An Inquiry into the Animism and Folk-Lore of the Guiana Indians By Walter E. Roth from the Thirtieth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1908-1909, pp. 103-386 [Washington D.C., 1915] (Reduced to HTML by Christopher M. Weimer, with the digitized version produced for Sacred Texts Online at http://www.sacred-texts.com. This plain text version has been created for not- for-profit circulation by the Caribbean Amerindian Centrelink at http://www.centrelink.org.) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title Page Dedication PREFACE CONTENTS MYTHS AND FOLK-TALES ILLUSTRATIONS WORKS OF REFERENCE I. NO EVIDENCE OF BELIEF IN A SUPREME BEING II. TRIBAL HEROES III. TRACES OF SPIRIT, IDOL, AND FETISH CULT IV. CREATION OF MAN, PLANTS, AND ANIMALS V. THE BODY AND ITS ASSOCIATED SPIRITS VI. DREAMS; IDIOCY VII. FAMILIAR SPIRITS VIII. THE SPIRITS OF THE BUSH: NATURAL HISTORY IX. THE SPIRITS OF THE BUSH: ANIMALS AS SENTIENT HUMAN BEINGS X. THE SPIRITS OF THE BUSH: ASSOCIATED WITH PARTICULAR PLANTS XI. THE SPIRITS OF THE MOUNTAIN XII. THE SPIRITS OF THE WATER XIII. THE SPIRITS OF THE SKY XIV. OMENS, CHARMS, TALISMANS XV. RESTRICTIONS ON GAME AND FOOD, VISION, ARTS AND CRAFTS, NOMENCLATURE (TABOOS) XVI. SEXUAL LIFE XVII. THE MEDIClNE-MAN XVIII. KANAIMA; THE INVISIBLE OR BROKEN ARROW XIX. MISCELLANEOUS INDIAN BELIEFS CONCERNING MAN AND ANIMALS XX. ANIMISM AND FOLK-TALES OF RECENT INTRODUCTION; MIXED FOREIGN AND INDIGENOUS BELIEFS XXI. MISCELLANEOUS FOLK-LORE, INDEPENDENT OF ANIMISM GLOSSARY --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- p. 103 AN INQUIRY INTO THE ANIMISM AND FOLK-LORE OF THE GUIANA INDIANS BY WALTER E. ROTH Commissioner of the Pomeroon District, British Guiana; late Chief Protector of Aboriginals, Queensland; late Royal Commissioner appointed to inquire into the condition of the natives of Western Australia; Corresponding Member of the Anthropological Societies of Berlin and Florence; Author of "North Queensland Ethnography," etc. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- p. 105 To two of my oldest friends CHARLES HEDLEY Curator of the Australian Museum, Sydney and TOMMASO TITTONI Italian Ambassador at Paris I dedicate this Memoir --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- p. 107 PREFACE When, some seven years ago, I took up the duties of stipendiary magistrate, medical officer, and protector of Indians in this mosquito-cursed district of the Pomeroon, I determined upon devoting all my spare time—and there has been plenty of it—to an ethnographical survey of the native tribes of British Guiana, somewhat on the lines I had already followed in the case of North Queensland. As the work progressed, I recognized that, for the proper comprehension of my subject, it was necessary to make inquiry concerning the Indians of Venezuela, Surinam, and Cayenne, with the result that the area to be reviewed comprised practically that portion of the South American continent bounded, roughly speaking, by the Atlantic seaboard, the Orinoco, and the northern limits of the watershed of the Rio Negro, and the lower Amazon; and it was not long before I realized that for the proper study of the Arawaks and the Caribs I had to include that of the now almost extinct Antilleans. In the course of my ethnographical work, I collected sufficient material in the way of myth, legend, and fable to warrant the publication of a separate volume on Animism and Folk-lore, and so the following pages have come to be written. The legends collected have been drawn mainly from Arawak, Carib, and Warrau sources, and are initialed (A), (C), and (W), respectively. WALTER E. ROTH. Pomeroon River, British Guiana, June, 1913. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- p. 109 CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER I. No evidence of belief in a Supreme Being 117 II. Tribal heroes 120 III. Traces of spirit, idol, and fetish cult 137 IV. Creation of man, plants, and animals 141 V. The body and its associated spirits 149 VI. Dreams; idiocy 165 VII. Familiar spirits 167 VIII. The spirits of the bush: Natural history 170 IX. The spirits of the bush: Animals as sentient human beings 199 X. The spirits of the bush: Associated with particular plants 228 XI. The spirits of the mountain 235 XII. The spirits of the water 241 XIII. The spirits of the sky 254 XIV. Omens, charms, talismans 271 XV. Restrictions on game and food, vision, arts and crafts, nomenclature 292 XVI. Sexual life 308 XVII. The medicine-man 327 XVIII. Kanaima; the invisible or broken arrow 354 XIX. Miscellaneous Indian beliefs concerning men and animals 363 XX. Animism and folk-tales of recent introduction; mixed foreign and indigenous beliefs 372 XXI. Miscellaneous folk-lore, independent of animism 380 Glossary 385 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MYTHS AND FOLK-TALES Page Hariwali and the wonderful tree 120 The story of Haburi 122 The adventures of Kororomanna 126 The sun, the frog, and the firesticks (Warrau) 130 The sun, the frog, and the firesticks (Carib) 133 The sun, the frog, and the firesticks (Makusi) 135 The origin of the Caribs (Warrau) 143 The origin of the Caribs (Carib) 144 The first fruit trees (Arawak) 146 The first fruit trees (Carib) 147 The man with a bad temper 150 The sorcerer's daughter 151 The idiot who wanted to fly 166 The Maihisikiri changes the woman into a bush spirit 172 The man who always hunted scrub-turkey 173 The shrewd little boy and the hebu 174 The spirit's brain and the goat-sucker 175 p. 110 Page The mutilated husband is made whole 177 How pain, misery, and death came into the world 179 Why the drink turned sour 180 Why children become sick and cry 181 The woman killed by her husband's spirit 182 The result of stealing other people's property 183 The man changed into a beast 184 The man who dined after dark 184 How the haimara came to have such fine big eyes 185 The wrong rattle, the bush-hog, and the baby 186 The killing of the bush spirit and his wife 188 The woman kills the hebu 189 The bush spirit and the pregnant woman 189 The contented and happy son-in-law 190 The bush spirit tricked while hunting frogs 191 Mawári and tobacco smoke 192 The bush spirit with big ideas 193 The woman who mimicked the bush spirit 194 The danger of associating with spirits 195 The rain-frog wife 198 The honey-bee son-in-law 199 The man who was changed into a powis 201 The stolen child 202 The tiger changed into a woman 203 The woman in love with a sloth 204 Why honey is so scarce now 204 The man who claimed the tiger's meal 205 The woman who battled with two tigers 205 The man with a vulture wife 206 The man with a baboon wife 209 The disobedient son killed by a tiger 210 Don't count your chickens before they are hatched 211 The biter bit 211 How alligator came to have his present shape 212 How the birds obtained their distinctive markings 212 The deer and the turtle 212 Black tiger, wau-uta, and the broken arrow 213 The story of Adaba 215 Why the Indians killed Black Tiger 215 Bravery rewarded with a wife 216 Why Black Tiger killed the Indians 217 Bá-mu [Bahmoo] and the frog 218 How the man fooled the tiger 218 The search for the stone ax 220 The Huri Fish Nation 220 How the ant-eater fooled the man 220 How the Indians learned to paddle 221 The big bats 221 The magic boat 222 The Amazons 222 The country of the stone adzes 223 How turtle fooled the Yawarri 223 How the turtle tricked the tiger 223 Tiger and ant-eater 225 p. 111 Page How birds got their present plumage 225 Hunting is no part of woman's work 226 How the tapir punished the Indian 226 The turtle and the aruresso bird 226 Sisters bush-cow (tapir) and water-cow (manati) 227 The first makuari whips 228 The spirit of the rot saves the young woman 231 The ite palm and the mora tree 232 The piai in the water spirit's belly 244 Sisters porpoise and sea-cow 245 The fisherman's water-jug and potato 245 How the water spirit got the man's wife from him 247 How the water woman secured a landsman for husband 248 The moon-sick girl and the water spirit (Carib) 248 The moon-sick girl and the water spirit (Warrau) 249 How sickness and death came into the world 250 Amanna and her talkative husband 251 The story of Okoó-hi 255 How the moon got his dirty face 256 The legend of Bat Mountain 259 The babracote and camudi 261 The legend of the Seven Stars 262 The story of Nohi-abassi 263 The legend of Serikoai 265 The Woman of the Dawn 266 The obstinate girl who refused the old man 272 How the little boy escaped from the Caribs 273 The night-owl and his bat brothers-in-law 276 The candle-fly saved the lost hunter 277 The wife teaches her husband to hunt 279 The bina, the resurrected father, and the bad girl 286 The baboon cough 292 "Shut your eyes and wish" 301 The lucky pot 302 Honey-bee and the sweet drinks 305 A warning to wives 316 The broken egg 323 The little bush child 326 The hummingbird with tobacco for the first piai 334 Komatari, the first medicine-man 336 Saved by a dream 342 The medicine-man and the carrion Crows 343 The story of Koneso (Brer Rabbit) 372 The woman and the serpent Oroli 378 The piai and the Earthquake People 378 How the lazy man was cured 380 Always be content 380 The old woman who died of shame 381 The man who interfered with his brother's wife 381 The old blind man who wanted a woman 382 How we beat the Caribs 383 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- p. 112 ILLUSTRATIONS (only available on the HTML version from Sacred Texts Online) PAGE PLATE 4. The Kaieteur Fall 237 5. Arawak doctors' benches 330 6. A Carib piai's "consulting room," Moruca River 334 7. A touvinga, or two-fingered negro 364 FIGURE 1. Carib string puzzle, designed to deceive the Bush Spirits 180 2. Carib drinking-cup, Pomeroon River 283 3. Carib goblet, Pomeroon River 289 4. Arawak piai's rattle, Pomeroon River 330 5. Doll, or manikin, of Arawak piai, Moruca River 332 6. Chest-ornament of Arawak piai, Moruca River 333 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- p. 113 WORKS OF REFERENCE (NOTE.—The following list of publications is not presented as a complete bibliography, but as indicating those authors to whom, directly or indirectly, I find myself indebted. The titles of works from which excerpts have been taken are initialed. As most of these publications are in foreign languages, the excerpts, here given in English, are necessarily translations, many of them being paraphrased to some extent in order that they may be best adjusted with the context. Throughout the memoir authorities are cited by the initials used below, respectively; in connection with these, roman numerals indicate the volume numbers and arabic figures the page numbers.—W. E. R.) Ac ACUÑA, CHRISTOPHER. Relation of the great River of Amazons in South America. London, 1698. A ALEXANDER, J. E. Transatlantic sketches. 2 vols. London. 1833. APPUN, C. F. Unter den Tropen. Jena, 1871. Ba BANCROFT, EDWARD. An essay on the natural history of Guiana. London, 1769. PBa BARRERE, PIERRE. Nouvelle relation de la France équinoxiale. Paris, 1743. HWB BATES, HENRY WALTER. The naturalist on the Amazon. London, 1892. BECHAMEL. See GRILLET. BELLIN [JACQUES NICOLAS]. Description géographique de la Guyane. Paris, 1763. BENOIT, P. J. Voyage à Surinam. Bruxelles, 1839. Be BERNAU, J. H. Missionary labours in British Guiana. London, 1847. BIET, A. Voyage de la France équinoxiale en l'Isle de Cayenne, en l'année 1652. Paris, 1664. BW BODDAM-WHETHAM, J. W. Roraima and British Guiana. London, 1879. Bol BOLINGBROKE, HENRY. A voyage to the Demerary. Norwich, 1807. BBR BORDE, FR. DE LA. History of the origin, customs, religion, wars, and travels of the Caribs. Timehri, V, pt. 2, Demerara, 1886. Translated from the French, and condensed, by G. J. A. Bosch-Reitz. BOSCH-REITZ. See BORDE. Br BRETT, W. H. The Indian tribes of Guiana. London, 1868. BrA ? Mission work among the Indian tribes, etc. London (n. d.). BrB ? Legends and myths. London (n. d.). Bri BRINTON, DANIEL G. The American race. New York, 1891. Bro BROWN, C.B. Canoe and camp life in British Guiana. 2d ed., London, 1877. ? and LIDSTONE, W. Fifteen thousand miles on the Amazon, etc. London, 1878. LaC CASAS, BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS. An account of the first voyages and discoveries made by the Spaniards in America. London, 1699. CASTELNAU, FRANCIS DE. Expédition dans les parties centrales de l'Amérique du Sud. 4 vols. Paris, 1850-57. CC CATALOGUE OF CONTRIBUTIONS transmitted from British Guiana to the London International Exhibition, 1862. Georgetown, 1862. GC CATLIN, GEORGE. Life among the Indians. London (n. d.). p. 114 DAC CHANCA, DIEGO ALVAREZ: The letter of, dated 1494, relating to the second voyage of Columbus to America, by A. M. Fernandez de Ybarra. Smithsonian Misc. Coll., No. 1698, pp. 428-457, 1907. Cou COUDREAU, H. A. La France équinoxiale. 2 vols. Paris, 1887. Cr CRÉVAUX, J. Voyages dans l'Amérique du Sud. Paris, 1883. DALTON, HENRY G. The history of British Guiana. 2 vols. London, 1855. Da DANCE, CHAS. DANIEL. Chapters from a Guianese log-book. Demerara, 1881. [DAVIES]. The History of the Caribby Islands . . . 1666. [For the original work see ROCHEFORT.] FD DEPONS, F. Travels in parts of South America, during the years 1801, 1802, 1803, 1804. London, 1806. (In Phillips, Coll. of Modern Voyages, vol. IV, London, 1806.) DIXON, GEO. G. Four months of travel in British Guiana. Geographical Journal, April, 1895. DRAKE. Sir Francis Drake Revised: etc. 1626. Df DUFF, ROBT. British Guiana. Glasgow, 1866. PE EHRENREICH, PAUL. Die Mythen und Legenden der südamerikanischen Urvölker. Berlin, 1905. Fe FERMIN, PHILIPPE. Description générale, historique, géographique et physique de la Colonie de Surinam. 2 vols. Amsterdam, 1769. WF FEWKES, J. WALTER. An Antillean statuette, with notes on West Indian religious beliefs. Amer. Anthr., n. s., XI, pp. 348-358, 1909. GF FRIEDERICI, GEORG. Scalping in America. Smithsonian Rep. for 1906, pp. 423-438, 1907. GALARD-TERRAUBE. Neue Reise nach Cayenne. Leipzig, 1799. GILI, F. S. Saggio di storia Americana. Go DE GOEJE, C. H. Beiträge zur Völkerkunde von Surinam. Int. Archiv für Ethnographie, Bd. XIX, Heft i-ii, pp. 1-34, Leiden, 1908. GB GRILLET, JOHN, and BECHAMEL, FRANCIS. A journal of the travels of . . . . . into Guiana. London, 1698. G GUMILLA, JOSEPH. Historia natural . . . . del Rio Orinoco. 2 vols. Barcelona, 1791. HARCOURT, ROBERT. A relation of a voyage to Guiana. London, 1613. HA HARTSINCK, J. J. Beschryving van Guiana of de wilde Kust in Zuid-America . . . . . Amsterdam, 1770. HERRERA, ANTONIO DE. Historia general de los Hechos de los Castellanos en las islas, etc. Second edition. Madrid, 1730. HiA HILHOUSE, WILLIAM. Journal of a voyage up the Massaroony in 1831. Jour. Roy. Geog. Soc., IV, pp. 25-40, 1834. HiB ? The Warow land of British Guiana. Ibid., pp. 321-333. HiC ? Notices of the Indians settled in the interior of British Guiana. Ibid., II, pp. 227-249, 1832. AVH HUMBOLDT, ALEXANDER VON. Personal narrative of travels to the equinoctial regions of America. 3 vols. London, 1852-53. IT IM THURN, EVERARD F. Among the Indiana of Guiana. London, 1883. WI IRVING, WASHINGTON. Companions of Columbus. London, 1884. Je JENMAN, G. S. To Kaieteur [in 1881]. Georgetown, 1907. WJ JOEST, W. Ethnographisches und Verwandtes aus Guayana. Leiden, 1893. JUAN Y SANTACILIA, JORGE, and ULLOA, ANTONIO DE. A voyage to South America. 2 vols. London, 1760. p. 115 AK KAPPLER, A. Sechs Jahre in Surinam. Stuttgart, 1854. KEYE, O. Kurtzer Entwur von Neu-Niederland und Guajana. Leipzig, 1672. Ki KIRKE, HENRY. Twenty-five years in British Guiana. London, 1898. KG KOCH-GRÜNBERG, THEODOR. Zwei Jahre unter den Indianern. Reisen in Nordwest Brasilien, 1903-5. 2 vols. Berlin, 1910. KUNIKE, HUGO. Das Sogenannte "Männerkindbett." Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, Heft III-IV, pp. 546-563, 1911. LABAT, J. B. Nouveau voyage aux isles de l'Amérique. 6 vols. Paris, 1722. ? Voyage du Chevalier des Marchais en Guinée, Isles Voisines, et à Cayenne, en 1725- 27. Amsterdam, 1731. LA CONDAMINE, CHARLES MARIE DE. Relation abrégée d'un voyage fait dans l'interieur de l'Amérique méridionale. Maestricht, 1778. LAFITAU. Mœurs des sauvages amériquains. 2 vols. Paris, 1724. LAS CASAS. See CASAS. LIDSTONE. See BROWN. MARTIUS. See SPIX. Nor NORDENSKIOLD, ERLAND. Indianerleben. El Gran Chaco (Sudamerika). Leipzig, 1912. PATERSON, J. D. British Guiana local guide 1843 [from notes of]. PENARD, F. P. and A. P. De Menschetende Aanbidders der Zonneslang. Paramaribo, 1907. NIEUHOFF, J. Voyages and travels into Brasil. 1707. Pnk PINCKARD, GEORGE. Notes on the West Indians. 2 vols. London, 1816. LAP PITOU, L. A. Voyage à Cayenne. 2 vols. Paris, 1807. PREUSS, K. TH. Die Opferblutschale der alten Mexikaner erläutert nach den Angaben der Cora-Indianer. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, XLIII, pp. 293-306, 1911. QUANDT, C. Nachricht von Suriname und seinen Einwohnern, etc. Görlitz, 1807. RoP ROCHEFORT, C. DE, and POINCY, L. DE. Histoire naturelle et morale des iles Antilles de l'Amérique. Rotterdam, 1665. AR ROJAS, ARISTIDES. Obras escogidas. Paris, 1907. StC ST. CLAIR, T. STAUNTON. A residence in the West Indies and America. 2 vols. London, 1834. ScO SCHOMBURGK, O. A. Reisen in Guiana und am Orinoko. Leipzig, 1841. ScR SCHOMBURGK, RICHARD. Reisen in Britisch Guiana. 2 vols. Leipzig, 1847-48. ScA SCHOMBURGK, ROBERT HERMANN. Diary of an ascent of the river Berbice. Jour. Roy. Geog. Soc., VII, pp. 302-350, 1837. ScB ? Expedition to the lower parts of the Barima and Guiania rivers. Ibid., XII, pp. 169- 178, 1842. ScBc ? Excursion up the Barima and Cuyuni rivers. Ibid., pp. 178-196. ScC ? Diary of an ascent of the River Corentyn. Ibid., VII, pp. 285-301, 1837. ScD ? A description of British Guiana. London, 1840. ScE ? Journey to the sources of the Essequibo, etc. Jour. Roy. Geog. Soc., X, pp. 159-190, 1841. ScF ? Journey from Fort San Joaquim to Roraima. Ibid., pp. 191-247. ScG ? Report of an expedition into the interior of British Guayana. Ibid., VI, pp. 224-284, 1836. ScH ? Journey from Esmeralda to San Carlos. Ibid., X, pp. 248-267, 1841. p. 116 SCT SCHOMBURGK, ROBERT HERMANN. Visit to the sources of the Takutu. Ibid., XIII, pp. 18-75. London, 1843. ? On the religious traditions of the Macusi Indians who inhabit the upper Mahu and a portion of the Mocaraima Mountains. Read before the Society of Antiquaries Nov. 17th, 1836. [Thus far I have be unable to trace the publication of this address.—W. E. R.] AS SIMSON, ALFRED. Travels in the wilds of Ecuador. London, 1886. SM SPIX and MARTIUS. Reise in Brasilien. 3 vols. Munich, 1823-31. St STEDMAN, J. G. Narrative of a five years' expedition against the revolted negroes of Surinam. 2 vols. London, 1806. VDS VON DEN STEINEN. Durch Zentralbrasilien. Leipzig, 1886. ? Unter dem naturvölkern Zentralbrasiliens. Berlin, 1893. DU TERTRE, JEAN BAPTISTE. Histoire générale des Antilles habitées par des Français. 4 vols. Paris, 1667-71. Ti TIMEHRI. Journal of the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society of British Guiana. See various volumes cited. ULLOA. See JUAN Y SANTACILIA. ARW WALLACE, A. R. A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro. London, New York, and Melbourne, 1889. W WATERTON, CHAS. Wanderings in South America. London, 1891. WICKHAM, H. A. Rough note of a journey from Trinidad to Para via the Orinoco and Rio Negro. London, 1872. YBARRA, FERNANDEZ DE. See CHANCA. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- p. 117 AN INQUIRY INTO THE ANIMISM AND FOLK-LORE OF THE GUIANA INDIANS By WALTER E. ROTH CHAPTER I NO EVIDENCE OF BELIEF IN A SUPREME BEING Originally, Indians had no terms expressive of the conception of a Supreme Being; such terms as they now possess have been framed to suit civilized, especially missionary, requirements (1).1 On the other hand, traditions of certain Tribal Heroes have been unconsciously assumed as indicative of the existence among the natives of the knowledge of a God (2). 1.* Careful investigation forces one to the conclusion that, on the evidence, the native tribes of Guiana had no idea of a Supreme Being in the modern conception of the term. This contention is confirmed in a way by Gumilla (II, 7),2 one of the early missionary fathers on the Orinoco, who writes as follows: In three nations which will be mentioned directly they have a word indicative, after their fashion, of God: we trust that time and labor will also reveal, in other tribes, a name which until now they have furnished no sign of recognizing either by word or expression. Even in the said nations no outward ceremony of divine worship or adoration has been observed. Nor are the terms which express God in the different languages so particularized and indubitable as to convince us of their sure and certain signification. The Caribs call God Quiyumocón, i. e., Our Big Father, but it is not sufficiently clear whether they mean by this expression the First Cause or the most ancient of their ancestors. The Salivas say that Púru made all that is good; that he lives in the expanse of the sky . . . The Betoyes, before their conversion, used to say that the Sun was God, and in their language, they speak of both God and Sun as Theos. The nations of the upper Orinoco, the Atabapo, and the Inirida, as Humboldt records, have no worship other than that of the powers of Nature: they call the good principle Cachimana; it is the Manito, the Great Spirit, that regulates the seasons and favors the harvests (AVH, II, 362). In Cayenne there is the similar evidence of the Jesuits Grillet and Bechamel (25): "The Nouragues and the Acoquas, in Matters of Religion, are the same with the Galibis. They acknowledge there is a God, but do not worship him. They say he dwells in Heaven, without knowing whether he is a Spirit or no, but rather seem to believe he has a body. . . The Nouragues and the Acoquas call him Maire, and never talk of him but in fabulous stories." They p. 118 have not even in their language any suitable term to express the Divinity, still less the homage and respect due to him (PBa, 218). The present-day British Guiana Carib name for God is identical with that just given, Tamosi-Kabutana, Old Man-Sky [Kabu = the Sun], figuratively The Ancient of Heaven, or simply Tamosi, without particularizing. But this word is undoubtedly the same as tamuchi, the Cayenne Carib term for the head-man or chief of a tribe; it serves also to designate a grandfather (PBa, 218). The same remark perhaps may be applicable to theos, the word given by Gumilla as the Betoya word for the Divine Person, recognizable in the terms tuchao (Cr, 372) and tushaúa (HWB, 241, 244), the name given to the chief, head-man, of the tribe or nation, in the upper and lower Amazons, respectively. Koch-Grünberg (II, 82) talks of Tuschaua as being Lingoa Geral. Wallace (348), too, says that the Indians of the Amazon appear to have no definite idea of a God. The Arawak terms for the Christian deity also show signs that they have been adapted to express a conception to which they could have been introduced only within modern times, a statement which is made advisedly, because in none of the Arawak myths and legends relative to the Creation, even in those published by clerics, is there a single reference to the All-Maker (Br, 58) under the term of Wa'chinachi, Our Father, Wa'murretakuon(na)chi, Our Maker, or even Aiomun Kondi, Dweller on High. It is very noteworthy that the same discrepancy as to the alleged word for God is at once apparent in almost all the Creation myths of the other tribes that so far I have managed to unearth: for example, the Warrau word (ScR, II, 515) kwarisabarote, really intended for kwaresa ba-arautu, meaning literally 'on-top belonging-to.' The only exception perhaps would seem to be the Warrau Kanonatu, Our Maker (IT, 366), referred to by Brett in his Warrau story of the origin of the Caribs (BrB, 62), where its introduction is certainly suspicious. "Some [of the Orinoco] tribes, Father Caulin tells us, considered the Sun as the Supreme Being and First Cause; it was to him that they attributed the productions of the earth, scanty or copious rains, and all other temporal blessings; others, on the contrary, believed that everything depended on the influence of the moon, and conceived, when she suffered an eclipse, that she was angry with them." (FD, 51.) It is known that the Chaimas, Cumanagotos, Tamanacs, and other original tribes of the Carib people, worshipped (adoraban) the Sun and Moon (AR, 185). For perhaps the most extraordinary conception met with, however, concerning ideas of a Supreme Being, I would quote the reply given to Acuña (97) by a cacique of one of the Amazon tribes: "He told me himself was God, and begotten by the Sun, affirming that his Soul went every night into Heaven to give orders for the succeeding Day, and to regulate the Government of the Universe!" The Tupi language, at least, as taught by the old Jesuits, has a word, tupána, signifying God (HWB, 259). And so p. 119 it happened that the little china dolls which Koch- Grünberg (I, 184) presented to the women and children on the Aiary River (Rio Negro) were generally called tupána: the people took them for figures of saints from missionary times. 2.* Conversely, it is interesting to note how both travellers and missionaries have assumed almost unconsciously the Indian traditions of certain mythic Heroes to be more or less indicative of the view no doubt a priori conscientiously held by the former that the native was not without the knowledge of a God. Thus, Hilhouse (HiC, 244) writing in 1832, makes the statement, blindly followed, strangely enough, by Schomburgk (ScR, II, 319) in 1848, that "The Indians acknowledge the existence of a superior divinity, the universal creator; and most tribes, also, believe in a subservient power, whose particular province is the protection of their nation. Amongst the Arawaaks, Aluberi is the supreme being, and Kururumanny the god or patron (Schutz gott) of the Arawaak nation," etc. With regard to the former there is a very probable reference to him under the name of Hubuiri, some three centuries previously, in the Archivos de Indias: Patronato (quoted by Rodway in Timehri for 1895, p. 9), where, in an account of the Provinces and Nations of the Aruacas [Arawaks] by Rodrigo de Navarrete, the latter says: "From those whom I have frequently kept in my house, I have understood that their belief and object of adoration is the firmament or heavens, because they say that in the greater heaven there is a powerful lord and a great lady . . . when they die, their souls will go with Hubuiri, as they call the great and powerful lord in heaven." This same Alubiri, or Hubuiri, is still recognizable as Haburi (Sect. 9) in the stories related by me, and as Abore, the Warrau "Father of Inventions" in the legend told by Brett (BrB, 76). In his Arawak vocabulary the name for God is given by Schomburgk (SCR, II, 515) as Kururumanni: Brett (Br, 58), however, is more correct in saying. that it is the Warraus who "sometimes use the word 'Korroromana' when speaking of God; but it is doubtful what ideas some of them attach to that name." As a matter of fact, both of these would-be deities, Alubiri (Sect. 3) and Kororomanna (Sect. 19), were Arawak and Warrau Tribal Heroes, respectively. Similar remarks may be made of Makunaima and Pia (Sects. 29-41), and of Amalivaca (Sect. 42). The name Amalivaca is spread over a region of more than five thousand square leagues. He is found designated as "the father of mankind," or "our great grandfather," as far as to the Carribbee nations. . . . Amalivaca is not originally the Great Spirit, the Aged of Heaven, the invisible being, whose worship springs from that of the powers of nature, when nations rise insensibly to the consciousness of the unity of these powers; he is rather a personage of the heroic times, a man, who, coming from afar, lived in the land of the Tamanacs and the Caribs, sculptured symbolic figures upon the rocks, and disappeared by going back to the country he had previously inhabited beyond the ocean. [AVH, II, 474.] Footnotes p. 117 1 This and similar reference numbers correspond to section numbers, which appear in bold-face type. 2 See Note under WORKS OF REFERENCE (p. 113) as to the system employed in this memoir in the citation of authorities. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- p. 120 CHAPTER II TRIBAL HEROES Alubiri or Hubuiri; Hariwali and the Wonderful Tree (3-8); The Story of Haburi (9-18). Kororomanna: his Adventures (19-28). Makunaima and Pia; or, the Sun, the Frog, and the Firesticks—Warrau version (29-34), Carib version (35-38), Makusi version (39-41). Amalivaca (42). 3.* Some of the mythic Heroes have a history peculiarly their own, of which it is now proposed to give a few particulars. I will begin with Alubiri, or Hubuiri, for whom Hilhouse, as already stated (Sect. 2), found a place in the Arawak cosmogony, a view which Schomburgk indorsed, with a reference to him, however, as one "who does not trouble himself about men." In Brett's time, however, and at the present day, throughout the Pomeroon district the Hero seemingly appears only under the name Haburi. The Pomeroon Warrau now claim Haburi as their particular Hero, in just the same way as Brett (BrB, 76) did for them under the name Abore. For my own part I suspect that the term Alubiri is but another form of the name Oruperi, the mythical Carib snake (Sect. 235), which gave rise to all the hunting binas, and that Haburi has some philological connection with Yaperi- Kuli, the Hero (Sect. 45) of the Siusi branch of the Arawak stock. It is only for the reason that an old Arawak friend identified Hariwali (cf. Arawanili, Sec. 185) with Haburi—an identity which I admittedly can neither confirm nor challenge—that I propose beginning with these mythic Heroes by introducing the story of— *HARIWALI AND THE WONDERFUL TREE (A) Hariwali was a clever, painstaking piai, who spent most of his time in clearing the field for his two wives. These two women, their children, and his brother lived with him at his house. While felling the timber, the wives undertook, turn and turn about, to bring their husband some cassiri daily. It happened now that while carrying the usual refreshment one of the wives was met by the brother-in-law, who was bringing in some itiriti strands to weave baskets with. "Hullo!" he said, "where are you going?" to which he received reply, "I am taking cassiri to my husband; the field.—But I like you. Do you like me?" "No, I don't," he answered, "and even if I did, my brother, being a medicine-man, would find it out very soon." She tried him again, and tempted him sorely, and then she threw her arms round him. He was but mortal. . . . She assured him that her husband would never find out what had happened, and both went their respective ways. Before she reached the field, however, she broke the calabash; then with a pointed stick she cut her knee, causing it to bleed. When Hariwali saw her coming slowly along with a limp carrying the broken calabash, he asked her what had happened. All she could do was to point to the scratch and blood on her lame knee, and tell him that she had p. 121 had an accident, having fallen on a stump. He was a shrewd piai, however, and knew exactly what had happened, and though he said nothing then, he determined not only upon getting rid of her, but of his other wife also; he just then, however, directed her to return home. 4.* Next morning he bade both the women accompany him, as he intended fishing in the pond, and he merely wanted them to do the cooking and make the fire. When fire had been made, he brought them a turtle, which they put on the hot ashes without killing it, so it promptly crawled out; they pushed it on again, but with the same result. It was the omen betokening their death. The semi-chichi [medicine-man] had bewitched them and they thought they had already killed the turtle. What they imagined was that the fire was not hot enough, and so the faithless spouse went to look for more dry wood. Now, as she was breaking up the timber she found it very hard work, and exclaimed Tata—Ketaiaba (lit. hard—to break), but no sooner were the words out of her mouth, than she flew away as a hawk, the "bul-tata," which can often be heard crying bul- tata-tata-tata. . . . Of course it was her husband who had done this. The other wife said she felt hot and would bathe her skin; no sooner had she ducked into the pond, than her husband turned her into a porpoise—she was the very first porpoise that ever swam in these waters. 5.* Hariwali thus punished his wives, and now pondered over what he should do with his brother. While returning home, he met the very man with bow and arrows starting out to hunt, but neither spoke. That same afternoon the brother, who had never missed a bird before, made a bad shot every time now, the arrow invariably flying absurdly wide of its mark. This was really all Hariwali's doing. At last the brother did manage to hit a bird, but only just hard enough to knock a few feathers off, nothing more. "Don't do that again," said the bird, "and now look behind you." And when he did so, there was a large sheet of water, and he realized that he was upon an island. But how to escape? Round and round he wandered, until he finally found a path; no ordinary path, but a Yawahu's path leading to the Spirit's house. Arrived at the house, the Yawahu caught him, and took all his bones out except those of his fingers; this was done only out of kindness, so that he could not escape, the Yawahu putting him into a hammock and paying him every care and attention.1 The bones themselves were tied up in a bundle under the roof (as bundles are kept by many other Indian tribes). The Yawahu was quite a family man, with plenty of youngsters who were always practising with their bows and arrows; when their arrows got blunted they had only to go up to the captive's hammock and sharpen them on his bony finger tips. All this time, Hariwali's mother would cry regularly every night over her absent son, whose whereabouts and condition she was absolutely igorant of. So at last the piai's heart became softened, and he determined on going to fetch his brother home again. It was all due to his "medicine" that his brother fell into the clutches of the Spirits. He told the old woman to pack up everything, because when he returned with his brother they and all their family would have to leave the place forever. 6.* The night previous to their departure, he "played the shak-shak" (i. e., called up his Spirit friends with the rattle), and next morning hosts of parrots were passing overhead. His children called his attention to them; so he went out and asked the birds to throw down a seed of a certain tree the bark of which he used medicinally. This they did, and though the youngeters saw the seed falling, directly it touched ground the father put his foot on it, and look as much as they could, the children could not find it. As he did not want them to know what he was doing, he told them that nothing had fallen, that they must be mistaken, and that they must run away now. Young folk are not allowed to see what the old medicine-men practise. When left alone, Hariwali planted the identical seed just where it had fallen, and that same evening p. 122 repeated the performance with the rattle; by next morning a stately tree had grown from that one seed. He told his mother to tie all the things which she had packed up, on the branches of this tree (Sect. 286), and to await his and his brother's return. 7.* It was not long before he reached the Yawahu's place, where, the family being away, he had no difficulty in releasing the captive, untying the bones from the roof, and making good his escape. Unfortunately the Spirit returned earlier than was expected, and seeing the empty hammock and no parcel of bones, was not long in concluding what had happened. He recognized the fresh tracks, and put his dogs on the scent. Poor Hariwali and his brother! They heard the barking of the dogs and the whistling of the Spirit, and barely had time to crawl into an armadillo hole. They just managed to get out of sight when Yawahu came up, threatening that if they did not come out, he would drive a stick into them; the fugitives laid low, and said nothing. Yawahu then shoved a stick in, but Hariwali touched it with his hand, and changed it into a bush-master snake. (This is why, even to the present day, a bush-master snake is always found in an armadillo hole.) At any rate, Yawahu on seeing the serpent thought he must have been mistaken in folowing the tracks and retraced his steps. Having put the bones back into his brother's skin, and waiting till the coast was clear, Hariwali led the way home. 8.* And how glad their mother was to see them! She had everything packed away in and among the branches of the big tree, and she herself, her daughter, and the grandchildren were all prepared for a long journey. As night fell, they all, big and little, climbed up into the lower branches, finding shelter among the leaves while Hariwali made his way up to the very summit and began again the shak-shak performance. This continued till quite into the middle of the night, when all of a sudden, the family below felt the tree shaking, and heard rumbling noises, followed by a quivering, and experienced a sensation of the trunk being rooted out of the sand, and starting to fly up into the air. Now, it was just about the moment when they were off on their proposed journey that the old woman's daughter, the piai's sister, felt a bit chilly, and casting her eyes downward, remembered that she had left her apron behind in the house. All she could do was to shout out to her brother above, Dekeweyo-daiba (lit. "my apron back"), "I have forgotten my apron," and he told her to slip down quickly and fetch it. But by the time she had reached the old home, she was changed into a wicissi-duck (Anas autumnalis), which even yet can always be heard saying dekeweyo-daiba, but as it only whistles these two words, they do not sound so distinctly as if they were spoken slowly. As to the rest of the family—well, we know that the wonderful tree flew away somewhere, but we have never heard anything more about the people who were on it. *THE STORY OF HABURI (W) 9.* Long ago, there were two sisters minding themselves; they had no man to look after them. One day they cut down an ite tree (Mauritia), from which they commenced to manufacture flour. It was now late, so they left their work and went home. Next morning when they went back, the starch was lying there all ready prepared, and they were much puzzled to know how this came to be so. Next day, the same thing happened—all the ite starch was found ready; and this happened again, and often. So one night they watched, and about the middle of the night they saw one of the leaves of the neighboring manicole tree (Euterpe sp.) bend gradually over and over until it touched the cut which they had made in the trunk of the ite palm lying beneath. As soon as the leaf actually touched, both sisters rushed up and caught hold of it, begging it earnestly to turn into a man. It refused at first; but as they begged so earnestly it did so. His name was Mayara- kóto. The big (elder) sister was now happy and by-and-bye she had a beautiful baby boy, called Haburi. p. 123 10.* The two women had their hunting ground near two ponds; one of these ponds belonged to Tiger, but the other one was their own, in which they therefore used to fish. And they told Mayara-kóto not to go to Tiger's pond. The man, however, said, "Our pond has very few fish in it, but Tiger's has plenty. I am going to fish in his." He did so, but Tiger came along and caught and killed him for stealing his fish. Tiger then took Mayara-kóto's shape and form, and returned to the spot where the two women were camped. It was very late when he came and quite dark. With him he brought not only Mayara-kóto's waiyarri (a temporary openwork basket made of palm-leaf) but in it the fish the latter had stolen before being killed. Tiger put down the waiyarri, as is customary, before coming into the house, and after telling them good-night (lit. "I am come"), said he had brought some fish. Both women were astonished at the coarse, rough voice. He then said he was much tired, and would lie down in his hammock, telling them that he would nurse Haburi, who was accordingly brought to him. He told them also that he was going to sleep, and that they must bring up the fish and cook it, but not to mind him. The women cooked the fish. When cooked, and while the women were eating it, the man fell asleep and began to snore very curiously and loudly—indeed, so loud that you could have heard him on the other side of the river. And while snoring, he called the father's name—Mayara-kóto. The two women looked at each other, and they listened. They said "Our husband never snored like that; he never called his own name before." They therefore stopped eating at once, and told each other that this man could not possibly be their husband. And they pondered as to how they were going to get Haburi out of the man's arms where he was resting. Making a bundle of a particular kind of bark, they slipped it under the child and so got him away; then they quickly made off with him while the man was still snoring. With them they also took a wax light and a bundle of firewood. 11.* While going along, they heard Wau-uta singing. Wau-uta was a woman in those days, indeed she was a piai woman, and she was just then singing with her shak-shak (rattle). The two women went on and on, quickly too, for they knew that once they arrived at Wau-uta's place they would be safe. In the meantime, the Tiger-man woke up and found the bark bundle in his arms instead of little Haburi, and both the sisters gone. So he got angry; he changed back into his animal shape, and hurried after them. The women heard him coming and hurried still more. They called out "Wau-uta! open the door." "Who is there?" said Wau-uta, to which she received reply "It is we; the two sisters." But Wau-uta would not open the door. So the mother pinched little Haburi's ears and made him cry. Directly Wau-uta heard it She shouted out, "What child is that? Is it a girl or a boy?" "It is my Haburi, a boy," was the mother's reply, upon which Wau-uta opened the door immediately and said, "Come in! Come in!" Just after they had all got in, Tiger arrived and, calling out to Wau-uta, asked her where the two women and the baby had gone. But Wau-uta lied, telling that she had not seen them, that she had seen no one. Tiger, however, could tell by the scent that they were there, so he waited outside, and refused to go away. This vexed Wau-uta, who became very angry, and told him that he might just put his head in, and have a look round, and if he saw them, he could eat them if he liked. But the door was covered with pimplers (thorns) and as soon as silly Tiger put his head in, the old woman closed it, and so killed him. The two sisters remained there, and cried much; they grieved for their husband. They cried so much indeed that Wau-uta told them to go into the field, gather some cassava, and make a big drink. They accordingly got ready to go, and were about to take Haburi with them, but Wau-uta said, "No. I am quite able to look after the child in your absence." So they did as they were told and went away to the field. 12.* In the meantime Wau-uta made the child grow all at once into a youth, and gave him the harri-harri to blow and the arrows to shoot. As the mother and aunt p. 124 were returning with the cassava, they heard the music playing and said to themselves, "There was no man or boy there when we left the house; who can it be? It must be a man playing." And though ashamed they went in and saw the youth blowing the harri-harri. As soon as they had taken the quakes (baskets) from off their backs and placed them on the ground, they asked after Haburi, but Wau- uta said that as soon as they had left for the field, the child had run after them, and she had thought it was still with them. Of course all this was a lie. Old Wau-uta was desirous of making Haburi grow quickly, with the intention of making him ultimately her lover. She still further deceived the two sisters by pretending to assist in the search which was then undertaken in the surrounding bush, but she took good care to get back to her house first, and told Haburi to say she, Wau-uta, was his mother, and gave him full directions as to how he must treat her. 13.* Haburi was a splendid shot—no bird could escape his arrow—and Wau-uta directed him to give to her all the big birds that he killed, and to his mother and aunt all the little ones, which he had to pollute first by fouling them. The object of this was to make the two sisters so vexed and angry that they would leave the place: but this they would not do; they continued searching the neighborhood for their little child. This sort of thing went on for many days, big birds and dirtied little birds being presented by Haburi to Wau-uta and the two women, respectively. Haburi, however, did one day miss a bird for the first time, his arrow sticking into a branch overhanging a creek where his uncles, the water-dogs, used to come and feed. It was a nice cleared space, and here Haburi eased himself, covering the dung with leaves. He next climbed the tree to dislodge the arrow, but just then the water-dogs arrived, and, scenting the air, exclaimed, "What smell is this? That worthless nephew of ours, Haburi, must be somewhere about." So they looked around, and down, and up, and finally discovering him on the tree branch, ordered him to come down. They then sat him on a bench, and told him he was leading a bad life, that the old woman was not his mother, but that the two younger ones were his mother and aunt, respectively; they furthermore impressed upon him that it was very wicked of him to divide the birds so unfairly, and that in future he must do exactly the opposite, giving his real mother, the bigger of the two sisters, the larger birds. They told him also to let his real mother know that the way he had hitherto treated her was due entirely to ignorance on his part, and that he was sorry. 14.* So when Haburi got home that day, he carried out the instructions given him by the water- dogs, handing the dirtied little birds to Wau-uta, and making a clean breast of it to his mother. She, poor thing, felt very strange that day, and could not bring herself to speak to him as "my son" all at once, but when he explained that it was only Wau-uta who had made him a man quite suddenly, she believed him, and became quite comforted. Old Wau-uta, on hearing all this, worked herself into a great passion, and, seizing Haburi by the neck, blew into his face (Sect. 85), and told him he must be mad; so angered and upset was she that she could eat nothing at all. She spent all that day and night in nagging him, and telling him he had left his senses. Haburi went away next morning as usual, returning late in the afternoon, when he again gave the big birds which he had shot to his real mother and the dirtied little ones to Wau-uta. The latter, as might have been expected, gave him no peace. 15.* Haburi, therefore, made up his mind to get out. So telling his mother that they must all three arrange to get away together, he made a little corial (a dugout canoe) of bees'-wax, and when completed, he left it at the water-side; but, by next morning a black duck had taken it away. He therefore made another little clay corial, but this was stolen by another kind of duck. In the meantime he cut a large field, and cleared it so quickly that the women with their planting could never keep up with him. They required plenty of cassava for their proposed journey. At any rate, while the women planted, Haburi would often slip away and make a boat, always of a different kind of wood and of varying shape, and just as regularly would a different p. 125 species of duck come and steal it. At last he happened to make one out of the silk-cotten tree and this particular one was not stolen. It was thus Haburi who first made a boat and taught the ducks to float on the surface of the water because it was with his boats that they managed to do it; indeed, we Warraus say that each duck has its own particular kind of boat. 16.* But what was more curious, the last boat to be manufactured was found next morning to be very much bigger than it was the night before. Haburi told his mother and her sister to collect all the provisions and put them aboard in anticipation of their long journey. He himself returned to the field, bringing the cassava cuttings for old Wau-uta to plant in their respective holes, and so they both continued working hard. By and bye, he slipped away, went back to the house, took his arrows and ax, and proceeded down to the water-side. But before he left the house, he told the posts not to talk, for in those days the posts of a house could speak (Sect. 169), and if the owner were absent a visitor could thus find out his whereabouts. There was a parrot, however, in the house, and Haburi quite forgot to warn him to keep silent. So when the old woman after a time found herself alone, she went back to the house, and seeing no Haburi, asked the posts whither he had gone; they remained silent. The parrot, however, could not help talking, and told her. 17.* Wau-uta thereupon rushed down to the landing, arriving there just in time to see Haburi stepping into the boat to join his mother and aunt. She seized hold of the craft, screaming "My son! My son! you must not leave me so. I am your mother," and though they all repeatedly struck her fingers with their paddles, and almost smashed them to pieces on the gunwale, she would not let go her hold. So poor Haburi had perforce to land again and with old Wau-uta proceeded to a large hollow tree wherein the bees had built their nest. Cutting down the tree, Haburi made a small hole in the trunk, and told the old lady to get in and suck the honey. She was very fond of honey, and though crying very hard all the time at the thought of losing Haburi, crawled through the little opening which he immediately closed in upon her. And there she is to be found to the present day, the Wau-uta frog which is heard only in hollow trees. And if you look carefully, you will see how swollen her fingers are from the way in which they were bashed by the paddles when she tried to hold on to the gunwale. If you listen, you can also hear her lamenting for her lost lover; she still cries Wang! Wang! Wang! 18.* The tree-frog above referred to is probably the kono(bo)-aru, or rain-frog, the name given to the old woman in the Carib version of the story (Sect. 35). The croaking of this creature (Hyla venulosa Daud.) is an absolutely sure sign of rain. This frog lives only in the trunk of the Bodelschwingia macrophylla Klotzsch, a tree found on the Pomeroon and Barama (ScR, II, 419). Though the Warraus are believed to have been the first of the Guiana Indians to use boats, the invention of the sail has been credited to the Caribs. A modern addition to the above version of the story is that Haburi sailed away, found new lands, and taught the white people all their arts and manufactures, all about guns and ships, and for many years used to send his old Warrau friends certain presents annually, but they never come now—an unscrupulous Government detains them in Georgetown! 19.* With regard to Koroiomanna, or Kururumanni, the same remarks concerning his tribal origin apply as in the case of Haburi. Hilhouse and Schomburgk (ScR, II, 319) seemingly would have him an Arawak, but Brett undoubtedly makes him a Warrau, the view which p. 126 is held by the present-day Warraus and Arawaks on the Pomeroon. He is said to be the creator of the male portion of mankind, another Spirit, Kulimina,1 being responsible for the female. Uri-Kaddo and Emeshi are his two wives, one name signifying 'darkness-people,' 'a worker in darkness,' and the other a large red ant that burrows in the earth; "together, they are typical of the creation of all things out of the earth in the dark" (HiC, 244). Kororomanna would seem to have experienced a remarkable number and variety of adventures some of which are given here. *THE ADVENTURES OF KOROROMANNA (W) Kororomanna went out hunting and shot a "baboon" (Mycetes), but as it was already late in the afternoon, in trying to make his way home he lost his way in the darkness. And there he had to make his banab, and to lie down, with the baboon beside him. But where he lay was a Hebu road; you can always distinguish a Spirit road from any other pathway in the forest because the Hebus occupying the trees that lie alongside it are always, especially at night, striking the branches and trunks, and so producing short sharp crackling noises (Sect. 104). It was not pleasant for poor Kororomanna, especially as the baboon's body was now beginning to swell with all the noxious humors inside; lest the Hebus should steal it from him, he was obliged to keep the carcass alongside and watch over it with a stick. At last he fell asleep, but in the middle of the night the Hebus, what with the knocking on the trees, aroused him from his slumbers. Now that he was awake, he mimicked the Spirits, blow for blow, and as they struck the limb of a tree, Kororomanna would strike the belly of the baboon. But what with the air inside, each time he struck the animal, there came a resonant Boom! Boom! just like the beating of a drum.2 The Hebu leader heard the curious sound, and became a bit frightened: "What can it be? When before I knocked a tree, it never made a noise like that." To make sure, however, he struck the tree hard again, and Boom! came once more from the carcass. Hebu was really frightened now, and began to search all around to find out where the extraordinary noise could possibly come from; at last he recognized the little manicole banab, and saw Kororomanna laughing. Indeed, the latter could not help laughing, considering that it was the first time he had heard such a funny sound come out of any animal. 20.* Hebu then said to him, "Who are you? Show me your hand," to which Kororomanna replied, "I am Warrau, and here is my hand," but instead of putting out his own, he shoved forward one of the baboon's, and then held forward the animal's other hand, and finally both feet. Hebu was much puzzled and said he had never seen before a Warrau with so black a hand, and would not be satisfied until he saw the face. Kororomanna accordingly deceived him again and held out the monkey's, which caused Hebu to make the same remark about his face as he had done about his hands and feet. 21.* The Spirit became more frightened than ever, but his curiosity exceeded his fear, because he next wanted to know where all that Boom! Boom! sound had come from. And when he learnt its source of origin (breaking wind), he regretted that he had not been made like ordinary mortals, he and all his family having no proper posteriors, but just a red spot (Sect. 99). He thereupon begged Kororomanna to make for him a posterior which would allow of his producing a similar sound. So with his bow Kororomanna split the Spirit's hind quarters, and completed the task p. 127 by impaling him, but so rough was he in his methods, that the weapon transfixed the whole body even piercing the unfortunate Hebu's head. The Hebu cursed Kororomanna for having killed him, and threatened that the other Spirits would avenge his death; he then disappeared. 22.* Our hero, becoming a bit anxious on his own account, and, recognizing by the gradually increasing hullaballoo in the trees that swarms of Hebus were approaching the scene of the outrage, now climbed the manicole tree sheltering his banab, leaving the baboon's corpse inside. The Spirits then entered the banab, and believing the dead animal to be Kororomanna, began hitting it with their sticks, and with each blow, there came Boom! Our friend up the tree, whence he could watch their every movement, and their surprise at the acoustic results of the flogging, could not refrain from cracking a smile, which soon gave way to a hearty laugh. The Spirits, unfortunately for him, heard it, and looking at the dead baboon, said, "This cannot be the person who is laughing at us." They looked all around, but could see nothing, until one of them stood on his head, and peeped up into the tree.1 And there, sure enough, he saw Kororomanna laughing at them. All the others then put themselves in the same posture around the tree, and had a good look at him. The question they next had to decide was how to catch him. This they concluded could most easily be managed by hewing down the tree. They accordingly started with their axes on the trunk, but since the implements were but water-turtle shells, it was not long before they broke.2 They then sent for their knives, but as these were merely the seed-pods of the buari tree, they also soon broke.3 The Hebus then sent for a rope, but what they called a rope was really a snake. At any rate, as the serpent made its way farther and farther up the tree, and finally came within reach, Kororomanna cut its head off; the animal fell to the ground again, and the Hebus cried "Our rope has burst." Another consultation was held, and it was decided that one of their number should climb the tree, seize the man, and throw him down, and that those below might be ready to receive him when dislodged, the Hebu was to shout out, when throwing him down, the following signal: Tura-buna-sé mahara-ko na-kai.4 The biggest of the Spirits being chosen to carry the project into execution, he started on his climb, but head downward of course, so as to be able to see where he was going. Kororomanna, however, was on the alert, and, waiting for him, killed him in the same peculiar manner as that in which he had despatched the other Spirit just a little while before; more than this, having heard them fix upon the preconcerted signal, he hurled the dead Spirit's body down with the cry of Tura-buna-sé mahara-ko na-kai! The Hebus below were quite prepared, and as soon as the body tell to the ground, clubbed it to pieces. Kororomanna then slipped down and helped in the dissolution. "Wait a bit," he said to the Spirits; "I am just going in the bush, but will soon return." It was not very long, however, before the Spirits saw that they had been tricked, and yelled with rage on finding that they had really destroyed one of themselves; they hunted high and low for their man, but with approaching daylight were reluctantly compelled to give up the chase. 23.* In the meantime, Kororomanna had no sooner got out of their sight than he started running at topmost speed, and finally found shelter in a hollow tree. Here he discovered a woman (she was not old either), so he told her that he would remain with her till "the day cleaned" (i. e., till dawn broke). But she said, "No! No! my p. 128 man is Snake and he will be back before the dawn. If he were to find you here, he would certainly kill you." But her visitor was not to be frightened, and he stayed where he was. True enough, before dawn, Snake came wending his way home, and as he crawled into the tree, he was heard to exclaim, "Hallo! I can smell some one." Kororomanna was indeed frightened now, and was at his wits' end to know what to do. Just then dawn broke, and they heard a hummingbird. "That is my uncle," said our hero. They then heard the doroquarra: "That also is an uncle of mine," he added.1 He purposely told Snake all this to make him believe that, if he killed and swallowed his visitor, all the other hummingbirds and doroquarras would come and avenge his death. But Snake said, "I am not afraid of either of your uncles, but will gobble them up." Just then, a chicken-hawk (Urubitinga) flew along, which made Snake ask whether that also was an uncle of his. "To be sure" was the reply, "and when I am dead, he also will come and search for me." It was now Snake's turn to be frightened, because Chicken-hawk used always to get the better of him; so he let Kororomanna go in peace, who ran out of that hollow tree pretty quick. 24.* It was full daylight now, but this made little odds, because he had still lost his way, and knew not how to find the road home. After wandering on and on, he at last came across a track, recognizable by the footprints in it: following this up, he came upon a hollow tree that had fallen across the path, and inside the trunk he saw a baby. This being a Hebu's child, he slaughtered it, but he had no sooner done so than he heard approaching footsteps, which caused him promptly to climb a neighboring tree and await developments. These were not long in coming, for the mother soon put in her appearance; as soon as she recognized her dead infant, she was much angered, and, looking around, carefully examined the fresh tracks, and said, "This is the man who has killed my child." Her next move was to dig up a bit of the soil marked by one of the fresh footprints, wrap it up in a leaf tied with bush-rope, and hang it on a branch while she went for firewood. Directly her back was turned, Kororomanna slid down from his hiding place, undid the bundle, and threw away the contents, substituting a footprint of the Spirit woman. Then, tying up the parcel as before, he hung it where it had been left, and hid himself once more. When the woman returned with the firewood, she made a big fire, and threw the bundle into the flames, saying as she did so: "Curse the person whose footprint I now burn. May the owner fall into this fire also!" She thought that if she burnt the "foot-mark" so would the person's shadow be drawn to the fire. But no one came, and she felt that her own shadow was being impelled. "Oh! It seems that I am hurting myself; the fire is drawing me near," she exclaimed. Twice was she thus dragged toward it against her will, and yet she succeeded in resisting. But on the third occasion she could not draw back; she fell in, and was burnt to ashes; she "roasted herself dead."2 25.* Kororomanna was again free to travel, but which direction to follow was the puzzle; he had still lost his way home. All he could do was to walk more or less aimlessly on, passing creek after creek and back into the bush again, until he emerged on a beautiful, clean roadway. But no sooner had he put his foot on it, than it stuck there, just like a fish caught in a spring-trap. And this is exactly what the trap really was, save that it had been set by the Hebus. He pulled and he tugged and he twisted, but try as he might, he could not get away. He fouled himself over completely, and then lay quite still, pretending to be dead. The flies gathered on him and these were followed by the worms, but he continued to lie quite still. By and by two of the Spirits came along, and one of them said, "Hallo! I have luck today. My spring-trap has caught a fish at last," but when he got closer, he added, "Oh! I p. 129 have left it too long. It stinks." However, they let loose their fish, as they thought it was, and carried it down to the riverside to wash and clean it. After they had washed it, one of the Hebus said, "Let us slit its belly now, and remove the entrails," but the other one remarked, "No, let us make a waiyarri (basket) first, to put the flesh in." This was very fortunate for Kororomanna, who, seizing the opportunity while they went collecting strands to plait with, rolled down the river bank into the water and so made good his escape. But when he succeeded in landing on the other side, he was, in a sense, just as badly off as before, not knowing how to get home. 26.* Kororomanna next came across a man's skull lying on the ground, and what must he do but go and jerk his arrow into its eye-ball? Now this skull, Kwa-muhu, was a Hebu, who thereupon called out: "You must not do that. But now that you have injured me, you will have to carry me." So Kororomanna had to get a strip of bark, the same kind which our women employ for fastening on their field quakes, and carry the skull wherever he went, and feed it too. If he shot bird or beast, he always had to give a bit to Kwa-muhu, with the result that the latter soon became gradually and inconveniently heavier, until one day he became so great a dead weight as to break the bark-strip support. The accident occurred not very far from a creek, and Kororomanna told Kwa-muhu to stay still while he went to look for a stronger strip of bark. Of course this was only an excuse, because directly he had put the skull on the ground, he ran as fast as he could toward the creek, overtaking on the way a deer that was running in exactly the same direction, swam across, and rested himself on the opposite side. In the meantime Kwa-muhu, suspecting that he was about to be forsaken, ran after Kororomanna, and seeing but the deer in front of him, mistook it for his man and killed it just as it reached the water. On examining the carcass, the Hebu exclaimed, when he got to its toes (Sect. 126): "Well, that is indeed very strange. You have only two fingers;" and though he reckoned again and again, he could make no more—"but the man I am after had five fingers, and a long nose. You must be somebody else."1 Now Kororomanna, who was squatting just over on the opposite bank, heard all this, and burst out laughing. This enraged Kwa-muhu, who left the deer, and made a move as if to leap across the creek, but, having no legs, he could not jump properly, and hence fell into the water and was drowned. All the ants then came out of his skull.2 27.* Poor Kororomanna was still as badly off as before; he was unable to find his way home. But he bravely kept on his way and at last came upon an old man bailing water out of a pond. The latter was really a Hebu, whose name was Huta-Kurakura, 'Red-back' (Sect. 99). Huta- Kurakura, being anxious to get the fish, was bailing away at the water side as hard as he could go, but having no calabash had to make use of his purse [scrotum], which was very large. And while thus bending down, he was so preoccupied that he did not hear the footfall of Kororomanna coming up behind. The latter, not knowing what sort of a creature it was, stuck him twice in the back with an arrow, but Huta-Kurakura, thinking it to be a cow-fly (Tabanus), just slapped the spot where he felt it. When, however, he found himself stuck a third time, he turned round and, seeing who it was, became so enraged that he seized the wanderer and hurled him into a piece of wood with such force that only his eye projected from out the timber. Anxious to be freed from his unenviable position Kororomanna offered everything he could think of—crystals, rattles, paiwarri, women, etc., but the Spirit wanted none of them, As a last chance, he offered tobacco, and this the Hebu eagerly accepted, the result being that they fast became good friends. They then both emptied the pond and collected a heap of fish, much too large for p. 130 Kororomanna to carry home. So the Spirit in some peculiar way bound them all up into quite a small bundle, small enough for Kororomanna to carry in his hand. 28.* Kororomanna now soon managed to find the right path home, because each and every animal that he met gave him news of his mother. One after the other, he met a rat with a potato, an acouri with cassava root, a labba with a yam, a deer with a cassava leaf, a kushi-ant with a similar leaf on its head, and a bush-cow (tapir) eating a pineapple. And as he asked each in turn whence it had come, the animal said, "I have been to your mother, and have begged potato, cassava, yam, and other things from her." When at length he reached home, and his wife and mother asked what he had brought, he told them a lot of fish, and they laughed right heartily at what they thought was his little joke. So he bade them open the parcel, and as they opened it, sure enough out came fish after fish, small and large, fish of all kinds, so many in fact that the house speedily became filled, and the occupants had to shift outside. [Cf. Sect. 303.] 28A.* [Note.—In a Carib version of the story the hero's name is given as Kere-Kere´-miyu-au, and he finds his way back home to his mother's place through the help of a butterfly. When I happened to mention to the narrator that this was the first time I had ever heard a "Nancy" story about this insect, he told me that the butterfly was always a good friend of the Caribs. "Does it not," he added, "come and drink of the washings from the cassiri jar, and remain stuck in the mess?" (i. e., "Does it not come and join in our feasts, and get so drunk that it can not fly away?").—W. E. R. 29.* Makunaima, or Makonaima, the alleged God (ScR, II, 225, 515) or Supreme Being (IT, 365) of the Akawais, the Maker of Heaven and Earth (ScR, II, 319) of the Makusis, was one of the twin children of the Sun—in this particular all the traditions concerning him are in agreement. He and his brother Pia may be regarded as both Akawai and Makusi heroes. The name itself, Makunaima, signifies "one that works in the dark" (HiC, 244); the Being working in opposition to him, according to Makusi beliefs, is Epel (ScR, loc. cit.). I am fortunately able to give three versions of the tradition of these Heroes—from Warrau, Carib, and Makusi sources, respectively. *THE SUN, THE FROG, AND THE FIRESTICKS (W) Nahakoboni (lit., the one who eats plenty) was an old man who, never having had a daughter, was beginning to feel anxious about his declining years, for, unlike the other old people around, he of course had no son-in-law to care for him. He therefore carved a daughter for himself out of a plum tree, and being a medicine-man, so skilfully did he cut and carve the timber that by the time the task was completed there was indeed a woman lovely to gaze upon. Her name was Usi- diu (lit., seed-tree) and her physical charms were almost, but, as we shall presently see, not quite, perfect. So attractive was she that all the animals, bird and beast, came from far to court her, but the old man liked none of them, and when they asked him for her as wife he gave them a curt refusal. The old man had a very poor opinion of the abilities of these prospective sons-in-law. But when Yar, the Sun himself, stopped on his journey, and paid the old man a visit, it was quite clear what his purpose was, and proof was not long in coming that his advances would meet with encouragement. 30.* Nahakoboni thought he would try Yar's mettle, and see what stuff he was made of. He told Yar to feed him, and made him fetch along all the barbecued meat that he had brought with him on his journey, and had left at the edge of the bush. He ate very heartily, as might have been expected from the name given him, leaving only a quarter of the meat for his visitor. He next told Yar to give him drink; the latter emptied a big jugful down his throat. His next order to Yar was to bring p. 131 him water to bathe with, and for this purpose gave him a quake.1 But when the poor fellow put the quake into the water-hole, and pulled it out again, the water of course all escaped; he tried many times, but it continued to escape. Just then he heard a rushing sound proceeding from the bush, and there appeared a Hebu: when the latter learned what he was trying to do, he offered his assistance, and made the water remain in the quake. The would-be bridegroom carried it to his prospective father-in-law, and bathed him. The old man then told Yar to shoot some fish for him; that he would find the corial at the waterside, a bench for it under the roots of a particular tree, and an arrow lying in the shade of another. It is true the corial was at the waterside; it was really lying under water and was a very heavy one—but the young man managed to haul it up at last, and then bail it out. Proceeding to the particular tree indicated, and looking in and among the roots he was surprised and frightened at seeing an alligator there; he held on to its neck, and it changed into a bench which fitted the boat.2 In the shade of the other tree he was similarly taken aback when a big snake came into view; he seized its neck, however, and it changed into a fish-arrow. The old man now joined him; they got into the corial and paddled down the stream. "I want some kwabaihi3 fish," said the old man, "but you must not look into the water. Shoot up into the air." His companion did as he was told, and so skilful was he with the bow that the arrow pierced the fish and killed it. So big was the fish that when hauled in it almost sunk the corial; they managed to get it home, however. 31.* The old man was now thoroughly satisfied with Yar's worth, and gave him his plum-tree daughter, Usidiu. Next morning the young couple went out hunting in the bush.4 When they returned late in the afternoon, father and daughter had a long and earnest conversation of a private and somewhat delicate nature, the outcome of which was that the old man learnt for the first time that the masterpiece upon which he had expended so much time, skill, and cunning, was not quite perfect. Her husband had found fault with her. Hunting was resumed the following day; a private conversation was again held in the late afternoon, the result of which showed clearly that the fault complained of still remained. The distracted father could only assure her that he could do nothing further to render her acceptable to his son-in-law. When the latter heard this, he consulted a bú-nia bird (Opistho comus), whom he brought back with him next day. While being nursed and fed in the girl's lap, the wretched bird forcibly took a very mean advantage of her innocence, and then flew away. This outrage having been brought to the knowledge of the father, he determined upon giving his daughter one more trial, with the result that he succeeded in removing a snake ex parte questa personæ eius. The difficulty was now remedied and the young woman went once more to join her husband. The following afternoon, on their return from the usual hunt, father and daughter met again in private conversation. Happy girl!—her husband was quite satisfied with her, having no complaint whatever to make. 32.* Now although the old man purposely evinced no signs of ill-will, he was greatly displeased with his son-in-law, not only for expressing discontent with the piece of sculpture when it first came into his possession, but also for having allowed the bunia bird to tinker with it. He bided his time, waiting for his revenge to come when the young man should complete the customary marriage tasks—the cutting of a field, and the building of a house for him. It was not long before Yar commenced cutting the field: he worked at it early, he worked at it late, and at last told his wife to let her father know that it was ready for his inspection. The old man went to have a p. 132 look and on his return home told his daughter that he found fault with it. The young couple then went off to inspect the field on their own account; they were much surprised to see all the trees and bushes standing there, just as luxuriant as before, little dreaming that Nahakoboni by means of his "medicine" had caused this rapid growth to take place only the night before. Yar had therefore to cut another and a bigger field, and just the same thing happened as before, the old father again expressing himself in terms of strong disapproval. "How is this?" said Yar to his wife. "I have cut a field twice, and yet the old man is not satisfied with it." She thereupon advised him to cut a third field, but on this occasion suggested, in addition, his pulling out all the stumps by their roots. Having cut the third field, he started pulling up the stumps; it is true that he started on many, but he did not succeed in pulling out one! He fell down exhausted. By and by, his old friend the Hebu put in an appearance, and seeing his distress, offered to do the job for him, advising him to return home at once and to tell his wife that the field was now thoroughly cleared. Nahakoboni went next morning to inspect, and planted the field with cassava, plantains, and all other useful plants; he returned in the evening, but spake never a word. This made Yar suspicious, so getting up early the following day, he was much surprised to find in place of an empty field, a beautiful crop of ripe cassava, plantains, and all the other good things that his belly might yearn for. But anger still rankled in the old man's breast, so that when his son-in-law started on and completed his other marriage task, the building of a house, the old man again found fault, pulled it down, and said he wanted it built stronger. Yar accordingly rebuilt it with purple-heart—the hardest timber he could find. Nahakoboni, pleased at last, took charge of the house, and lived there. 33.* Yar, the Sun, was now free to look after his own domestic affairs, and being well satisfied with his wife, they lived very, very happily together. One day he told her he proposed taking a journey to the westward, but that as she was now pregnant, she had better travel at her leisure; she would not be able to keep pace with him. He would start first, and she must follow his tracks; she must always take the right-hand track; he would scatter feathers on the left so that she could make no mistake. Accordingly, next morning when she commenced her journey, there was no difficulty in finding her way, by avoiding the feathers, but by and by she arrived at a spot where the wind had blown them away, and then the trouble began.1 What was the poor woman to do now that she had lost her way? Her very motherhood proved her salvation, because her unborn babe began talking, and told her which path to follow. And as she wandered on and ever on, her child told her to pluck the pretty flowers whose little heads bobbed here and there over the roadway.2 She had picked some of the red and yellow ones, when a marabunta (wasp) happened to sting her below the waist; in trying to kill it she missed the insect and struck herself. The unborn baby, however, misinterpreted her action, and thinking that it was being smacked, became vexed and refused any longer to show its mother which direction to pursue. The result was that the poor woman got hopelessly astray, and at last more dead than alive found herself in front of a very large house whose only occupant was Nanyobo (lit. a big kind of frog), a very old and very big woman. Saying "how day" to each other, the visitor was asked her business. She was trying to find her husband the Sun, but she had lost the road, and she was so very weary. Nanyobo, the Frog, therefore bade the woman welcome, and giving her to eat and drink and telling her to be seated, squatted on the ground close, and asked her to clean her host's head "But mind," continued the old woman, "don't put the insects into your mouth, because they will poison you." Our wanderer, however, overcome with fatigue p. 133 and anxiety, forgot all about the injunction, and picking out a louse, placed it, as is customary with the Indians, between her teeth. But no sooner had she done so, than she fell dead.1 34.* Old Nanyobo thereupon slashed open the mother, and extracted not one child, but two; a pair of beautiful boys, Makunaima and Pia. Nanyobo proved a dear, kind foster-mother and minded them well. As the babies grew larger, they commenced shooting birds; when still bigger they went to the waterside and shot fish and game. On each occasion when they shot fish, the old woman would say, "You must dry your fish in the sun, and never over a fire;" but what was curious was that she would invariably send them to fetch firewood, and by the time that they had returned with it, there would be the fish all nicely cooked and ready for them. As a matter of fact, she would vomit fire out of her mouth, do her cooking, and lick the fire up again before the lads' return; she apparently never had a fire burning for them to see.2 The repetition of this sort of thing day after day made the boys suspicious; they could not understand how the old lady made her fire, and accordingly determined to find out. On the next occasion that they were despatched to bring firewood, one of them, when at a safe distance from the house, changed himself into a lizard, and turning back, ran up into the roof whence he could get a good view of everything that was going on. What did he see? He not only saw the old woman vomit out fire, use it, and lick it up again, but he watched her scratch her neck, whence flowed something like balata (Mimusops balata) milk, out of which she prepared starch. Sufficiently satisfied with what he had witnessed, he came down, and ran after his brother. They discussed the matter carefully, the result of their deliberations being summarized in the somewhat terse expression, "What old woman do, no good. Kill old woman." This sentiment was carried into execution. Clearing a large field, they left in its very center a fine tree, to which they tied her; then, surrounding her on all sides with stacks of timber, the boys set them on fire. As the old woman gradually became consumed, the fire which used to be within her passed into the surrounding fagots. These fagots happened to be hima-heru wood, and whenevep we rub together two sticks of this same timber we can get fire. 35.* The Carib version of the tradition is noteworthy mainly in that the Hero ultimately finds a place among the stars. *THE SUN, THE FROG, AND THE FIRESTICKS (C) A long time ago; there was a woman who had become pregnant by the Sun, with twin children, Pia and Makunaima. One day the as-yet-unborn Pia said to his mother: "Let us go and see our father. We will show you the way, and as you travel along pick for us any pretty flowers that you may come across." She accordingly went westward to meet her husband, and plucking flowers here and there on the pathway, accidentally stumbled, fell down, and hurt herself; she blamed her two unborn children as the cause.3 They became vexed at this, and when she next asked them which road she was to follow, they refused to tell her, and thus it was that she took the wrong direction, and finally arrived, foot-sore and weary, at a curious house. This belonged to Tiger's mother, Kono(bo)-aru, the Rain-frog, and when the exhausted traveler discovered where she was, she told the old woman she was very sorry she had come, because she had often heard how cruel her son was. But p. 134 the house-mistress took pity on her, and telling her not to be afraid, hid her in the big cassiri jar, and popped on the cover. When Tiger got home that night, he sniffed up and down, and said, "Mother, I can smell somebody! Whom have you here?" And though she denied having anybody on the premises, Tiger was not satisfied, but had a good look round on his own account, and peeping into the cassiri jar, discovered the frightened creature. 36.* On killing the poor woman, Tiger found the two as-yet-unborn children, and showed them to his mother, who said that he must now mind and cherish them. So he put them in a bundle of cotton to keep them warm, and noticed next morning that they had already begun to creep. The next day, they had grown much bigger, and with this daily increase in about a month's time they had reached man's size. Tiger's mother told them that they were now fit to use the bow and arrow, with which they must go and shoot the Powis (Crax) because it was this bird which had killed their own mother. Pia and Makunaima therefore went next day and shot Powis, and these birds they continued shooting day after day. When they were about to let fly the arrow at the last bird, the Powis told them that it was none of his tribe who had killed their mother, but Tiger himself, giving them both full particulars as to how he had encompassed her death. The two boys were very angry on hearing this, spared the bird, and coming home empty-handed, informed the old woman that the Powis had taken their arrows away from them. Of course this was not true, but only an excuse; they had themselves hidden their arrows in the bush, and wanted the chance of making new and stronger weapons. These completed, they built a staging up against a tree, and when Tiger passed below, they shot and killed him. And when they reached home, they slaughtered his mother also. 37.* The two lads now proceeded on their way and arrived at last at a clump of cotton-trees in the center of which was a house occupied by a very old woman, really a frog, and with her they took up their quarters. They went out hunting each day, and on their return invariably found some cassava that their hostess had baked. "That's very strange," remarked Pia to his brother, "there is no field anywhere about, and yet look at the quantity of cassava which the old woman gives us. We must watch her." So next morning, instead of going into the forest to hunt, they went only a little distance away, and hid themselves behind a tree whence they could see everything that took place at the house. They noticed that the old frog had a white spot on her shoulders: they saw her bend down and pick at this spot, and observed the cassava-starch fall. On their return home they refused to eat the usual cake, having now discovered its source. Next morning they picked a quantity of cotton from the neighboring trees, and teased it out on the floor. When the old woman asked what they were doing, they told her that they were making something nice and soft for her to lie upon. Much pleased at this, she promptly sat upon it, but no sooner had she done so than the two lads set fire to it; thereupon her skin was scorched so dreadfully as to give it the wrinkled and rough appearance which it now bears. 38.* Pia and Makunaima next continued their travels to meet their father, and soon arrived at the house of a Maipuri (tapir), where they spent three days. On the third evening Maipuri returned, looking very sleek and fat. Wanting to know what she had been feeding on, the boys followed her tracks, which they traced to a plum-tree; this they shook and shook so violently as to make all the fruit, both ripe and unripe, fall to the ground, where it remained scattered. When Maipuri next morning went to feed, she was disgusted to see all her food thus wasted, and in a very angry mood quickly returned home, beat both boys, and cleared out into the bush. The boys started in pursuit, tracked her for many a long day, and at last caught up with her. Pia now told Makunaima to wheel round in front and drive the creature back to him, and as she passed, let fly a harpoon-arrow into her; the rope, however, got in the way of Makunaima as he was passing in front, and p. 135 cut his leg off. On a clear night you can still see them up among the clouds: there is Maipuri (Hyades), there Makunaima (Pleiades), and below is his severed leg (Orion's Belt.). [Cf. Sect. 211.] 39.* In the story as told by a Makusi (Da, 339), there are but a few main variations from the particulars given by the Warraus (Sect. 29). These variations are as follows: The Sun, finding his fish-ponds too frequently robbed, set Yamuru, the water-lizard, to watch them. Yamuru, not being sufficiently vigilant and deprivations continuing, Alligator was appointed watchman. Alligator, the depredator, continued his old trade while employed as a watchman, and at last was detected by the Sun, who slashed him with a cutlass within an inch of his life, every cut forming a scale (Sect. 141). Alligator begged piteously for his life, and to propitiate the Sun offered him his beautiful daughter in marriage. But he had no daughter. He therefore sculptured the form of a woman from a wild plum tree. He then exposed her to the Sun's influence, and fearing ultimate detection of the fraud, hid himself in the water, peering at the Sun; and this habit Alligator has continued to the present time. The woman was imperfectly formed, but a woodpecker, in quest of food, pecked at her body atque genitalia preparavit. The Sun left her and she, grieving for his desertion, said that she would seek him. [Then follows the incident of her advent at old Mother Toad's house, the sickness caused by eating the poisonous head-lice, the death of the woman, as in the Carib version, caused by Tiger, and the discovery of the two unborn children, who subsequently became the two Heroes.] 40.* Pia's first work was to slay Tiger and take out of his carcass the parts ot the body of his mother, who became whole and alive. [Next comes a repetition of the Warrau legend concerning the old toad guarding her fire-making secret.] But Makunaima had an appetite for fire-eating, and invariably devoured the live coals. The toad remonstrated, and Makunaima in anger prepared to leave and to travel throughout the land. To attain his purpose he dug a large canal, into which flowed water; and having made a corial, the first of its kind, he persuaded his mother and Pia to go with him. It was from Crane that the brothers learned the art of fire-making when he struck his bill against a flint and the friction produced fire. The brothers placed huge rocks in all the rivers to detain the fishes: the rocks thus placed caused the great waterfalls. Crane was at first accustomed to catch his own fish, but finding Pia and Makunaima more successful fishermen after the rivers had been dammed, kept near to them and took away their fish. Pia consequently quarreled with Crane, who, becoming angry, took up Makunaima (who had taken part with him against his brother) and flew away with him to Spanish Guiana. 41.* Pia and his mother, thus deserted, continued their daily employment of traveling together, fishing, and seeking fruits. But at last one day the mother complained of weariness and Pia conveyed her to the heights of Roraima, these to be her abiding place of rest. Then came a change of occupation for Pia. He abandoned the hunt as the sole or principal occupation of his life, and traveled from place to place, teaching the Indians many useful and good things. By him and his teachings we have the Piai men. Thus did Pia pursue his course of benevolence until he disappeared finally from men and remained awhile with his mother on Roraima. And when his time of departure from her had arrived, he told her that whatever of good she desired she would obtain if she would bow her head and cover her face with her hands (Sect. 256) while she expressed her wish. This she does in her need to the present hour. Whenever the mother of these two heroes of our race is sorrowful, there arises a storm on the mountain, and it is her tears that run down in streams from the heights of Roraima (Da, 342). p. 136 Mount Zabang, the Olympus of the Makusis, is the dwelling their great Spirit Makunaima (ScR, II, 188). 42.* Amalivaca (Sect. 2), venerated by the Caribs and more especially by the Tamanacs, is said to have arrived in a bark, during the subsidence of the great waters, and carved the sculptures now seen high on the perpendicular faces of the rocks which border the great rivers (Br, 387). He has a brother Vochi—together, they created the world. While making the Orinoco they had a long consultation about causing the stream to flow up and down at one and the same time, so as to ease the paddlers as much as possible. Amalivaca had daughters who were very fond of gadding about, so he broke their legs to render them sedentary, and force them to people the land of the Tamanacs. He also did many other things. He made the earth sufficiently level for people to dwell on. He seems to have known music. His house, consisting of some blocks of stone piled one on another, forming a sort of cavern, may still be seen on the plains of Maita, and near it is a large stone which the Indians say "was an instrument of music, the drum of Amalivaca" (AVH, II, 473). Strange to say, I can obtain no information first-hand from the Pomeroon District Caribs concerning this Amalivaca; even the name appears to be now unknown here. Footnotes p. 121 1 Compare Kon, the boneless Tribal Hero of the Yunka Indians of Peru (PE, 29, 41).—W. E. R. p. 126 1 A name I have been unable to trace.—W. E. R. 2 One end of the drum is commonly closed with baboon hide. p. 127 1 The Hebus of the Warraus are believed to possess eye-brows so prominent that it is possible for them to look directly upward only when in this upside-down position. [Sect. 99.] 2 On the Amazons, before the advent of Europeans, we have Acuña's authority for stating that all the tools which the Indians employed for making their canoes, huts, etc., were axes and hatchets made of tortoise-shell (Ac, 90). 3 The seed-pod in question is about 10 in. long, much flattened, hard-shelled, with a curved surface, so that when the halves are split asunder, each bears a somewhat fanciful resemblance to a cutlass. 4 The first word is in Spirit language, i. e., not understood by the Warraus, who tell me that it is nothing more than a watch-word; the second means "to kill with the arm;" the third indicates "to fall down."—W.E.R. p. 128 1 This bird is the Odontophorus Guianensis. "The notes of this bird, from which it takes its name, are usually the first heard In the morning, and frequently before dawn" (BW, 183). 2 Present-day cursing, the hó-a of the Warraus and Arawaks, is done on somewhat different lines, usually by medicine-men or by very old people only. p. 129 1 The account given of Kororomanna's doings in this paragraph forms the complete story of an unnamed Indian, as related by the Caribs, who give the name Pupombo to the Skull Spirit. 2 Ehrenreich refers to the many examples of such individual giant heads or skulls in the North American legends (PE, 71). p. 131 1 It would seem to be an invariable practice with the Indians to bathe after a meal. 2 A very common form of house-bench is one in the shape of this reptile. 3 The name of a big species of lukunanni (Cicllia ocellaris). 4 Previous to the advent of civllizing influences among the Indians, the jus connubii was usually exercised during the waking hours. p. 132 1 In Sect. 223 there is mentioned a connection between certain feathers and loss of memory. 2 Dance (p. 340) In connection with the Makusi, says, "she plucked pretty leaves and flowers and placed them in her girdle . . . the same as we do now when our pregnant wives travel with us." p. 133 1 For further reference to head-lice in legendary lore, see PE, 78, 82. 2 I find it to be well known among the Indians that certain kinds of frogs, after dark, can be made to swallow glowing embers, which are then probably mistaken for various luminous insects.— W. E. R. 3 When I suggested to the narrator that the woman went eastward to meet the sun, he emphatically contradicted me, explaining that site went to meet him where he would fall to the earth again, at the distant horizon.—W. E. R. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- p. 137 CHAPTER III TRACES OF SPIRIT, IDOL, AND FETISH CULT Evidence very scarce, but recognizable in Familiar Spirits, and in the kickshaws of the Medicine-man (43); Dancing with noisy instruments in front of Idols (44); the Sacred Trumpets or Flutes (45); Frogs and Toads as divinities (46); Snakes (47). On the Amazons: Idols (48); Other objects, of obscure signification, recorded from within (49) and without (50) the Guianas, can hardly be regarded as Idols or Fetishes. 43.* It must be admitted that the positive evidence of idol or fetish worship among the Guiana Indians is very scarce, even Schomburgk recording (ScR, II, 321) that he never found the slightest trace of idolatry or of supplication to a fetish. And yet, in view of the historical records that the people living to the north, the west, and the south of them, did certainly have something akin to an idol or fetish cult leads one to the belief that the Guiana natives, at some not very remote period of their history, may possibly have pursued similar practices. Their northern neighbors, living on the islands, apparently worshiped Cemi, or so-called familiar spirits, a cult still traceable, as I propose showing (Sect. 93), in certain kickshaws of the mainland medicine- man. 44.* Among their western tribesmen a religious rite performed by some of the Orinoco tribes "was that of dancing to the sound of very noisy instruments, before two small idols, to which they paid reverence by chanting extemporaneous couplets" (FD, 52). 45.* This reference to noisy instruments suggests the sacred trumpet, or botuto, which was an object of veneration on the upper reaches of the Orinoco, the Atabapo, and the Inirida. It was sounded under the palm trees that they might bear abundance of fruit. Humboldt says that, to be initiated into the mysteries of the botuto, it is requisite to be of pure morals and to have lived single. The initiated are subjected to flagellations, fastings, and other painful exercises. There is but a small number of these sacred trumpets. The most anciently celebrated is that upon a hill near the confluence of the Tomo and the Guainia. Father Cereso assured us, continues the celebrated traveler, that the Indians speak of the Botuto of Tomo as an object of worship common to many surrounding tribes. Fruit and intoxicating liquor are placed beside the sacred trumpet. Sometimes the Great Spirit himself makes the botuto resound; sometimes he is content to manifest his will through him to whom the keeping of the instrument is entrusted. "Women are not permitted to see this marvelous instrument, and are excluded from all the ceremonies of this worship" (AVH, II, 363), at the risk of life. p. 138 Wallace (348) also refers to similar instruments among the Uapes River Indians, upper Rio Negro, which are used at their festivals to produce the Jurupari, or Forest-Spirit, music. He says that— These instruments, however, are with them such a mystery that no woman must ever see them, on pain of death. They are always kept in some igaripe´ [water-chanel] at a distance from the malocca, whence they are brought on particular occasions: when the sound of them is heard approaching, every woman retires into the woods, or into some adjoining shed which they generally have near, and remains invisible till after the ceremony is over, when the instruments are taken away to their hiding-place, and the women come out of their concealment. Should any female be supposed to have seen them, either by accident or design, she is invariably executed, generally by poison, and a father will not hesitate to sacrifice his daughter, or a husband his wife, on such an occasion. Koch-Grünberg (I, 186-187) speaks of these "Devil" flutes on the Aiary River (Rio Negro) among the Siusi, an Arawak tribe. He says that these are sounded in honor of Ko-ai, the son of Yaperi´kuli, their tribal Hero; that the festival at which they are used is held at the time of ripening of the fruit of the manicole (Euterpe oleracea) and turu (Œnocarpus bacaba); that on the same occasion there is mutual flagellation with whips. The flutes have to be carefully guarded from the gaze of women, and when not in use are hidden under water, etc. They take their name from that of the spirit in whose honor they are sounded. Elsewhere (KG, I, 314-316) he speaks of the dance as having magic powers; it can dispel sickness and even heal big wounds. Granted that the whipping is part and parcel of the festival, and the object of the festival is to ensure abundance of fruit, the following extract from Gumilla is worth consideration: When the time arrives for clearing the open plains with a view to sowing their corn, yucca, plantains, etc., they [the Salivas] place the young men, some separated from the others, in lines, and a certain number of old men provide themselves with whips and rough thongs made of twisted agave (pita). As soon as intimation is given that it is time to commence work, the whipping of these young men takes place, and notwithstanding the cuts and marks which their bodies receive, neither groan nor complaint escapes them (G, I, 188). It is true that the missionary was told that they received the whipping to cure them of their laziness, but I am strongly inclined to the view, corroborated as it is by the examples already given, that flagellation is a propitiation for favors already received or expected, that the object of the whole festival in fact is comparable with that met with in connection with the cassava plant (Sects. 165, 166). The flagellations inflicted at the burial ceremonies (Sect. 75) would seem to have a different origin. 46.* "Some other tribes of Indians, who likewise dwelt upon the banks of the river Oronoka, paid to toads the honours due to the divinity [Sect. 342]. Far from injuring these animals, they carefully p. 139 kept them under pots, in order to obtain rain or fine weather; and so fully persuaded were they of their power in this respect, that they scourged them as often as their petitions were not answered." (FD, 52.) It is known that for the Chaimas, Cumanagotos, Tamanacs, and other original tribes of the Caribs, the frog was the god of the waters (cf. Sect. 18): Ruiz Blanco (Conversion de Piritu) says that the Cumanagotos never killed a frog, but kept one like a domestic animal, beating it when the rain did not fall (AR, 185). There is an intimate connection between frogs, toads, and certain other animals, and success in the chase (Sect. 349). 47.* Beyond the mention of certain snake dances, I can find nothing akin to actual worship and similar ceremonies in connection with these creatures, notwithstanding the very deep-rooted belief in the relationship of the serpent to sexual matters (Sect. 347). At Maroa, River Guainia, (upper Rio Negro), Humboldt (II, 386) talks of "that ancient dance of serpents, the Queti, in which these wily animals are represented as issuing from the forests, and coming to drink with the men in order to deceive them, and carry off the women." So also Wallace (204) records in connection with a snake dance among the Uaupes River Indians, participated in by men and boys, "two huge artificial snakes of twigs and bushes bound together with sipós, from thirty to forty feet long, and about a foot in diameter. . . . They divided themselves into two parties of twelve or fifteen each, and lifting the snakes on their shoulders, began dancing." 48.* South of the Guianas, there is the evidence of Acuña (92) from the Amazons, in 1639: The Religion of these barbarous People is much alike: they all worship Idols which they make with their own hands; to one of them they ascribe the authority of governing the waters, and put a fish in his hand in token of his power; they choose others to preside over their seed time, and others to inspire them with courage in their Battles; they say these gods came down from Heaven on purpose to dwell with them and to show them kindness. They do not signify their Adoration of these Idols by any outward ceremonies, but on the contrary seem to have forgotten them as soon as they have made them, and putting them in a case let them lie, without taking any notice of them so long as they imagine they have no occasion for their Help; but when they are ready to march out to war, they set up the Idol in which they have placed the hopes of their Victories, at the Prow of their Canoes (Cf. Sect. 84): so, when they go a fishing, they take that Idol with them to which they attribute the government of the waters. 49.* On the other hand, there are a few accounts of the existence of various cult objects, the actual signification of which has so far not been satisfactorily explained; lest these should ever be claimed as examples of a fetish cult, it would be well to mention them here. In the Catalogue of Contributions transmitted from British Guiana to the London International Exhibition of 1862 there is a record (p. 52) of "Figures of Clay, made by an Indian of the Caribisi tribe, p. 140 and representing human beings and an armadillo. From Massaruni River. Contributed by H. C. Whitlock and Geo. Dennis. These are the only specimens of Indian plastic art ever seen by the Contributors." I myself have obtained children's whistles in the shape of frogs and turtles made of clay by the Moruca River Caribs. Among the Caribs of the Parou River, French Guiana, Crévaux (262) speaks of meeting with a young woman who was modeling a tapir in black wax. From the upper Aiary (Rio Negro) Koch-Grünberg (I, 125) figures several wax objects modeled by little boys, and wooden fishes employed in the death ceremonies (KG, II, 154). In our own colony, Schomburgk states (ScR, II, 471) that at a Maopityan settlement under the cone-shaped shelter raised on top of the giant huts, were several flat pieces of wood, cut into all kinds of figures, which swayed to and fro with the wind. Among the Monikos and Sokorikos, branches of the Carib race inhabiting the districts on both sides of the Cotinga, "a very marked feature in all their houses," says J. J. Quelch (Ti, 1895, pp. 144-5), "are the rude imitations birds, chiefly of the herons, the negrocop [Mycteria], the muscovy duck, and the swallow-tailed hawk, which are made from cotton thread, corn-cobs and sticks, and are suspended high up under the roofs of the houses, in the positions occupied during flight." These are probably identical with the targets met with on the Aiary River (Rio Negro). Targets of artificial birds, made of maize-cobs and their coverings, hang as decorations from the crossbeams of the houses: the boys blow at them with nonpoisoned arrows (KG, I, 102; II, 244). 50.* Outside of the Guianas to the westward, among the Carijonas of the upper Yapura, Crévaux (361) speaks of a bench with rough carvings representing a bird of prey; also of the wooden figure of a man with legs wide apart. To the southward, Acuña (142) makes mention of the Capunas and Zurinas on the south side of the Amazon, near its junction with the Rio Negro: They will cut a raised figure so much to the life and so exactly upon any coarse piece of wood that many of our Carvers might take pattern by them. It is not only to gratify their own fancies, and for their own use that they make these pieces of work, but also for the Profit it brings them: for they hereby maintain a trade with their neighbours, and truck their work with them for any necessaries to serve their occasion. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- p. 141 CHAPTER IV CREATION OF MAN, PLANTS, AND ANIMALS Man was either brought here from Cloud-land, etc. (51), or was created here (52); in the latter case, from Animals, as Tigers (53), Snakes (54-56), from Plants (57), or from Rocks and Stones (58). Certain Plants were derived from human beings or Bush Spirits (59), or grew upon a Wonderful Tree (60-61). Some animals arose from the Spirits of Mortal Men (62). 51.* Certain tribes believe that man, already made, reached this world from elsewhere, while others claim that he developed here, where he either merely grew into being or was indebted to some Master Spirit for coming into existence at all. His presence on the planet, however, would not seem to give rise on his part to claims superior to those of various animals, including birds. In those cases where Man, already created, reached this "vale of tears" from elsewhere, his place of origin appears to have been Cloud-land, the Skies, and countries beyond them, according to views held by Caribs, Arawaks, and Warraus. The first-mentioned hold that mankind descended from on high . . . unfortunately, the clouds which had brought them down receded and so left them behind. Being hungry, they were forced to eat earth, which they baked into cakes, and followed the beasts and birds to see what wild fruits they were accustomed to devour, and so learned to help themselves (BrB, 103). According to the Island Caribs, "Louquo was the first man and a Carib. He was not made of any other body; he descended from the sky and lived a long time on earth;" in fact it was he who made it. "He had a large nostril from which, as also from an incision in his thighs, he produced the first men (BBR, 226-7). Bolingbroke talks of Longwo as being the first man, in the Indian belief of the "central parts" of Guiana: "Certain vapors, or spirits, to which the savages ascribe thunders and fevers, are the objects of their fear and propitiatory worship. They do not ascribe a human form to these divinities, but conceive them to have brought hither the first man,whom they call Longwo" (Bol, 371). The Korobohána, one of the many group-divisions of the Arawaks . . . believe that they originally came from above the clouds. The weight of a heavy woman broke the rope by which they were descending: and communication was thus cut off between those who had reached the ground and those remaining above. The Great Spirit, pitying the latter, supplied them with wings and plumage; and they came down to colonize the trees above the heads of their p. 142 brethren—still privileged to live near, and to converse with them, though changed into kuriaka parrots (BrB, 179). The Warrau version of their own origin is very similar. Okonoróté one day went hunting for a rare bird—in those times the Warraus lived up above the sky and the only creatures they knew of were birds—and it was many a long day before he succeeded in locating it, though he did so at last. Letting fly an arrow he transfixed it, but on rushing up to the place where it had fallen, there was nothing visible but a big hole in the ground through which he could see the deer, peccary, and other animals disporting themselves on the green plains below. With the help of a cotton rope he descended to earth, and saw jaguars, snakes, and wild beasts devouring their prey. He shot a young deer, cooked the flesh, and finding how sweet it tasted, took some of the flesh back with him on his ascent up the rope, home again. Needless to say, all the Warraus were only too eager to accompany him when he repeated his descent, which they did in safety, one after the other until the very last—and this happened to be a woman who got wedged in the aperture, and could neither get up nor down. The hole being thus filled up, the Warraus have never been able to reach their old home again (BrB, 55). The name of this woman who thus stuck half-way is Okona-kura, the Warraus still recognizing her as the Morning Star. Certain of the Salivas did not hesitate to proclaim themselves children of the Sun (G, I, 113). 52.* In those cases where man, as such, put in his first appearance on this world's stage (i. e., as in many other places was created on the earth) there is no evidence available pointing to the existence of any belief that his creation took place out of nothing, either spontaneously or at the instance of some Master Spirit, or some person, or thing. Indeed, the two or three examples which might be claimed in support of the existence of such evidence are very dubious. Schomburgk notes an Arawak tradition, which I can not find elsewhere, that man was created by Kururumanni, and woman by Kulimina (Sect. 19); he mentions also that the former was subservient to Aluberi, the Supreme Spirit (ScR, II, 319). Among the Maipures of the Orinoco, however, it was the Supreme Being Purrunaminari who created man, but the traveler just cited admits that the above tradition, among others reported by Gili, shows a seemingly evident admixture of Christian ideas (ScR, II, 320). So also does the alleged Akawai legend that Makunaima, admittedly the Supreme Being, put his son, the first man, in charge of all the other animals that he had just made (BrB, 126). On the other hand, the Indian seemingly can conceive of man's origin only from something already existing in the world of nature immediately surrounding him. And so, in considering the reputed origins p. 143 of the various tribes, the belief becomes more and more prominent that Mankind—and by Mankind each Indian means the original ancestors of his own people—was originally derived, with or without the assistance of pre-existing agencies, from various animals and plants, from rocks, stones, and rivers. 53.* Among various animal forms, "tigers" (jaguars) and snakes constitute the commonest sources from which peoples claiming an animal pedigree have been derived. Carib history furnishes excellent examples in this respect, because we have records not only of what they themselves thought about their own origin, but of what other peoples also believed concerning it. Thus the Achagua maintain that the Caribs are legitimate descendants of tigers . . . chavi in their language signifies a tiger, whence they deduce chavinavi, "arising from a tiger," which is their term for a Carib. Other branches of the Achagua explain the term more satisfactorily thus: chavi in their language is a tiger, and chavina is the spear, lance, pike, pole, and from these two words, "tiger" and "pike," they derive the word chavinavi, as being the children of tigers with pikes (G, I, 112). 54.* The Salivas say that the son of Puru conquered and put to death a horrible snake that had been destroying and devouring the nations of the Orinoco; but that as soon as the monster began to putrefy, certain large worms began to develop in her entrails, and that from each worm there finally arose a Carib Indian and his woman; and that in the same way that the snake was so bloody an enemy of all those nations, so her children were savage, inhuman, and cruel (G, I, 111). 55.* The Warrau version, like that recorded by Brett in his Legend of Korobona (BrB, 64) refers to a special water-snake, and the account which I now give is almost word for word as related to me: *THE ORIGIN OF THE CARIBS (W) A Warrau man warned his sister not to bathe in a certain neighboring pond at those regular periods when she happened to be unwell (Sect. 188). For a long time she obeyed his instructions, but after a time, forgetting all about them, she went to bathe at the forbidden spot and time, and was caught by a large snake, the water-camudi Uamma. By and by she became pregnant. Now it was during the bullet-tree (Mimusops belata) season, when the Indians used to cut down the trees to secure the seed, which are excellent eating, and it was noticed that this same woman, although she took no ax away with her in the morning, invariably returned with a large quantity of the delicious seed in the afternoon. The brother, thereupon becoming suspicious, watched her. Unobserved himself, he followed her next day, saw her approach a huge bullet-tree, and saw the Uamma snake (Sect. 244) exeuntem ex corpore feminæ, coil around the tree, and make his way up into the topmost branches. There the snake changed into a man, who shook the boughs for the woman, thus causing the seeds to fall to the ground, where she gathered them. Having done this, the Uamma, reverting to his original form, descended the tree, and iterum corpus p. 144 feminæ intravit. Thereupon the brother said, "There is something wrong here; this will not do: Soror mea probabiliter serpentem in corpore suo habet." So told his friends who, in company with him, watched his sister the next day, when the same thing took place, Uamma exeuns sub corpore feminæ, climbing the tree, changing into human form, shaking the seeds down, and then becoming a snake again. But just as Uamma was about to reach the ground, the watchers rushed up and cut him into thousands of pieces. The woman grieved sorely, but collected all the fragments under a heap of mold and leaves, each piece of which by and by grew into a Carib. Many years passed; the Caribs growing strong and numerous, became a nation. They lived in harmony with the Warraus, so much so that when one tribe caught some game or other dainty, they would send a child with a piece of it over to the Warraus. The latter would then return the compliment and send a child of theirs with food to the Caribs. This lasted a long time, until one day the original mother of the Caribs—a very old woman now—told them to kill the child which the Warraus had sent to them; this was in revenge for the way the Warraus had slain her snake lover years before. As might have been expected, the Warraus on the next occasion slaughtered the Carib child, and thus a blood feud arose between the two nations, the Caribs finally overwhelming the Warraus. 56.* The Carib version of the story was told me on the upper Pomeroon, by probably one of the oldest local survivors of the tribe, who spoke somewhat as follows: The water-camudi had an Indian woman for a sweetheart. During the day he took the form of a snake; at night, he was "a people" like myself. The couple used to meet at the water side, and hence the girl's parents knew nothing about their being so fond of each other. After she became pregnant, a baby camudi was born. The little one used to appear when she reached the river bank, swim about, and after a time return to its nesting place. Now, as she stayed so long each time at the water side, the old father said to his two sons, "What is the matter with your sister? Why does she take so long to bathe?" Accordingly, the brothers, watching her go down to the stream, videt serpentem parvam exire atque serpentem magnam intrare. They saw also the huge camudi bring his infant son something to eat and saw the baby take the father's place when the latter left. When they reached home, the sons complained to the old man about what they had seen: he told them to kill both the snakes. So on the next occasion they killed the huge camudi, and seizing the baby serpent, carried it far away back into the bush, where they chopped it up into many small pleces. Some months afterward when hunting in the neighborhood, the brothers heard a great noise and the sound of voices coming from the very same direction, and going to ascertain the cause, found four houses in the identical spot where they had cut up the baby camudi, all occupied by Indians who had grown out of the fragments of the snake. In the first hut the house-master said he was glad to welcome his two uncles, but in the other three the occupants wanted to kill them for having destroyed their sister's child from which they had all sprung. But the first house-master said: "No, don't do that, because these two visitors are uncles to all of you, and you must not have a bad mind toward them." And thus it happened that the two brothers got away without further molestation, and on arrival at home told their old father how the snake fragments had grown into people. And when he expressed a wish to see his grandchildren, his two sons led the way into the bush, and he was right glad to see his numerous progeny, with whom he made good friends, and they all drank paiwarri. And thus the Carib nation arase from a water-camudi. 57.* The vegetable world takes a share of the responsibility for the derivation of man. There is either a story of some fabulous Tree of Life, or reference to certain well-known plants, as the silk-cotton tree p. 145 (Bombax) or ité palm (Mauritia). The Akawai and Makusi idea of creation is that, co-eval with Makunaima, there was a large tree, and that, having mounted this tree, with a stone ax he cut pieces of wood which, having been thrown into the river, became animated beings (HiC, 244; ScR, II, 319). The Arawaks hold that from his seat on the silk-cotton tree, the Mighty One scattered twigs and bark in the air, on the land, and in the water, and that from these pieces arose the birds, beasts, reptiles, fish, and also men and women. The sire of the Arawaks was Wadili (BrB, 7). Some of the Salivas affirmed that certain trees used to bear men and women for fruit, and that these people were their ancestors (G, I, 113). The Maipures and, according to Humboldt similarly the Tamanacs, say that in early days the whole earth was submerged in water, only two people, a man and a woman, saving themselves on the top of the high mountain Tamanaku; that as they wandered around the mountain in deep distress over the loss of their friends, they heard a voice which told them to throw the fruits of the Mauritia behind them over their shoulders, and that as they did so, the fruit which the man threw became men, and that which the woman threw, women (ScR, II, 320). Certain of the Achagua Indians pretend that they are the children of tree-trunks and from this allusion call themselves Aycuba- verrenais (G, I, 114). Loku-daia is the mythic Indian tree, growing out of a grave, which is said by some Indians to have been the root from which they sprang. When it was cut down, it was transformed into a rapid, whence the name of one of the Demerara River rapids (Da, 195). According to the idea current among the Trios, people were originally like wood, stone, etc., and had no faces (Go, 12). The manufacture of a woman out of a plum tree (Sect. 29), and the tree changing into a man (Sect. 9), should also be noted here. 58.* Not a few legends (Sect. 158) connected with the origin of the tribes contain curious examples of animism relative to earth, rocks, and stones (Sect. 171). The Mapoyas, the Salivas, and the Otomacs, all three of them Orinoco tribes, had beliefs of this nature (G, I, 113). The last- mentioned used to say that a stone made up of three parts, arranged in the form of a pyramid upon the summit of a rock called Barraguan, was their earliest ancestress; and that another monstrous rock, which served as the summit of another pinnacle, two leagues distant, was their first ancestor. Being consistent, they believed that all the rocks and stones of which the said Barraguan (a high promontory of large rocks, bearing hardly a particle of earth) was formed, were each of them one of their predecessors. Although these Otomacs buried their dead, they dug up the skulls at the end of a year, and placed them in and among the crevices and holes between the rocks and stones constituting the promontory mentioned, p. 146 where they expected them in their turn to change into stone. The Mapoyas would call such a stone as that serving for the summit of the pinnacle just mentioned, Uruana, describing it as the source of their tribe, and would be delighted at any one speaking of them as Uruanayes in allusion to this fact. These tombs, caverns filled with bones, in the strait of Barraguan, are again referred to by Humboldt (II, 487). Some of the Salivas would declare that they were children of the soil, and that in former times the earth used to breed men and women in the same way that it now produces thorns and hidden rocks (G, I, 113). According to the Makusi tradition, Makunaima sent great waters: only one man escaped . . . this one man who survived the flood threw stones behind him, and thus peopled the earth anew (ScR, II, 320). Those of the Achaguas who believed in their origin from rivers distinguished themselves from the the tree-trunk ones (Sect. 57) by the name Uni-verrenais (G, I, 114). 59.* The Yahuna Indians of the Apaporis River have a belief in certain palm trees having been derived from the ashes of a human being (Sect. 163A). The Arawaks and Caribs hold similar views as to the origin of certain cultivated plants. In an Arawak story it is one of the Bush Spirits which supplies man with the first fruit plants, whereas the Carib version gives a wonderful tree itself as the source (Sect. 60). The following is the Arawak story: *THE FIRST FRUIT TREES (A) There were three sisters alone in the house, preparing drink; the men-folk were away at a party. Early in the afternoon a young man came along, bringing a powis with him. He was not what he appeared to be, a friend, but an Adda-kuyuha (Tree Spirit). (Sect. 96.) The girls, however, did not know this. They asked him inside and offered him pepper-pot and Cassiri. He refused the former, saying it did not agree with him, and putting to his mouth the calabash which contained the latter, he broke the vessel. This made the girl who handed it to him laugh. (Sect. 125.) She was the youngest of the three; he told her on taking his departure that he would pay her another visit later in the evening. The afternoon wore on, and night fell, when, sure enough, the young man appeared again, as arranged. The elder sister took a good look at him, and recognized that, though bearing a great resemblance, he was not identical with the person who had visited them in the afternoon. She went into the adjoining room and conveyed her suspicions to the second sister. They both kept watch. He proceeded to get into the hammock where the youngest sister was lying, and began caressing her, whereupon she said she was displeased with his actions. But as he continued troubling her, she said, "What do you want with me?" With this, he slipped his arm round her neck, and broke her "neck-bone," thus killing her. He then began eating her body and finished all except the head, by early dawn. He belched and said: "Yes! I am indeed satisfied. My mother told me to bring her the head, so I must spare it for her." Holding up the head by its beautiful long hair, he carried it away. Now, the sisters who had been keeping their eyes on him all night, watched well where he carried it; they saw him bear it far away into the bush, where he disappeared with it in a hollow tree, of which they, following him, took note. When they got back home again, their men-folk had returned from the party, and among them was a piai. They told p. 147 these people exactly what had happened to their young sister, how she had laughed at the Tukuyuha, and how she had been killed (Sect. 125) and eaten by him. The piai told them to collect plenty of firewood, and to bring it to the hollow tree, which the sisters were able to show them. This wood they piled up in plenty around the tree, and then started to fire it. It burned right merrily, and in amidst the din of the cracking timber, enveloped in smoke and flame, you could hear the whole Tukuyuha family screaming, and the old grandmother reviling her wicked grandson for having brought so much trouble on them. It did not take very long for the hollow tree and the whole family of spirits to be reduced to ashes. From the ashes grew the first fruit trees of our forefathers—the plantain, the pineapple, and the cocoanut, with all the others. But the piai had to taste the fruit before the others were allowed to touch it. 60.* The statement has been already made, on Carib authority (Sect. 51), that mankind learned from the beasts and