particular roll of films was spoiled and the designs lost. The plates show a number of the face paintings. The body is often covered with the reddish yellow paint made trom the fruit of the annatto tree. The red lines on the face are made with annatto, the yellow lines with an extract of the leaves of Bigona chicka and the black ones with the juice of the Gempa Americana.

As it often happens in civilized society, well developed young men or women with good looks and fine physique, pride themselves upon their appearance and greatly appreciate the admiration of their fellows and members of the opposite sex. It was the daily habit of the two young men to take a bath in the river upon arising in the morning; cover their bodies with paint; oil, comb and decorate their hair; paint designs upon their faces (with daily differences) and put on their ornaments. The performance would consume an hour at least. In the evening before retiring they would take a bath and wash off all the paint. If they were going hunting they did not dress until after they had returned and had taken another bath. When on the trail our men would stop before entering a village, bathe and dress up generally. The young unmarried women of the village painted their faces and put on their beads every day when they were not at work. The attempt to pre¬ sent a pleasing appearance and to make a favorable impression was always in evidence at their dances. The married men and women at such times, while keeping themselves presentable, did not give so much attention to decoration. ’A mother would loan her ornaments to her daughter and go without herself. Practically all the beads in the village were loaded upon the three Parukutu girls in Plate XIII.

Music

The Macusi are said to have the greatest love for music of all the tribes in the Guiana region. Their songs are borrowed by other tribes. A few years ago a mission was established at

Upikari and a small chapel built. One day when I was passmg the chapel, 1 heard music inside and went in. The choir (Plate 111) consisting of two boys and two girls, with a boy at the small organ, was practicing hymns for the next day’s service. They were singing English hymns, having learned to read the words, but without knowing their meaning. Not one of them could answer my questions in English. We attended a service at Tirka and greatly enjoyed the singing which was taken part in by all present. For their dances, they have a man sing a solo part with improvised words, and all men and women join in the chorus. The leader of the chorus emphasizes the rhythm by the use of a rattle made by attaching a string of nuts with open ends ( Thevetia nereifolia ) to a staff. The flutes made of the leg bone of the jaguar are not used in making music for the dance, but these and the bamboo flutes are played by anyone for his own amusement. The flutes are often deco¬ rated with incised geometric designs. The bone flute is usually made of the femur of a full grown jaguar. The epiphysis is cut away, the fibrous parts removed and the end filled with karamana wax as a stop. An oval notch is cut in the edge on the popliteal surface for a lip. The bone is cut away between the neck and the trochanter to the hollow and three holes drilled about an inch and a quarter apart in the posterior side of the bone. The great trochanter and the head are perforated for the suspension of a number of cotton cords. At the other end cotton thread is wound around the bone securing other cotton cords, which hang as a decoration. The bamboo flutes are end blown, the open end being pressed against the lower lip to form the stop. Three or sometimes four holes are burned through with a firestick. The end may be lei t open or cut off at the node and a slit cut on each side above. These flutes are some¬ times decorated with burnt lines radiating from the holes or with engraved designs. Another variety of flute has a reed made of a bird bone thrust through the node of the flute. The flutes of the Apalaii are all side blown and thus differ from those of other Carib tribes.

The Dance

The Macusis greatly enjoy the dance. They dance to cele¬ brate any event — the visit of friends, a successful hunt, the successful ending of any undertaking; or, lacking an event or proper undertaking, they invite their neighbors for a friendly dance so they may become better acquainted, or they dance at all times when there is an abundance of food. After a fish poi¬ soning, or upon the return of a hunting party that has gone far into the forest, when a man builds a house or makes a field, when young men want wives or when young women want hus¬ bands, a dance is arranged to call attention to the particular event or desire. All dances are more or less drinking bouts, and often the drink gives name to the dance.

The paricari dance is the most elaborate and the most important of their dances. This is a kind of double dance, the invited guests taking the part of the paricari and the hosts the part of the tukui. The name paricari is that of a small red headed bird ( Phoenicocircus carnifex ) and tukui is the name of a humming bird ( Topa\a pella). These birds are in no sense totems; but 1 was unable to learn why the names were used. The drink used at this dance is called paricari also. The tukui dance around in a small circle singing and dancing to the rhythm of the tuwi, or string of beads attached to a staff, while the paricari dance around a circle on the outside of the tukui, sing¬ ing and dancing to their own independent music. The head man of the village leads the tukui and carries the rattle staff, and the visiting head man leads the paricari dancers. The leader is followed by two women, each having a hand on one of his shoulders. The other dancers follow in pairs, the man a little in advance and the woman with her left hand on his right shoulder all facing the centre. As they advance a step toward the centre and retreat the woman changes and places her right hand on her partner’s left shoulder; then they move to their right four steps. T hus they continue around the circle from right to left. The rhythm is emphasized by throwing the

weight of the body forward with each step. The tukui, m expression of their welcome, make a lot of noise with panpipes and drums.

The drink, paricari, is kept in a large trough or a canoe m the middle of the house. The dancers move around this recep¬ tacle for a time until the leader of the tukui suddenly ends his song with a yell in a high key and stops. The girl in charge of the drink takes a sip from a large calabash bowl and passes it to the leader of the paricari, the visiting head man, who takes a drink and passes it along the line to the others. Another bowl is given to the leader of the tukui who likewise drinks and passes drink to the other dancers. When all are refreshed the women select new partners and the dance starts off again. The method of selection is interesting. The woman, at the signal given by the leader with a shake of his rattle, places her hand on the shoulder of her desired partner, who immediately steps into place. After the first dance the visiting women select their partners from the tukui and dance with them. As the dance and the drinking go on, some are overcome and drop out while the others mix up in the general dance. The drink is slightly intoxicating, but would have little effect if it were not for the fact that the men drink such enormous quantities of it. The men have the happy faculty of bringing up the liquor soon after it has been drunk and the alcohol has been absorbed. 1 he women never drink to excess.

When it has been decided to hold a paricari dance, the head man sends, to the villages he wishes to invite, messengers who carry knotted cords, or quipus, with knots corresponding to the number of intervening days. The time must be fixed several days in advance in order to allow time for the preparation ol food and drink. As the dance usually continues for several days, or until all the drink has been consumed, it is necessary for the visitors to bring with them all the members of the family together with all the family pets. As the visitors arrive by villages the day before the dance is scheduled to begin, they

blow their reed flutes to announce their presence. They ad¬ vance into the village and the head man goes into the house, to the hammock of the head man of the village, and says “I am here.'' The man in the hammock responds "ugh,” and the first speaker goes on to tell the interesting news from his people. He then takes a seat on a stool and a woman gives him a cala¬ bash of cassava soup, while the next man is being received in the same manner. When all have been received and refreshed they are shown where to sling their hammocks. The women go directly to the women’s door and are received by the women without ceremony. During the reception the host has not moved from his hammock nor looked at his visitors but when the visiting head man has taken his hammock the host goes and sits by him and engages him in conversation. He talks with¬ out a break for fifteen minutes or so and then allows his visitor to talk in the same manner. As the talk goes on the listener grunts assent at regular intervals, and at the conclusion each grunts in turn three or four times in diminishing tones; at last all is quiet. The whole thing appears to be a formal ritual gone through with in unnatural tones and expressions. After a brief interval, they talk in a perfectly normal way, asking and an¬ swering questions.

There are three other dances. One, called warepang, takes place in the daytime, and only the one village takes part. It is a very informal affair, in which anyone may be the leader. The rattle, mara, a gourd with seeds inside and a stick through it, is used not to keep time for the dancers but as a signal to give directions. One shake means to advance, two to turn to the right, three to stop and four to turn around. The mawari is the dance with the evil spirit. The people dance with him and sing songs, saying that he is present, but he is unseen. The dancers may partake of any kind of drink; no special kind is required as in the paricari dance, but no drink is offered to or for the evil spirit. Even though there is no direct worship or offering, it would appear that this dance in recognition of the

evil spirit is a direct attempt to avert his ill will. The third dance, called kaka, is much like the warepang except for the method of selecting the leader of the dance. A strong man is selected to defend the entrance to the house. The men taking part line up at a distance and make a run for the door when they are caught by the defender. A wrestle ensues; if the defender is successful in lifting both his antagonist s feet from the ground at. once, he is the winner and receives the next comer. The one who succeeds in lifting the defender’s feet from the ground, thrusts him aside and enters the house, where a woman throws soaked cassava bread in his face and thus marks him for the leader of the dance.

Games

There are no games for adults except the wrestling at the kaka dance. Small boys use their bows and arrows shooting at all kinds of small animals or insects, but I never saw them shoot at a stationary artificial target. They often stand in line and shoot at a round piece of soft wood or any round thing that a companion rolls along in front of them. No score is kept of hits or misses. The boys make and use an interesting kind of toy catapult. A forked stick, somewhat larger than the stick of the bean shooter of our own boyhood, has a string wrapped around the prongs sufficiently tight to draw them nearer together. A thread is wound around these strings, bringing them together. A dart the size of a knitting needle is made of hard wood and the sharpened end pushed through between the strings from the back and the other end carried over the front to the handle on the other side, thus tightening the strings and bringing the prongs nearer together. The cata¬ pult is now loaded and ready to shoot. When the butt of the dart is released, the flexed prongs straighten and the dart is hurled away to a distance of several feet. The idea is to shoot at some soft object at the proper distance, about six feet, to allow the dart to turn over and stick fast with the sharp point. It is a very ingenious toy and as far as I am aware unknown outside the Caribs.

Political Organization

At present there is no chief over the whole Macusi tribe, and it may be doubted if there ever was one such. There are now three heads of authority: the head man who has political oversight of the village, the medicine man who watches over the health of the people, and the father whose will is respected by his family. The head man has no formal authority, but because of his good judgment, his success as a hunter and his influence in forming public opinion, he is treated with deference by all the men of his village. He gives advice on all kinds of questions affecting individuals, families or the village as a whole. He settles disputes, organizes hunting parties and fish poisonings. He may cooperate with head men from other villages and may unite with them against a common enemy in warfare. He secures his position by common consent and continues to hold it by public opinion. His task is an easy one because of the moral character of the Indians. From childhood they are taught respect for their superiors, regard for the rights of their fellows and the sacredness of traditions, ff hey appear to have an innate dread of adverse criticism. The one duty, then, of the head man is to assist in forming a healthy public opinion. There are no definite punishments for particular crimes. The taking of food that does not belong to one is not regarded as stealing, yet he is asked to repay in kind. Women sometimes take things from each other, but when found out they are asked to make payment. I he killing of a member of a family starts a family feud, which is handed down from father to son. The head man is not concerned in cases of this kind. It must be said that there is very little crime of any kind committed among them.

1 he father is absolute master of his household. The chil¬ dren are taught to obey without demonstration. The grown-up sons respect the wishes of their father until they are married and go away from the old home. I he daughter brings to live in her father’s house a husband who willingly submits to the will

of his father in law. This does not mean that the father is domineering, but that his expressed wishes are respected. He counsels with his family and gives advice.

Medicine Men

The medicine man, or piazong, is the religious head of the village and the controller of all kinds of spirits. Sickness and disabilities of every sort are due to the evil influence of a medi¬ cine man in some other village. These influences, or evil spirits, must be discovered and dispelled by the medicine man of the afflicted village. Pains are due to the presence of foreign ob¬ jects in the body of the patient, but the object need not be a material object. A natural material object, as a thorn, may enter the body and cause pain; this is a daily occurrence. An unknown object may be in the form of a spirit and as such mav be sent into the body from a distance by one piazong and expelled by another. The principal duty of the piazong is to discover and to drive away these foreign spirits. However, he does minister to the material needs of the patient by performing slight operations and by giving medicine. He does not attempt to defend the people against the attacks of evil spirits, but he is their only hope when they are attacked; hence his very great influence in the tribe. He is reverenced and at the same time feared because he himself has the power to send evil spirits into their bodies and leave them there to spoil and to destroy. His labors are very remunerative since no one would dare refuse him anything he asked for his services.

The office of piazong in former times was hereditary, but apparently it is not so today. A boy is selected by the piazong and put through a certain amount of practical training. He is taught the manufacture of the few medicines used. 1 he herbs used may grow at a great distance in the savannah or forest; he must know the plants and their locality. He is taught the traditions of the tribe, for he must pass them on. He must learn the methods of his profession and the proper use of his

voice in exorcising spirits. He must become a real ventriloquist who can imitate the calls of all the animals and birds as they approach and retreat when they are called.

The piazong’s methods of procedure vary to some extent with the illness of the patient. 1 had no opportunity to witness a performance, but Mr. Christopher Davis, my informant, was treated for fever in his own house by the piazong of Tirka. The work must be done in absolute darkness and quiet so the patient may hear the spirit depart. Only two things are necessary in the preparation: first some leaf tobacco must be soaked for a time in water and then the juice squeezed out by hand into a calabash; then two large bunches of the leaves of a shrub called tcipuyeyare must be brought in and placed on the ground near the calabash of tobacco juice. The first sound Davis heard was that of the piazong gurgling the tobacco juice and spitting it out. Then began a series of discordant yells and calls and the flutter of the leaves high up toward the roof, and then they were brought down hard with a thump on the ground. The piazong stamped his foot and said the spirit of the bird had come. He questioned the bird but could get no informa¬ tion, so with a rush and flutter of the leaves it went away. The gurgling of tobacco juice and the yells and calls were repeated and other birds and animals came, were questioned and sent away. After some hours, the right spirit was found and per¬ suaded to leave the man and allow him to get well. While shaking the leaves to represent the coming of the spirit the piazong sang a song asking the spirit to come and tell him the cause of the trouble. When it was all over the piazong told Davis that he would get well very soon.

The success of the piazong’s treatment depends very largely upon his diagnosis. He had no specific for the fever, so the best he could do was to call in the spirits. At another time when a sick man came to him he made a drink, blew upon it, said a ritual over it and gave it to the patient to drink. If a child has worms he gives it a tea, called ronai, made of the bark

of a tree by the same name. For a pain in the stomach or bowels, he scrapes the seeds of the kamara and makes a tea. For headache, he folds up the skin over the temple and per¬ forates it with the spine of the stingray causing profuse bleeding. For cuts, bruises and sores he makes a salve by scraping the pulp of the kartama seeds. And to prevent the bite of the vicious pirai fish, he chews the seeds of the pua and rubs the salve on his legs. He is able to produce abortion, if for any reason chil¬ dren are undesired, by giving the patient a drug, the contents of which are guarded with great secrecy. He prevents con¬ ception by blowing upon a drink and repeating a certain formula. No doubt he was acquainted with other remedies but 1 did not remain long in his village and saw very little sickness. 1 he piazong not only cures diseases and expels evil spirits sent by an enemy piazong, but he has power to send spirits and to cause sickness and death at a distance or among his own people. He may be employed by one party to inflict punishment upon another. He makes a drink, performs his incantations over it and gives it to the victim to diink, or he may only blow upon the drink. The victim swells up and dies or his flesh falls off. The piazong is so feared by his people that they are willing to give him anything he demands for his services. He therefore has the best of everything with very little labor, and is sometimes inclined to impose upon his patients. It will be noted that he is a wise man and his practice most intelligent. He does not depend upon magic alone to perform his cures, but uses herbs and practical methods when possible. He recognizes incurable diseases and attributes them to the kenaima over whom he acknowledges he has no control.

The Kenaima

The kenaimas are little people who live in the depths of the forest and come out at night to attack people— to kill them outright or to inflict some punishment upon them which will eventually cause their death. They may be hiding in lonely

places waiting an opportunity to spring upon a passing victim. They are real men, not spirits, but they can do things that other men cannot do. No man ever saw one of these kenaimas; they are known only by what they accomplish. They never attack a man except when he is alone. Therefore a man never travels alone, hunts alone, nor even goes out of his house alone at night for any purpose. The reason the kenaima will not attack two people is because they must not be seen, not because they are afraid. Another peculiarity about the kenaima, a very significant one, is that he never draws blood nor leaves visible sign of his attack. The victim always dies in three days. There is no cure. The things the kenaima does to his victim are very interesting. He catches him, throws him down and pierces his tongue with a poisoned stick, which causes it to swell up so he cannot speak plainly. The victim goes home and dies in three days. Or, he throws his victim down, presses out’ the end of the intestine and pricks it or ties it up so there can be no evacu¬ ation, or, he may simply wrestle with the victim causing an irritation of the skin. In every case the victim dies in three days. No wonder the kenaimas are feared above all things. The piazong has no power over the kenaimas and may himself be attacked by them.

A man never dies a natural death, he is always killed either by the kenaimas or the evil spirits sent by the piazong of an enemy tribe. Most tribes have traditional enemies who are blamed for all the ills of the tribe, but sometimes they employ a method of divination to determine the guilty tribe. Schomburgk1 records the case of a Macusi boy who had died and his family attempted to determine the guilty parties. The father cut off the thumbs and little fingers, the great and little toes and the heels of the corpse and placed them in a new pot filled with water. A fire was built under the pot and as the water began to boil the bubbles threw out one of the pieces in the direction of the guilty parties. I was unable to find any such

1 Reisen in British Guiana, Vol. I, p. 158.

method in use today. All punishments of such nature are in the hands of the afflicted family. The methods are then, to some extent, individual, and it might well be that this particular method was not in common use.

Puberty Ceremonies

The Macusis have no formal puberty ceremonies for either boys or girls, but the girls cut their hair short and wear a white band of cotton around the head for two months. They are not allowed to work nor to eat any meat or fish shot with an arrow. During the catamenial period girls and married women remain in seclusion, remove all beads and ornaments, eat no meat, nor fish shot with an arrow, and wives bake no bread for their

husbands.

Marriage

In their marriage relations the Macusi are exogamous and monogamous. A boy marries his cross cousin, either his father’s sister’s daughter or his mother’s brother’s daughter, and goes to live with his wife in her mother’s house. He be¬ comes for a time a servant of his father in law. A boy has the free choice within the limited eligible group of girl cousins. When he has made his selection, his father arranges with the girl’s father for the marriage. The boy must show that he is able to provide for a family by bringing in a large amount of game for the marriage feast. The two families together prepare the food and drink and invite the other members of the village to assist in the celebration. 1 he feast and dance are held in the girl’s village and only the boy’s immediate family are in¬ vited. There is no public ceremony of any kind but toward the end of the dance the boy and girl withdraw from the group of dancers and consummate the marriage alone.1 They return and enter the girl’s home where they take up their abode. They

1 According to 1m Thurn, this formerly took place in public. (Among the Indians of Guiana, p. 222.)

become a separate family but the boy devotes himself to the service of his father in law until a child is born, when they may move away to a home of their own. They may build a house in the same village or move some distance away and build alone.

1 his submission to the father in law would seem to be in the nature of a payment for his daughter. Marriage usually takes place at the end of the rainy season, which is also the planting season. In order to provide for his own home, the boy makes a clearing tor himself before his marriage. The building of a house is a simple matter, but the clearing and planting of a field is a great labor, which must be accomplished at the proper season. As the boy must go to work for his father in law at once when he is married, he must have his own pro¬ vision made beforehand. The work the boy is usually called upon to do, is the clearing of a new field. The whole arrange¬ ment is a most excellent one, as it gives the new couple a home for eight or ten months while their own fields are growing.

Childbirth

All the tribes understand the physiological facts about con¬ ception and the length of the period of gestation, therefore a pregnant woman is not regarded as unclean or in any way to be avoided. ‘When the prospective mother feels the time for parturition has arrived, she retires alone to the bush or to a secluded spot where in a kneeling position she gives birth to the child. After delivery she calls to an assistant who brings warm water to bathe the child.' The umbilical cord is tied with a cotton thread, cut with a bamboo knife, and the end cauterized with a coal of fire. * The assistant hangs the placenta in a tree; it must not be buried. The mother bathes herself and returns to the house with the child. She must not do any hard labor for a few days, but does not take to her hammock. The women here, living in natural conditions, seem to suffer very little; they go on doing their ordinary work up to the very time of delivery and after a few hours are at work again. On the Apini-

wau we met a Diau man who had brought a message from the Diaus, ten days away, to the Parikutus inviting them to a great feast and dance. The man had his wife with him as his only companion. The night before they arrived, they stopped on the river bank as usual and built a little leaf shelter. During the night his wife gave birth to a child and at daybreak they were on their way again, the wife steering the canoe as before.

The child is cradled in an ordinary hammock, or a small one made of bark or fibre for the purpose, and when old enough to sit up it is placed on a mat on the floor. While working about the house the mother carries the baby sitting astride her hip or in a broad band or bandoleer of bark or woven cotton (see Plate 111). The child sits in the loop in front of the mother’s left arm with its legs together against her side. A great deal of affection is bestowed upon the children by both parents, but they are not spoiled by overindulgence. The children nurse until they are three or four years old when they begin the labor which belongs to their sex. A boy goes with his father on his journey or to his work in the field, while a girl assists her mother in her work about the house, peeling cassava roots or carrying firewood. Boys and girls never play together nor work together. One seldom sees girls at play, but boys are often found together shooting at insects or birds with their bows and arrows. Children are taught respect for their elders, and it is rare indeed that they need reproof. 1 never saw a child punished nor one misbehave in the company of older people.

Couvade

Couvade is that curious custom, occurring sporadically in different parts of the world, which compels a father to take his bed for a period after his wife has given birth to a child. For a month the Macusi father must confine himself to his ham¬ mock and restrict his diet to certain articles of food. He must do no hard labor, nor kill any large animal; particularly he must not kill a snake or an anteater for a year. He must not

shoot any animal, bird or fish, nor is he allowed to eat game so killed by another. He may catch fish with a hook or catch them with his hands. He is therefore confined to a fish, fruit and vegetable diet. This is quite enough ordinarily when the birth takes place at home, but when one is on a journey or visiting he may have difficulty in getting enough to eat. We had an opportunity to observe the Diau, whose child was born while on a journey, for we lived and traveled with him about a month. We all got on well at the Parikutu village, for these people had a great field of sugar cane and everyone spent the day chewing. 1 hey had no cassava old enough to use in mak¬ ing bread, so when we started on our eleven days’ journey with the Diau the best we could do for food was to fill our canoes with sugar cane, which would last only a few days. On the way we killed plenty of monkeys, birds and other game, but found only a few nuts, a little of the fruit of the abiu and a few fish. Our poor guide, the Diau, nearly starved, got thin, weak and useless. When we arrived at the first of his villages he was unable to go on with us two days farther to his own home and sent a friend instead. His taboo would not allow him to eat any of our game shot with a gun or bow and arrow although we had plenty. He and his Parikutu companion spent all their time fishing and looking for fruit and nuts, while we were hunting. If he had been in his own village when the child was born he would have spent the month in his hammock eating the prescribed food which was brought to him; as he was away from home he worked in the canoe and sought his own food, yet he would have starved rather than eat the forbidden food. At another time two Waiwais went with us for seven days and had great difficulty in getting enough to eat for the same reason. They refused to eat with us and the other Waiwais. When the men were ready to return to their village these two, who had babies at home, seeded some fresh wild cotton, soaked it in water and then rubbed the wet cotton on the legs and arms of the three strong young men and a boy at the village and on

Ogilvie and me but not on our Wapisiana boys nor the old men at the village. This cotton they would carry home and rub over the bodies of their boys so that they might grow into strong healthy men. We were often unable to employ men because they could not disregard the obligations of keeping the couvade. We thus learned to appreciate the force, even if we could not understand the meaning, of this curious custom. When one studies such a custom at long range, he is sure to say to himself that he could easily understand its significance and work out its origin if he could only see it in operation. When we sud¬ denly realized that we were in the midst of it, we found our¬ selves utterly unable to form a complete conception of its inner meaning because the people practicing it had no notion of its origin, meaning or effect upon their own lives or that of their offspring. They adhere to the inherited custom without ques¬ tion. They are responsible for keeping it only, not for the insti¬ tution of it or the effect of its keeping upon society. They say the custom is kept up for the physical wellbeing of the child. They seem to think there is some mysterious physical relation existing between the father and the child. The mother’s rela¬ tion to the child is quite natural and obvious, but the father’s relation is most mysterious from the very beginning. If you ask a man why he will not eat meat, he says he does not know or that it would harm the child. If you ask him how or why it would injure the child, he does not attempt to answer. He only knows that any infringement of the regulations of the couvade causes the child to suffer.

Names and Kinship Terms

The Macusis address each other in terms of relationship within the family group. A child is called a child, little brother or sister, and is not named until some act or peculiarity calls attention to the individual and fixes the name. Some mental or physical resemblance to an animal gives a man the name of the animal: A man was called waipingpana because his ears

had some of the peculiarities of a deer’s ears; a fat man, kiwang, a peccary; an awkward fellow, jaremakwita, falling down; a woman, emiwariyangong, mother of bad children; a girl, tangsa, a growing girl.

A man calls his cousin wife onobu when he is first married, but after she has given birth to a child, he calls her waraiyorang, mother ot sons, or wuriyang, mother of daughters, or mureyamaissang, mother of children. A father calls his boy umu, my son, a mother calls him waraiyo, male child. Men and women call their grandchildren upa, regardless of sex. A man calls his sisters’ daughters, patse, or daughters in law, whether or not he has a son who will marry or has married one of them, and he calls his sisters’ sons paito, or sons in law but his brothers’ sons he calls umun. A woman calls her brothers’ sons wanafu, or eligible to marry my daughter. A boy calls his father’s sisters ' wana or mother in law, not mamai, aunt; but if he marries outside the cross cousin group he calls his mother in law mamai, aunt. A boy calls all his girl cross cousins ewuruci, or girls to marry; and their brothers he calls yaku, or brother in law. His own sisters and the other girl cousins he calls by the same name, un, and they call each other un. Men not brothers who marry sisters call each other yaku, or brother in law, even if they are cousins.

Death

Man should live forever if it were not for the kenaimas and evil spirits which lurk about and kill him whenever opportunity offers. When anyone dies he is usually buried at a distance from the house without any ceremony; but an old man is some¬ times buried in the floor of his house and the place vacated. One dies in his hammock and is carried in it on a pole to his burial place. The grave is sometimes lined with bark and bows, arrows and other personal belongings buried with the body. The immediate relatives take charge of the burial. They never touch the corpse, as there is no need for it, but they are not especially afraid of the dead. When a husband dies

his widow, if her father is not living, goes with her children to the home of her brother or sister. She may marry again soon and take or leave the children as is most convenient. Children

are always an asset. . .

Death ends all; dying is finishing; there is nothing more.

Yet there is a spirit of the dead person, called katumba, which lingers for a time after death and then disappears. The soul of living man is called tekatong.

Mourning

When a wife dies her husband shows no signs of grief, but he may leave the place and build another house. When a husband dies, his wife removes all her ornaments for a short time and spends some time in quiet weeping. As all Indians are reticent it is impossible to determine the amount of the grief which they do not outwardly exhibit. When we were visiting a Parikutu village on the Apiniwau, we witnessed a wailing for the dead. Some man had recently died, and the chief told the men who came with us about it. The same method is in practice among all the interior Carib tribes. When a man dies there is wailing every evening for several days. 1 hen for several months, whenever a visitor, friend or relative comes to the village, the death is spoken of and the wailing begins. The chief or some other man tells of the death and recites the story of the man’s life, his good deeds and how much he is missed. All work stops, the women sit in their hammocks and weep, while the men wail and cry aloud. The speaker begins calmly in a low voice but as the feelings are aroused his voice rises and increases in fervor spurred on by the growing emotions excited in his hearers and the responses from the wailers, until the forests take up the echo and the whole place is filled with the volume of sound. At the end of twenty minutes it stops in deathly stillness. Slowly the women dry their eyes, crawl out of their hammocks and go back to work, while the men in a few minutes resume their talk of other things. It is a most

impressive ceremony, mournful yet musical and soothing. While 1 listened it sounded strangely familiar, and then I remembered a negro funeral I once attended in the Mississippi Delta and I fancied I could hear the voice of the preacher praying for the soul of the departed and the women weeping and the men shouting “Amen; bless the Lord,” etc. ; it was exactly the same kind of thing.

Creation

In the beginning the world was full of bad men. Two brothers, entcekerang the elder, and anike, called the jester, seeing the evil of the men turned them to stones. They may be seen today scattered here and there over the savannah and in the mountains.

The two brothers needed food. They caught an acouri (Dasyprocata acouchi ) and found on his teeth, the stains of all kinds of fruits and nuts. 1 hey asked him where he got these things, but he would not tell them. So they asked the squirrel C Sciurus aestuans ) to watch the acouri and see where he went for food. He did as he was requested and after a time he saw the acouri go to a very large tree under which the ground was covered with every kind of fruit and vegetable. The squirrel climbed the tree and saw all these things growing on the tree in great abundance. He returned to the two brothers and reported what he had discovered. They sent him back to bring home some of the fruits and other things for their observation. He was afraid, but finally went and brought fragments of many things, and the brothers, seeing these, believed. They then requested the squirrel to take them to the tree, that they might see it also. He did so, and they were greatly pleased to find so many good things all growing on one tree. They decided to cut the tree down so they could get all these things to plant and to grow for themselves because they had no cultivated food plants. The two brothers set to work with their stone axes to fell the tree, one cutting on each side. The younger brother said, “Tree, be hard on my elder brother’s side,” and it was so. Then he asked his elder brother how he was getting on, and the

elder brother answered, “The tree is so hard I cannot cut it at all.” As he said this he stopped working and looked around on his younger brother’s side. To his surprise he found a great notch cut and said to his younger brother, “Let me cut on your side and you cut on mine,” and it was so. The younger brother said, “Tree be hard on my elder brother’s side,” and it was so. At last, however, the tree was cut down. Before they began to cut down the tree they made a great mat to cover all the ground under the spreading branches of the great tree to catch all the fruit, vegetables, nuts and things when the tree fell. From the indicated size, the mat must have been five or six hundred feet across its diameter. After the tree fell they gathered and planted all the fruits, vegetables, nuts and edible things they have today.

The Flood

The great tree contained water also and when they cut it down the water flowed out and covered the whole world. The water got deeper and deeper so the two brothers, to save them¬ selves, climbed two miritci palm trees (Mauritia jiexuosa)^ As the water increased the palm trees grew higher and higher, always keeping just above the flood. The two brothers ate the palm fruit and threw the seeds up through the leaves and they fell into the water thus building up the land. The water sub¬ sided and withdrew to the lakes and the trees shortened to thenpresent height. The flood covered the mountains and lasted twenty days. When the two brothers cut down the tree, the younger brother said, just as it was falling, Sun, quit shining, and it was immediately dark. After the flood had subsided and the two brothers had come down from the palm trees, the younger brother said, “Sun, shine,” and it has been shining ever since.

Origin of Fish

There were no fish in the lakes or rivers, and the two brothers wanted fish. The younger brother said to his elder brother. “Let us poison this pool; there are no fish in it. You

go down to the other end and poison it there, and I will poison it here.” The elder brother went to the other end of the pool and as he stepped into it to poison the water, the younger brother said pirai ( Serasalmo mger), go down and bite my brother, and he did so. 1 he elder brother said to his younger brother, h ou said there were no fish in the pool, and here 1 am bitten by a pirai.” Then the younger brother said, “Electric eel (Gymnotus electricus), go down and shock my brother,” and he did so. I hus fish came to the pools.

Disappearance of the Two Brothers

Alter a long time the two brothers went away. They heard the sound of a conch shell blowing and followed after the sound down the Essiquibo to a place now called Pairakaira, where they built the great rock falls. There remain today in an enormous rock the footprints of the two brothers marking the spot from which they left the world. The footprints are still visible and the rock is known today as the jumping stone.

CATS’ CRADLES1

1 he Macusis, like the neighboring Wapisianas and many other Indians, amuse themselves by making string figures in the forms of animals or other natural objects. Many of the forms found here are common in other parts of the world and bear similar names. I he exact method of manipulating the string may differ in a definite case, while the resultant form may be identical. I he nomenclature used in making these records is adapted from that devised by Drs. Rivers and Haddon. As is well known to every worker, it is sometimes very difficult to describe the movements so explicitly that another may work them out correctly. A string over the finger is called a loop;

1 For other cats’ cradles from British Guiana see (i) W. E. Roth, Revue des Etudes Ethnographiques et Sociologiques, 1908, p. 193. (2) Frank E. Lutz, Anthropological Papers,

Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. XII, Pt. 1, 1912. (3) W. C. Farabee, Anth. Pub. University

Museum, Vol. IX, pp. 123-131, 1918.

one on the thumb side of the hand is radial; one on the little finger side is ulnar; one across the back ot the hand is dorsa , the loop nearest the tip of the finger is distal, and the one nearest the hand is proximal. No words, stories or songs are used to accompany the movements of the hands, 1 he frequent shifting of loops from the fingers of one hand to the correspond¬ ing fingers of the other seems to be characteristic of Arawak and Carib cats’ cradles.

i. Waitai, Fish Trap

Place string over backs of both hands. Take up with the

lips the centre of the ulnar string from the proximal side; take up on the back of the right little finger the left hand section and on the back of the left little finger the right hand sec¬ tion; release the lips and extend. Take loops off backs of hands and place them on corresponding in¬ dex fingers. Take up with backs of thumbs the radial little finger strings over index strings. Place prox¬ imal index string over the thumb also. Pass the prox¬ imal radial thumb string over the thumbs to the palmar side. Insert index fingers into the triangles adjoining the thumb loops, release the little fingers, rotate the wrists inward

Fig. 2. — Waitai, Fish Trap. Macusi and extend. (Fig. 2.)

Parkinson found the same thing among the Yoruba of West Africa; Cunnington found it in Central Africa; Haddon, in South Africa; and I among the Wapisianas of the Guianas and the Waiwais.

2. WATisA,'a Fly

Place the string twice around the neck. Take the righthand string on right thumb and little finger and left hand string on left thumb and little finger. Take up palm strings on backs of opposite indexes. Pass the head through between the index strings from the proximal side. Release all but the little fingers and extend. 1 1 comes off the neck. This was found by Cunnington in Central Africa, by Haddon in Uganda and Rhodesia and by myself among the Arawaks. The foot or some other object may be used in place of the head.

3- Pacangera, Two Baskets

Place loop over thumbs and little fingers of both hands. Take up from the distal side the left hand palmar string with the hook of the right index; twist half way around to the right and place the loop over the left little finger and thumb. In the same manner take up the right hand palmar string and place over the right little finger and thumb. Take up on right index and third finger the left thumb and little finger loops from the proximal side. In the same manner take up on left index and third finger, the right thumb and little finger loops through the right index and third finger loops. Throw over in the palm and release the proximal thumb and the proximal little finger strings. Take up on backs of right index and third finger the loops of the left index and third finger. Take up on backs of left index and third finger the original loops of right index and third finger over the new loops. Extend, and the result is a basket¬ like figure in each hand with loop around all except the ring fingers.

This figure is found also among the eastern Arawaks.

4. Rocebibu

Place loop back between index and third finger of left hand; bring the loop forward over the ends of these two fingers and make an extra loop around them. Pull up through the loop from the distal side the index string and loop it around the

thumb; in the same manner loop the third finger string around the little finger. Pull over to the palm and release the index and third finger loops. Draw tight the two original strings, and the resultant figure is a square in the middle of the palm (Fig. 3).

5. Aratawaii, Howling Monkey’s Jaw

Place string as simple loops around both wrists. Pass the radial string back between the thumb and index and the ulnar string back between the third and ring fingers of left hand. Bring both strings forward between index and third finger. Place index string over thumb and third finger string over little finger. Take up index palm string from the proximal side on index of right hand and the third finger palm string on the third

FARABF.E — THE CENTRAL CARIBS

finger of the right hand. Bring over and release the left wrist loop. Place index and third finger loops of right hand on cor¬ responding fingers of left hand. Bring over and release original index and third finger loops. Transfer index and third finger loops of left hand to the corresponding fingers of the right hand and draw out. As seen from the side it resembles the heavy head and neck of the howling monkey ( Mycetes seniculus ) (Fig- 4)-

This one is found also among the Arawaks in the Guianas under a name with the same meaning, and also among the Waiwais.

6. Moroi, Spider’s Web

Place strings between the sec¬ ond and third fingers of the left hand; bring loop over these two fingers to the palm; do the same with corresponding fingers of the right hand being careful to keep strings straight. Take up the loop of the left second and third fingers on the backs of the cor¬ responding fingers of the right hand; take up the original loops of the right hand on the backs of the corresponding fingers of the left hand and draw out. Have an assistant throw a new string over this form allowing the loose ends to hang down on both sides; pass the new string through the four finger loops; with downward move¬ ment of second and third fingers of both hands, take new string on hooks of fingers, thus releasing the original string. Have the as-

Jaw. Macusi

sistant take the left hand loops and draw out in the form of spider’s nest (Fig. 5).

This is found under the name of spider’s web among the Wapisianas.

7. Moa, a Grub for Fish Bait

Hold left hand with palm in a vertical position. Hang the loop over the thumb allowing the strings to fall down the palmar and dorsal sides of the hand. Pass the right index from the proximal side beneath the palmar string, hook the dorsal string from the distal side, bring it through between the thumb and index, give it a right hand twist and place the loop over the left index. Draw tight the pendant strings. Again pass the right index beneath the palmar string and between the index and third

finger, hook it over the dorsal string, bring it forward, twist as before, and place the loop over the third finger. In the same manner place loops over the ring and little fingers. Remove the loop from the thumb and with the right hand pull the palmar string. All the fingers are released.

1 his trick is found among the eastern Arawaks, the Macheyengas on the Urubamba in Peru, past Africa (Cunnington), West Africa (Parkinson), Torres Straits (Haddon), Alaska Eskimo and Plains Indians (Jayne).

8. Owamginto, a Double Basket1

Loops over little fingers and thumbs. Take up from the distal side the left hand palmar string with the hook of the right index. Twist half around to the right and place the loop over the left thumb and little finger. Take up the right palmar string and place in the same way over right thumb and little finger. Take up on right index and third finger the left thumb and little finger loops from the proximal side. In the same way take up on the left index and third finger, the right thumb and little finger loops within the right index and third finger loops. Throw over and release the proximal thumb and the proximal little finger strings. Take up on backs of right index and third finger the loops of left index and third finger. Take up on back of left index and third finger the original loop of right index and third finger over the new loops. Extend, and the result is a similar basket figure in each hand.

9. Kefulikaco, Mouse in a T rap

Hold left hand with thumb uppermost. Hang the string over the thumb, letting the loop fall down the palmar and dorsal sides of the hand. Pass the right index beneath the palmar string and between the thumb and index; then around the pendant dorsal string, bringing it through between the

]Those following were obtained from the Waiwais.

thumb and index. Give the loop a right hand twist, place it over the left index and pull tight the pendant string. Again pass the right index beneath the pendant palmar string and between the index and the middle fingers, hook it over the dorsal string, bring it forward, twist as before, and place over the middle finger. In the same way make loops over the ring and little fingers. Remove the thumb loop and with the right hand pull the palmar string. All the fingers are released.

This trick is found sporadically all over the world; in Africa, Asia, Philippines, Eskimo, Plains Indians and many South American tribes.

io. Kamile, Two Fishes Together

Loops over little fingers. Take up on thumbs the ulnar little finger string distal to radial string. Take up palm strings from proximal side on indexes. Release thumbs. Pass thumbs distal to index strings and take up on backs of thumbs the radial little finger string. Place index loop over thumbs also. Transfer proximal thumb loop over tip of thumb to palmar side. Place each index into its triangle on palmar side of each thumb from the distal side, release little fingers, rotate wrists and ex¬ tend, holding figure on thumbs and indexes. Two figures result. Found among the Arawaks and by Cunnington in Central Africa.

n. Mimu sakualitilite, a House

Place loop over back of left hand ; pass back between thumb and index and third and fourth fingers; bring forward between second and third fingers; place third finger string back of little finger and the other string back of thumb without twisting. Take up the two original palm strings on the backs of the second and third fingers of right hand. Take up these second and third finger loops on the backs of the corresponding fingers of the left hand. Take up the original second and third finger loops of the left hand on the backs of corresponding fingers of the right

hand. Bring over the string from the hack of the left hand and pull out. These remain a loop around the second and third fingers of the right hand, each loop holding midway between the hands two other loops. The string from the back of the left hand remains around all strings near the bottom.

12. Mimu, a Big House

Place string over back of left hand; twist to the right and pass back between first and second and third and fourth fingers; bring forward between the second and third fingers and pass back of the first and little fingers. Take up the two original palm strings on the backs of the second and third fingers of the right hand; take up these second and third finger loops on the backs of the corresponding fingers of the left hand. Take up the original second and third strings on the backs of the cor¬ responding fingers of the right hand. Bring over the loop from the back of the left hand and pull out. Three remains a cir¬ cular house with a string around the bottom holding the rafter strings. This differs somewhat from the Wapisiana house.

13. Kamalili, a Beaded Ornament

Place loop over backs of both hands. Take up the righthand ulnar string from the inside of the radial string with hook of little finger and let it pass back of little finger of left hand. Take up the palm little finger string on the back of little finger of right hand. Take loops from wrists and place them over corresponding indexes. Take up on backs of thumbs the near little finger string. Pass index loops over thumbs also. Bring over and release thumb loops. Place tips of indexes in the triangles inside of thumbs but outside of thumb strings. Turn palms outward releasing the little fingers. There remain two horizontal strings with five cross strings.

14. Watciwatci, Two Little Turtles

Place loop over left wrist. Pass back between thumb and index and third and fourth fingers; bring forward between second and third fingers, and take the long loop on the back of the right hand. Take up on the backs of the second and third fingers of the right hand the first and second and the third and little finger strings, Bring over to the palm the loop from the back of the right hand. Take up loop of the second and third fingers of the right hand on the backs of corresponding fingers of the left hand. Bring over the original second and third finger loops of the left hand and release. Take up the second and third loop of the left hand on the back of the corresponding fingers of the right hand and draw out. Two circles will slide up the two long strings toward the right hand.

15. Tcekawa, a Crab

Place the string back of the thumb and little finger but in front of the other fingers, the same with both hands. Take up palm strings with a hook and inward twist of the indexes. Take the thumb loops on the little fingers. Place the big toe between the little finger loop and release the little fingers. Draw out with indexes and a knot is securely tied around the toe.

16. Footo, a Clam

Place the string around both wrists. Pass back between the thumb and index and the third and fourth fingers. Place thumb and index string over the little finger and the third and little finger string over the thumb. Do the same with the other hand. Place the second and third finger loops of the right hand on the corresponding fingers of the left hand. Take up the original second and third finger loops of the left hand on the backs of the corresponding fingers of the right hand. Draw out, and an equilateral triangle remains between the hands.

17. Maiyosi, a Spider

Place the string over backs of both hands. Pass back between thumb and index and third and fourth fingers of left hand, bring forward between second and third fingers, place third and fifth string over thumb and thumb and index string over little finger. Take up on backs of second and third fingers of the right hand the thumb and third finger string and the second and little finger string. Bring over and release the right hand back string. Place loops of the second and third fingers ot the right hand over corresponding fingers of the left hand. Bring over and release the original second and third finger loops. Take up the remaining second and third finger loops on the backs of the corresponding fingers of the right hand and draw out.

18. Watiwelito,, Sex Organ

Place the string over back of left wrist. Pass back between the thumb and the index and the third and fourth fingers, and bring forward between the second and third. Place left string back of the thumb and the right string back of the little finger. Take up thumb and index and third and little finger strings on the backs of the second and third fingers of the right hand. Bring over and release the left hand back string. Take up the loops of the second and third of the right hand on the corre¬ sponding fingers of the left hand. Bring over and release the original second and third finger loops. Take up the remaining loops on the corresponding fingers of the right hand. Draw out and a diamond shaped figure remains in the middle.

19. Malkanuni, the Six-o’clock Beetle

Place the string over the left wrist. Pass radial string back between the second and third fingers and the ulnar string between the thumb and index. Take up the radial string in the palm with a hook of the right index, twist inward and place the loop over the left index. Bring long loop forward, leaving it

around the thumb, and remove the other string from between the second and third to between the fourth and little fingers. Take up the thumb and little finger strings on the backs of the second and third fingers of the right hand. Bring over back of left hand loop to the palm. Release index loop and draw out holding the index loop in the mouth until tight when this loop stands up.

20. Fotcokwa, a Drink

Place a loop over the thumb of the left hand. Place near string around the second and the other around the third finger of the left hand and the near one around the fourth finger. Take long loop on back of little finger of right hand, l ake palm string of the third finger of the left hand on the back of the fourth finger of the right hand; the palm string of left second on the back of right third and that of left one on the back of right second. Remove the loop of left four to left five, that of right second to first, third to second and fourth to third. Take up inside little finger strings on the backs of the thumbs and the inside thumb strings on the backs of the little fingers. Place the second and third fingers of each hand down through the triangles made by the strings around these fingers and take on the hooks of these fingers the double strings. Turn palms out¬ ward, releasing all other strings and draw out.

The fish trap and the howling monkey’s jaw are the same as those bearing similar names among the Macusis.

LANGUAGE

The linguistic material here recorded was secured almost entirely from Mr. Christopher Davis, an educated Englishman from Demarara who for fifteen years had been living among the Macusis. He was married to a Macusi woman and had three children; the eldest of whom, a girl of fourteen, speaks English perfectly. With the aid of his wife and daughter Davis had translated many selections from the Bible and many passages

from the Prayer Book. Every Sunday he held services in the church erected for the purpose by the Indians. 1 attended one of his meetings and was impressed with the attitude of the Indians toward the new religion. Davis read translated pas¬ sages from the Bible, gave a short address in which he made application of the lessons read to the daily life of the people and closed with a song service. The Macusis greatly enjoy music and sing the English hymns, using the English words without understanding them. Some fifty or sixty men, women and children were present and all gave close attention to what Davis had to sav, but the spirited way in which they sang gave me the impression they came to enjoy the music. Davis was the only Englishman in the colony who could speak the Macusi language. I planned to return to his village and record the remainder of his translations, with notes on the use of the lan¬ guage, but my trail led to the interior and down the Corentine instead.

Key

to the Phonetic System

as in father

ai as in oz'sle

hot

au “ bow

“ oil

oi “ oil

fete

tc “ chain

pzque

hw “ when

pzn

kw “ quake

note

h “ canon

not

a’a, i’i as broken vowels

role

a.i, a.u, o.i as individual

“ but

Personal Pronouns

. lire

you . .

. mukera

she. . .

. mukera

. murere

. ana

you . . .

. aiyamura

they. . .

. injamura

Possessive Pronouns

u, upapai . my head

a, ateya . your hand

i, ipu . his foot

ana, anate . our house

your his. . our.

nljnc . ure murerer

vours . amuramurerer

his . mukeramurerer

. . ana muererer

t heirs . enjenang yemane murerer

Demonstrative Pronouns

this (m.) . miseri

this (/.) . seri

this (w.) . seni

that (m.) . mekeri

that (/.) . mukeri

that in.) . rnereri

that, remote . tcene

Comparison of Adjectives

good . wakube

better . wakubefumbe

best . wakubefumberu

bad . eribe

Worse . eribefumbe

worst . eribefumberu

long . kosang

longer . kosangmukera etendairo

longest . kosangmukera toendairo fugero

heavy . amuine

heavier . amuineseni entendairo

heaviest . amuenesenikong endairo fugero

Plurals

Nouns are made plural by adding te, kong, gong, zang manate or yamu to the singular form, as:

mdn . waraiyo

men . waraiyokong

woman . urisang

women . urisangyamu

do§ . arimaraka

do§s . arimarakayamu

,isk . moro

fish (pi.) . moroyamu

tree . yeye

trees . yeyekong

stone . tjr

stones . tirkong

Plurality is expressed also by repetition as cilicili, the beads of a necklace.

Gender

Nouns are not regularly grouped with reference to gram¬ matical gender but sex endings are used as follows:

Masculine . waraiyobe

Feminine . uribemang

A male dog is arimarakawaraiyobe.

A female dog is arimarakauribemang.

Colors — emenu

'I he Macusis are experts at matching tints and have the following names for the common colors:

white .

white (pale)

blue .

green .

yellow .

red .

purple .

pink .

brown .

black .

aimotung

amotung

engatung

rora

kosaimotung

cuiyu

epopiyu

waiaiyu

carapuyu

urikutung

100 UNIVERSITY MUSEUM

L — ANTHROPOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS, VOL. X

Personal Names

Aiyukante .

Kiwang .

Timui .

Waikingpana .... Waikingpanayung Yaremakwita. . . Azumerata

Kazawing .

Uyamoni

Teberu .

emiwariyangong. .

.The chief pork or fat . to stoop ear of a deer . ear of an old deer falling down

. (chief)

. (chief)

.mother of the evil ones

An infant is called child, brother or sister and does not receive an individual name until some peculiarity of appearance or manner has been observed.

Names of Places

Bononi

iwita — at the creek Kazawing

mutura — on the hill napikiri

Okaituna — at the river

Puerueta

Rupononi

Tirka— like stone.— tir, stone; ka, like or having Tirkaping— mountain overlooking tirka. — ping, forehead Upikari — end of a hill. — pika, to pick off wu — on the mountain

yani at the spring NUMERALS

1. tiwing

2. sagonv

3. seremu

4. sakrebuna

5. miatoiking

6. tiwingmiabunatimotai

7. sagonymiabunatimotai

8. seremumiabunatimotai

9. sakrebunamiabunatimotai

10. miatiminaure

11. tiwingpubunatimotai

12. sagonypubonatimotai

13. seremupubonatimotai

14. sakrebunapubonatimotai

15. putoikingtimotai

16. tiwingpuratwitimotai

17. sagonypuratwitimotai

18. seremupuratwitimotai

19. sakrebunapuratwitimotai

20. tiwingpemongong

1 he meaning ol the words for the numerals from one to four is not understood. Five is made up of mia, fingers and toiking, on one side; that is, all the fingers on the right hand have been counted beginning with the little finger. Six is tiwing, one; mia, finger; buna, on and timotai, to put; that is; one, the thumb, is added to the other hand. Seven, eight and nine add two, three and four by the same method. Ten is mia, fingers and timmaure, all. Eleven is tiwing, one; pu, foot; buna, on; timotai, to put. The words for twelve, thirteen and fourteen are made up in like manner; in fifteen the foot is put on one side and in the other numbers up to twenty one, two, three and four are added to the puratwi, or other foot. Twenty is one person.

Phrases

1. Uyung uschang nere

My father my mother and

2. Wakube uwutisi wani

good My sister is

3. cimerika pe upi wani

little My brother is

4. perangbu mukere wuri wani

sick That woman is

5. umu miseri

my son This (is)

6. uyenge seri

my daughter This (is)

7. upi seni

my field This (is)

8. uyung mang yenebe

My father (present state) sick (Is)?

9. onongze ayeyiwu

Which your house (is)

10. Onongze itekung arimaraka

Which your domestic dog (is)?

11. tarako kenangure

hat with me (I have)

12. tarako kenaug amure

hat with you (Have)?

My father is in the house

13. uta ta papa mang

house in father is

I see a man and a woman

14. warayo ramafo we serere urineri

man see persons now woman

The dogs bark at night

15. aremaraka yamu seura futi awarungya

dogs (plural) bark (plural) night

The jaguar was killed

16. kaikuci iwabu toya iwuzabe kaikuci wamabu

jaguar killed they was

The man was sick

17. parangbu mukera waraiyo wamabu

sick he man was

He is a sick man

18 parangbu kung mukera waraiyo

sick with he man

John killed a deer

19. waiking wufu Johnya

deer killed John

John saw three jaguars

20. seriwa kaikuci yanu eramabu Johnya

three jaguars saw John »

I have two hats

sakanang

uyarako

two

my hat

1 am looking at a man and a

woman

waraiyo

ramaiya

serere

man

looking at

now

Are you hungry?

iwangbe

manang

manati

hungry

are

you (pi.)

Are you thirsty?

animbai

manang

drink want

you

urineri

woman

The father loves his son

25- yung wana timu yapurubu

father son his loves

He gave the woman a stone

26. tirke uri irebabuiya

stone woman gave he He gave the fowl to John

27. kariwinake waraiyo refabuiya John

fowl (masculine) gave he

The ground is very rough

28. arairabutafe pata mang

rough ground (present tense)

The hill is very high

29. kowuni fuguru muteru

high very hill

Jane is larger than Mary

30. Mary yendai Jane wane okaipe

more than is large

It pleases me

31. uwakerebe ramafo wai

please see me

It makes me glad

32. unwakemaiya

I want it

33. merere yuse wai

it want me

John sees you

34. Johnya ayerama formang

John you sees (sing.)

I shall tell him

35. karame kiuteseti ipei

tell (fut) to him

Give them to her

36. mukeru ibia to antikei

her them give

Who is it?

37. anebenai

who is

104 UNIVERSITY MUSEUM — -ANTHROPOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS, VOL. X

What do you want?

38. u yuse manang

what want (singular)

Who told you?

39. ania muerer karimukfonai

who that tell

Which arrow do you want?

40. onong yeka peru usuana amerer

which like arrow want you

Where are you going?

41. anongpata ate amuerer

where going you

Why does he not come?

42. onongbe aiepu bura manang

why he comes not (sing.)

Where did he go?

43. anongpata uitombonai

where he go (question)

Go before me

44. urape miare

me before go *

Come after me

45. uenaire acike

me after come Shall 1 tell you?

46. karamekuya

tell you

TEXTS

Saint John, Fourth Chapter, Beginning with the Forty

Sixth Verse

46. Moro

ipeku waraio

wanibe

tiwing,

parangbe

their

great man

was

one

sick

imu wanibe

Capernaum

pona.

his son was

Capernaum

47. Judea

fai Jesus

ipupe

: Galilee

pona

etatuiyafe

Judea

from Jesus

came

Galilee

heard he when

ibia atebe,

yenai iya

nere

ipe

aiitobe, imu

near him went,

ask he

and

to him

that he may come his son

puripanaloheiya kaima; aminge bura assamanda kufu

to heal him say far not you die

wanibe yening.

was because

Mereri yai tabe Jesus ya ipe,

panebe

tobangke

that time said Jesus

to him

signs

wonder

pokombe ramasa avanakong

bura wani ya,

yapura

with

see ye

not is

believe

ayanakong bura wani.

not is

Mekeri ipekure waraio

ya tabe

ipe,

acikeye

that great man

said

to him

come thou

umu samanda arape.

my son

dies before

Jesus ya tabe ipe,

atake

ayemari

tawure;

Jesus said to him

go thou

your path

way

enneng

amu koma nafomang.

Makere

waraio

ya Jesus

alive

your son lives at the present

that

man

Jesus

maimu

yafurube inekaremekebe ipe,

temarita weri

word believed that he told to him his way

alebe nere.

went and

51. Mekeri utebe tane ipaitori tonnomg ya poribe,

that you go while his servants found

karimekebe toya nere ipe, enneng amu komanafomong.

told them and to him alive your son lives at present

52. Merere

that

yai

time (hour)

upuribomube biatebe.

his health to turn

began.

pe, karamafofaiiya

about ask he

Komombura tabe

Yesterday said

tope

of them

toya ipe,

they to him

asagonymiabunatimotai ekomima eturumukabe.

(at) seven

fever

loosened

53. Yung nifutube merere rema merere ya rema

father

knew that

same

that in same

Jesus ya

tabe

ipe enneng

amu

komanafomang;

Jesus

said

to him alive

your son

lives at present

yafurubuia

nere

tomarere, tammonoware itewe nere.

believed he

and

himself

all

others and

54. inere

sagony tabangke

serere

Jesus nikubube,

again two wonder this Jesus did

Judea pata bai ipakesabe Galilee pona.

Judea place from he came out when Galilee on

St. John, Chapter 4

46. . . . And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum.

47. When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son; for he was at the point of death.

48. Then Jesus said unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.

49. The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die.

50. Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.

51. And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth.

52. Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.

53. So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth; and himself believed and his whole house.

54. This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judea into Galilee.

1. Paul

Paul

lonianyamu

lonians

epotori

master

wane

winafai

side from

Thessalonians, First Chapter metefo Silvanus, metefo Timotheus

after

churchi

church

Silvanus

bia God

near

Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ

abianakong, more

you near ye peace

ana epotori Jesus

we master Jesus

Ihessaafter Timotheus Thessa

ya yung mani ana

God father is we

mani nere; tinakongmaku

is and mercy

nere, anayunggung God

and we father of us God

Christ winafai nere.

Christ side from and

Uwa tatoke irebatobe ana ya, God bia konoro

thanks say with he gives we God near always

tamonowore aivamore tongbe ayesabotekong ana ya ana

y°u far you mention all we we

epurema gureta;

pray among (in)

3. Embengena komamu tiwamura

mindful we live forget

eseiyakama moruntake ayewanggong

strength with your hearts

work

eseiyakamato

work

ana epetori

we Master

yaire nere

in view and

bura

not

wane,

aiyamoro

you

ewakemato

like

aiyamere neri,

you and

Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ

embeng akomamukong nere

mindful live and

ya ana yunggong ana yenu

we father of us all God I

4. Ewewakumabukong uyakonnong

you loved brothers

God wimong, futu ana ya tane

God side know we while

ituze wane yening

want is because

5. Wake ana ekare ipuke abia nakong maing be

good we message came you near all word is

siking bura, meruntake nere, waki ekatong yai .nere,

only nor strength with and good spirit through and

tuke embeng ena gureta nere; futa ayanakong ana

much hope fall in (among) and know ye all we

waraiokong yeruru wambu guretanakong aiyamoro wenai

men custom we were among you your sake

6. Ana wenaire enasakong ya nere, ana epotori

we follow turn (fsll) and we master

wenaire nere maing ya pija yanakong tane tuke

follow and word catch you while much

tarimateng gureta, taucimba pokombe waku ekatong wine

ill treatment among joy with good spirit side

7. Mowani aivamore wanibe apambenakong tamono-

S0 is you were you like all

wore ya purenonggong etobe Macedoniapong Achaiabelievers to be Macedonia people Achaia

pong nere

people and

8. Aiyamore winufai ana epotori God maimu etunge

you side from we master God word sound

epakabu Macedonia pona niking bura nere tize nere

it came out Macedonia on only nor and but and

weruntake uyewuringgong God perwane atawenonggasa

strength with your hearts God to is spread

tamonoworoe pata pona; merere yening ana sewumatotong

all place on that because we speaking for

bura wane

not is

9. Inggamore ya tiwarirenakong abianakong ana ewonze

they (those) themselves you near we get in

yeruru ana wine yembosa, onong wani nere ikuzakong bia

(manner) way we side show how is and images near

bai eratebekong ennemang God bia yairerong God bia

from turned ye living (alive) God near right (true) God near

tanutobe nere

serve and

10. I mu nemetobu nere kawinebai inimuzakabe

his son wait and sky side from raised

samandang bia bai, Jesus wane ana imokazang sakoro

dead near from Jesus is we he took out wrath

ipu bia bai

to come near from

Thessalonians, Chapter i

1. Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father, and in the Lord jesus Christ; Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2. We give thanks to God always for you all, making men¬ tion of you in our prayers;

3. Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father:

4. Knowing brethren beloved, your election of God.

5. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sakes.

6. And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction; with joy of the Holy Ghost.

7. So that you were ensamples to all that believe in Mace¬ donia and Achaia.

8. For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia but also in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any¬ thing.

9. For they themselves show us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.

10. And to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

Apostles’ Creed

Lre yapurefowai God yungbe tamonowore imeruntari

I believe God father is all is strong

ka kufubuia nong nere; ure yapurefowai Jesus Christ nere

heaven made he earth and I believe Jesus Christ and

tiwinang niking imu ana epotori. Wake yekatong winong

one only his son we master Holy (good) spirit side

yempobe amanong Mary ya tarimatebe toya Pontius Pilate

born virgin Mary illtreated them Pontius Pilate

yon. Arefube pakenang pona, asamandabe, yunatebe nere,

under Hung across on you died buried and

samandazang pata ya antebe; teseremuwane iweyuyai

dead place in descend third day time

inere tisamandabe bia bai ewemuzakabe, ka ya enukube,

again his death near from he got up Heaven in went up

erentesa nere, merunte fuguru Yung God merunte eteya po;

sits now and strong very father God strong his hand on

merere pata bai aipetong euneanggong yefuzu samandazang

that place from he came will living to judge (know) dead

nere.

and

Ure yapurefowai wake itekatong; tamonowore wake Church

I believe good spirit all good Church

kaitcerenggong; wake timurukumbanggong mo tuwezanangeven (agreeing) good those that gather together quiet state

gong; erire rumakatotongbe, teza awomutong, euneungasin loose for when body to arise alive you live for

komanamutong nere ewetikatong pefung. Amen.

and to finish for is not Amen.

Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was con¬ ceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

1 believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of Sins; The

Resurrection of the body; And the Life everlasting. Amen.

Absolution — Iramakato

Tomonoweri merunti God ana epotore Jesus Christ yung

all strong God our master Jesus Christ father

ya erire kuningye samanda yuze buru wane, erire tingkaevil doer die want not be evil he did

fubakong bia bai erate yuze niking wane, enneng akomantobe.

by from turn want rather is alive to live.

Merunte tiribeiya commandment nere ti dominirikong

strong gives he commandment and his ministers

bia karimetobe asatobe toya nere pemongong bia etiakamasa

to tell repeat them and his people near change

tana to erirekong bia bai to kuzaia irumakaning nere; inafe

while them evil near from them does he he forgives and indeed

wane tamonowere tiekamazang zammaning omatang bia

is all changed those pity dissemble near

bai wake timaimu emenukesa yafure tefonggong kuzaia erire

from good his word written believe those does he evil

bia bai merereyening aze nakong yairerong ti ekamantolong

near from that because come all right will change for

yenatobe ana ya ipe ana refatobia wake tikatong ke,

ask we to him we give he good his spirit with

ekongreze kufu ana ya serere iwakiribe; tikeng, wakebe ana

what anything do we now he glad pure good we

komantobe tere bai; ewetikesabe ana itobe tiwarire ataucimba

live here from finish we to come himself joy

gereta Jesus Christ ana epotoria yai.

among Jesus Christ we master through

Absolution

Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn from his wickedness, and live; and hath given power, and commandment, to his ministers, to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the Absolution and Remission of their sins; he pardoneth and absolveth all those who truly repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy gospel. Wherefore let us beseech him, to grant us true repentance, and his Holy Spirit, that those things may please him, which we do at this present; and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure, and holy; so that at last we may come to his eternal joy ; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Morning Prayer1

Erire waraio ya, erire tiwarere tingka fube bia bai

evil man evil himself the king does near from

eratesabe ipatabe ereye kufuia yairerong yawerong nere,

turn when in place of what (any) does he truth according and

1 The English Prayer Book was used for text.

ennengbe itekatong poikatetobeia tiyakamate aminggebura

alive (be) his soul help will be change ye far not

ka pata wani yening.

heaven place is because.

Uwakiritonnong fuguru uyakonnong, wakemaing

my love very brothers good words

emenukasa tuke ipata pona ana yewanggong yarimaning

written many its place on we hearts move

eputobe karimetobe nere erireakong ana erirekong erire

to know ask and evils many we evils evil

tuwezinggong neri; tiomatai bura, to sonanzebura nere

habits of and jesting not them hide not and

kawune ana yunggong tamonoware imeruntari God

high we father all strength God

yembata kaitcere;

face before

Karimetonggongbe to tize tunombe tize nommairong tize,

to tell for them ought slow (state of) lowly (state of)

yuningbe yewanggong ke, yaiwurong ke nere, tiwinare

hearing hearts with accord with and once

ana tirumakatatong patobe ana ya, tikomambe tiwezingwaku

we things loosed find we long stop habits good

God yai wezanima yai neri. Konoro tunombe ana erirekong

God through mercy through and always slow we evils

ana iwarerong fututobe ana ya God yembata kaitcere;

we ourselves of know we God face even

merere fuguru Kubai tize ana murukunte satane uwa

that very do ought we gather while thanks

tatoke irebatabe nere, okaipe irebasa yapijibe ana ya.

them with give will and large he gives (gave) receive we

iteiya wine fainong tonyebe make fuguru ikubutong titabe,

his hand side from far good very do for give

wake fuguru imaimu etatobe nere, ekongreze karamafoba

good very his word to hear and anything ask may

ituze wani kaitcere ana yesa tombe, ana yekatong tombe

want is even we body far we spirit far

nere. Merere yening yenawyn apegenakong, ayekaramafokong

and that because beg 1 ye all ye ask all

uyu nere, owaropo tare wanekong ure pokombe

me and how many here are me with

tikenang ayewanggong ke, tenombe amaimu ke nere

Pure _ hearts with slow your word with and

kewene tinakong maka yaponope uwenaire augkute.

high mercy throw seat after me say

Morning Prayer

\ hen the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.

Repent ye; for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

Dearly beloved brethren, the Scripture moveth us in sundry places to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness; and that we should not dissemble nor cloak them before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father; but confess them with an humble, lowly, penitent and obedient heart; to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same by his infinite goodness and mercy. And although we ought at all times humbly to acknowledge our sins before God; yet ought we most chiefly so to do, when we assemble and meet together to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at his hands, to set forth his most worthy praise, to hear his most holy word, and to ask those things which are requisite and necessary, as well for the body as the soul. Where¬ fore I pray and beseech you, as many as are here present, to accompany me with a pure heart and humble voice, unto the throne of the heavenly grace, saying after me;

Te Deum Laudamus

1. Ana expurema ape God; ayeputefoana mang amere

we praise thee God; acknowledge

ana epotori.

master

2. Tomonoware nong kaitcere tepurema zing amere;

all earth

yung tikomambere turvezing.

Father everlasting

3. Apu tamonoware Angels yamum karawana fomang

To thee all Angels

meruntatke; ka tamonoware meruntaking nere yawonggong.

heaven all powers are therein

4. Apu atinafomu pe fung erawanafomang; Cherubim

To thee Cherubim

Seraphim.

and Seraphim

5. Wakube, wakube, wakube; seyananong epotori God.

Holy holy holy master God

6. Ka, nong nere enlafegurong ipuku fugufru; ayewo keke.

Heaven and earth are

7. Enwoke itakonnong Apostlic amu ya; epurema.

glorious company praise

8. Wake itambakong prophet yamu ya apu epurema.

good fellowship thee praise

9. Amporizang inonggong martyr yamu ya; apu epurema.

noble army praise

10. Wakti Church tomanowore pata kaitcare; ayefuning.

holy all world acknowledge

11. Yung; ipe kure buguru tuwezing awetikatong pefung.

Father

12. Amere tipoinamazing yairerong amu tiwinnangre.

thou son only

13. Waku itekatong neric; yafurenong.

holy (Ghost) also are comforter

14. Enwoke King; amere Christ.

glorious 0

15. Amere tikomambere tuwezing; yung mumube.

thou everlasting father

16. Mere yai yanuma aya ya apona, waraio paikaman

tetongbe: unewang maribii pefung emanong weneku.

17. Merere yai ikebe samandang yefoi epakabu; amere anetara pekabe ka pata, tamonoware yafurenang bia.

18. Amere God emainong iteiya po erentasa; yung enwakeya.

19. Ya purufu ana mangamere aipetong ana efuze.

20. Merere yening ana sena apu apaitoritonnong poikatafa; tomakasa aya yening pai kataning amunuke.

21. Toya ikubu ikuge amere motuwezanang pokombe; tikomambu (here) tuwezing euwokeya.

22. Uyepatori apemongonno paikateke: wake antuke neri ana numutonggong pona.

23. To yendai eke; toyanungge nere tikomambere.

24. Weikaitcere, ana ya ayanuna fubomang.

25. Ana nere ekena ayesepe; tikomambere tuwezing pata ewetikatong perfung.

26. Uyepootori ana ya ayekramatobomang; ana kutobe any a serere weiyai erire bia bai.

27. Uyepotori, zanimake ana pona; zanimaka ana pona.

28. Wyepotori, tewe ewezanima iweyumake ana pona; embing aya ana weto pambe.

29. Wyepotori, embeng eto urea ya; tewe ure atakamatombe tuwezig pefung.

Te Deum Laudamus

1. We praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.

2. All the earth doth worship thee; the father everlasting.

3. To thee all Angels cry aloud; the Heavens, and all the powers therein.

4. To thee Cherubim, and Seraphim; continually do cry.

5. Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth;

6. Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty: of thy Glory.

7. The glorious company of the Apostles: praise thee.

8. The goodly fellowship of the Prophets: praise thee.

9. The noble army of Martyrs: praise thee.

10. The holy Church throughout all the world: doth acknowledge thee;

1 1. The father: of an infinite majesty;

12. Thine honorable, true: and only Son;

13. Also the Holy Ghost: the Comforter.

14. Thou art the King of Glory: O Christ.

15. Thou art the everlasting Son: of the Father.

16. When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man; thou didst not abhor the Virgin’s womb.

17. When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death; thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.

18. Thou sittest at the right hand of God: in the glory of the Father.

19. We believe that thou shalt come: to be our judge.

20. We therefore pray thee, help thy servants: whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.

21. Make them to be numbered with thy saints: in glory everlasting.

22. O Lord, save thy people: and bless thine heritage.

23. Govern them: and lift them up forever.

24. Day by day: we magnify thee.

25. And we worship thy Name: ever, world without end.

26. Vouchsafe, O Lord: to keep us this day without sin.

27. O Lord, have mercy upon us: have mercy upon us.

28. O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us: as our trust is in thee.

29. O Lord, in thee have I trusted: let me never be con¬ founded.

The Lord’s Prayer

Ana

yenafomang

to come

Patore wane puremato yunggong kapo, wakebe ayese wanima

father of us heaven good your name is your

Ayuzeweto konikabe nong bo, kapo

You want to be made earth on sky on you ar

kaitcere. Sereripe ana yekaritong antake ana bia eweyuyai

made

earth

apata

place

awane

you are

near

evenness now is (to-day) we food for give we

Ana erire irumakake ana pe ana yombakong

we sin loose thou we to we others

ana ya pambe. Pakonomato gureta ana

we like temptation among (in) we

bura: erire wine bai niking ana inabuku.

not sin side from but we turn back

pata, merunte, enwake, ewetikatong fefung, mowanire.

place strength glory (brightness) finish for is not

daily

erire erumaka

sin loosed

yengrakatobe

to lead

Ayamoni fe

yours

amen

Responses

1. Ana epitori, ana yepikong etarapukake.

we master we lips open

2. Ana muta nere ayepure matony yembotake.

we mouth and you praise for show

3. God kanebe fuguru ana paikateke.

God quickly very us help thou

4. Ana epotori, kanebe ana paikateke.

We master quickly us help thou

Responses

1. O Lord, open thou our lips.

2. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.

3. O God, make speed to save us.

4. O Lord, make haste to help us.

The Confession — Karimeketong

Merunte fugururu ezanimabe ana yunggung yawere bura ana mang, kabara pombe nere ana ataza ayemari bia bai. Yawere bura nere, ana yewang sena ming gambo many. Wake fuguru ayezeru mutanabe ana mang. Tewe ikubai tiza ewe

ku fube, bura tiza irumakabe ana ya mang; ine ekubai buru tize merere kufube ana ya mang; merere yening puria bura ana ya mang. Erire fuguru ana wane, tize mapona zanimake ana epoton. Ana erire mokake ape karimeke ana ya tane. Erire kufube ana mang merere yening ana sewang konoma ana kurantanabutong anteke pemonggong bia tiri anya ta aya netakini pambe Jesus Christ ana epaton yai. Mekere yai nere ana irebake ana komantobe tarebai, wakebere, yairerong more nere, wakebe ayese euwake titabe abia ana zammanmg ana yungong.

The Confession

Almighty and most merciful Father; We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But, thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare thou them, O God, which confess their faults. Restore thou them that are penitent; According to thy prom¬ ises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake; That we may here¬ after live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of thy holy Name.

Gloria — Enwake wane

Enwake itung bia wane | imu | nere: wake ijtekajtong! neri. Ipatebe wanebe, serere wane, komana | tombe | nere pata ewetikajtong pejfung ajmen. Patori wani kufutong wakube antute. Palori wani ese ekufu wakube.

Venite

1. Acite, tewe serenggantobenakong ana epatori pe; tewe ana yewang taucimba ana poikatajning me|runte | pe.

2. Tewe ana ipe etembata kaitcere, uwa tatake irebatobe. Ana wakiri yembatobe ana ya nere ipe Psalms ke.

3. Ana epotori wane yening, epeku God pe, epeku kingbe nere, tamonowarong God yamu ebainong.

4. 1 amonowrongnong epiforonggong ite iya yawonggong; muturukong meruntakong iwarerong nere.

5- Parana iwarerong, ingkafube neri: amunenong konikabeia nere iteiya kongke.

6. Acite, tewe tesenunze nere, puremanto benakong: tize muyupe nere ana kuning ye, ana epatori yemba to Kaitcere.

7. Mekerere ana epatori ana God pe: ana kanante ipemonggono ipata po, ka bara nere iteiya winong.

8. Sererepe unaimu etaza anya nakong ya, awewonggong samanaze bura; amatabe tane, pakonomabe yai nere iteipona pambe.

9. Ayung tonnonggong ya upako nomabe; wye futube toya useiya kamakong eramabe to ya nere.

10. Asagony pemonggong tumong kusambe, serire munggeci ya, wyewang konoma bu tabowai; serere pemonggong yewang ya yawe. Re bura senaming gambomang, wveruru tize efututoya bura wane.

1 1. lope ukoroimafe, umaimu soro | kabejuya: uyengguvu gureta, to ewomu | sereke j bura | mang.

Venite

1. O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.

2. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving: and show ourselves glad in him with psalms.

5. For the Lord is a great God: and a great King above all gods.

4. In his hand are all the corners of the earth; and the strength of the hills is his also.

5. The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands prepared the dry land.

6. O come, let us worship and fall down: and kneel before the Lord our Maker.

7. For he is the Lord our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

8. To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts; as in the provocation, and as in the day of the temptation in the wilderness :

9. When your fathers tempted me: proved me: and saw my works.

10. Forty years long was 1 grieved with this generation, and said: It is a people that do err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways.

1 1. Unto whom 1 sware in my wrath: that they should not enter into my rest.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

THE MAP

Our attempts at astronomical observation served us a good purpose all along our way. Among the rubber gatherers and traders in the outside country we were given credit for superior wisdom because we knew the stars, could fix our position by them and could calculate the direction and distances between stations. The taking of observations attracted the attention of the Indians, and 1 was able to get much star lore that 1 should have missed otherwise. Our instruments also were of interest to the Indians. The magnet, compass and watch were understood without difficulty; that is, they soon discovered that only certain things were attracted by the magnet, that the compass always pointed in one direction and that the hour hand of the watch always pointed at the sun. They had no use for these things; they always knew their directions and could tell the time of day by looking at the sun. Our binoculars, however, were greatly appreciated. When the moon was in its early or late phases a whole village would sit by the hour, passing the binoculars back and forth, observing the mountains of the moon. They could not understand why I took obser¬ vations of the stars and not of the moon, yet they knew the moon was nearer to the earth and that it ran in a wobbly course.

The accompanying map is based upon materials obtained and observations made on our journey. Along the rivers we made traverses by the use of a watch and a Brunton compass, and when travelling across country we used a pedometer, watch and compass. These traverses were checked by some four hundred observations of the sun and thirty different stars. This statement is made to call attention to the difficulty one encounters in using a sextant in the tropics. The sun cannot be used at midday for latitude, and in the forest at night one must pick up any star that happens to be showing through the foliage. At the Indian villages we made halts of several days’ duration, allowing me to determine the rate of my time. I was able to check up with established stations at both ends of our

long journey through the interior. Mr. H. P. C. Melville and Mr. C. W. Anderson fixed the position of Dada Nawa, and Anderson and Dutch engineers at different times had fixed the position of the mouth of the New River on the Corentine. Our latitudes are accurate, but the longitudes are only fair approxi¬ mations, yet the probabilities are that our map will not be im¬ proved upon for another generation. The map shows the route followed by our expedition, the location of the sacred lake of the early Spaniards, Amucu, the group of sacred mountains of the Atarois and Wapisianas and the location of Indian villages.

It may be well to call attention to some mistakes in the earlier maps of the Corentine River region. Maps as late as 1910 show the Corentine flowing due west for fifteen or twenty miles to join the New River, which is flowing northwest. The New is represented as the larger river and its course continued by the Corentine for ten miles. The fact is that the Corentine is the larger river and the New enters from the west at a point where the Corentine has just changed its course to a little east of north and this course is continued for fifteen miles to the mouth of the Lucie River. The Corentine is the straightest river I have ever traversed. If a line were drawn from Cutari Landing at the head of canoe navigation Lat. 20 N. to the west side of the Wanotobo Cataract, Great Falls, the last of the great rapids Lat. 4^° N., it would not be ten miles from the river at any point. The Dutch use the name Corentine to the junction of the New River and call the upper river Coeroene. The Indians say the Sipaliwini is the longest branch of the Corentine; if so then it must be regarded as the source of the Corentine and the international boundary. It would be well for Brazil and the Guianas to delimit their interior boundaries before valuable discoveries make the task more difficult.