Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 5 1887.djvu/325

Rh after a long time, having lived on berries, they found the child alive and well, and surrounded by indian corn-cobs that the accourie had fed it with. Then the child followed the accourie after its next visit and discovered the maize-field, and the people were saved. In gratitude they kill and eat the delicate little animal whenever they have the opportunity.

"In their tradition of the Deluge, maize takes the place of the olive-branch. They say that only one man was saved in his canoe, and when he sent out a rat to discover land, it brought back a head of Indian corn. The Caribs, in their account of the Creation, say that the Great Spirit sat on a mora-tree, and picking off pieces of the bark threw them into the stream, and they became different animals. Then the Great Spirit Makanaima made a large mould, and out of this fresh, clean clay, the white man stepped. After it got a little dirty the Indian was formed, and the Spirit being called away on business for a long period the mould became black and unclean, and out of it walked the negro. All the Indian tribes of Guiana .... rank themselves far higher than the negro race, and the Caribs consider themselves the first of the tribes, calling themselves 'the' people, and their language 'the' language."—(Pp. 171, 172.)

"As we ascended the river from Teboco, we had noticed on some distant hills a remarkable rocky peak which is called 'the Caribisce' from the legend stating that it is an Indian hunter who was turned into stone for daring to ascend the mountain. To-day from our camp we saw in the direction from which we had come, east, another curious peak rising like a gigantic thimble from a flat table-mountain. The name of this is Sororieng, i.e. Swallow's Nest, and it is an object of much dread to the superstitious Indians."—(P. 177.)

"Above all other localities, an Indian is fond of an open, sandy beach whereon to pass the night There in the open, away from the dark, shadowy forest, he feels secure from the stealthy approach of the dreaded 'kanaima' (the 'kanaima' is a secret murderer who performs his work generally by poison); the magic rattle of the 'peaiman' (the 'peaiman' is the sorcerer and doctor of the tribe) has less terror for him when unaccompanied by the weird rustling of the waving branches; and there even the wild hooting of